Having both I find myself to use the good old TR8 much more often. Although I wish to have some of the TR8S features in it the TR8 is so much more hands on. I never get that "come on, lets jam" feeling on the TR8s. For me the TR8s is more a rebellious production tool that needs a lot of effort and time to tame. Just the fact that there is no real empty patch/pattern by default or the lots of actions to copy an track or to select instruments starring at the display steals me a lot of fun and motivation. On the other hand the TR8 is a one of a kind "turn on and go" toy to have fun fun fun. Simple but good. If I had to choose i would keep the TR8.
"the tr8s has all the tr8 has - and more" That is simply not true. The tr8 has for the bassdrum and snare 4 knobs, the tr8s has only 3 for these important sounds. And there is a most interessting feature of the TR8: you can set reverb and delay per step. the TR8s has only reverb and delay per instrument. The Scatter function is also much more accessable on the TR8, as the side chaining. You have to do LOOOTS of Menu diving in the new tr8s. And this is a big point in restricting your creativity! TR8 is nearly all hands on. You come very fast to goals. Meanwhile the Tr8s user are still menu diving to decide what that ridiculous crtl-knob should be doing. Think of that.
Quick tip: If you keep the ctrl select set to User, you can hold down ctrl select and turn the ctrl knob for each instrument to select additional parameters.
@@thedrumunkeyas Nu-Trix explains in the video, you can assign different parameters to the CTRL Knob including a User parameter. If you set it to User, you can then hold down the CTRL select button and turn the CTRL knob that you want to assign a parameter to. Many more parameters will be available doing it like that.
Ahhh. OK, I misread or something. I thought you were saying it could be used like a "learn"... I.e. hold ctrl and wiggle a control, but I see it shows up in menu to be chosen. My learn idea would be better. :)
well TR8S is a sampler/sequencer, almost like a groovebox... can load any kind of sound, has multiple sound engines, a screen, menue diving, ... TR8 is a (classic) hands on drummachine... basically a cheaper (and not so analogue) copy of an 808 combined with a 909 and some added digital fx... There, saved you 22 minutes of your life :D
Hey Nu-Trix. Good to see you back on TH-cam! What do you think about the individual knobs for attack, decay etc on the TR8 versus one control knob + menu diving on the TR8S?
Totally agree about manuals WTF I ordered 3 pieces of gear and now I have to spend my life watching yt since the manuals are useless..... Rant over. Great video I'm going to be saving for the 8s. Just started toying with synthesis.
The dedicated trig out has its own track and can only be a trigger. The other tracks can be either trig or audio or both and are limited to the 6 ext outputs.
If I didnt have an MC101 and Maschine I would consider an upgrade but I'm covered for drum kits and only bought the original TR8 as a dedicated Roland classic drum machine which is enough for me.
The TR8 couldnt compete with Digitakt, so I went for that in the day. Now the TR8S is a newer unit, and bought one. Running my Moog Subsequent through and it grooves very well. Still got the Digitakt.
I would be very conflicted about 'upgrading' from my tr-8 to the tr-8s. The extra memory for kits and patterns are a huge selling point, but here are some quick observations that aren't very obvious from the video.. Bass Drum and Snare drum have lost their comp & attack knobs, but I guess the control knob can be purposed to do those functions, via the little window, but seems a bit clunky. Reverb & Delay have lost their step buttons, but I guess also somewhere in that little window for setting? Reverb also lost it's Time & Gate knobs. Sidechain is completely removed?
You are right in the fact that the TR-8 it much hands on than the TR-8S. It’s a trade off of power over ease of use. I personably only use it at home , not In a live setting.
@@Nu-trix That is kind of what I suspected, and yet it is included in the 'Aira' range, which for me seemed to be ( mostly ) very performance / live related, for the original line-up :/ Edit: except the Sys-1, which Is possibly the worse purchase I've made, for that eco-system.
I own a Roland V Drums TD30, do I really miss something from the TR8? I’m using my module mainly for 909 and 808 sounds and the many percussions on board like shakers, congas, djembe, etc. I’m producing Deep House and Afro House.
If the TD30 works for you…. It the right thing. The TR-8 is a drum machine and does not have any drum trigger input to be play by a live drummer. If you want to control in real time the playing of the drum machine : creating patterns and change sound parameters in real time, then the TR8 is a good choice.
@@Nu-trix Thanks a lot, in fact I’m triggering and programming my TD30 module from Polyend SEQ or from the daw. My question was more related with sounds choice and sound quality comparison.
I was thinking about getting one of these for their classic rhythm and sample sounds. I've used ableton for 15 years but I feel like the sound from a drum machine is pretty tough to replicate. If I were to just use this box to create grooves and import the rhythms and sounds into Ableton, do you think the TR-8 is more in line with my needs?
The TR-8 is more a performance drum machine. The sound engine of the Tr-8 is found in the TR-8s. If you just want to program patterns with TR sound engine . It the same that you can find in the Roland Cloud TR-808, -909, 606 and… plug-ins.
The interest of having an hardware dedicated music device is mostly the instant access to sounds. The longevity of it. The autonomous use of that device. It works by itself!
