Roland JX-3P synthesizer and PG-200 programmer "Programmable/Preset/Polyphonic Synthesizer" four page colour brochure from August 1983.
Well, well... another "We design the future" brochure. I got a million of them. Okay - maybe a few are duplicates.
Can you blame me? Look at this beauty. All the signs of a Roland brochure from this era - like this JX-8P brochure I published back in 2020 - and the blog post that holds the record by far for hate mail regarding my position on the statement "Too much gear reduces your creativity". But that's another story.
Where was I... oh yeah - the multitude of other We Design the Future brochures (and those that came after the tagline was dropped, but kept the same design format). At least 11 tagged on the blog to date, and as I find others - like that JX-8P brochure I've scanned, I add the tag to those posts too.
The centrefolds in these things never disappoint. Flip the cover page open and you get that big gorgeous photo. I don't care if you love or hate the sound or the programming of this thing... it looks awesome. This is what an 80s synthesizer front panel should look like. Yeah yeah... knobs are great - but I equate those with 70s synths. A real 80's synth has one big data knob. Or at most, one or two sets of up/down button. Think Yamaha DX7. Or Oberheim Matrix 6. :)
But the real history here is Roland's introduction of MIDI to their brochures. The tech was so new, companies were still fiddling about with their buzz words.
"MIDI BUS"
"... can be hooked up with..."
"MIDI BUS connector".
All oddly awkward and satisfying at the same time.
Roland gives up a bit of real estate on the back page (not enough in my opinion) to discuss MIDI even more.
"Today's modern digital technology has made it possible to automatically control and synchronize a remarkable variety of electronic instruments. A personal computer can even be incorporated in such systems which usual require no special knowledge or operational techniques. The only problem is that individual makers have in many cases employed mutually incompatible connections and this greatly reduces the performer's potential. A new universal BUS system called MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital interface) solves this problem. It accepts all connections from instruments and devices of a standard signal. Now any standard musical instrument or computer can be connected using DIN cords for both input and output. Thus, MIDI expands the potential of performers and brings unprecedented convenience to the realm of electronic music. The Roland's JX-3P and Jupiter-6 are equipped with the MIDI Bus terminal. "
Probably a few more months before the words "MIDI" and "cable" are finally strung together in a sentence.
MMC-202 "Understanding Technology Series" full page colour advertisement from page 263 of the 1983 Third Quarter issue of Sequencers! Sequencers! Sequencers! magazine.
Okay - what's not to love? The much loved MC-202 upgraded to MIDI?
It was hardly a secret that just before the launch of MIDI, Roland was already nearing production of their MPU-401 Midi Processing Unit interface and breakout box for many brands of personal computers including Apple, Commodore, IBM/PC and AT... even the MSX and Sharp X1. But Roland's accompanying family of MSQ series hardware sequencers were still months away from production and they needed something out there fast.
I can imagine the board meeting...
Executive one: "We got all these MC-202 spare parts lying around!"
Executive two: "Remove the synth to make room to retrofit in some MPU-401 guts!"
Executive three: "Slap an extra "M" on to the name".
Well... job well done, dammit!
Design-wise, this MCC-202 advertisement follows along the evolutionary path of many of Roland's other "Understanding Technology Series" advertisements, appearing shortly after the TR-808 and TB-303/TS-404 ads from the same time period.
Sadly, this MMC ad was the last in the series to appear in print - a fitting end and big F-U to CV/Gate and a big hello to MIDI.
Sure, the MSQ series, and in particular the MSQ-700 is always getting the spotlight when it comes to early Roland hardware MIDI sequencers, so not to many people choose to remember that when Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi and Sequential bossman Dave Smith unveiled the MIDI standard in 1983, it was Kakehashi who whipped out the new MMC-202 MIDI sequencer from his backpack the following day to a boothful of surprised music journalists and musicians. Walking over to the Sequential booth with MMC in hand, he connected it to the Sequential Circuits Prophet-600 and Roland Jupiter 6 that had just been connected and showed what MIDI could do.
Kakehashi was soon touring with the MMC-202 where ever he was invited, demonstrating the little sequencer along with some of Japan's most notorious DJs. It was no surprise that these demos led to over two years worth of huge sales throughout Belgium as well as the Long and McQuade in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Cute little ergonomic buttons. Easy to program. What's not to love. <3
Roland "We design the future" MC-202 Microcomposer 8-page colour brochure from 1983.
