There are claims that many of the 808 and 909 sounds on recordings in the 90s and beyond were actually from R-8 patterns using the Electronic & Dance SN-R8 series cards. I would not be surprised.
I’m a fellow R8m user. One thing I discovered that wasn’t posted anywhere: I kept getting the ‘initialize?’ message when powering on. As I suspected, my internal battery needed to be changed. It was a very standard ‘watch’ battery, I think CR2032.
Excellent point. "initialize" messages & scrambled screen characters are some common ways the synth lets the user know batteries need to be addressed. Always good to have CR2032, 2025, 2016 batteries on hand when using old synths. Back in the day, the manufactures encourage users to bring their machines to a service center for battery changes. And people used pay money to do it! The 90s were C R A Z Y times, indeed.
Thanks for the compliment; glad you enjoyed this overview. I think you'll love sequencing percussion with the R-8M. The cards all have something to add to the versatility of this sound module.
Nice videos, I had a comment on your other video, it looks like this can do what I'm thinking. I have the normal Roland R8 and I'm wanting to know if there is a way to scroll through different kits while the same pattern is playing. I can do this on my BOSS DR202 and it is nice and fast for finding a kit sound that I like. I'm a newb and just got the R8 but I can only figure out how to assign individual pads at a time, are there no "kits" here? Thanks!
I love this module, and I also love the mother desktop drum machine. Which I happen to own. I have one monster set up with the R 8 drum machine midi up to 2 Alesis modules, the D5 and the D5 Pro. We're talkin separate midi Channels with a total of 16 outputs. I run it into a mixing board with 8 bus out into a audio interface in my DAW. Talk about a monster set up, This is it my friend. The 💣 And to spread icing on the cake I also have midi up, a Roland SP 606 sampler.🤪😁
That's a killer setup, Vaughn. There isn't any percussion your MIDI combo can't create; the best of all worlds. Would love to see a video of that gear in use, especially with the SP 606.
awesome video. I just got a jolt of excitement learning about the EPROM store! On the R8M I set the MIDI channel to say channel #1, but when I go to the menu left of the "PLAY" screen, it still reads "10" for the receive channel. Is there any other setting I need to tweak to set the receiving midi
Man, i would love an r8m midi routing tutorial. Am really quite lost trying to figure out how to assign parameter controls and features to my midi controller/sequencer.
This was entertaining. I recently purchased a U-110, which came with 4 ROM cards, for $50. I'd love to have one of these to go with it, and there's one being sold her locally for $225, but uh... not right now. I have some slightly different things on my priority list. Thanks for the tour, though.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the overview of the SN-R8 cards on the R-8m. The U-110 is another classic Roland that is underrated..... and for $50 w/ 4 cards.... that's a steal.
It is a steal, and part of me wants to keep the U-110. I like it. But there are some things I want more, and if I can capitalize on this steal, I can turn it into something I might use more. Would you recommend selling this as a bundle (with the four cards) or selling everything separately? I'm inclined to sell it as a bundle. Also, I'm inclined to use ebay, as I've never used Reverb. What do you think?
Any chance you could produce a short demo clip this using a DAW via Midi, maybe showing the piano roll of the DAW? If so then much appreciated my brother!
hi there. nice video and congrats on having all the cards - priceless. I just got the R8M with the 09 card. I cannot find an easy way to just have access to the sounds of this card, can you might help me out? When I load the patch Sn-R8-09 (think its numer 30), then I think about half of the sounds are from the internal ROM and not the card. cheers
Appreciate the compliments. When you set up a "kit" each sound must be assigned to a note number. I would not rely on how preset kit number 30 is laid out by default; I think I had to go through each of the 26 sounds on the SN-R8-09 card and assign them to note numbers manually. See if that fixes the issue. If not I'll see if I can unearth my R-8M and walk through a fresh setup from a factory restored setting.
It may be the card: cms.rolandus.com/assets/media/pdf/memory_card_battery_replacement.pdf Be sure when changing the battery the positive side of the battery is face up (the front of the memory card). Roland memory cards (128, 256, 512 versions) require a CR2016 battery. The card will need to be formatted after a battery change.