I have a quick question for you please sir. An external mono mixer just with volume controls. Do you think if I keep the volume low I could use it on the external inputs on the tr8 please. Thank you very much any help would be thoroughly appreciated
@@Nu-trix thank I most definitely agreed with the powered speakers part. Just make sure I keep the volume low. I always appreciate that you always answer my questions. I know I don't ask a lot, but thank you. Nice to find genuine people on social media :-)
The manual are much better online or PDF from roland. i bought the MC-707 and found a similar book. but only 4 pages of english along with 10 other languages. (book was about 50 pages) I love their equipment. Unfortunately learning all the different features takes much online searching to learn independently.
Yea, the actual manual is still a PDF. What he had in his hands is the start-up guide, basically exactly what he was saying about “this button does this” etc. A feature list, safety warnings, stuff like that. There are 8 languages, actual guide is like 24 pages.
I travelled all the way from Cornwall about a year ago to London on a train (No bother as I get free travel as ex railway) to pick up a TR8 I bought on Ebay. Of course not long after I started to wish I'd waited or saved the extra for the S version. Fortunately TR8's seem to sell quite well still at reasonably high prices. I'm just working up the courage & hope to remain determined to hang onto the money I gain from sale exclusively to put towards the S & not be tempted to use it for something else. Unfortunately I lost a major source of income since I bought the TR8 so not so confident in raising the balance between the two.
Thank you for the video. Have been thinking of my first drum machine for some time, and was trying to choose, but leaning towards Roland. Right now Roland is having a special on the TR-8 or maybe it’s being discontinued, but basically $200 off.. so $299 November 2018. I might just have to get one and try it out.
What about the mc101 / 707? Can they hold a candle to the tr8s? I don't have either. But if I bought a 707, let's say, would I need to even consider a tr8s? Is there anything it can do that the 707 can't?
I had the 8 and liked it but I still can’t understand why so big? I’d love to have the 8s 2 But same problem- So I got the 6s ... What I’m whining about is :! Doesn’t seem the added size Matches the added functionality
@@Nu-trix oh fast answer! Thx ! TR8 190€ + 10€ ''shipping" The TR8 look like a new one (in pictures) and the 7x7 expansion is already in the TR8. Good price or?
Tr-8 is much more instant, all the controls have a knob. There is no menu, whereas tr-8s got more going on soundwise, samples and fm on top of tr8 sounds. But to get there you need to use menu. On top of that tr-8 got 2 variations per pattern(16patterns total) where as tr8s has 8 variations per pattern and more patterns afaik. Depends on your needs really
@Unknown Nordic Dont know the right answer for you, unfortunately, i tend to flip gear quite often myself. Generally, if you use and like to use alot of something, better not sell even when urge hits... I've been listening stuff i made with mc707 when i had one, briefly. I really like the sound of the kits, for me they sound like a "record". Generally it was very fun box, kind of like jv series with a sequencer. However i didnt like that the custom presets were stored in projects. Felt kinda like an aftertought. But it has great all around sounds i think, perhaps experimental too, but i found the interface clunky to create synth sounds. For the record ive been lately just using push and ableton for making drums/loops. Its the most convenient i think, given that everything just lives inside ableton for future. I have digitone and octatrack, i use digitone for basses, chords and such. I feed drums and stuff into octatrack mainly as 4bar loops and i can play then with no computer like that. I've also been experimenting with dj mixer and a looper for mixing ideas together into set of some sort. I did "lose" alot of time, ideas, and work using all hardware given that i didnt record everything, thats why im lately been making stuff mainly on laptop. YMMV, though. I think new mpc/force is probably best option if you want to stay out of laptop, I used to have a mpc live before it got the big updates, external soundcard and multichannel midi. It was great then as a sampler/groovebox, its probably amazing now. TLDR: i kinda would like to stick mc101 to the mix but its probably a bit too clunky to operate for me.
@Unknown Nordic Good luck however it goes. I think its a never ending process, and options are so vast now, should just find what fits and stay off youtube/synth news :) I never had an old mpc, but i had studio mk1 that i loved.. it mimics mpc1k i think? Anyway, pretty straightforward, not weird limitations like sequence length and you could create everything in it pretty much. Nowdays the trend in grooveboxes seems to be selling pieces of gear, rather than full system. Minus newMPC series which does kind of too much even. Elektrons are cool but word of warning! You will be stuck in the 4 bar limit pretty much. For example,if i want to get 8 bar quantized recording in, i halve the bpm (120->60) which in my case is not a problem but its obviously a compromise. After that i can double the sample bpm and bring it back, no problem. Also octatrack is a bit old, especially effects, but they are still usable. Might feel like a downgrade from force though. From usability octatrack is technically like a tracker, where you can manipulate sequencer step pretty much however you want, including the sample played. It might feel weird to use at first, sampling for example when you dont know, but after couple of tries its muscle memory. Everything is basically one layer away, or atleast close. BUT I would not get octatrack for playing one shot melodic samples. It doesnt understand midi note length for the audio tracks. I mean when you record notes in, like a bass for example, youd need to set envelope hold and release per trig if you want varied length. Otherwise it will just trig the whole sample/how you have envelope setup. For example digitakt does it no problem, but its such a watered down sampler otherwise, doesnt really cut for me. Octatrack is crazy good for loops, it feels like its made for those rather than one shots. theres auto slicing, also you can modulate slices in various ways, example, set up random lfo to modulate slice number, then set lfo to activate when crossfader is at b, and then you can lock kick for example that it isnt affected. Youve now got "auto fill" that activates by crossfader. Or maybe you did that to a 1 bar loop that youve live resampled from a synth while everything is running, randomizing the pattern on fly. Point is, the creative freedom is vast. Positives and negatives, i guess.