Happy 2/02 day! And I got a doozy for ya. Behold the magnificent MC-202 "We design the future" brochure.
Over the last couple of weeks, we've heard a lot of about hedging. In particular, GameStop's share price skyrocketing, messing with hedge funds that poured huge amounts of cheddar into shorting Gamestop's stock. And then those hedge funds having to hedge those shorts by buying stock at an ever increasing price, making the stock go even higher. Or, at least that's how I understood it. Don't @ me if I'm wrong.
Point is... Hedge. And I'm thinking this MC-202 brochure is kinda symbolic of Roland's hedge against MIDI. I'm not saying Roland was against MIDI - NOT AT ALL! They were definitely on the forefront of the technology. I just think, like any good company would and should, they were hedging their bets.
More on that in a bit. But first, for some background info (and because its simply amazing!), we need to flip through the brochure.
Like most of the "We design the future" brochures, we get that classic front page - a large red title, large artistic image, that lovely logo top left. Flip to page 2 and 3, and we continue Roland's classic brochure format with a large image of the featured piece of gear and some great marketing info. Yum!
But then something weird happens. We turn the page to what should be the back of the brochure.
WHAT THE?
More info? That's right - no back page here. Instead we get two more pages on how to use the MC-202 specifically. So awesome. Lot's of diagrams. Lot's of info. Read through that an you are pretty much an expert on programming the MC-202.
*throws manual in garbage* Thank you very much.
Okay... NOW let's flip the page and take a look at what's on that back page...
SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! EVEN MORE INFO!
First a page titled "Play Bach" that puts those programming chops we just memorized on the previous two pages to work to actually churn out some Bach on the MC-202. No kidding. And across the street we get a page devoted to the "Expandability of the MC-202" which includes a Who's Who list of kick-butt Roland products while describing what's going on on the back panel of the 202.
Wicked.
Then. FINALLY. We turn the page and get the classic brochure back page that Roland is known for. Info on Roland's TB-303, TR-606 and SH-101.
Interestingly, all these devices on that page have one thing in common (besides being Roland gear):
No MIDI.
MIDI was just around the corner and by 1983 Roland, who was a big developer of MIDI technology, had already started on the design of Roland's first MIDI interface - the MPU-401. But what if MIDI didn't take off? What if it was a dud?
I believe Roland spent significantly more resources, print ink and page real estate on this MC-202 brochure to hedge that MIDI bet. I realize, in the grand scheme of things, the cost of this brochure would pale in comparison to the cost of the development of that MPU-401 interface. It's really more of a symbolic hedge after spending significantly more money on developing Roland's next gen non-MIDI gear - the TB-303, TR-606 and SH-101.
Yeah, sure, I have no data to back any of this up. It's just a hunch.
But I did just hedge my comment by saying I have no data to back any of this up. :)
Roland TR-606 Drumatix drum machine and TS-404 Multitrax sequencer full colour advertisement from page 49 in the August 1983 issue of Keyboard Magazine.
Within a year after launching the first two pieces of music gear that made up their "ProForm Series" - the TB-303 and TR-606 - Roland realized the hits they had on their hands. In particular, positive response in regards to the simplicity of the TB-303 sequencer led Roland to deliver on their promise to bring more ProForm gear to market by announcing a multi-track TB-style sequencer to go along with the bass synthesizer and drum machine.
Roland is known for re-purposing their cases to help keep costs down, and they've definitely kept that philosophy with all three ProForm products. As can be seen in the ad photo, the TS-404 kept the simple and clean TB-style sequencer on the lower half of the case, but replaced the main synth controls at the top of the case with multi-track sequencer functionality in the form of "Track" buttons and corresponding LED lights. CV and Gate labels indicate that each Track has its own set of CV/Gate outputs situated on the back. Slick!
The result - an awesome four track sequencer that looks absolutely smashing next to its older TR-606 sibling.
And it doesn't just look gorgeous. Its just about as dreamy to program. A Roland representative at the time remarked "If programming and editing one TB-303 sequence was easy, then programming four TS-404 sequences is four times as easy."
I found the TS-404 programming instructions in an article that appeared in the September 1983 issue of CV/Gate-Love Magazine called "The TS-404: Release yourself from your cumbersome Fairlight sequencer software". The guide matter-of-factly states that when using their simple 37-step programming and editing guide, "even someone with only a Doctorate in Astrophysics will be up to speed making Yazoo-style tracks in no time".