Hey, great video! I just bought an R-8m, and I'm still trying to figure out the best ways to get the feel patches to work with the sequencer on my korg esx-1. So, I would absolutely love to see a longer video that highlights some of the midi functionality.
Thank you John; glad you enjoyed the video. I will add an expanded R-8M video covering the MIDI functionality to the production cue. The R-8M is a deep module with powerful potential for sequencing ... once the the interface becomes second-nature. How do you like the ESX-1?
Thoughtful Clips it’s great! Really gnarly sound, and the song mode is a pretty intuitive way to put together music. It’s also a decent device to jam with other people on-the only problem is that the accent function is hot trash. The R8 seems like it can get authentically really funky, so I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of synergy I can get going between the two of them.
Thoughtful Clips would be cool for you to cover the interface and any tips for navigating it too. I’ve had one for many years but it’s mostly been collecting dust, as I found the interface to be very tedious (of the times, of course). I’m redoing my studio and adding it back in, but I am not looking forward to programming it.
There is both Electronic Snare and Electronic Tom on the SN-R8-04 card as well as a TR-909 Tom on the SN-R8-10 card, but they aren't much like a true Simmons tom. I've never tweaked those sounds too hard, so you may be able to get in the ballpark.
Great video! Show us more raw sounds of the SN04 - Electronic and the Dancecard. How good is the decay of the 808bd, for instance? And the punch of the 909kick? Also, why do you upgrade to 1.04? Didn't fins any information about this online. Is there a bug in previous firmwares?
Thanks for the feedback and input. A showcase of the ELECTRONIC and DANCE cards is great idea. Stayed tuned. I couldn't find any info on the 1.04 firmware for the R-8m either; If I find details I will certainly post them.... I'd definitely like to know. Back when software updates were released as physical chips, companies had to be more meticulous about testing before making updates available to the public. I miss those days before loyal customers were treated like beta testers. Here's a great reddit post that inspired me to make more R-8 - related videos: www.reddit.com/r/synthesizers/comments/6l6jss/roland_r8_and_cards/
@@vintageMIDI I fully agree about beta testing. The Behringer RD-8... I would love to see/hear a r8m vs. RD-8 comparison. And also a r8m vs. Tr8s. Imagine the R8 winning against both....?
@@ekedalen Ha! That would be cool to have the R-8/R-8m go up against Behringer and Roland's modern offerings. Behringer sure does put a ton of effort into their 'remakes'. I will say a few years ago I had an Roland TR-08 Boutique before I got the R-8 & R-8m. The Boutique TR-08 was quite versatile overall and really did sound excellent. I just got frustrated with the 'mini' size the Boutique series. Not a fan of ⅛ inch jacks ---- too fragile IMO.
@@vintageMIDI me too. I think Roland did a huge mistake not to release a proper tr808 mk2, and charge approx 100 Euros/Dollars. I will get me SN-04 808 card in a few days. Can't wait to try it out.
There is no OMNI OFF switch, but on page 172, the manual indicates that the INSTRUMENT section and the PERFORMANCE section can receive their own MIDI channels; perhaps one of those sections is set to receive a channel other than channel 10. Let me know if that is a solution for you. Here is a link to the PDF manual: www.manualslib.com/manual/691656/Roland-R-8.html
Each sound on the ROM cards has to be manually assigned to a pad of your choosing. If you want to know how the internal sounds are assigned by default, here's a link to a page in the manual: www.manualslib.com/manual/691656/Roland-R-8.html?page=31#manual
I just picked one of these up at a yard sale for $50 with 4 cards! What did you use for a hardware sequencer? I’m trying to figure out the best way to use it like a physical drum machine while sending it to my Mac for recording. Any help would be really appreciated!