@Unknown Nordic No problem. I totally get it. For loops, i think the next best thing is just ableton. if you got the means to buy one new with a 30day return, see it yourself before selling the force atleast, in case you hate it. Its kinda polarizing piece of gear, but definitely classic one for a reason
Question, do you need to download drivers for the Tr8s and Tb-03 on a Mac in order for it to work? Or should I be able just to plug it in and start jamming
Wondering what you decided to get now it is 2020.......I just got the 8S because I did not want the stuff they produced as of NAMM 2020 to pricy or keyboard heavy. Going MODULAR keeps your options open IMHO A Studio One owner with a LX25 Nektar KB they put out a Panarma P4 for $400 BUT as a Presonus Studio One user DAW with an ADAM PAD. Alturia and other KB's depend on others to figure it out who own a DAW. I am just getting started with a Behringer TD-3 SR for a Bassline Acid thing as syths go. Who Knows what is in store for the future ! Thanks.
A Daw with kontakt factory library has some great sounding drums. You can always buy kits (60, 70, 80, 90, modern ) to suit your style. Also Ezdrummer is great as it has patterns recorded by real drummers, imho 80% of the sound.
Electronic Drum Machines make Electronic Drum Sounds. Older drum machines were focused for Rock, which isnt a huge thing anymore in the landscape. My BOSS DR-550 from 89 i believe does good rhythm and blues and rock.
Alot of 90's hip hop is based on old funk/jazz/blues beats & samples, so you could easily make blues with this, but obviously it would be better if you had a guitar, bass guitar or double bass too.
Great video!! Can the TR-8 do sounds from different kits on each channel? If one downloads the software upgrade to get the 707, 727, etc, will they then be able to have, say, a 909 kick on one track, a 727 shaker on one track, an 808 snare on another track?
Great review, thanks! (To be clearer .... When you say "There are different memories." Each device only has "one memory." Which could then be loaded with different kits, presets, songs, etc ....)
The TR8s can read samples , so any sounds can be played by it. You just need to find the sounds you want and put them on a SD Card to import into the TR8s memory.
First thanks a lot for all your tutorials you've made !!very good quality ! I just by a Tr8s and I don't have the manual (it's a b-stock) i want to know if all the manual is on the roland support (24 pages for one language ) i contact the seller and he send me a paper like my sh-01a or my tr08 i 'm so sad ! if they are more pages i return my tr and I buy a new Thanks a lot for all your job (especially for the missing manual !!) sorry for my english i' m a french guy !
Bonjour Laurent, les manuels de Roland sont disponibles sur les sites de Roland Support. Pour le TR-8s il s’agit d’un manuel type livre et non format « affiche » comme la série Boutique.Tous les manuels sont disponible à cette adresse www.roland.com/global/support/by_product/tr-8s/owners_manuals/ Bonne lecture. Je suis canadien français. ;-)
Super merci je viens juste de voir qu'ils m'ont envoyé celle de la tr8 !! Je les ai recontacter pour avoir une copie de la tr8s c'est quand même la moindre des choses. Moi aussi je préfère le papier au pdf :) :) encore merci pour ton partage je m'attendais vraiment pas à avoir un retour si rapide ça me confirmer juste que t'es un sacré passionné et c'est cool ça aide !!
🎶🎶 Hey Nu, thanks for the video! I’m in the process of building a home studio/live rig and have a few questions please... Is the TR-8S touch pad touch-sensitive/dynamic? Or is the “accent” feature the primary way to control dynamics? Also, wondering if you can customize a kit by using one kit’s snare and another’s hi-hat and another’s kick, and so forth? Would that be achieved in the computer card programming process? Also, perhaps most importantly to me, can you punch in a snare live w/out it automatically quantizing it into the sequenced meter? I love the sound of a tightly timed electronic drum beat but I also like to have my snares feel a bit late and “lazy” so the track can have a kind of retro soul/in-the-pocket groove. I feel that if I swing out my whole drum pattern in one swoop, it loses the tightly sequenced drum feel I also like - so I find there’s something to be said about the relationship between an electronic drum sound’s tight rhythm PAIRED with a “live” sense of timing on a part of the drum section in a track. That juxtaposition and contrast in both the rhythmic vibe and the approaches of our creative musical process is very interesting. We all seemingly work hybrid (outboard/in-the-box) now a days, so why not have our rhythms be hybrid too?! 😉 I digress...but yeah, I’d love to see you do a video on this idea or comment further on electronic music today and how we can utilize the human touch in our music and the aesthetic of a “hybrid” musicality. Thanks so very much for your time! 🎶🎵🎶
Hi Nu-Trix! I love your videos! Probably a noob question, but do you know if the TR-8S plays nicely with a Juno-60 in terms of triggering its arp clock?
The MC-909 is a complete gooveboox including a complete synth and sampler playback in a dedicated sequence. The only reason for you to have a TR-8S would be for the orignal TR sounds. If that is what you crave than a used TR-8 might be a better solution.
Tr8 is tard more purist feel and far more instant. Tr8s has better sound tho. I have both as im a roland junkie running em thru my jdxa and mc909 they become animals especially the tr8
I have tr8. Oh I hate that cheapish and mediocre build/looks quality. But it sounds and plays way to good for the price)) I wonder how is tr8s to the touch ?
