No doubt Roland will fix this
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Drum off - Duelling Banjoās style! Be an interesting video.
IMHO I think its a lot to do with innovation and how the machine is used .
Hey, letās not fight about song mode, gentlemenā¦
Better IMO to come up with a revolutionary + easy to implement + capture the whole performance concept of song mode for the little boxes 
Now letās get back to the topic please 
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Overbridge! 
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This.
I donāt think thereās much to compare really.
Digitakt is what you make of it. Sound explorer. MIDI sequencer. Infinite rhythm boxā¦
TR8S looks like a solid, āproā drum machine. Yes, you can sorta automate pitch to do melodic stuff but itās meant for drum based beats. I havenāt tried it yet but everything Iāve seen/read so far seems like if what you really want is a straight-forward drum machine, Roland finally came through. Knob per function for standard drum tweaks (decay, pitch, level and FX sendsāyou hold the drum button and turn to FX levels to adjust send amount per track). This is a big usability bonus but anything beyond that sort of stuff requires menu diving via tiny LCD. Thatās a big minus if youāre a tweaker (read: if what you really want is a Digitakt) but if what your really after is a solid drum machine (with KIT support!), you probably donāt really need that stuff too often.
(edited for typos)
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@N3V3RM1ND and @hardZ
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Please go familiarize yourself with the guidelines now.
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Just returned the TR-8S for exactly this reason. No song mode and no ability to quickly customize a song/track sequence.
Extremely limited.
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Not to be a contrarian here but neither and here is why.
I much prefer the smaller footprint and sounds of the MFB Tanzmaus/Tanzbar machines. Had time to try one out this weekend and enjoyed it. Also consider the Moog DFAM which is a great drum synth with patch/modular capability.
I am waiting for the Soma Pulsar 23 and MFB Tanzbar v2 to come out this year. Either that or Eurorack drum setup.
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All the Roland TR machines or a digitakt?
Kind of no comparison really. I know which one I would pick, but everyone is going to have their own opinions, just like they do for Tea or Coffee, vanilla or chocolate, Cornish or Devonian.
Right now I am using my OT+A4 for drums/bass and pretty happy with the quality. I tried the sample packs and then created my own tribal drums and bass which is fun experiment and helps deepen my understanding of synthesis.
Emulations of all the Roland TR machines 
True TR8S doesnāt have āsong modeā however you can chain up to 8 variations (w/ different lengths) plus loop chain up to 16 adjacent patterns. Both offer quick ways to customize a sequence (copy & paste).
@Unifono Arenāt they all emulations since no 2 TR-808ās ever sounded the same?
The problem is - thatās basically 128 bars - at 124bpm, thatās only about 4 minutes of musicā¦
I need at least 184 bars for a full 6 minute dance track. I should be able to play any variation from any pattern in any order up to 256 bars.
If song mode is the goal then I would recommend Synthstrom Deluge. Since the 2.0 update you can orchestrate as many bars as you want and the sequencer will stop on a dime as soon as the song has completed.
The TR-8S on the other hand is designed around banks, patterns and variations of a 16 (or less) step sequence. Certainly the og x0x producers were able to make these limitations work for them keeping things spicy for 6+ minute tracks. The TR-8S only expands those limitations by offering more variations, more instruments, sampling, sub steps, faders, fx, scatter, loop step, etcā¦
I think with sequenced drum machines thereās always gonna be an expected amount of rhythmic repetition so I donāt see what the big deal is anyway.
Live dangerously and program that stuff on the fly!
Cheers
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Well, no actually, the 808 has ātrack writeā up to 768 Measures, you click the pattern you want it to play at the time you want, then it goes to the variation you have set, then you would choose the next patterns and write a track. Thatās what track mode was on the 808. Then you play the whole track through.
The 606 has track write - it lets you choose any of the 16 patterns and string them into a track. The 909 had 896 bars , 707 - 998 bars ,727, 626, 505 - 423 bars , all had excellent track write modes.
So, mostly no, they were programming their tracks and recording them in. Only the 808 used the pattern/variation paradigm.
I know because I have all the x0x except for the 626 and 727.
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I think both devices are good but at the same time think all the wigs at these companies are starting to forget the VISION!!!
My bad thanks for explaining. Boo TR-8S song mode 
08 is nothing but a good and common drummachineā¦takt is way beyond thatā¦simple as thatā¦
but if ur not experienced with elektron workflow yet, faster results defenitly waiting for u in that roland copy of a copy thingā¦