The Roland MC-80 hardware sequencer was driving the MIDI track for this demo. I highly recommend if you're into 80s/90s-style workflows. ua-cam.com/video/FhQG2_a9_Mg/v-deo.html A DAW of your choosing would be powerful as well to drive the R-8M
@@vintageMIDI i used to use a Dr Rhythm years ago and that had that 90s workflow. I was hoping to use something compact like the Beatstep but they don’t accept Sysex. I’m fairly new to MIDI and i didn’t realize you could run this through a DAW.
Indeed the R-8M is only a sound module. Hook it up to an external sequencer via MIDI and you're in business. The R-8 Human Rhythm Composer is the way to go if you want to program drum patterns.
![Deep Feelings Mix [2024] - Deep House, Vocal House, Nu Disco, Chillout Mix By Black Deep House #82](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PWp1McrxL_8/mqdefault.jpg)
Love this drum module.... even more than the classic TR-808 drum machine! Yes, I SAID IT.
Absolutely. It has a very recognizable sound. It belongs on the same level as the 808 and the 909.
There are claims that many of the 808 and 909 sounds on recordings in the 90s and beyond were actually from R-8 patterns using the Electronic & Dance SN-R8 series cards. I would not be surprised.
@@vintageMIDI you are correct. Reason being in the nineties the authentic table top 808 Was a little hard to come by.
The best video if you want to know the Roland 8m before and also after buying it, just as I did and now I enjoy my gear and, THX!
Thank you, George. Glad it helped with your purchasing decision. It is indeed a killer classic module with near infinite possibilities.
I’m a fellow R8m user. One thing I discovered that wasn’t posted anywhere: I kept getting the ‘initialize?’ message when powering on. As I suspected, my internal battery needed to be changed. It was a very standard ‘watch’ battery, I think CR2032.
Excellent point. "initialize" messages & scrambled screen characters are some common ways the synth lets the user know batteries need to be addressed. Always good to have CR2032, 2025, 2016 batteries on hand when using old synths. Back in the day, the manufactures encourage users to bring their machines to a service center for battery changes. And people used pay money to do it! The 90s were C R A Z Y times, indeed.
I'm up for more videos concerning R8m! Tips & tricks, demo, MIDI,.. Thanks.
Thanks V. Niel. I would love to put the R8m through its paces on its own series.
I don't think this has dated at all. It sounds great.
Vintage is new again with this classic Roland SN-R8 series. Nothing quite like it out there.
Excellent video--thanks so much! I just bought one from eBay for just over a hunnert bux. Now I'm on the hunt for ROM cards!
Thanks for the compliment; glad you enjoyed this overview.
I think you'll love sequencing percussion with the R-8M. The cards all have something to add to the versatility of this sound module.
thx for the video, that manual is a serious dive and this video made a lot clear
this video is amazing! Great source of information! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Nice videos, I had a comment on your other video, it looks like this can do what I'm thinking. I have the normal Roland R8 and I'm wanting to know if there is a way to scroll through different kits while the same pattern is playing. I can do this on my BOSS DR202 and it is nice and fast for finding a kit sound that I like. I'm a newb and just got the R8 but I can only figure out how to assign individual pads at a time, are there no "kits" here? Thanks!
I love this module, and I also love the mother desktop drum machine. Which I happen to own. I have one monster set up with the R 8 drum machine midi up to 2 Alesis modules, the D5 and the D5 Pro. We're talkin separate midi Channels with a total of 16 outputs. I run it into a mixing board with 8 bus out into a audio interface in my DAW. Talk about a monster set up, This is it my friend. The 💣 And to spread icing on the cake I also have midi up, a Roland SP 606 sampler.🤪😁
That's a killer setup, Vaughn. There isn't any percussion your MIDI combo can't create; the best of all worlds.
Would love to see a video of that gear in use, especially with the SP 606.
awesome video. I just got a jolt of excitement learning about the EPROM store!
On the R8M I set the MIDI channel to say channel #1, but when I go to the menu left of the "PLAY" screen, it still reads "10" for the receive channel. Is there any other setting I need to tweak to set the receiving midi
Man, i would love an r8m midi routing tutorial. Am really quite lost trying to figure out how to assign parameter controls and features to my midi controller/sequencer.