Actually, there is scatter on the TR-8s. It is hidden inside the menu. Not as easy to access. Here is a link where they explain how to use it : www.reddit.com/r/synthesizers/comments/8ahhld/tip_for_tr8s_users_regarding_scatter/?
What about a video showing how to record into a DAW. Been trying to get sound coming out of Ableton for about a week now. I feel so dumb but I swear I have tried different DAWs and non worked. I think I’m not routing it right but I have been doing what others have posted on TH-cam and it has worked for them. I’m lost
Just like the rest of the TR series they are not made to played as a drumpad but more aimed at programming drum. You can always connect a pad controller of you choice via MIDI and play it live.
Hi. I think an exact A/B comparisons between the two would be very interesting! Such comparison can't be found anywhere, and Roland claims that the ACB engine has been improved. Some members of the TR-8S group on FB claim the TR-8S has a better BD and hats, but there is no complete answer available anywhere. It should be interesting to check this out!
From the info I got directly from a Roland product Specialist, the TR-8S includes the TR-8 models and new ones created for the TR-8s. ex.: 808 Bass 1 (for TR-8s) 808 Bass2 (from TR-8) I don't know how many new ones there is. One thing is clear the TR-8s has more models to choose from.
@@Nu-trix I also asked this to a Roland guy (i can look his name up if you want to - he does a lot TR8-S workshops). He claims it has both the original models (TR-8, the Bass 1 variant), and the new versions that are also being used for the TR-08 (which is much newer!). On top of that, there are customized versions of the 808 kick (long ..) and 909 (909 attack bass). He could not confirmed if what degree the actual ACB engine was improved, but it is (as Roland claims, but not in detail). This is very plausible though. I also hear people say the TR-8S sounds has better BD's (that's understandable if Roland included the TR-08 and tweaked versions), but i also heard the hat department is better on the TR-8S. So there is a lot of information out there. Since years have passed between the two TR-8's, there might be overal improvements worth investigation instead assuming they sound the same, which from what i hear, is not exactly the case. It's really hard to find/get info on this subject! The engine has been improved, so that triggers my curiosity :) Some kind of detailed A/B test would be awesome i think. It just doesn't exist.
Having both I find myself to use the good old TR8 much more often. Although I wish to have some of the TR8S features in it the TR8 is so much more hands on. I never get that "come on, lets jam" feeling on the TR8s. For me the TR8s is more a rebellious production tool that needs a lot of effort and time to tame. Just the fact that there is no real empty patch/pattern by default or the lots of actions to copy an track or to select instruments starring at the display steals me a lot of fun and motivation. On the other hand the TR8 is a one of a kind "turn on and go" toy to have fun fun fun. Simple but good. If I had to choose i would keep the TR8.
"the tr8s has all the tr8 has - and more"
That is simply not true. The tr8 has for the bassdrum and snare 4 knobs, the tr8s has only 3 for these important sounds. And there is a most interessting feature of the TR8: you can set reverb and delay per step. the TR8s has only reverb and delay per instrument. The Scatter function is also much more accessable on the TR8, as the side chaining. You have to do LOOOTS of Menu diving in the new tr8s. And this is a big point in restricting your creativity! TR8 is nearly all hands on. You come very fast to goals. Meanwhile the Tr8s user are still menu diving to decide what that ridiculous crtl-knob should be doing. Think of that.
There have been some updates to the TR-8S which add FM synthesis and a software editor.
Yes. And it’s great!
Yeah it is sweet
Very informative thank you.
Thank You for the info
Quick tip: If you keep the ctrl select set to User, you can hold down ctrl select and turn the ctrl knob for each instrument to select additional parameters.
Wait.. What?
@@thedrumunkeyas Nu-Trix explains in the video, you can assign different parameters to the CTRL Knob including a User parameter. If you set it to User, you can then hold down the CTRL select button and turn the CTRL knob that you want to assign a parameter to. Many more parameters will be available doing it like that.
@Funt Cace sweet, I got skillz!
Ahhh. OK, I misread or something. I thought you were saying it could be used like a "learn"... I.e. hold ctrl and wiggle a control, but I see it shows up in menu to be chosen. My learn idea would be better. :)
@@thedrumunkeythat's what midi controllers are for :)
But what about the dedicated reverb gate knob on the TR-8? It’s the only thing keeping me from upgrading to the 8S 🤓
well TR8S is a sampler/sequencer, almost like a groovebox... can load any kind of sound, has multiple sound engines, a screen, menue diving, ... TR8 is a (classic) hands on drummachine... basically a cheaper (and not so analogue) copy of an 808 combined with a 909 and some added digital fx...
There, saved you 22 minutes of your life :D
Also, you have the computer TR EDITOR on the TR-8S. also this new 2.5 firmware gives you FM synthesis
Наконец то, хоть какой-то внятный обзор на железку. Спасибо большое 👍
Great stuff !
15:43 oh wow I thought I'd never hear these sound again - classic :D
Hey Nu-Trix. Good to see you back on TH-cam!
What do you think about the individual knobs for attack, decay etc on the TR8 versus one control knob + menu diving on the TR8S?
yes i was wondering the same thing... in terms of the obvious less knobs per individual track on tr8
Totally agree about manuals WTF I ordered 3 pieces of gear and now I have to spend my life watching yt since the manuals are useless..... Rant over. Great video I'm going to be saving for the 8s. Just started toying with synthesis.
