Vastly superior. TR-8 was some 808 sounds and some 909 sounds. You are correct about downloadable patches for new sounds, 707, 727, 606, each of which cost money. Only two variations per pattern.
Rudimentary effects.
Wouldn’t suggest it as a purchase.
I paid full price for it only to have the 8-S release two months later.
I bought the 8-S full price too, and it was light years beyond the Tr8.
Different pattern lengths per instrument…
Waaaay more controllable effects and parameters
I can see where @Skorheim is coming from, but yeah, bonking two rocks together to make a beat is pretty immediate as well, but that’s not what comes to mind when I think of “Most Playable Drum Machine”
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It sounds great and is in fact very playable, but I don’t think you can find one under a grand 
Vermona DRM1 MKIV and OT would be a nice match.
They’re discontinued now (the TR-8) so watch ‘em suddenly be expensive and ‘vintage acb’ in a couple of years 
Edit: I love mine btw. For all its simplicity and limitations, you’ll have a groove going in seconds and it sounds great when you just want those classic sounds. (Got the expansion as well)
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Probably not, the lowest I seen one going for was $1200 but second hand units usually range from $1400-1600.
They just suck to configure quickly, haha. I love Perf mode but some days when I’m jamming around and think “I could use a perf pad for this” and start configuring performance pads it starts killing my creativity.
Still, I fucking love the feature and probably need to just use much more often to become 2nd nature.
I also give a +1 on everyone recommending the TR-8S. If you like the sounds it’s extremely playable, making a beat in seconds, kits as well. But if you want to use any feature not directly on the panel (LFO for example and some other sound FX/design tools) it sucks a lot to navigate the menus.
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It’s like sound design, you need dedicated hours/days to do it. Discipline is the key but it’s hard to resist a good Jam.
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Yes, definitely, that’s how I learned most of the features in my Elektron boxes. I think what I wish is a way for the perf pads to record from what I last performed and “save” it as a perf pad. That would make me jam the performance and then store it.
Not easily implementable though, it’d be a kind of “always recording” MIDI like what Live does.
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SP-16 - still overlooked, but great.
especially as very playable drum machine, with the pads, assignable touch strip and filter/drive
As others have said, it really depends on what you mean by “playable.” If you means live finger-drumming, I think it’s probably an MPC or maybe an Sp404 - or if you want to use sticks - maybe a Nord Drum.
For me, the analog Rytm is a very uniquely playable drum machine in the sense that it’s fundamentally tied to a sequencer but the performance features really allow you to use the sequencer while also fluidly improvising/altering the sounds and jumping/modifying sequences. The scenes, performance functions and sequence “jumping” really work together to make it feel like you are “playing” the sequencer.
I agree that you have to kind of separate designing a kit from making a beat or else you get lost/lost steam. What I like about the AR is spending some nights really customizing all the performance details/samples of a kit and then other nights having all these ways to improvise when laying down a track and you really feel like the instrument is your own.
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Yes, drum machine, without or without editable sequencer ? Newer MPC pads seems much better than those I used with MPC 1000, as I tested on a cheap Akai Mini Play. I suppose newer MPCs have at least same quality.
I didn’t have a good experience with AR MKI pads, even with Perf.
The best midi pads I used were on Roland HPD15. A lot of pressure parameters to modulate sounds, per group or not. HPD20 is an improved version.
I think using a good midi pad controller with a drum machine you like for its sounds and sequencer can be a good workaround.
(The most sensible pad I used is the Korg Wavedrum Global, but it can’t be midi sequenced; well, unless you hack it with audio in as I did.)
The Syntakt won in the end, comes on friday. Cant wait!
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I wonder if you got the defective, first generation MPC1000 pads that got redesigned quickly, because the 1000s I’ve used had pads almost as nice as the 90s Akais, and the standalone Akai pad controllers I’ve tried all felt awful in comparison. But I’ve never used the original 1000 pads and they were notorious for being almost unusable.
Hard to overstate the playability of the DrumBrute Impact. Every single UI decision was made in favor of live sequencing.
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Programming wise i think TR-8S is fast and good. Usually you want lay down steps fast adjust levels pan left right and auto choke groups. For outright playability i think Maschine is very good.
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Oh man, I’m interested. What kind of hack did you do / how did you do it ?
I don’t think so for the blue, then I had a black. Same. So it wasn’t first generation. I prefered MPC 2000 pads.
I had an HPD 15 before, which have excellent midi pads. Anything after is deceiving.
Newer AKAI pads are definitely better than MPC 1000s.
…first gen mpc 1000 pads were a desaster…
like apples idea of butterfly keyboards…apple and akai both changed their minds at some point and returned to their older concepts…
most “playable” drum machines remain good old mpc3000/2000…