Roland TR-606 Drumatix Early 1980's USED

Very gently used, early 1980's, in extremely good condition, even comes with the original carrying bag.

Roland’s partner to the TB-303 provided a drummer that you could sling over your shoulder and take with you to that pub gig

Do you remember those rare schoolteachers who seemed to exude effortless style? I was never a guitarist – blame the anguish that the strings inflicted on my fingers – but when I first met the über-cool guitar teacher at my school, he was walking down the corridor with a gigbagged guitar over one shoulder and a TR-606 over the other. It was the perfect fashion accessory, complete with a vinyl-plastic carry case. To be honest, I was more interested in the 606 than the teacher but I couldn’t meet one without the other. Minutes later, I was sat in a music practice room with a pair of headphones on and, for the first time in my life, creating beats using a drum machine.

DRUM MACHINE main panel features 21 push button, 2 selector knobs and 8 knobs.

Back panel terminal connectors:
- mono signal ouput
- headphones
- start pedalswitch input
- din sync at 24 PPQ resolution
- switchtab master / slave
- 2 trigger outputs (tom 1 and tom 2).
 Power supply is external 9V with negative center PSU.

main core CPU NEC D650C-128 (MASK ROM) manages 5 channels each with dedicated volume mixer section. Voiceboard generate 7 instruments: kick, snare, tom (x2), cymbal and open/close hh.

EDIT INTERFACE quite simple with some keystroke, just select and instrument from knob selector and push play. Voilà.

SEQUENCER is based on classic Roland step mode recording or realtime using the tap button. Default signature is set to 16 steps, but the scale selector can modify to wished value.

A few edit functions: cancel, patterns chaining and special accent that can be applied to a whole step but not to an individual sound.

SYNC internal tempo set from 40 to 300 BPM or It is possible to slave the machine using the sync 24 (like tb-303 or mc-202). Another useful synchronisation way is the trigger: simlpy fill the 606 TOM steps and plug it to some synth arpeggiators or simple sequencer like Elka Synthex or Roland Sh-101
When switched off the machine retains the memory if 4 C-size batteries are fitted, and when RUN led begins to flash, it is time to get fresh new batteries! just remember that it is wise to remove them after a long period just to avoid acid leaks.

MEMORY:
- 32 patterns
- 7 songs.