Hi Nu-Trix, what is the difference between the DEDICATED trig out and assigning one of the individual outs as a trigger ?
✌️ love your work !!
The dedicated trig out has its own track and can only be a trigger. The other tracks can be either trig or audio or both and are limited to the 6 ext outputs.
Thanks for the quick reply.
If I didnt have an MC101 and Maschine I would consider an upgrade but I'm covered for drum kits and only bought the original TR8 as a dedicated Roland classic drum machine which is enough for me.
The TR8 couldnt compete with Digitakt, so I went for that in the day. Now the TR8S is a newer unit, and bought one.
Running my Moog Subsequent through and it grooves very well.
Still got the Digitakt.
which do you prefer more? live use?
i love the tr8s and this handbook like 90s
I would be very conflicted about 'upgrading' from my tr-8 to the tr-8s. The extra memory for kits and patterns are a huge selling point, but here are some quick observations that aren't very obvious from the video..
Bass Drum and Snare drum have lost their comp & attack knobs, but I guess the control knob can be purposed to do those functions, via the little window, but seems a bit clunky.
Reverb & Delay have lost their step buttons, but I guess also somewhere in that little window for setting? Reverb also lost it's Time & Gate knobs.
Sidechain is completely removed?
You are right in the fact that the TR-8 it much hands on than the TR-8S. It’s a trade off of power over ease of use. I personably only use it at home , not In a live setting.
@@Nu-trix That is kind of what I suspected, and yet it is included in the 'Aira' range, which for me seemed to be ( mostly ) very performance / live related, for the original line-up :/
Edit: except the Sys-1, which Is possibly the worse purchase I've made, for that eco-system.
I was going to sell or trade my TR-8 but I decided to keep both after I watching Jeff Mills use two 909's live.(practice,practice,practice)
All of that is in the TR editor application. Also this has FM SYNTH
@@Nu-trix TR EDITOR will change your experience. Update firmware 2.5
hey, thanks for the review. short question: the TR-8 has Time & Gate for reverb. does the TR-8s the same?
I own a Roland V Drums TD30, do I really miss something from the TR8? I’m using my module mainly for 909 and 808 sounds and the many percussions on board like shakers, congas, djembe, etc. I’m producing Deep House and Afro House.
If the TD30 works for you…. It the right thing. The TR-8 is a drum machine and does not have any drum trigger input to be play by a live drummer. If you want to control in real time the playing of the drum machine : creating patterns and change sound parameters in real time, then the TR8 is a good choice.
@@Nu-trix Thanks a lot, in fact I’m triggering and programming my TD30 module from Polyend SEQ or from the daw. My question was more related with sounds choice and sound quality comparison.
I was thinking about getting one of these for their classic rhythm and sample sounds. I've used ableton for 15 years but I feel like the sound from a drum machine is pretty tough to replicate. If I were to just use this box to create grooves and import the rhythms and sounds into Ableton, do you think the TR-8 is more in line with my needs?
The TR-8 is more a performance drum machine. The sound engine of the Tr-8 is found in the TR-8s. If you just want to program patterns with TR sound engine . It the same that you can find in the Roland Cloud TR-808, -909, 606 and… plug-ins.
you will be more happy with the TR-8 trust me
I wish they could bring an updated version of the Roland R-70
I see compression and attack rotary knobs are on the old one for the bass drum section, where are they on this new one unless I'm missing something?
They are in the menu. You can assign the CTRl knob to it.
how did you do it can you share with me , thank you
What is the difference of having a pc with software and midi controller? I am not shure witch setup go for
The interest of having an hardware dedicated music device is mostly the instant access to sounds. The longevity of it. The autonomous use of that device. It works by itself!
Awesome!Thank you great job!😊
Do they both do 32bit mono samples?
The TR-8 does not play samples at all. It’s. Using ACB algorithms from Roland to recreated the reaction of the original drum machines.
Great video thank you. Shout out to the snowspeeder on the shelf :)
hi! Can you send a metronome to the headphones? without sending it to the main out
I have a quick question for you please sir. An external mono mixer just with volume controls. Do you think if I keep the volume low I could use it on the external inputs on the tr8 please. Thank you very much any help would be thoroughly appreciated
Any line level signal could be send to the TR-8 inputs. Just don’t use amplified outputs for live speakers (something found on some live consoles)
@@Nu-trix thank I most definitely agreed with the powered speakers part. Just make sure I keep the volume low. I always appreciate that you always answer my questions. I know I don't ask a lot, but thank you. Nice to find genuine people on social media :-)
The manual are much better online or PDF from roland. i bought the MC-707 and found a similar book. but only 4 pages of english along with 10 other languages. (book was about 50 pages)
I love their equipment. Unfortunately learning all the different features takes much online searching to learn independently.
Yea, the actual manual is still a PDF. What he had in his hands is the start-up guide, basically exactly what he was saying about “this button does this” etc. A feature list, safety warnings, stuff like that. There are 8 languages, actual guide is like 24 pages.