Type R-8M on google then you will get the manual "pdf" 2nd link. Have you set them both on the same midi channel?
This was entertaining. I recently purchased a U-110, which came with 4 ROM cards, for $50. I'd love to have one of these to go with it, and there's one being sold her locally for $225, but uh... not right now. I have some slightly different things on my priority list. Thanks for the tour, though.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the overview of the SN-R8 cards on the R-8m. The U-110 is another classic Roland that is underrated..... and for $50 w/ 4 cards.... that's a steal.
It is a steal, and part of me wants to keep the U-110. I like it. But there are some things I want more, and if I can capitalize on this steal, I can turn it into something I might use more. Would you recommend selling this as a bundle (with the four cards) or selling everything separately? I'm inclined to sell it as a bundle. Also, I'm inclined to use ebay, as I've never used Reverb. What do you think?
bonjour
is there the pitch/decay control function like for the R8 ?
Any chance you could produce a short demo clip this using a DAW via Midi, maybe showing the piano roll of the DAW? If so then much appreciated my brother!
I will add it to my list of video projects. Thanks for posting your idea in the comments, Sa
Thanks for this demo! Super informative.
Appreciate the feedback, cortical1. Glad it was helpful.
Great video!
Appreciate the encouragement.
hi there. nice video and congrats on having all the cards - priceless. I just got the R8M with the 09 card. I cannot find an easy way to just have access to the sounds of this card, can you might help me out? When I load the patch Sn-R8-09 (think its numer 30), then I think about half of the sounds are from the internal ROM and not the card. cheers
Appreciate the compliments.
When you set up a "kit" each sound must be assigned to a note number.
I would not rely on how preset kit number 30 is laid out by default; I think I had to go through each of the 26 sounds on the SN-R8-09 card and assign them to note numbers manually. See if that fixes the issue. If not I'll see if I can unearth my R-8M and walk through a fresh setup from a factory restored setting.
@@vintageMIDI thanks buddy
I also have one r8m that for some strange reason will not save to RAM card. It always gives a message of ‘card not ready!’
It may be the card: cms.rolandus.com/assets/media/pdf/memory_card_battery_replacement.pdf
Be sure when changing the battery the positive side of the battery is face up (the front of the memory card).
Roland memory cards (128, 256, 512 versions) require a CR2016 battery.
The card will need to be formatted after a battery change.
Hey, great video! I just bought an R-8m, and I'm still trying to figure out the best ways to get the feel patches to work with the sequencer on my korg esx-1. So, I would absolutely love to see a longer video that highlights some of the midi functionality.
Thank you John; glad you enjoyed the video. I will add an expanded R-8M video covering the MIDI functionality to the production cue. The R-8M is a deep module with powerful potential for sequencing ... once the the interface becomes second-nature. How do you like the ESX-1?
Thoughtful Clips it’s great! Really gnarly sound, and the song mode is a pretty intuitive way to put together music. It’s also a decent device to jam with other people on-the only problem is that the accent function is hot trash. The R8 seems like it can get authentically really funky, so I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of synergy I can get going between the two of them.
Thoughtful Clips would be cool for you to cover the interface and any tips for navigating it too. I’ve had one for many years but it’s mostly been collecting dust, as I found the interface to be very tedious (of the times, of course). I’m redoing my studio and adding it back in, but I am not looking forward to programming it.
Nice Vid - have you seen the WaveR8 card from Waverex?
Whoooaa. Just looked that up and it looks awesome. Thanks for the tip. That would breath some new life into this old R8
www.waverex.de/de/downloads/r8
nice demo. Do any of the cards have electronic drum sounds (toms) like a Simmons drum?
There is both Electronic Snare and Electronic Tom on the SN-R8-04 card as well as a TR-909 Tom on the SN-R8-10 card, but they aren't much like a true Simmons tom. I've never tweaked those sounds too hard, so you may be able to get in the ballpark.