An amazing machine, but unfortunately, MIDI had just launched and was gaining steam quickly, eventually stopping the sales of the TB-303, TR-606 and TS-404 in their tracks (pun intended). Many ended up sold in store blow-out sales and later dumped in pawn shops around the world. And while the TB-303 and TR-606 ended up becoming famous soon afterwards in the hands of acid house producers around the world, the TS-404 became generally recognized within a lesser well-known genre of techno called Banjo-Tech.
This fad of integrating banjos with TS-404s began in Belgium around 1992 and quickly spread to a small city in Canada called Regina. Owners would send their four-string banjo and TS-404 to a guy in Keflavik, Iceland. Known as the GodFerret mod, the integration with the banjo effectively destroyed the TS-404 in the process but resulted in an instrument that had one very unique sound when the four strings were played directly through the four tracks of the sequencer.
But unlike acid house which spawned many sub-genres and is still going strong today, the unique sound and genre of BanjoTech faded soon after, and the few rare TS-404s that never were GodFerreted are coveted by the few lucky owners that have them.
Shame I'll probably never be able to get my banjo GodFerreted. :(
Roland Jupiter-6 "We Design The Future" four page colour brochure from April, 1983.
Yeaaah... I got a bit of a buzz going for Roland at the moment. As much as I'm a diehard analog gearhead, I really am digging their new AIRA products. Normally I would knee-jerk to anything new that is supposed to resemble the old, but after my knee-jerk to the Korg MS-20mini, I decided to take a wait-and-see approach. And I'm glad I did.
I've even proclaimed on Twitter that I'm going to retire my TB-303 and TR-808. Not sell... just retire. I'll still pull them out every now and then to play with, but for recording and live shows I'm going to be using the TB-3 and TR-8 from now on. I've done a few simple YouTube tests (more on that a bit later in the blog post) and I figure if they can get the TR and TB done correctly, why stop there. I'd love to retire my lovely Jupiter-6 too :)
And thus the reason for posting this Jupiter-6 brochure. I love that thing.
I've blogged about a number of Roland's other "We Design The Future" series of brochures including:
None of those brochures disappoint, and neither does this Jupiter-6 brochure. Except for the hole punches, but that's not Roland's (or my own!) fault. People have to stop hole punching these things.
Those inside pages are especially nice - a great big photo of the Jupiter 6 and a nice diagram of the back panel too. But really intrigues me is that purplish call out box on the left side that has the rectangles and cones sitting on something that resembles the slat wall that holds up all my keyboards in my studio. Why isn't THAT the image on the front cover? That would be more aligned with the other more creative front covers of the other brochures.
That back page is also great. The specs are always nice to see clearly laid out, but its the images of the other synths currently available from Roland that I find useful as a way of knowing exactly what gear Roland was still officially selling as of April 1983 when the brochure was printed. Helps with those reference timelines.
Anyways, enough about the brochure. It's awesome. We all know it.
And as you might have guessed, I find Roland's new AIRA gear just as awesome. I mentioned near the beginning of this blog post that the first thing I did when I got my Roland AIRA TB-3 and TR-8 was turn them on and set them up side-by-side with the originals for a little simple testing. Nothing as detailed as you'll find elsewhere online. Just something to give me an idea.
Now, if you recall from my last blog post on the Big Briar Touch Ribbon Controller, I had been side-tracked from creating my first Retro Synth Ads video. But I'd done all the leg work to figure out how exactly I was going to set up the camera, get audio from the mixer into the mic jack of the camera, etc... . So, I decided to finally get my first video up and running last Thursday evening with that test.
For my first YouTube video, I think it turned out okay!
Next up was a little test of the TB-303 against a few of the different clones I have - the XOXBOX, the TB-3 and the TT-303. I programmed the same pattern into all of them and turned on the video camera.
In my opinion, all of them do an okay impression. The TB-3 is a little more bassy, and the TT-303 tends to loose the growl during long slides. But both of those may be user-error. Remember, there were just simple tests after very little time with the machines. Overall, with effects added in, very few people would know the difference.
The thing I love about the TB-3 is that it goes above and beyond the classic "303" sound. So, I took out both of them (yes, I bought two - don't judge me) and decided to try and push them outside there normal 303 comfort zone. I uploaded that final video on Friday night.
Accompanied by the TR-8 as well as my MC-202 for a bit of vintage flavour, I just created a few small riffs and started the recorder. Not too shabby for 10 minutes of work.
All in all - I'm digging the AIRA line and the technology behind them. And for the record, Roland isn't paying me to say that.