I travelled all the way from Cornwall about a year ago to London on a train (No bother as I get free travel as ex railway) to pick up a TR8 I bought on Ebay. Of course not long after I started to wish I'd waited or saved the extra for the S version. Fortunately TR8's seem to sell quite well still at reasonably high prices. I'm just working up the courage & hope to remain determined to hang onto the money I gain from sale exclusively to put towards the S & not be tempted to use it for something else. Unfortunately I lost a major source of income since I bought the TR8 so not so confident in raising the balance between the two.
The Tr-8 is still a great drum machine!
Thank you for the video. Have been thinking of my first drum machine for some time, and was trying to choose, but leaning towards Roland. Right now Roland is having a special on the TR-8 or maybe it’s being discontinued, but basically $200 off.. so $299 November 2018. I might just have to get one and try it out.
What about the mc101 / 707? Can they hold a candle to the tr8s?
I don't have either. But if I bought a 707, let's say, would I need to even consider a tr8s? Is there anything it can do that the 707 can't?
They are different beats. Groove Boxes vs Drum machine.
I had the 8 and liked it but I still can’t understand why so big?
I’d love to have the 8s 2
But same problem-
So I got the 6s ...
What I’m whining about is :!
Doesn’t seem the added size
Matches the added functionality
Hi, plz i need help, i can buying the TR8 for 200€ (a little used) that is a good price? Plz i need an answer (sorry for my bad English i m learning)
The price seems good for me. Check local online TR8 for sale to compare.
@@Nu-trix oh fast answer! Thx !
TR8 190€ + 10€ ''shipping"
The TR8 look like a new one (in pictures) and the 7x7 expansion is already in the TR8.
Good price or?
Does the tr8s feature the scatter mode?
How the scatter function and knob is layed out on the TR8 is very intuitive
I does but it is kind of hidden behind a menu.
@@Nu-trix thank you...
I wish there was a scatter knob like the tr8s
I feel like to get TR-8S and sell my TR-8 . but the price of TR-8 is already dropped so much.
i still dont get the main differences between them?
Tr-8 is much more instant, all the controls have a knob. There is no menu, whereas tr-8s got more going on soundwise, samples and fm on top of tr8 sounds. But to get there you need to use menu. On top of that tr-8 got 2 variations per pattern(16patterns total) where as tr8s has 8 variations per pattern and more patterns afaik. Depends on your needs really
@Unknown Nordic Dont know the right answer for you, unfortunately, i tend to flip gear quite often myself. Generally, if you use and like to use alot of something, better not sell even when urge hits...
I've been listening stuff i made with mc707 when i had one, briefly. I really like the sound of the kits, for me they sound like a "record". Generally it was very fun box, kind of like jv series with a sequencer. However i didnt like that the custom presets were stored in projects. Felt kinda like an aftertought. But it has great all around sounds i think, perhaps experimental too, but i found the interface clunky to create synth sounds.
For the record ive been lately just using push and ableton for making drums/loops. Its the most convenient i think, given that everything just lives inside ableton for future.
I have digitone and octatrack, i use digitone for basses, chords and such. I feed drums and stuff into octatrack mainly as 4bar loops and i can play then with no computer like that. I've also been experimenting with dj mixer and a looper for mixing ideas together into set of some sort.
I did "lose" alot of time, ideas, and work using all hardware given that i didnt record everything, thats why im lately been making stuff mainly on laptop.
YMMV, though. I think new mpc/force is probably best option if you want to stay out of laptop, I used to have a mpc live before it got the big updates, external soundcard and multichannel midi. It was great then as a sampler/groovebox, its probably amazing now.
TLDR: i kinda would like to stick mc101 to the mix but its probably a bit too clunky to operate for me.
@Unknown Nordic Good luck however it goes. I think its a never ending process, and options are so vast now, should just find what fits and stay off youtube/synth news :)
I never had an old mpc, but i had studio mk1 that i loved.. it mimics mpc1k i think?
Anyway, pretty straightforward, not weird limitations like sequence length and you could create everything in it pretty much. Nowdays the trend in grooveboxes seems to be selling pieces of gear, rather than full system. Minus newMPC series which does kind of too much even.
Elektrons are cool but word of warning!
You will be stuck in the 4 bar limit pretty much. For example,if i want to get 8 bar quantized recording in, i halve the bpm (120->60) which in my case is not a problem but its obviously a compromise. After that i can double the sample bpm and bring it back, no problem.
Also octatrack is a bit old, especially effects, but they are still usable. Might feel like a downgrade from force though.
From usability octatrack is technically like a tracker, where you can manipulate sequencer step pretty much however you want, including the sample played.
It might feel weird to use at first, sampling for example when you dont know, but after couple of tries its muscle memory. Everything is basically one layer away, or atleast close.
BUT
I would not get octatrack for playing one shot melodic samples. It doesnt understand midi note length for the audio tracks. I mean when you record notes in, like a bass for example, youd need to set envelope hold and release per trig if you want varied length. Otherwise it will just trig the whole sample/how you have envelope setup.
For example digitakt does it no problem, but its such a watered down sampler otherwise, doesnt really cut for me.
Octatrack is crazy good for loops, it feels like its made for those rather than one shots. theres auto slicing, also you can modulate slices in various ways, example, set up random lfo to modulate slice number, then set lfo to activate when crossfader is at b, and then you can lock kick for example that it isnt affected. Youve now got "auto fill" that activates by crossfader. Or maybe you did that to a 1 bar loop that youve live resampled from a synth while everything is running, randomizing the pattern on fly. Point is, the creative freedom is vast.
