A few days ago, I received 4 PCM cards for it: Power Drums, Ethnic Percussion, Sound Effects, and Electronic - excellent sounds throughout.

Of the 3 different versions of the R-8, the R-8M is currently the best deal. The main differences between the R-8M and the R-8 are: 1.) lack of drum pads, 2.) no preset rhythm patterns, and 3.) 2 additional PCM card slots allowing the user to load 3 cards plus one RAM card. It is necessary to have a drum pad, a hardware sequencer like an Electribe ER-1, or a software drum sequencer like Sonar, Cakewalk, or Cubase. I drive mine from Cakewalk and use their pre-made drum patterns (Session Drummer.)

If you're looking for big, clean, and deep drums, this is it.

overall then, probably my favourite drum machine of all time. my esx-1 has samples of the r8's sounds but somehow the dynamics of the original really cuts through. hence using 2 live!

even after all these years the r8m is still a best buy!!

So, the sounds are better than a lot today's drummodules and it's only 1U!

I've used it extensively as a module for a DrumKat controller. It is quite responsive. The sounds are very good can be played musically in this manner. I have also used it to record tracks via a sequencer in my home studio. Again, the sounds really hold up even to this day. They do not sound dated.

I have almost all of the PCM cards available. It was great that Roland produced some interesting ethnic and mallet cards, as they have been especially useful. The jazz cards were nice, too - a "Gretsch with old K's" sounding kit - and the electronic cards (809 and 909) are a kick.

It's still a very versatile machine and I still have it in my rack, even though it's heavy compared to what you can get these days.

You can hear some samples of my music at www.drumjazz.com.

Thank you Sonic State for a great website!