VOICE
machine handles 6 channels polyphony based on PCM
samples.
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No display, straightforward: select a
rhythm and press Start. Cool eh? |
SAMPLES
11 PCM samples coded at 8 bits resolution: kick,
snare, tomtom (x2), rimshot, hihats, claves, bongo,
agogo, handclaps and cymbals. Sounds are
sampled from real drums and are pretty short on memory,
only volume can be changed.
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Too
bad there's no pitch/decay |
EPROM
MEMORY
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M2732A.
EPROM NMOS 32K |
RHYTHM there are 64 preset
patterns on
4 banks: quite all kind of music styles are there e.g
rock, disco, samba, jazz, bossanova, slow, tarantella,
rhythm and blues and more - sadly patterns cannot
be edited but they do have 3 minor variation controls:
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- 3
cancel modes for Bongo/Conga, Agogo,
Claves/Cowbell
- pattern break
- 2 Claps fill modes.
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hear funky rock pattern
SYNC the trigger option syncs
analog machines like other drum machines or synthesizers
arpeggiators.
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I tried to
slave both R64 and Roland
Juno-60 and worked
flawless. Note that you can change the OUT
dividers
values on the back
panel switch to match the wished tempo.
Juno60-R64 Sync on the DEMO section.
This function allows to make some pretty
interesting and fun jam session with many
compatible hardware, and best of all, the
timing is perfect, much more better than
classic Midi clock.
two
synched machine! click on pic to magnify
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TECH
The R64 is very difficult to repair, quite impossible
for now.
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R64 motherboard The R64 voice
board is wrapped in a black resin block,
probably a protection from copyright-thieves
but this does not help any technical repairs
for sure. - click to magnify
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typical issues are buttons that need cleaning
as well as pots.
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RELATED FAMILY:
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Model PCM64 and
PCM64S are quite similar with
just some minor differences on the board, but
they do sound the same.
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GALLERY:
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Viscount R64
S PCM with friends: Tr909
tb303,
tr606
and ultimate sound DS-4 Tokyo Gakki |