Just love the percussive sounds of the CR 78. Still sounds great today. One song to add using the CR 78. “Games without frontiers” Peter Gabriel. Many thanks Richard.
I grew up with Numan, Foxx and Warren Cann mod'ing his like hell so its cool 40 years later to see comments from people discovering that for the first time. Cann said there are tuning pots inside the 78 - he altered the decay of the kick as the standard kick tended to go "BOING!" through a PA instead of "THUD!". They didn't use backing tracks live so he also had it mod'ed to display a tempo readout as it triggered the bass synths on some tracks. Anyway, great little vid as always - but 2 small things you missed off - the programming part was done by a plugin write switch, and the 78 came in 2 finishes - the "rock and roll" black you showed, and the "creaky organist" wooden case. Alex Ball - preserving EM tech history for the future. Nice one. :)
I use to be John Foxx's window cleaner when I was 18......many many years ago. And I use to drool over his studio set up. He was a really lovely bloke who was extremely down to earth.
@@AlexBallMusic Met him after a gig in Brighton, and I was a giggling 13 yr old again. He was lovely and very patient. PS. Do check out the No-One Driving double 7" which contains some instrumental gold in the shape of Glimmer and Dr No...
@@MA_GE08 sorry for late reply, I have only just seen your question, it must have been 1989 as I was driving my triumph spitfire around with the roof down and my ladder on the front seat
I love this drum machine , there's a Genesis gig from 1980 ( available on TH-cam), where Phil Collins "plays" it, in the intro to the song Duchess, he manipulates the standard pattern using the faders. So many iconic songs that were created from one machine, it's the DX7 of drum boxes.
Came here to mention Genesis as well! It's on two tracks from the Abacab album. At one point they had SEVEN CR-78 units belonging to the band! I believe guitarist Mike (Rutherford) picked up one of the prototypes / early demo models during a visit to the Roland factory in Japan while out on a tour, IINM.
Used one right at the start. Our trio became a duo when our drummer decided to quit so we carried on by using this box. A few venues complained that even though the floor was full of dancers it was wrong to have no drummer. In fact the manager at one place suggested we should at least get a cardboard cutout. No we didn’t change our name to clunk click. Amped through a big Vox bass cabinet and flared horn.
Amazing!!! I'd never heard of the CR-78 yet as soon as I heard it everything sounded so familiar - all those tracks that shaped my musical taste. Awesome stuff Alex.
Glad to see Metamatic getting a mention, still listening to that record. A little nod to John Foxx me thinks in your excellent, as ever, outro tune. Your channel is ace btw.
When I was in 7th grade Metamatic was one of my favorite albums! It was just as I started to realize that I wanted to get into music production,. I had no idea it was as a CR-78 for the drums! But listening back through it it’s really clear!!! Thanks for mentioning it, I’ve been having a lot of fun relistening to it again!
Very John Foxx ish track at the end there. Have Metamatic on original vinyl, cd and the later released 3CD set, great album and sounds why I've loved synthesizers since I first took note of them as a kid being used by ABBA. Great video as usual.
Duchess by Genesis is probably my favorite use of the CR-78. I Am a Camera by The Buggles from Adventures in Modern Recording. The album also features a lot of Linn LM-1, Simmons SDS-V, and TR-808.
I'm 99% sure that Metamatic was one of the first two albums I ever bought. It holds up extremely well today, and the production quality is solid. The other album was Replicas, and yes... I was one of those people shouting "what about Gary Numan?" :)
Just remembered that Asmus Tietchens did 4 or 5 albums (his early ones all on Sky Records) with a alot of heavily processed CR78 in them. I think later Hematic Sunsets albums also had CR78 but I could be wrong.
1. The Cure - New Day [Ariel is also great but has no full version due to tape's run-out during live recording...] 2. The Glove - Looking-glass Girl [a rare case of using CR78's accent function] 3. Depeche Mode - In Chains [I would choose Barrel Of A Gun if I was certain it's CR78] 4. John Foxx - A New Kind Of Man [from the best album ever (eq aequo with Violator
Your videos are like a trip down memory lane! I remember seeing this when it came out and I thought it was more of a toy. Little did know how iconic it would become. I love how you used your Mini Korg 700 in the track. Great video as usual and track.
Hall & Oates also used on Kiss on my list too, definitely Roland foundation for the TR-808. Great video and thanks to be so kind on sharing the samples, that takes time and effort, very grateful. Cheers! FYI: I got the sounds of the CR-78 on my Uno Drum, they have the Anthology Libraries with a lot of samples of old drums machines to load on the Uno Drum, is a cheap alternative in hardware mode.
Thanks for your video on this Alex! And the sample pack is cool, it really adds something new to load this onto a TR-8S (which is probably way too digital for your studio, but it is a very versatile choice for limited space and budget).