Big Briar Inc.'s Model 331 Touch Plate "Greatest Invention Since The Wheel" black and white 1/4-page advertisement from page 85 in the December 1983 issue of Keyboard Magazine.
So, one of the main reasons I've been taking a break from blogging was that I was finally feeling the pull of the studio. But, after six or seven months I've finally started to feel the pull back to the blog. Creativity, in and out of the studio, is a fickle thing. I find I need a spark to help initiate that pull...
...something that gets me exited...
And this time, that excitement - the pull back to blogging - started as a seed that was planted back during the holidays while I was researching some hardware interactive design ideas for a studio project. That, of course, led me to Google, which then led me to Microsoft Research's Bill Buxton's collection of input and interactive devices.
According to the About page:
"Bill Buxton is the author of Sketching User Experiences: Getting the
Design Right and the Right Design. A Principal Researcher at Microsoft
Research, he has a 30-year involvement in research, design, and
commentary around human aspects of technology. He was a researcher at
Xerox PARC, and Chief Scientist of Alias Research and SGI Inc."
Well Bill, your Web site is the bee's knees and I want you to be my friend. Seriously - your Web site makes me cry - mainly because I want all those toys. I am a *big* fan of calculator/digital watches and that page alone made me pee a little. Now add Nintendo gloves, Etch-a-Sketch, Kraft System Joysticks... the list goes on.
"This is a reminder that makers of electroacoustic instruments have been
making touch sensors for years. This one was made for me by Bob Moog of
Moog Synthesizer fame."
This is one of the earlier Big Briar ads in Keyboard that Bob Moog created for his then not-so-new company, and it looks to have appeared only twice - in the December and January issues. Earlier ads mostly featured Synton equipment, with the name Big Briar appearing as the distributor near the bottom of the ad (see ad at right).
This ad is a great exercise in the benefits of size and colour. As gorgeous as that touch plate looks in black and white, the small footprint of the ad (1/4 page) and lack of colour really don't do the Model 311 justice. I think the wood grain and pop of blue that can be seen in Bill Buxton's photos would have really helped sell this thing. Or at least help keep it front-of-mind.
I also love the fact that Bob Moog would build these touch plates in all shapes and sizes. Really large touch plates would have made for some great live performances, just as the touch-screens of iPods and iPads, and now larger and larger touch-screen MONITORS, are now appearing more and more often on stage.
Synthony Music's "Have a synthsational holiday! (Santa will)" quarter page black and white advertisement from page 20 in the December 1983 issue of Keyboard Magazine.
Taking a break from the rum and eggnog to bring you this piece of lovely history.
You know how much I love hand drawn artwork in my retro synthesizer advertisements! And this one pretty much sums up this holiday season! And I really am hoping that this is what Santa is doing on December 26 (look for the calendar date in the ad) - rocking out on Keyboards now that he's played (and wrecked) his toy train set while his rain deer peer through the window in obvious wonder and delight. :)
Its a great piece of artwork and goes well with some of the artwork I've posted in the past. You can just check out the label "artwork" on the blog. Like many of those others, this one belongs on a t-shirt. Or if anyone can knit me a Christmas sweater with this image I would be very grateful. :)
A quick Google search brought up the Synthony Music Web site, or what has now become "Synthony Music's Synth & MIDI Museum". On that home page was link to a letter from the founder of the company - Bill Cone (or as he called himself... the Zoo Keeper).
The company originally started 1982 with the goal to "provide the best products available, technical assistance, guidance, and a forum for those brave enough to embrace the then new technology in music." Unfortunately, they closed their doors in early 2004 after nearly 22 years in the business. The online museum does provide some good info, but was last updated back in 2010 according to the museum's home page. Still a great resource.
Boss DR-110 Dr. Rhythm Graphic drum machine "A sound Innovator" four-page colour brochure from December 1983.
I hadn't turned on my Boss DR-110 for about a month or so. And just this morning when I plugged it in and flipped the power switch, I immediately noticed the smell of burnt electronics. Doh.
Let me take a few steps back...
I've been building up my Eurorack modular synth lately. And whenever I get new modules, I like to hook 'em into the system as quickly as possible and do a few tests to make sure everything is working properly. This usually involves setting up a short sequence on the Doepfer A-155 Analog/Trigger sequencer and setting up an increasing complicated patch that will try to involve all the in's and out's of any new modules.
