Roland TR-8S

The 606 is in the TR-8S.

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Hey, great idea! Actually just checked and I can use my OT for this (MIDI LFO to AT), nice!

Sounds nice

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do you know, if its a better emulation as in the TR-8?

Video showing variance between two different 606ā€™s

Video showing TR-8 with 606 sounds VS 606

Video TR-606 vs TT-606

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Now Iā€™m randomly wondering if you make much use of the 808 cymbal, given the passion and knowledge for its design that youā€™ve displayed so far. Peeps seem to think kick and cowbell first when they think of the 808 - itā€™d be interesting to read more thoughts about the other sounds.

those are nice examplesā€¦maybe it doesnā€™t do justice to the cyclone.
but there is one thing with this comparisons: on the 606 its very impractical to have all the instruments set to maximum - the cymbals will be way too loud, the hats will annoy very soon and the BD will be overpowered by everything else. with main volume to max its already distorting in itself (in a nice way) but all the single hits in the TR8 comparison are already unnecessarily distorted. hope to try out the tr 8s soon - but i am afraid its to big for my taste. (is it 3 times 606?)
i read that the 808 and 909 algorithms are updated in the tr 8s - did this happen to the 606 as well?

There arenā€™t many sounds on any of the TR boxes that arenā€™t good for anything. :slight_smile:

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No doubt, but Iā€™m just wondering - surely if somebody says ā€œThat guy is wrong! The frequencies have to be X, Y, Z, .etcā€ surely he actually uses that sound?

Just curious, not really a callout or anything.

do you have any links to that kick and cowbell music (without using hats and snares) must have missed that genre :wink:

Hopefully Iā€™ll get better at using it and find a flow.

Getting your own samples in there helps with the inspiration piece. Plus, I bet your samples will sound better than theirs.

Amen. Whenever I get my hands on a 606, I sample it. They are all different after all these years.
I have 5 different 606s in my OT right now! :slight_smile:

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Yes. For me it is a staple sound, on the 808 I love the BD, Snare, Rim, Toms, Congas, Clap, Cymbal and hats, cowbell, clave and maracas I use but not as frequently.

606 I like tbe BD, SD, hats and cymbal, toms are ok better with the noise trimmer set higher (as is snare)

I only know so much about them through owning and studying them, I liked them long before they were mainstream considered cool too and Iā€™ll still like them when inevitably they are no longer cool, same with the 303.

Iā€™m somewhat obsessive about certain things I guess, it is a fine line between coming across like a self appointed authority and a bit of a dickhead perhaps, but neither intended.

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Yes indeed, the snare is also super loud at max volume. I noticed the TR-606 in the TR-8 video has the noise trimmer set much higher giving the crackly ā€˜reverbā€™ on the toms, the TR-8 toms have the noise set much lower. I do think however that the TR-8 606 sounds ok, not exact but probably the best digital version I have heard, and at least some effort to replicate the hihat interactions seems to have been made, if not entirely successful.

@AdamJay - I had a 606 when I was 18 and I loved the damn thing and made quite a few tapes with it, in my early 20ā€™s I sold it because I needed the money and they were quite abundant and cheap, I thought to myself that Iā€™d get another when my financial situation improved. In my late 20s I bought another and was surprised how different it sounded to my old one when listening to the old tapes, I put it down to maybe tape speed at the time, but it kind of irked me that the one in the tape sounded better, the hi hats and cymbals were much more metallic and less tonal, and the BD had more thump and the snare was harsher.
Anyway I ended up quite unintentionally getting another 3 606ā€™s finding them for sale at good prices, so at one point I had 4 of them, I noticed that they all sounded different from eachother, so I kept the one I liked best and sold the others. I wish that I had thought to sample them all, because really there is no such thing as a bad sounding 606 :wink:

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Thanks! Much appreciated.

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yes, its a very good emulation. in the end the difference will be very subtle when mixed with other instruments.
when i bought my first (83 i guess) i was pretty underwhelmed - it didnā€™t sound like drums at all :slight_smile: sold it a few years later. but i always had the snare and hihat sounds as a reference in my head. bought one some time ago to mod it. but when i switched it on the first time, i knew i will not do that - everything sounded ā€œrightā€ again how i wanted it to be.

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@jox I have not had hands on with a TR-8 or 8s but it would be really cool if Roland have taken into account the distortion of the 606 and allow it to be a parameter on the ACB models. You can change the 4558 opamps from the JRC branded ones in the 606 to a more modern equivalent and it changes the sound considerably - it actually sounds a lot more like the TT or TR-8 version, a bit cleaner and not as driven.

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when i buy a second (beat up) 606, i will definitely come back to you with a few questions :wink:

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My TR-8S arrived yesterday, and my buddy and I rocked a four hour jam session running the Roland next to a RTYM. They complement each other wonderfully. We could play a full live set out with just these two boxes.

Super impressed with the TR-8S. The models nail the sound of the classic boxes, and the interface just begs to be banged on in a live set.

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Guitar Center SF have 4 in stock - Iā€™m picking one up today before I fly home - sweet timing! :rainbow::unicorn: