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Average rating:
3.9 out of 5
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Hey There! I've had the DR550 for about 12 years now. It is very dependable and sounds good even still today! It rocks! I haven't any hands-on experience with other drum machines, but I have heard samples of SR16's and that doesn't sound any better, really. Run it(DR550)through effects for the best results and it sounds "professional".
I didn't have any prior sequencing or computer experience at all, so it was a real pain in the ass learning to program my own beats (I hate Freakin' jungle beats/ethnic sounds and weird crap like that!)The presets are full that junk and I had to erase them to program some real drum patterns!
I like symphonic rock,blues and metal and I needed drumbeats that sounded progressive ala Rush or something heavier like KISS or Dokken! You can achieve these sounds by tweaking the parameters to your liking. You can alter the color,decay,duration of the drum sounds to do this!:) You achieve any gener of drums sounds this way, but takes work!
The "manual" is not real helpful as it seems to be translated from chinese to english, poorly. It is confusing as it explains things wrong or in the wrong sequence of procedures to do things! Sometimes they refer to things(terms) assuming you know what they're talking about without explanation!
It is limited in the Midi area(Has 1 in) as someone else mentioned earlier, but that's a small inconvenience,really. You can always record it out of the stereo outputs into a WAV. file for recordings on the pc. or saving your songs and settings to floppy disk via pc.
I still sounds better than alot of the drum kits out there today on the workstations that i've heard recently!
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I just bought this yesterday and am quite impressed. If its guitar shit that turns you on then its ideal, hang the Dj.
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Good god lads, it's not that complex a machine to need a book with it! I'm sure the nice people at Roland/Boss can get you one for a small fee.
Good sounding little box, a bit dry though. Major failing = lack of midi out or thru, so it has to be at end of midi chain. Pleasantly quiet (for roland gear), but really needs some external verb to shine.
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I�ve owned both the 550mkI and mkII. They�re good entry level drummachines. For the beginner or the hobbyist. The 550 got some 40-50 lofi quality, 32khz, special sounding and the 550mkII 44khz, sounds are crystal clear, maybe a bit dry and boring. The mkII�s almost got the whole 808 kit and some 909 sounds, not very like the real deal but useable. Nowadays they�re cheaper than ever so I think they�re good deals, go for the 550mkII (91 sounds).
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Temporarily traded my TR-505 for this itty-bitty box. Looks like a damn joke but sounds...pretty suprisingly good. The DX550mkII has just about every basic drum sound you need for techno, rap and industrial. Included are the four basic 808 and 909 sounds and that's pretty sweet! Quite easy to program - figured it out without a manual in about an hour. PROBLEMS: The lack of a MIDI out really hurts though-I can't use this to control anything else - and I'd love to use the 550's sequencer to control my XD-5 and S1000 (that's something that is real cool to use the 505 for). Also, the decay setting doesn't affect the drum sounds too much. The outputs seem a little noisy (turn the volume all the way up and you will notice a low buzz - noticed this on the TR-505 as well). I ended up sampling this little beauty - and I'd buy one if it had a MIDI out. I recommend it for the beginner and underground electronic musician.
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