It's my birthday today, and you've just given me a delightful present, made from your own love & effort :) God bless you, sir. May your rewards be mighty and often.
How did I not know about Fade to Grey and this (and bearing in mind who was behind that track, of COURSE it is). Great video, and loved the outro piece.
@@AlexBallMusic Magazine were the majority (McGeoch, Formula, Adamson). It was only Currie from the reincarnated Ultravox. Egan and Ure from the Rich Kids. The pair from Tubeway Army, too.
Heck, I remember that. Another bit of gear I couldn't afford 😢 I had an electric organ with rhythms although not programmable but I had to make do with that. My first programmable was the TR-606. Also had Metamatic. Will have to listen to it again now 👍
First time here. Thank you for this. It was fun to revisit some music history with you :) Thanks for the samples! Will load them in my MpC Live and see what transpires. Keep it up!
Props to you, Alex, for spotlighting John Foxx’s ‘Metamatic’ and mentioning that his song (and Virgin subsidiary label) “Metal Beat” was inspired by the “Metallic Beat” setting of the CR-78. I always thought it was his exact inspiration. He also used plenty of Arp Odyssey, so it was a perfect choice for your track. I’m a longtime fan of that album (and it’s accompanying singles and b-sides), so it’s pretty cool seeing it receive this kind of recognition.
Forgotten Keys did a brilliant emulation of this for Kontakt, including the sounds, the built in patterns and importantly being able to combine the different rhythm patterns (and much simpler programming than a WS-1 :) ) There were also presets, including the excellent “Gary Numan Live 79”…
I once read Warran Cann modded the crap out of his. I've a CR78 myself being Metamatic is prob my all time favorite album ..I send it through MXR 126 Flanger. .Sounds a bit gorgeous !!
I’m very happy to have watched this video because I had never heard of John Foxx before. I just checked out some of his work and I love it! I’m a new Gary Numan fan and had been wondering if there were any other artists with a similar sound. Foxx sounds similar to me but also different enough to stand out from Numan.
@@Kkidzz Warren Cann explained that all of the percussive sounds in "Dislocation" are entirely from the ARP Odyssey which they stumbled on while trying to make it do the bass drum sound in "Just For a Moment".
I still love the CR-78 after I got a CD with loops on in the 90's. A nice amount of gated reverb & compression and you could turn those little popcorn beats into monster beats. Thanks for the sample pack 👍
Thank you for your gear history lesson. I don't think I've ever listened to any of the John Foxx's albums so I will educate myself immediately on this one
Yes. The good old CR78 - everything I listened to in the late 70’s & early 80’s had this drum machine on it. Used to go to the local music shop which stocked Roland and play with it pretending to be Visage or Gary Numan.
2:37 I was listening to this part in another tab, and it gave me such a whiplash that I felt like a gorilla about to drop the sickest drum solo in history.
My friend Jeff was a drummer for a somewhat famous Texas band. His brother played that John Foxx album nonstop until Jeff turned “Underpass” into “Underpants” and his brother couldn’t listen to the song anymore. UNDERPANTS!
Primitive interfacing on this of course, with its TRIG OUT jack! Another track, for all you jazz heads out there, the title track from around 6'10 on 'As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls' by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays. They also used the box on a couple of other tracks here and there.
@@AlexBallMusic Yea he super nice guy - Does love modding his gear ! I’d love to drop my Polymoog 280a with you to review. I’s really love to hear your track at the end 😎
Thank you for the brilliant video, and for the mention of one of the milestones in electronic new wave (yes I'm an old fan of John Foxx), and congrats for the foxxesque track in the video. Great!
If I see a drum machine or synth in a movie, you know that's all I'm looking at. If I can't ID it right away, I'll spend way too much time trying to figure it out. I knew I'd seen this one before, but it took way too long to ID this one for some reason.
My favorite analog "drum" machine. I know, the 606, the 808, the 909 and all the classics, but this one has such a unique sound! Instant John Foxx, Ultravox, Gary Numan...... Edit: I wrote this before you even mentioned Metamatic lol my man
Great stuff, I really love the CR-78, though I gawked at the prices and bought a TT-78 instead which sounds similar but has a totally different interface… it’s a beautiful and distinctive drum machine, and yes I also identify John Foxx/Metal Beat (Metamatic being one of my favourite albums) with Metallic Beat 😄
I'm really into synthpunk right now so the CR-78 is basically my favourite drum machine, not only for things like Metamatic but also Solid Space's Space Museum and Das Kabinnete's 2000's release, Spy Thriller, both of which are basically a showcase of the versatility of this unit
Just before you showed Metamatic I was saying "what about John Foxx" and a second later... thank you, never had a CR 78 but Ive used machines and software that emulate it o.k. not sure if a facsimile would ever catch its sonic prowess... someday though, some day I will have one.