Positives and negatives, i guess.
@Unknown Nordic No problem. I totally get it. For loops, i think the next best thing is just ableton. if you got the means to buy one new with a 30day return, see it yourself before selling the force atleast, in case you hate it. Its kinda polarizing piece of gear, but definitely classic one for a reason
Question, do you need to download drivers for the Tr8s and Tb-03 on a Mac in order for it to work? Or should I be able just to plug it in and start jamming
You need to download drivers for each.
Because of that video I bought the TR-8S today! :)
Happy it helped you decide.
I will buy it 😮
I kind of like this one then the Arturia
I am so engaged in the conversation. You are talking my language and I am responding like ooooh, aaaah, of course. Etc. Great. So empathetic
you're just st*ned dude...
I'm interested. That's different
Tr8 = 1000x better for performance plus useable scatter knob! Tr8s soo much menu diving..
Yes, the TR-8 is still today one of the best live performance drum machine out there. The layout offers a quick and efficient workflow.
how is your longtime experience of the pots? + are they wobbly or good quality?
The pots are all working normally without noticeable wear.
@@Nu-trix thxxx
Wondering what you decided to get now it is 2020.......I just got the 8S because I did not want the stuff they produced as of NAMM 2020 to pricy or keyboard heavy. Going MODULAR keeps your options open IMHO A Studio One owner with a LX25 Nektar KB they put out a Panarma P4 for $400 BUT as a Presonus Studio One user DAW with an ADAM PAD. Alturia and other KB's depend on others to figure it out who own a DAW. I am just getting started with a Behringer TD-3 SR for a Bassline Acid thing as syths go. Who Knows what is in store for the future ! Thanks.
I finally sold my TR-8 and bought the TR-8S around Christmas time. The TR-8S does everything the TR-8 did and so much more.
6:44 there you go, spotted fellow canadian right there
Born and raised in Montreal
This seems to me to be more in line with Club music, EDM or trap, Rave, are there any of these contraptions that can play rock n roll or blues?
A drummer.....
A Daw with kontakt factory library has some great sounding drums. You can always buy kits (60, 70, 80, 90, modern ) to suit your style. Also Ezdrummer is great as it has patterns recorded by real drummers, imho 80% of the sound.
Electronic Drum Machines make Electronic Drum Sounds. Older drum machines were focused for Rock, which isnt a huge thing anymore in the landscape. My BOSS DR-550 from 89 i believe does good rhythm and blues and rock.
Alot of 90's hip hop is based on old funk/jazz/blues beats & samples, so you could easily make blues with this, but obviously it would be better if you had a guitar, bass guitar or double bass too.
Great video!! Can the TR-8 do sounds from different kits on each channel? If one downloads the software upgrade to get the 707, 727, etc, will they then be able to have, say, a 909 kick on one track, a 727 shaker on one track, an 808 snare on another track?
Yes.
Yes
Great review, thanks! (To be clearer .... When you say "There are different memories." Each device only has "one memory." Which could then be loaded with different kits, presets, songs, etc ....)
Can you use the tr8s for radiohead sounds?
The TR8s can read samples , so any sounds can be played by it. You just need to find the sounds you want and put them on a SD Card to import into the TR8s memory.
@@Nu-trix thank you for getting back to me.....I think I'm gonna buy a tr8s,now that you told me that.✌🏻❤
Go Canada!
First thanks a lot for all your tutorials you've made !!very good quality ! I just by a Tr8s and I don't have the manual (it's a b-stock) i want to know if all the manual is on the roland support (24 pages for one language ) i contact the seller and he send me a paper like my sh-01a or my tr08 i 'm so sad ! if they are more pages i return my tr and I buy a new
Thanks a lot for all your job (especially for the missing manual !!) sorry for my english i' m a french guy !
Bonjour Laurent, les manuels de Roland sont disponibles sur les sites de Roland Support. Pour le TR-8s il s’agit d’un manuel type livre et non format « affiche » comme la série Boutique.Tous les manuels sont disponible à cette adresse www.roland.com/global/support/by_product/tr-8s/owners_manuals/
Bonne lecture. Je suis canadien français. ;-)
Super merci je viens juste de voir qu'ils m'ont envoyé celle de la tr8 !! Je les ai recontacter pour avoir une copie de la tr8s c'est quand même la moindre des choses. Moi aussi je préfère le papier au pdf :) :) encore merci pour ton partage je m'attendais vraiment pas à avoir un retour si rapide ça me confirmer juste que t'es un sacré passionné et c'est cool ça aide !!
I prefer the TR-08 and TR-09 myself.
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🎶🎶 Hey Nu, thanks for the video! I’m in the process of building a home studio/live rig and have a few questions please... Is the TR-8S touch pad touch-sensitive/dynamic? Or is the “accent” feature the primary way to control dynamics? Also, wondering if you can customize a kit by using one kit’s snare and another’s hi-hat and another’s kick, and so forth? Would that be achieved in the computer card programming process? Also, perhaps most importantly to me, can you punch in a snare live w/out it automatically quantizing it into the sequenced meter?
