Same. My first two pieces of gear were a TR-505 and Korg 707. I learned so much from that TR-505. Sadly, mine was stolen from me over 30 years ago. I bought one in pristine condition off eBay several years ago just to keep for nostalgia sake.
Our band's first drum machine... what a little beauty!! It sounded great and was a dream to program. The band used to play 'Blue Monday' and I can remember programming the entire song's drum track on it. Our vocalist was an electronic tech and he modified it to have a dedicated trigger-out click so we were able to sync it up to my SH-101's CV-in ... very DIY but very effective. A great drum machine for sure 🙂
Owned one in 1986, bought from Soho Soundhouse in London who increased the price in their 'Sounds' magazine advert from £225.00 to £249.00 that we didn't know about, I just about had scraped together £225.00 and managed to negotiate with the music store to get it at the lower price for cash. Nice drum machine and could run on batteries too.
I once was asked by a gospel group to help them secure a drum machine, because they wanted to produce their own backing tracks. I saw the TR -505 and thought that it would be an economical and good sounding solution. When I presented it to the group, they didn't like it. They wanted something more along the lines of the Roland R8. I felt bad, so I offered to buy it from them so they wouldn't be out any money. I still have it to this day, and I still love it and it's punchy sound!
The TR-505 was my first drum machine. I modded it to output all its voices on different channels, which was shockingly easy. I don’t know what happened to it. All I have left is literally the plastic label from the back panel. I found some sample WAVs from it online and built a kit instrument on my EPS 16+. My friend just said “cool… but why didn’t you do a GOOD drum machine?” 😅. But I have a lot of affection for the thing, and like you I’ve gotten good results.
I still have my 505 on a shelf. I bought it new and it was my one and only drum machine, my only drum source, for 4 years. And consequently I can't stand it anymore! Same sounds, same things during 4 years... And I've never though it sounded appropriate for what I wanted to do but it was my only choice, the cheapest. And yes, I had no fancy effects to make it nice and different in this time, just an old 2nd hand Torque spring reverb. What a liberation when I had the money to buy an EPS and an Atari +Creator! You know what, I've never sampled it to make it easily available in my DAW. But I keep it , as a memory from the past 😊
@@t55a2 Well, I'm not sure I would ever sell it, as I said I keep it as a memory of my young age, when I sill had hairs on my head. Furthermore its value is almost nothing today (incidentaly I'm along the Loch Eriboll for my holidays right now but just with a laptop, a tiny keyboard and my SSDs, no TR505 brought for the trip 😁 ) But you'll find a bunch of them for cheap on your local craigslist 😉
My second drum machine (after the Korg DDM-110)! I used it as a sequencer half the time by changing the MIDI notes for the drum sounds and turning the sound off!
I bought my 505 in 1988. IT works today. For me IT was and is a good replace for a 707/727 Combination. The Lack of single Outs was for me never a big problem. I Love the Sound, is a bit more raw compared with a 626.
Oh yes, I agree, the 505 kick is great for synthpop. It's punchier than the 707 kicks. I never paid attention to the 505 as a machine but had some sound samples. I used a 707 instead on four albums. I sampled the sounds and sold it. Thanks for the insight.
I bought a TR-505 in November last year and I also have a TR-707 that I bought in July this year. One thing I like about the TR-505 is that it's percusion sounds have a more "live sound" and it also sounds good if you add live additional live percussion to the mix like a tambourine since the 505 doesn't have a tambourine sound. I do also plan buy a TR-626 at some point next year as the TR-626 has the ability to pitch the sounds. Another thing I like about the TR-505 is the limitation of having just one bass drum, and one snare like with many other drum machines from that era.
I bought one new in '87 and still have it. There is a mod that was in Electronic Musician, as I recall, to add separate outs for the main drums (some sounds share outputs). The only cavate is that the sounds have not been envelope filtered so the direct out sounds are very compressed. But the kick and snare are not bad sounding compressed. I did the mod to my 505 but I don't use the separate outputs that much. I think the kick are snare are one of the best "generic" sounds that can go with so many different genres of music. Its almost a perfect snare sound IMHO.
The 505 was not only my first drum machine in 1986, I also used it as a midi-note sequencer on my Juno106. In essence, the 505 was also my first midi sequencer; and it did have a feel to it.
I used to own a 505 thirty years ago. I used it for a lot of my early demos, in conjunction with a Tascam Porta 2 and a Digitech RP1. I’d sold my original 505, but bought one about five years ago. This one has been circuit bent, but still sounds good when not patched. I’ll definitely be doing some more songs to cassette, using the 505 and the RP1(I have more gear to make full songs this time).