This time, the new modules included the lovely Phonogene and DPO from Make Noise and Micro Hadron Collider and Geiger Counter from WMD. Shazaam!
The Photogene and Geiger Counter were just aching for an external sound source such as a drum machine that I could also trigger the sequencer with to get everything sync'd together. Usually that responsibility is given to my Boss DR-220E (the electronic drums version of the 220). The 220E uses the cowbell as the trigger out, so I just set up a normal drum pattern with the cowbell hitting on every beat and hit the START button.
But, since I knew I was blogging about the DR-110, I thought I would try using that drum machine so I would have something to blog about. Nothing like killing two birds with one stone. And that's when I turned it on only to have that burnt electronic smell fill the air. Thankfully I hadn't turned on the modular yet, so I knew that it was the relatively cheaper DR-110 that was the source on the odour. So, instead of blogging about triggering my modular with a DR-110, I guess I got to blog about the exact opposite.
Ouch. Will have to open that thing up at some point and look at the damage.
The brochure itself takes its design cues directly from similar brochures/sell sheets that were being designed for parent company Roland - like this one at right for the Roland TR808/606/303. Lovely covers. Really.
Like that front cover for the TR808/606/303, the front cover for the DR-110 brochure is great because it includes such a juicy photo. And not only that of the drum machine, but the drum machine's sister product that was also being advertisement at the time - the Play Bus HA-5.
I am a little disappointed that Boss's "comic book" advertisement theme from both the DR-110 and HA-5 didn't make it into the brochure for the DR-110 at all.Those were truly gorgeous. Quite the disconnect.
Now, open up the brochure and you will find that Boss decided to take the opportunity to provide readers with some pretty detailed instructions on the DR-110's operational procedures for step writing, tap writing and song writing. They even included all the little button symbols. Nice.
The back of the brochure includes the obligatory specs and accessories sections, including that HA-5 Play Bus headphone amp and RH-11M stereo headphones with microphone. Nothing really new here. Just some nice info.
Well - it's time to get out the screwdriver and see what kind of damage I'll find inside my DR-110.
Sequential Circuits Inc. Model 64 Sequencer "The $195.00 Sequencer" full page black & white advertisement from page 13 in the November 1983 issue of Keyboard Magazine.
Not so long ago a friend came over with his Commodore 64. No, not for music-making, but for a night of Donkey Kong-ing and other retro-gaming. Good times... good times...
I do recall that one of the first MIDI systems I ever saw
running was a Model 64 with a Commodore 64. I hardly remember anything about that system except the
small dark brick sticking out of the computer with MIDI cords attached. It was cool, and I was definitely hooked as soon as I saw it.
My first computer sequencer was Master Tracks running on an Apple IIe - I had to borrow money from my parents to pay for it. Then, when I finally upgraded to a Mac IIci, I purchased MOTU Performer 3.61 which soon became 3.64.
Then at work I had to learn Twelve Tone System's CakeWalk Dos, and then an early Windows version. Since then, I've never really left CakeWalk and would probably be considered one of those outspoken Sonar users everybody hates to be in a room with. I will admit I also have licenses for ReNoise, Reason (just ordered 7!) and a few other sequencer packages, but I usually end up powering up Sonar for the heavy lifting.
But lets get back to the Commodore 64. After playing those games that night, I knew I had to find a Commodore 64 of my own to play around on. I waited very patiently for a clean one to make it's way onto eBay Canada, and pounced as soon as one popped up. It came with A TON of software - cartridges and disks - including the way-cool GEO OS with it's graphic user interface. Think early Apple Mac. Just look at that drawing program screen shot if you don't believe me. Look over there ----->
Alas, there was no MIDI software or hardware included in the box that showed up on my door step. And so I wait... and wait... and wait... for a reasonably-priced Model 64 or similar Commodore 64 sequencer to come my way.
I would even consider the original $195.00 price tag featured in the title of this advertisement a reasonable price to pay for the enjoyment of again seeing a Commodore 64 MIDI system in action. And I'm guessing that if you are musician that already had a Commodore 64 and a Prophet-600 synthesizer, $195.00 probably wasn't going to blow the bank account either.
BTW - not sure if you noticed it, but if you look under the Commodore 64 in the ad photo, what do you see? A Linn LM-1 drum machine! It's not
often you see other company's products in an advertisement, but you can
probably look at this as one of the earlier pairing of Roger Linn and Dave Smith. A partnership that would bear fruit years later. :)
The ad-copy provides us with a great glimpse into the early history of one of the major forces behind the development of MIDI - Dave Smith and SCI. Even nine months after the SCI launched the first commercial MIDI synthesizer, the Prophet-600, the whole idea that there was now this one musical standard available called MIDI that *any* manufacturer could build into their products to connect directly to other manufacturer's products was still very alien.