I love the sound of a tightly timed electronic drum beat but I also like to have my snares feel a bit late and “lazy” so the track can have a kind of retro soul/in-the-pocket groove. I feel that if I swing out my whole drum pattern in one swoop, it loses the tightly sequenced drum feel I also like - so I find there’s something to be said about the relationship between an electronic drum sound’s tight rhythm PAIRED with a “live” sense of timing on a part of the drum section in a track. That juxtaposition and contrast in both the rhythmic vibe and the approaches of our creative musical process is very interesting. We all seemingly work hybrid (outboard/in-the-box) now a days, so why not have our rhythms be hybrid too?! 😉 I digress...but yeah, I’d love to see you do a video on this idea or comment further on electronic music today and how we can utilize the human touch in our music and the aesthetic of a “hybrid” musicality. Thanks so very much for your time! 🎶🎵🎶
Late as always but the pad is velocity sensitive
Hi Nu-Trix! I love your videos! Probably a noob question, but do you know if the TR-8S plays nicely with a Juno-60 in terms of triggering its arp clock?
Jeremy C Teter, I never tested it but from what I can find on the Juno 60 specs online, it should.work.
Nu-Trix The Synth Guy thanks!!
I have an MC-909. Do I need a TR-8S? Good vid though. Thanks.
The MC-909 is a complete gooveboox including a complete synth and sampler playback in a dedicated sequence. The only reason for you to have a TR-8S would be for the orignal TR sounds. If that is what you crave than a used TR-8 might be a better solution.
Tr8 is tard more purist feel and far more instant. Tr8s has better sound tho. I have both as im a roland junkie running em thru my jdxa and mc909 they become animals especially the tr8
Great video on a great machine! I love the SE-02 paired with it. I look forward to more videos, check out mine if you find time.
You have some awesome TR-8S vids Unit:E ... thanks for producing them! :)
Unit.E is the TR-8S Sensei.
please cut the first 1:30 min
Why TR-8 is simpler than TR-8S because it doesn't has samples, but is still more beautiful than TR-8S?
For each sounds you have a long list of parameters for editing the sounds in the TR-8s that the TR-8 simply doesn’t have.
Looks like the TR-8 got some new tricks ;-)
If they had only lined up the pads with the corresponding faders on the TR-8S I'd probably want one.
... but there are more pads than faders
I have tr8. Oh I hate that cheapish and mediocre build/looks quality. But it sounds and plays way to good for the price)) I wonder how is tr8s to the touch ?
The Tr-8s feels much more solid than the TR-8 in my experience.
but on the TR8S you haven't a scatter):
Actually, there is scatter on the TR-8s. It is hidden inside the menu. Not as easy to access. Here is a link where they explain how to use it : www.reddit.com/r/synthesizers/comments/8ahhld/tip_for_tr8s_users_regarding_scatter/?
Oh oke thx Nu-Trix for your fast answer 🙏🏻😃
Basically a TR-8S demo
What about a video showing how to record into a DAW. Been trying to get sound coming out of Ableton for about a week now. I feel so dumb but I swear I have tried different DAWs and non worked. I think I’m not routing it right but I have been doing what others have posted on TH-cam and it has worked for them. I’m lost
do you have cables outputting audio to your audio interface?
What is your audio interface? What is connected into it ?
I'm an idiot and just realized that I bought one of these without knowing that every beat has to be quantized. That sucks. Severely limits the device.
I love my TR8 because it's so instant and everyone needs the 909/808 kick. Trust me it sounds gooood. I will trade for the TR8s
I did sell my TR-8 and Keep the TR-8S!
Nu-Trix The Synth Guy I love it. I know you love your TR8S. To me that’s the ultimate drum machine. I want and will have it one day
One velocity pad, haha. What a nerd box! I need at least 8 pads to really have fun making drums. :(
Just like the rest of the TR series they are not made to played as a drumpad but more aimed at programming drum. You can always connect a pad controller of you choice via MIDI and play it live.
Hi. I think an exact A/B comparisons between the two would be very interesting! Such comparison can't be found anywhere, and Roland claims that the ACB engine has been improved. Some members of the TR-8S group on FB claim the TR-8S has a better BD and hats, but there is no complete answer available anywhere. It should be interesting to check this out!
From the info I got directly from a Roland product Specialist, the TR-8S includes the TR-8 models and new ones created for the TR-8s. ex.: 808 Bass 1 (for TR-8s) 808 Bass2 (from TR-8) I don't know how many new ones there is. One thing is clear the TR-8s has more models to choose from.
@@Nu-trix I also asked this to a Roland guy (i can look his name up if you want to - he does a lot TR8-S workshops). He claims it has both the original models (TR-8, the Bass 1 variant), and the new versions that are also being used for the TR-08 (which is much newer!). On top of that, there are customized versions of the 808 kick (long ..) and 909 (909 attack bass). He could not confirmed if what degree the actual ACB engine was improved, but it is (as Roland claims, but not in detail). This is very plausible though. I also hear people say the TR-8S sounds has better BD's (that's understandable if Roland included the TR-08 and tweaked versions), but i also heard the hat department is better on the TR-8S. So there is a lot of information out there. Since years have passed between the two TR-8's, there might be overal improvements worth investigation instead assuming they sound the same, which from what i hear, is not exactly the case. It's really hard to find/get info on this subject! The engine has been improved, so that triggers my curiosity :) Some kind of detailed A/B test would be awesome i think. It just doesn't exist.
this guy must be french canadian. he says assignable odd
I am.
What do you suggest I replace that with?
Tr 808 and tr 909 sound better on the tr8s
:)