I think we may have had these at school. Just wish when I left in the early 90s I had the brain to ask them if they had any keyboards or drum machines they wanted to get rid of.
I knew you would love the 505. It’s such a Pet Shop Boys drum machine and it’s obvious you are heavily influenced by them. Great sounding drum machine!
That snare is nice and round but still punches 👍. This was great...drums are my weakest skill and I picked up a few tips that I'll be sure to try out in my next production. Thanks Espen.
I like the 505 but I absolutely love the combination of the 707+727 with a 909 Kick mixed with the 707 kick - all personal taste of course but I've always been more of a Roland man than a Linndum :)
20 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
Thanks for the video. BTW, I love your tee shirt! Back in the '80s we owned a Sony Betamax VCR (SL-2500) and had those accompanying Betamax cassettes. What a nice design!
My first drum machine, bought new on consignment. Of course I wanted the 909 but didn’t have the money. I guess the snare sound is good, but not having individual outs sucked. I always hated the hihats. It was not the ideal drum machine for my high-school electro-goth band. I will say I loved the display and it was a breeze to program patterns and songs on. In later years I used it to drive an Alesis DM5 and got all those better Roland sounds finally. It’s the only bit of kit I ever sold off, after I got an Analog Rytm. I do miss that screen!
I had a 505 for a while and liked it. I think I had a Boss DR-110 before and Yamaha RX-11 or 15 after. Then an HR-16 followed by an SR-16 I still have! It’s amazing the SR-16 is still sold new after 34 years, though US$100-150 less expensive now.
Reason has a drum module called Rhytmik. In it, there's a really good Synthwave drum kit that uses TR-505 drum sounds. Sounds AWESOME!! Only downside is that there are no toms
The TR-505 set can also be found in the D-10, D-20, D-110, MT-32 and early E-series keyboards. After this video the price of a TR-505 will go up. But an E-10 or E-20 keyboard can be obtained for almost free. And they add internal reverb for free.
I got one and added the HKA ROM mod which adds DMX, LinnDrum, and LM-1 samples to the TR-505 banks. I believe there’s another mod that lets you also add individual outs…
I’m real curious. In my domicile, there’s a Yamaha RX5 (minus a power supply), a DTX Multi 12 loaded with RX samples and a Roland VR-09 whose drum section includes a 707 kit loaded with the same tones as these 505 tones (making me wonder if the 707’s sounds began life on this machine). Other than the crash cymbal and clap (which are easily 909), the rest of these sounds are similar to the ones uploaded to the Yamaha line, and all of them are synonymous with other PCM-era machines from Linn, Oberheim, E-Mu and Sequential (Circuits). Did all of them have access to the same bank of sampled tones?
The 505 has a great sound set but what you're doing couldn't be achieved with the 505 alone due to stereo only outs. I have a 505 I like it a lot mainly due the sounds but the lack of separate outs and swings lets it down from being great.
@@EspenKraft Yeah to be honest to get the best out the Drum Machine I think 2 have two or 3 in parallel using different sounds on each would be awesome and would be a work around to the lack of outputs. A bit long winded but the way to go if you want to keep it original and hardware only lol.
I think the 505 is too generic mainstream. It sounds like the original drum sounds in the Roland D10 and like the first drums in the GM drumsets later. In other words : Sounds plain and boring to me if you compare it to the LInn Drum machines, the DMX etc. The 505 samples sound too thin and generic to me compared to them. And too real, aka a dry studio drum kit by a played by a not so inspired drummer. But that is me and each to its own...
Boring I wouldn't dare say.The drum sounds leave you with all the possibilities to record separately and set up effects. If you programme everything flat without any accent then it can sound boring but a good producer can turn something small into something fun.
@@NTRSN-Archive That is true for all drum sounds. The factor that separates them is the basic "uneffected" sound. Adding to that it has no separate outs which makes the putting effects on it harder and has no velocity sensitivity when programming on the drum machine itself. It only response to volume over midi, so in reality the only good way to use it to sample the individual sounds and then trigger them in a vst sampler like Kontakt with Midi. And there are so many better foundational sounds the TR-505. Using it as a drum machine alone is pointless for these reasons!
TR-626 owner here! Adds a few more sounds and the samples are tunable
The 626 has one of the most precious snares ever.
@@jairkerker2821 Absolutely!