So, what did an early computer-based sequencer get you?
4000 note storage, including velocity, pitch bend and modulation amounts
storage of nine independent polyphonic, real-time sequences of variable length with up to five overdub tracts available per sequence
song composition: sequences may be linked together to build up to nine different songs of variable length
auto-correct, transpose, and playback features
save and load to tape
select clock pulse, up to eight settings available for optimum drum box interfacing
Not too shabby.
Although a rare beast in 1983, by 1987 the computer-based sequencer was firmly catching on, and a flourish of products had became available. For the Commodore 64 alone there was Moog's Song Producer that used the Moog Manybus MIDI interface, MIDI/8 Plus by Passport that used its own interface, Keyboard Controller Sequencer by Dr. T's Music software that used its own interface, and Studio One by Syntech Corp that used MIDI interfaces produced by Syntech
themselves, as well as Dr. T's, Passport, Sequential or Yamaha.
But sequencers weren't the only MIDI programs available. A number of MIDI patch librarians for DX/TX and CZ synths by many of the companies already mentioned above became available by 1987. There was also algorithmic MIDI composers, MIDI echo/arpeggiators, MIDI filters/channel-reassigners, and even a mini-sampler called Sound Sampler by SFX Computer Software Commodore Business Machines Ltd. that included a microphone and 1.2 seconds of sampling.
And that's just for the Commodore 64. Hardware and software for the IBM PC and compatibles, Apple Macintosh (Performer - yay!), Apple II, Atari ST and even the TI 99/4a were also out of the gates and getting into the hands of computer musicians.
Why do I know this? Not because I saw all of these programs in action. But because a long while back I was lucky enough to be given the 1987 book "The Complete Gudie to MIDI software" by Howard Massey and the staff of PASS (Public Access Synthesizer Studio) in New York. If you are into retro computer MIDI software, definitely search out a copy.
While I'm waiting for a vintage Commodore 64 sequencer (hardware and software) to come my way, I have to say I am quite curious about the more recent MSSIAH MIDI SID hardware/software from 8bitventures.com. It looks like it could keep me busy while I wait.
Yup. Gonna have to order it.
Right after I'm done with this post. Which is now.
Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-110 drum machine "Lousy guitar playing" full page colour advertisement from page 7 in the December 1983 issue of Keyboard Magazine.
Wow, if my blog labels are any indication, this is my first ever Boss post. It's even more of a wonder this ad hasn't been posted yet since I have such an infatuation with vintage (and not so vintage) drum machines. My drum machine shelf is overflowing but the collection just keeps growing. Its a good thing that many of these 80s drum machines are so small. :)
I distinctly recall this ad from 1983 - that's gotta say something. Maybe I identified with the teen struggling as a bedroom musician. Or maybe I was already infatuated with drum machines. Or maybe it was the comic-style artwork used to market to its target audience with pin-point accuracy. Probably a bit of all three. And those are the exact same reasons I like this ad today. Especially the artwork (see the blog's "artwork" label for other ads based around artwork).
The DR-110 seems to be at or near the beginning of what I call the third "wave" of compact drum machines. I don't know if you can actually call it "waves", but my mind always wants to categorize everything. In my head, the initial wave included first gen machines like the Ace Tone FR7L or Roland TR-33/55/77 series. Then the second wave included more compact machines like the Boss DR-55, Korg KR-55 (1981), Sound Master SR-8 (1982) and Clef Master Rhythm (1982). And the third wave included drum machines like the Roland TR-606 (1982) or Korg KPR-77 (1983).
Well then, you may ask, where does the LinnDrum fit in? Or the Roland TR-808?
That's the thing - they don't fit into those waves. To me it seems like after that first wave or so, drum machines split off into two streams. The first stream consisting of lower-priced drum machines like those above. The second stream consisting of higher-priced professional drum machines like the Linn LM-1 (1980) and the Linn Drum, as well as the Roland TR-808 (1981), and Oberheim DMX (1981). And then later drum machines like the Sequential DrumTraks (1984). But as higher-end technology such as sample memory got cheaper, the two streams merged again later in the 80s to bring us drum machines like the Korg DDD-1 (1986), Roland TR-505 (1986) and Kawai R-100 (1986).