I'm a newbie to this stuff and I have a hart multipad and an r-8m. Can I use the r8m as a brain of sorts and play on the hart multipad with sticks?
Unfortunately the R-8m only has outputs, no inputs. The Alesis DM5 or D4 could do what you need.
Great video! Show us more raw sounds of the SN04 - Electronic and the Dancecard. How good is the decay of the 808bd, for instance? And the punch of the 909kick? Also, why do you upgrade to 1.04? Didn't fins any information about this online. Is there a bug in previous firmwares?
Thanks for the feedback and input. A showcase of the ELECTRONIC and DANCE cards is great idea. Stayed tuned.
I couldn't find any info on the 1.04 firmware for the R-8m either; If I find details I will certainly post them.... I'd definitely like to know. Back when software updates were released as physical chips, companies had to be more meticulous about testing before making updates available to the public. I miss those days before loyal customers were treated like beta testers.
Here's a great reddit post that inspired me to make more R-8 - related videos:
www.reddit.com/r/synthesizers/comments/6l6jss/roland_r8_and_cards/
@@vintageMIDI I fully agree about beta testing. The Behringer RD-8... I would love to see/hear a r8m vs. RD-8 comparison. And also a r8m vs. Tr8s. Imagine the R8 winning against both....?
@@ekedalen Ha! That would be cool to have the R-8/R-8m go up against Behringer and Roland's modern offerings. Behringer sure does put a ton of effort into their 'remakes'. I will say a few years ago I had an Roland TR-08 Boutique before I got the R-8 & R-8m. The Boutique TR-08 was quite versatile overall and really did sound excellent. I just got frustrated with the 'mini' size the Boutique series. Not a fan of ⅛ inch jacks ---- too fragile IMO.
@@vintageMIDI me too. I think Roland did a huge mistake not to release a proper tr808 mk2, and charge approx 100 Euros/Dollars. I will get me SN-04 808 card in a few days. Can't wait to try it out.
@@ekedalen How are you liking the SN-04 card? (SN-04, SN-10 card demo video in process, BTW)
How the hell did you get the SN-R8-10 card to play in the user area? Can't figure it out.
At 6:08 how come those sounds are so pitched down?
How do set it to Omni Off ? It seems it listens to all Midi channels even though it is specifically set Midi Channel 10 ?
There is no OMNI OFF switch, but on page 172, the manual indicates that the INSTRUMENT section and the PERFORMANCE section can receive their own MIDI channels; perhaps one of those sections is set to receive a channel other than channel 10. Let me know if that is a solution for you.
Here is a link to the PDF manual:
www.manualslib.com/manual/691656/Roland-R-8.html
Hi! Do you know the actual mapping of each card on the R-8? I mean the the mapping of the sounds on each pad. Thanks!
Each sound on the ROM cards has to be manually assigned to a pad of your choosing.
If you want to know how the internal sounds are assigned by default, here's a link to a page in the manual:
www.manualslib.com/manual/691656/Roland-R-8.html?page=31#manual
I just picked one of these up at a yard sale for $50 with 4 cards! What did you use for a hardware sequencer? I’m trying to figure out the best way to use it like a physical drum machine while sending it to my Mac for recording. Any help would be really appreciated!
The Roland MC-80 hardware sequencer was driving the MIDI track for this demo. I highly recommend if you're into 80s/90s-style workflows.
ua-cam.com/video/FhQG2_a9_Mg/v-deo.html
A DAW of your choosing would be powerful as well to drive the R-8M
@@vintageMIDI i used to use a Dr Rhythm years ago and that had that 90s workflow. I was hoping to use something compact like the Beatstep but they don’t accept Sysex. I’m fairly new to MIDI and i didn’t realize you could run this through a DAW.
So does the R8M not have any internal patterns? For example, you will need to run patterns from an external source?
Indeed the R-8M is only a sound module. Hook it up to an external sequencer via MIDI and you're in business. The R-8 Human Rhythm Composer is the way to go if you want to program drum patterns.
Is there a way to acquire the samples for this?
There is no way I know of to rip the samples from the cards.