@@jairkerker2821ah, i just wanted to ask where the difference is
@@janhansen7343 Like the top commenter says, the 626 adds more sounds which are tunable, and one of my favorite feats: seperate outputs!
I own both of them, they sound different. I personally much prefer the TR 505 sounds (that snaaaaare)
My first drum machine. Taught me how to sequence. I still have it today.
Same. My first two pieces of gear were a TR-505 and Korg 707. I learned so much from that TR-505. Sadly, mine was stolen from me over 30 years ago. I bought one in pristine condition off eBay several years ago just to keep for nostalgia sake.
Our band's first drum machine... what a little beauty!! It sounded great and was a dream to program. The band used to play 'Blue Monday' and I can remember programming the entire song's drum track on it. Our vocalist was an electronic tech and he modified it to have a dedicated trigger-out click so we were able to sync it up to my SH-101's CV-in ... very DIY but very effective. A great drum machine for sure 🙂
@@daz4627 Our bands first drum machine too, it was just about affordable! And MIDI !!!!
Great machine and has very good MIDI implementation
We had one at school. It introduced me to grid drum composition.
Owned one in 1986, bought from Soho Soundhouse in London who increased the price in their 'Sounds' magazine advert from £225.00 to £249.00 that we didn't know about, I just about had scraped together £225.00 and managed to negotiate with the music store to get it at the lower price for cash. Nice drum machine and could run on batteries too.
My first drum machine. I can't say I liked the sound then or now but I had a lot of fun with it and learned a lot.
I love my 505. It's super reliable and (as people mentioned) has great MIDI - perfect for small jam sessions.
I once was asked by a gospel group to help them secure a drum machine, because they wanted to produce their own backing tracks. I saw the TR -505 and thought that it would be an economical and good sounding solution. When I presented it to the group, they didn't like it. They wanted something more along the lines of the Roland R8. I felt bad, so I offered to buy it from them so they wouldn't be out any money. I still have it to this day, and I still love it and it's punchy sound!
I love my TR-505! Great video Espen, bravo!
Thanks!
I’ve always loved its snare. I never paid too much attention to it though, due to lack of individual outputs.
What a bassline!
I had the 626 great machine back in 88 😊
The TR-505 was my first drum machine. I modded it to output all its voices on different channels, which was shockingly easy. I don’t know what happened to it. All I have left is literally the plastic label from the back panel.
I found some sample WAVs from it online and built a kit instrument on my EPS 16+. My friend just said “cool… but why didn’t you do a GOOD drum machine?” 😅. But I have a lot of affection for the thing, and like you I’ve gotten good results.
I still have my 505 on a shelf. I bought it new and it was my one and only drum machine, my only drum source, for 4 years. And consequently I can't stand it anymore! Same sounds, same things during 4 years... And I've never though it sounded appropriate for what I wanted to do but it was my only choice, the cheapest. And yes, I had no fancy effects to make it nice and different in this time, just an old 2nd hand Torque spring reverb. What a liberation when I had the money to buy an EPS and an Atari +Creator! You know what, I've never sampled it to make it easily available in my DAW. But I keep it , as a memory from the past 😊
If you decide to sell it, let me know. Be up for buying it (Scotland)
@@t55a2 Well, I'm not sure I would ever sell it, as I said I keep it as a memory of my young age, when I sill had hairs on my head. Furthermore its value is almost nothing today (incidentaly I'm along the Loch Eriboll for my holidays right now but just with a laptop, a tiny keyboard and my SSDs, no TR505 brought for the trip 😁 ) But you'll find a bunch of them for cheap on your local craigslist 😉
@@FLH3official Haven’t seen any on sale here in Argyll & Bute, but if you change your mind, I’d be very interested.
@@FLH3official We don’t have Craigslist here, sadly. You’re in France, by the looks of it
@@t55a2 Yes, Burgundy (when I'm not on holidays in Scotland, BTW I love your country)
Amazing vid, Espen. As someone who frequently needs help processing my hardware drum machines, this vid is invaluable. You're a treasure, sir.
Happy you liked it.
Just beatiful.
The claps are superb
My second drum machine (after the Korg DDM-110)! I used it as a sequencer half the time by changing the MIDI notes for the drum sounds and turning the sound off!
I bought my 505 in 1988. IT works today. For me IT was and is a good replace for a 707/727 Combination. The Lack of single Outs was for me never a big problem. I Love the Sound, is a bit more raw compared with a 626.