Now, like I said - this is how my mind categorizes them - and not
necessarily how they should be categorized. Don't email me angry
letters. :)
So, like I said, I kinda fit that DR-110 into that third wave of cheaper drum machines that weren't necessarily made for professional use. You only have to look at this DR-110 ad to know Boss was also thinking along these lines. The whole theme of the ad is NOT one of a professional musician in a studio, recording a hit record. Nope. It's one of a father telling his "98 pound [bedroom] musician" that his rhythm sucks donkey balls. And although the ad-copy does describe the sounds of the DR-110 as "studio quality", even Boss doesn't go as far as saying it could be used on professional records.
"Whether it's a bedroom jam, or a drum sketch for the studio..."
Luckily, myself and many others didn't listen to the ad and didn't stop at just using it to form drum sketches.
My DR-110 gets used regularly, either sampled clean or pumped through my modular, or my ever-growing Boss half-rack effects tower (see right with my 303). I bet they could make those effects racks even smaller now - maybe 1/3 or 1/4 racks with itty-bitty knobs. How adorable would *that* be attached to a Monotron.
I really enjoy the sound of the DR-110 and often when I'm asked about it, I compare it favorably to the TR-606. And it looks like I'm not the only one that makes this comparison. Through Vintage Synth Explorer's DR-110 page, I came across a nice short video by AnalogAudio - a lovely way to end this blog post:
End note: You can also listen to my 303 being pumped through that Boss micro-effects rack tower on the Retro Synth Ads SoundCloud page. Scroll to the bottom and look for "Short bit" and "Boring stuff" (which includes a few notes so you can tell when each effect is applied).
Yamaha "Producer Series" 12-page brochure from 1983 featuring the MA10 Headphone Amplifier, MM10 Mic/Line Stereo Portable Mixer, and CS01 Micro-Monophonic Synthesizer.
Just in case you couldn't get enough of the illustrations from Yamaha's 1982 "Producer Series" ads that ran in the June, August and October issues of Keyboard Magazine, I thought I would post this awesome 12-pager. It took a bit more time than normal to scan, but I figure that allows me to blog a little bit less. :)
Illustrations aside for a second, this brochure is also currently in my top 10 because it also gives readers an up close and personal look at each piece of gear. Labels for every knob, lever, dial and input and output are all clearly visible. And each piece of gear has a page or two devoted to detailed info. Can't beat that.
But as much as I like that first half of the brochure, its the last half that is a joy to read. I really like diagrams. But I *love* these diagrams. I'm talking about the "Six Producer Series set-ups". The illustrator that sketched the imagery in those Yamaha ads was clearly running on all cylinders when asked to come up with more imagery for this brochure.
To me, the punch line comes in that sixth set-up (bottom of page 10) for "Amplifying TV sound". Two couch-potatoes lounging in front of a TV, beer and cigarette in hand, and head-phones securely on their heads so they can listen to their TV "privately and in synthesized stereo". Brilliant. And I'm also kinda crushing a little on the country singer in the second set up. Those are some serious birthin' hips.
The brochure was the perfect end to this series of illustrated Yamaha ads. If they had kept them going on longer, they might have become as epic as the John Mattos period of Sequential Circuits ads and brochures. Almost.
My biggest problem now is trying to decide which one of these illustrations to make my avatar on Facebook and the Cakewalk forum I just joined.
Korg Poly-61 synthesizer "The breakthrough in polyphonic synthesizers" full-page colour advertisement from the front inside cover of the August 1983 issue of Keyboard Magazine.
Well, it will be New Year's Eve and a reminder of another year gone by. As I get older I'm not sure exactly how I feel about being reminded that I'm getting on in years. And blogging about ever-increasingly older advertisements probably doesn't help the situation.
But then an ad like this one comes along and all that nostalgia fills my little aging belly with joy. In this case, it's not so much the ad itself but when it first appeared that got me thinking of the good 'ol days.
When I pull this issue of Keyboard off the shelf the first thing I see is one of my favorite all time old-skool covers featuring Thomas Dolby. That cover photo pretty much summarizes what was going on in my mind when I bought my first synthesizer... and second... and third... and forth... And there was a drum machine purchase somewhere early on too. As I flip through the mag, I re-read the article on Dolby, as well as the one on Lee Curreri (you might remember him as Bruno from Fame). And I also see familiar ads for the Prophet 600, Memorymoog, LinnDrum, and of course, the Poly-61. Aaaah... memories.
