Roland TR-1000 Rhythm Composer

[FatVonFree]

only thing i have seen with note names is if you select the FM perc, go to page 3 look at c6 it is Note. so you could assign note to knob 3. IF I HAD A COMPLETE MANUAL I COULD SEARCH THE PARAMETER SECTION TO SEE ALL OF THE GENS THAT HAVE A NOTE ADJUST VALUE. sorry for yelling.

rambling crafting BS ahead thats not towards you but me thinking out loud to myself.

as you do snapshots you can select which note each plays since you have now assigned it to a knob. clunky still. but its pretty deep in a sense that if you stop for a second and make these snapshots you can make a hell of an “instrument”. something they keep emphasizing in the deep dive and the anderton’s video. back to the ramble… knob assign having 4 assignments per knob and able to min max those. on RS-RC you get 3 knob assignments of course.(1 taken for note value now) each with 4 parameters. you could get some wild sounding stuff going. so that “instrument” could be pretty interesting. I am gonna look for more “instruments” that offer “note” adjustment but its not looking like much so far.

here is a thing thats has me excited to build an instrument. i just put the FM perc model on BD or track 1. i assigned tune to the first knob. the layer tracks have 6 assignments though. thats 24 functions you can control. thats pretty damn deep. those functions can control so much man. sorry for all the words. So they keep mentioning instrument. Set up and spend a while dialing in an instrument, and you could save that as a jump off point for some cool sound design sessions. BUTTTTTTTTT. its FM perc model. give me that “note” assignment for samples and its a wrap. I know there is some wild stuff to explore on this single FM perc model because of the vids i see with folks making with the digitone or other FM thingys. anyhoo. sorry for terribly formatted group of words. folks probably already know all of this. been fun and very easy to wrap my head around this machine. my room looks like i am planning a heist at this point. notes and sharpies and highlighters everywhere. need more data

[BassesAndPads]

Right. It’s not a huge deal for me to tune by ear. It’s just the way it’s implemented is a hassle. If they just added multi pitch mode it would be so much better. This is one of the few features missing from this machine that should really be available.

[FatVonFree]

Agreed. I truly hope they add that mode.

[J3RK]

The reason that I doubt that they would add semitone tracking, is that this is clearly part of the TR line. It’s a drum machine. As advanced as it is, and as much as it can do, it’s not a synthesizer in the melodic sense, nor a groovebox.

I would expect that if they wanted that, they would do an MC, SH, or the like. Roland makes synths, drum machines, AND groovebox type things, so maybe they have an MC-1000 in the works or something. A TB-1000 would be kinda cool There’s that Avalon market just chomping for it.

Sure, it would be cool to be able to pitch things easily, but from their perspective based on the history of all of their products, none of the TR series have done this, so I’m not sure why they would start here.

For the record, I’m not against it at all. I think it would just add more features, capabilities and variety to what one can do with this. I just tend to doubt it, and I wouldn’t let it color my opinion of this amazing machine. It does what it’s supposed to do.

[BassesAndPads]

I don’t agree only because this machine is a whole different beast - center of the studio…etc. The TR8s is a much cheaper side piece. I personally am just asking for a multi pitch mode, they already have a multi velocity one. If my drum sampler from 1990 didn’t have one, I may get the decision, but they included saw waves and squares on this thing…lol.

[J3RK]

I get the sentiment for sure. I do understand why people want it. Everyone is on the search for the perfect device/instrument. It especially makes it hard when it does everything BUT the one thing that would push it over the top for some people. My comment is based on ~40 years of history, not because I want to limit what people can do with their gear.

I’m guessing it would just be a question of adding a separate pitch array to translate the frequencies, but if they’re currently using just counters or ADC values coming in from the controls, then it could potentially add a lot of complexity. Who knows though, I’m not a programmer in the software sense.

[BassesAndPads]

I get the history, but I don’t remember Roland releasing a machine like this before either. It’s not like this is the TR4000 version. It’s a new concept for them.

[Realestwizard]

I was just going to buy a OXI one mk2 to connect to the TR1000… then dedicate a few tracks to melody and use the OXI to trigger melodics via MIDI — will that not work?

@J3RK

[J3RK]

I don’t have experience with the OXI, but some sequencers (and other conversion gear) can convert from linear to exponential (and other microtonal types of scales) and MAYBE doing something like this would translate to pitch control with semitones, but honestly, not sure how well it would work, or if it would scale over wide ranges, etc.

At that stage, you’re adding additional gear to accomplish something that maybe you could just add another synth for instead?

It would definitely be a fun exercise, and might yield interesting results though.

Personally, I’d just slap another synth next to it, and call it good. Seems like a pairing of say, TR-1000 and an Analog 4 or TR-1000 and Digitone 2 would make a lot of sense to cover percussion+melodic sounds. Or if you use a DAW, a desktop polysynth maybe.