I use the 505 regularly in my tracks, I use a lot of EQ but its a amazing little machine :)
Oh yes, I agree, the 505 kick is great for synthpop. It's punchier than the 707 kicks. I never paid attention to the 505 as a machine but had some sound samples. I used a 707 instead on four albums. I sampled the sounds and sold it. Thanks for the insight.
Sounds great Espen!
I bought a TR-505 in November last year and I also have a TR-707 that I bought in July this year.
One thing I like about the TR-505 is that it's percusion sounds have a more "live sound" and it also
sounds good if you add live additional live percussion to the mix like a tambourine since the 505
doesn't have a tambourine sound. I do also plan buy a TR-626 at some point next year as the TR-626
has the ability to pitch the sounds. Another thing I like about the TR-505 is the limitation of having
just one bass drum, and one snare like with many other drum machines from that era.
Very nice & musical drum pattern!
I bought one new in '87 and still have it. There is a mod that was in Electronic Musician, as I recall, to add separate outs for the main drums (some sounds share outputs). The only cavate is that the sounds have not been envelope filtered so the direct out sounds are very compressed. But the kick and snare are not bad sounding compressed. I did the mod to my 505 but I don't use the separate outputs that much. I think the kick are snare are one of the best "generic" sounds that can go with so many different genres of music. Its almost a perfect snare sound IMHO.
The 505 was not only my first drum machine in 1986, I also used it as a midi-note sequencer on my Juno106. In essence, the 505 was also my first midi sequencer; and it did have a feel to it.
I've always loved the kick on this thing, but if you REALLY want to have fun you have to circuit bend it. Adding pitch control is a game changer!
I used to own a 505 thirty years ago. I used it for a lot of my early demos, in conjunction with a Tascam Porta 2 and a Digitech RP1. I’d sold my original 505, but bought one about five years ago. This one has been circuit bent, but still sounds good when not patched. I’ll definitely be doing some more songs to cassette, using the 505 and the RP1(I have more gear to make full songs this time).
I think we may have had these at school. Just wish when I left in the early 90s I had the brain to ask them if they had any keyboards or drum machines they wanted to get rid of.
I knew you would love the 505. It’s such a Pet Shop Boys drum machine and it’s obvious you are heavily influenced by them. Great sounding drum machine!
Great sound!
That snare is nice and round but still punches 👍.
This was great...drums are my weakest skill and I picked up a few tips that I'll be sure to try out in my next production.
Thanks Espen.
Cheers!
The 505 sounds great. I have a D10 synth which has very similar drum sounds, I use those all the time
00:46 Your 30 second demo song sounds better than 99.999% of the stuff produced today...
I like the 505 but I absolutely love the combination of the 707+727 with a 909 Kick mixed with the 707 kick - all personal taste of course but I've always been more of a Roland man than a Linndum :)
Thanks for the video. BTW, I love your tee shirt! Back in the '80s we owned a Sony Betamax VCR (SL-2500) and had those accompanying Betamax cassettes. What a nice design!
Thanks! I have my HiFI Betamax right here. It's from 1985 and I use it to record/master audio with it, just as i did in the late 80s before DAT.
somehow the drumtrack reminded me of an intro to Frankie Goes to Hollywood :D
My first drum machine, bought new on consignment. Of course I wanted the 909 but didn’t have the money. I guess the snare sound is good, but not having individual outs sucked. I always hated the hihats. It was not the ideal drum machine for my high-school electro-goth band. I will say I loved the display and it was a breeze to program patterns and songs on. In later years I used it to drive an Alesis DM5 and got all those better Roland sounds finally. It’s the only bit of kit I ever sold off, after I got an Analog Rytm. I do miss that screen!
I had a 505 for a while and liked it. I think I had a Boss DR-110 before and Yamaha RX-11 or 15 after. Then an HR-16 followed by an SR-16 I still have! It’s amazing the SR-16 is still sold new after 34 years, though US$100-150 less expensive now.
I got a TR-505 round 1989, should have kept it. Also there was an article, I believe in EM about 1991 showing a hack for making individual outs.
Reason has a drum module called Rhytmik. In it, there's a really good Synthwave drum kit that uses TR-505 drum sounds. Sounds AWESOME!! Only downside is that there are no toms
I'm reminded of "We're up all night to get lucky"
It has perhaps the best ever open hat.
The TR-505 set can also be found in the D-10, D-20, D-110, MT-32 and early E-series keyboards. After this video the price of a TR-505 will go up. But an E-10 or E-20 keyboard can be obtained for almost free. And they add internal reverb for free.