Does today's advertisement look familiar? It should. This is the one-page version of the two-page introductory advertisement for the Poly-61 that I posted last Thursday.
I've probably mentioned it a half-dozen times, but I'm gonna say it again - resizing advertisements is an art form. Pure and simple. This looks like it was Korg's first attempt at it in Keyboard Magazine. And they did a pretty good job of it, even if they had to cut off the top of the "G" in "Korg" to do it.
When resizing ads, many green designers I've worked with first try to shrink everything down except the product itself. But Korg did the right thing to focus this ad redesign around the reduction in the size of the photo of the synth.
Even at the reduced size, many of the front panel labels, including the name of the synth, are still readable. The smaller photo allowed the designer to keep that awesome "Korg Poly-61" design treatment and ad-title at near the same size as in the two-page version (with all that glowing and lens flare effects, it's hard to believe that the first version of Photoshop wasn't released for another five years). And best of all, the ad-copy was kept at *exactly* the same in font size and column placement. Korg was on fire! :)
If fact, Korg was on fire with the whole promotional machine surrounding the Poly-61 advertising campaign. Everything was syncing up very well.
For example, Korg included their 1983 General Catalog
attached between the two ad pages the first time the two-page version of the ad appeared in the February 1983 issue of Keyboard. Readers picking up the magazine would feel this little extra bulk and flip directly to the ad and the catalog. Perfect.
Then, while the two-page ad-run was still in full swing, Keyboard ran the Spec Sheet promo for the Poly-61 in April 1983, focusing on the digital aspects of the machine and the arpeggiator. This could almost be called the "perfect" Spec Sheet:
"The Korg Poly-61 is a six-voice programmable synthesizer. It has two digitally-controlled oscillators per voice. Each pair of oscillators can be detuned for chorusing effects or tuned to intervals. The 64-program memory has full edit and program move capabilities, with a digital access control system for full control over all program parameters. A six-digit display indicates each active program. Polyphonic, chord memory/unison, and hold key assign modes allow for monophonic bass and solo sounds as well as full six-note polyphonic playing. The arpeggiator, which automatically memorizes and plays back note and chord sequences in three different patterns and ranges, has a latch mode and can be synched to external sequencers, footswitches, and other synthesizers. Other features include a four-way joystick with separate LFO for pitch-bend, vibrato, and filter tromolo effects, and jacks for foot-switch-controlled sustain and program change. The unit weighs 24 lbs. Price is $1,495.00. Unicord, 89 Frost St., Westbury, NY 11590."
The promotion machine continued the following month when the Poly-61 was featured twice. First, in Part 1 of the NAMM Winter Trade show article, it received the top honors as the first keyboard described under the "Synthesizers" section, before the MIDI'd Prophet-600 and even Roland's long list of products including the Juno-60, as well as prototypes for the Jupiter-6, JX-3P and MC-202.
But that NAMM article didn't spend much time talking about the features of the synth because it simply pointed readers to the Keyboard Report for the Poly-61 written by the always fair Jim Aikin that appeared in the same May 1983 issue.
The introduction naturally focused on the rather low $1,495 retail price tag and a few of its more predominant features such as the clean front panel, arpeggiator and joystick pitchbend. A good portion of the body of the article is spent on the push-button programming and the parameters themselves, and some of the issues that arise:
"The parameter controls are digitized - that is, they can be set only to whole number values. And for many of them, only a few values are available. Ranges such as 0-3 (for vibrato delay), 0-7 (for filter resonance), and 0-15 (ADSR settings) are the norm. This does frankly limit the amount of control you have over the sound. There were times when we wished we could get an envelope decay setting halfway between two of the available setting, for example. But it's usually possible to find an compromise value that sounds quite good, even if it wasn't precisely what you first had in mind."
The conclusion reinforced the nice low price tag for all the features the Poly-61 has, but pointed out the lack of a second envelope generator, and that the "tone seemed a bit thin" - recommending it for new wave over symphonic rock!
Put all those promotional activities together with a good year-long gorgeous advertising campaign, and Korg did pretty much all they could do to get the Poly-61 into the hands of musicians.
Korg probably enjoyed that New Year's Eve. And time to enjoy mine.
Can you blame me? Look at this beauty. All the signs of a Roland brochure from this era - like this JX-8P brochure I published back in 2020 - and the blog post that holds the record by far for hate mail regarding my position on the statement "Too much gear reduces your creativity". But that's another story. 
