Boss DR-220A
Dr. Rhythm (1987)

 

Compact portable digital drum machine based on 12 bits PCM samples with LCD matrix sequencer.

There were two 220 versions released on the market:
- the "DR220A" version with Acoustic drum samples
- the "DR220E" versin with a more Electronic-oriented drum sample set.

DRUM MACHINE the main panel features a LCD display (no backlit), 16 buttons, 12 pads (no velocity) and a volume slider.
Rear panel terminal connectors:
- mono main out
- headphones out
- trigger I/O (pulse +5V)
Originally the machine came with a plastic silver case (PICTURE).



Power supply is a 9V external PSU PSA-100 DC (- 300mA or 6x 1.5V batteries.

 

 

VOICE main core based on uPD7514g-236 manages 6 channels polyphony, some sounds are channel-shared.
Each voice has a sample assigned a 128 Kb ROM banks with some channel-shared restrictions: for instance you cannot play rimshot and claps at the same time.
You cannot really edit sample but 2 basic parameters:
- Accent (5 levels)
- Mix volume (5 levels).

 

WAVETABLE internal ROM (IC2) contains 11 PCM waves at 12 bits resolution.

kick	snare	hihat
rimshot/clap	hi/low/mid tom	crash/ride cymbal

 

SEQUENCER internal 32 ROM patterns onboard with common style rhythms like rock, bossnova, samba, disco, electropop ... but It is also possibile to record your user patterns in 2 modes :
- realtime (with tap button)
- step mode.
Some limited edit functions like copy patterns and delete/ insert note.
SYNC internal tempo range from 40 to 250 BPM or slave-synched to external analog Trigger.
TIP: trigger signal is able to control 1 sound.

MODIFICATION not much aroung about classic cheap Circuit bending, check out video below:

 

MEMORY:
- 32 presets rhythm patterns
- 32 free slots
- song max 256 bars.

 

RELATED FAMILY:

	Boss DR-220E is the "sister" quite the same but with different ROM wavetable more oriented to Simmons-like analog sounds, which make it more sought-after VIDEO
	Other classic DR drum machines: - DR55 analog - Dr110 analog

 

VST PLUGIN / SAMPLED VERSION there are some free and commercial samples set:

name price link demo Machines hyperreal FREE sample set n/a

AUDIO DEMO

factory All samples audition Various patterns Dr220 sampled by Akai MPC60

Soundcloud Boss DR-220A

VIDEO CLIP SELECTION Demo 1 demo2 demo3