Great. This my video as a lover of 80s drum machines. Have you ever heard of the Protrcker on the Commodore Amiga? There are many similarities.
Yes I have. I was never interested in tracker software. That was never used in pro music studios.
@@EspenKraftI understand. Yes, for commercial studio production this software is not the first choice. It‘s more for hobby productions. 😁
Great T-shirt! Prefer my 505 to 626 and 707 any day
Man it was so hard to get those back in 1986. I tried to order one to synch with my Juno 60 but had to settle for a DR220a model.
I loved my tr505. Used it as a sequencer. But it sounded great too. Still cheap!
I got one and added the HKA ROM mod which adds DMX, LinnDrum, and LM-1 samples to the TR-505 banks. I believe there’s another mod that lets you also add individual outs…
I have an R8. I´d like to have an TR505
Good for Chicago House also
I think the similar Boss DR-220A sounds slightly better than the 505, but of course it lacks MIDI.
I’m real curious. In my domicile, there’s a Yamaha RX5 (minus a power supply), a DTX Multi 12 loaded with RX samples and a Roland VR-09 whose drum section includes a 707 kit loaded with the same tones as these 505 tones (making me wonder if the 707’s sounds began life on this machine). Other than the crash cymbal and clap (which are easily 909), the rest of these sounds are similar to the ones uploaded to the Yamaha line, and all of them are synonymous with other PCM-era machines from Linn, Oberheim, E-Mu and Sequential (Circuits). Did all of them have access to the same bank of sampled tones?
Great vid Espen as usual. Please tell what was used for the bass instrument sound.
Thanks. It originally came from Nexus.
I just got one today for $150 I'm ecstatic
Is it just me or does anyone else annoy others pointing out Roland drum machines in songs as they're playing?😬
Just wondering what you mean't by more suited to streaming or digital recording?
I'll make a video about it.
I regret getting rid of mine
last
Did you sequence the bass? If so what sequencer did you use?
It's all done inside the DAW.
Why did you bother to cover the TR505 episode when you have the TR626?
I have neither.
Where do you get your t-shirts ? (serious question)
I get them online as everyone else I guess. ;-)
@@EspenKraft Ha ha ha ! Top secret then.
Not really, but I get them in many different places. T-shirtgrill is one of them.
@@EspenKraft Thanks. Keep up the good work !
What version of Nuendo is that? Thanks
4
@@EspenKraft OK thanks
It resembles Cubase 5, I had a long relationship with Cubase 5. The earlier Cubase/Nuendo environment is so natural to navigate and flexible as well
It is indeed the same as Cubase 5. Running everything on a 20 years old computer running Win7. No updates in 20 years. Never fails.
@@EspenKraft Yes, very stable indeed
The 505 has a great sound set but what you're doing couldn't be achieved with the 505 alone due to stereo only outs. I have a 505 I like it a lot mainly due the sounds but the lack of separate outs and swings lets it down from being great.
Vince Clarke used a 505 live, just for the kick.
@@EspenKraft Yeah to be honest to get the best out the Drum Machine I think 2 have two or 3 in parallel using different sounds on each would be awesome and would be a work around to the lack of outputs. A bit long winded but the way to go if you want to keep it original and hardware only lol.
I have a TR-505 for sale.
I honestly found my 505 in the trash.
😂 Same here. Pulled mine out of a skip. Can’t believe they didn’t try to flog it off at “Roland” prices. Great dumpster dive find.
I think the 505 is too generic mainstream. It sounds like the original drum sounds in the Roland D10 and like the first drums in the GM drumsets later. In other words : Sounds plain and boring to me if you compare it to the LInn Drum machines, the DMX etc. The 505 samples sound too thin and generic to me compared to them. And too real, aka a dry studio drum kit by a played by a not so inspired drummer.
But that is me and each to its own...
Boring I wouldn't dare say.The drum sounds leave you with all the possibilities to record separately and set up effects. If you programme everything flat without any accent then it can sound boring but a good producer can turn something small into something fun.
@@NTRSN-Archive That is true for all drum sounds. The factor that separates them is the basic "uneffected" sound. Adding to that it has no separate outs which makes the putting effects on it harder and has no velocity sensitivity when programming on the drum machine itself. It only response to volume over midi, so in reality the only good way to use it to sample the individual sounds and then trigger them in a vst sampler like Kontakt with Midi.
And there are so many better foundational sounds the TR-505.
Using it as a drum machine alone is pointless for these reasons!
Well, Vince Clarke used a 505 live, just for the kick. Hr could have used anything he wanted, still he chose this one.