I do love the concept of all in one boxes. The Digitone 2 is one of my favorite musical devices of all time for this reason. It’s a great approach, and works well in a lot of cases to use a single, central, “centerpiece” type device. I don’t think that’s what the TR-1000 was aimed at being. I think it was more a continuation of the 808/909 concept. Still, it’s bringing up good discussion, and I wonder if Roland has plans for similar TR-1000 like melodic boxes. I would think they would sell quite well. People tend to like to have collections of related gear like multiple Elektrons, or 303+606, etc.

If they made a new 303 type thing, basically a Roland branded TR-1000-styled Avalon, they’d make a killing.

Same thing with SH, MC, etc.

Who knows, maybe we’ll see a Jupiter-1000 or MKS-1000.

[Realestwizard]

Interesting… thanks for the reply. I’ll dig a little deeper and see what I can find.

I agree, I thought about doing the same, but then the issue of size and desk real estate come to mind.

[J3RK]

Yes, this stuff would take some serious space.

I have the Super Gemini, (probably pretty close to what I imagine a Jupiter-1000 would look like) and it entirely takes up the entire flat surface I have in my studio. I’ve had to squeeze the other few items into weird places.

Perhaps that’s where a new MC-1000 would come in though. Take the place of several purpose-built machines in one box.

Edit: BTW, I’d love to see/hear if you come up with a workaround like using an external sequencer. Despite being a bit complex, I think it would be cool to see!

[stnrp]

The TR-8S did have chromatic 808s and there are generators that are literally just synth waves. The much more affordable SP-404 has some chromatic capabilities. I still have hope that Roland will surprise us with an OS update.

[J3RK]

Nice! Never tried that on the 8S. I do like to pitch my percussion to match the music I’m working on, but never played the percussion melodically at least on the 8S. On Elektrons I use all of this interchangeably because they’re set up well for it.

Who knows, maybe Roland already has it running, but it didn’t make it in time for the product release.

This is about as melodic as I’d think of with the 808. (27s in)

Still, the 808 kick, toms, etc. are just plucked/pinged filters, so unless you want a pitch enveloped sine wave to play, not sure how useful that is. Some might like it. The 909 kick has free running oscillator though, so that one might be more useful.

Any raw waveforms as well, but without additional shaping and filters, those will only go so far too. I think FM engines would benefit the most from melodic use. That’s just me though.

[aortan]

@J3RK

Still, the 808 kick, toms, etc. are just plucked/pinged filters, so unless you want a pitch enveloped sine wave to play, not sure how useful that is. Some might like it

Are you aware of the fact that certain genres and what has become a big part of mainstream pop music is based on a pitched 808 with long decay?

There are so many drum machines/synths that handle it including the tr-8s (for bd) that it’s too many to mention

[Mumdad]

Not to be the R-8 bore again but everything on the R-8 is tuned to semitones. Randomly jam on the slider and it’ll quantize the whole lot, you have to go out of your way to make it not be in 12TET.

An awful lot of the pitched ‘808s’/‘909s’ will have been from that machine.

It ain’t like Roland have never done it.

[earwolf]

I don’t remember any TRs having a crossfader either

[djadonis206]

As someone who grew up, and still lives in Seattle - thank you for posting this

[J3RK]

I’ve learned a ton about the R-8 from your posts! Keep them coming!

[J3RK]

Me too! Actually met you once over at a certain Slanted individual’s house way back when.

Love the whole Seminar album, but wish they didn’t have to remake a couple of the tracks due to sample rights issues. After years of looking, I finally found the version of Posse on Broadway that I grew up with on vinyl too. It was the extended version on the EP, and I never knew why the lyrics were different on the album I’d be saying “gatorback tires” while my friends were all saying “50 series tires” for one. Used to know a guy that did quite a bit of musical work for Sir Mix A Lot and Kid Sensation. Not the greatest person in the world, but he made amazing tracks.

[J3RK]

I am indeed aware. I was discussing this in the context of adding semitone control over bridged T filters, and the possible limitations of it. The genres employing these methods most likely either used painstaking control over likely modded control ranges on original hardware or used samples to do this pitch control. If Roland adds it somehow, cool, but exponential control over these simple circuits isn’t trivial. It would be easier to just use the sample engine or ACB. Unless they’ve changed the architecture of the 808 circuits in the TR-1000, I seriously doubt they will add exponential control to them.

There are genres of music that use other forms of pinged filters as well. It doesn’t really change how things are implemented at the synth though. The synth presents the tools, and people use them how they will. Some lend themselves easily to a task, some don’t. People typically find a way. Sure, it would be nice if things were easier for this or that, but the designers also have to cut things off SOMEWHERE.

I think Roland could add semitonal control to the digital sides easily enough. It could potentially be harder on the analog side. That’s mainly what I was saying. I don’t know that it would be a complete game changer to control the analog 808 kick that way, but everyone will have their own point of view on that.