Oddly never had previously heard of Metamatic nor John Fox. To me, sounds like a precursor to DEVO. Excellent discovery; thank you! Also, thank you for the sample pack :) On 2/14, a well-known developer of digital instruments is releasing what many are expecting to be a CR-78 VST. Should prove interesting!
Add your favourite CR-78 hits below.
wHaT aBoUt gArY nEwMaN?!
Radiohead's the numbers and present tense
the PTA backyard performance
@@AlexBallMusic Lol 😂
What about The Chauffeur
by Duran Duran
Duchess - Genesis
Thank you for the samples.
In Australia it was called the 8𝘓-ꓤϽ.
Top notch pete
Wow that's flippin' random dude. And strangely familiar...
I've heard your vinyl; spins the opposite way to ours
@@annother3350 yes true US and English pressings are particularly troublesome
@@annother3350 - Yeah, devil record players that need the arm snapped off and attached on the left hand side!
Just love the percussive sounds of the CR 78. Still sounds great today. One song to add using the CR 78. “Games without frontiers” Peter Gabriel. Many thanks Richard.
Wasn't the CR-78, but the PAiA Programmable Drum.
I grew up with Numan, Foxx and Warren Cann mod'ing his like hell so its cool 40 years later to see comments from people discovering that for the first time. Cann said there are tuning pots inside the 78 - he altered the decay of the kick as the standard kick tended to go "BOING!" through a PA instead of "THUD!". They didn't use backing tracks live so he also had it mod'ed to display a tempo readout as it triggered the bass synths on some tracks.
Anyway, great little vid as always - but 2 small things you missed off - the programming part was done by a plugin write switch, and the 78 came in 2 finishes - the "rock and roll" black you showed, and the "creaky organist" wooden case.
Alex Ball - preserving EM tech history for the future. Nice one. :)
Warren Cann is an unsung hero of drums, both acoustic and especially electronic. His legacy is long overdue for reappraisal.
I use to be John Foxx's window cleaner when I was 18......many many years ago. And I use to drool over his studio set up. He was a really lovely bloke who was extremely down to earth.
In what year?
Ah nice story. He does seem like a nice guy whilst also looking like he appeared from another planet, fully grown and playing a synth.
@@AlexBallMusic Met him after a gig in Brighton, and I was a giggling 13 yr old again. He was lovely and very patient. PS. Do check out the No-One Driving double 7" which contains some instrumental gold in the shape of Glimmer and Dr No...
😯😁🙌
@@MA_GE08 sorry for late reply, I have only just seen your question, it must have been 1989 as I was driving my triumph spitfire around with the roof down and my ladder on the front seat
METAMATIC IS A MUST HAVE. Damn. Such a classic album.
Westlicht Performer Module + Blck_Noir is a pretty sweet new rendition of the CR-78. My go to setup. Thanks for the vid!!
I love this drum machine , there's a Genesis gig from 1980 ( available on TH-cam), where Phil Collins "plays" it, in the intro to the song Duchess, he manipulates the standard pattern using the faders.
So many iconic songs that were created from one machine, it's the DX7 of drum boxes.
Roland the bisexual drum (rhythm) machine
Came here to mention Genesis as well! It's on two tracks from the Abacab album. At one point they had SEVEN CR-78 units belonging to the band! I believe guitarist Mike (Rutherford) picked up one of the prototypes / early demo models during a visit to the Roland factory in Japan while out on a tour, IINM.
@@keykrazy I think Phil, Tony and Mike each got a unit when they went to see the demo.
@@keykrazy It's pretty central to Duchess on Duke...
@@jimbob1ist Serial numbers 4, 5, and 6, I think it was.
That's a cool tune you made at the end of the video Alex!
Used one right at the start. Our trio became a duo when our drummer decided to quit so we carried on by using this box. A few venues complained that even though the floor was full of dancers it was wrong to have no drummer. In fact the manager at one place suggested we should at least get a cardboard cutout. No we didn’t change our name to clunk click. Amped through a big Vox bass cabinet and flared horn.
I had one when they were cheap.... awesome
Not any more!
Thank you for the samples
Enjoy!
Amazing!!! I'd never heard of the CR-78 yet as soon as I heard it everything sounded so familiar - all those tracks that shaped my musical taste. Awesome stuff Alex.
Yep, there it was all along!
Glad to see Metamatic getting a mention, still listening to that record. A little nod to John Foxx me thinks in your excellent, as ever, outro tune. Your channel is ace btw.
Harnessing a touch of the old Foxx there, yes. 😉
Still got the vinyl I bought when it came out... love it 😀
Metamatic's such a fab album. John Foxx was great being interviewed on Martyn Ware's Electronically Yours podcast recently.
This is such an awesome sound! It speaks to me so much lol... and thank you for the sample pack!
Every German teenager from the 80ies will know this drum machine as it was prominently used in every second "Drei Fragenzeichen" music track :)
Thanks for the tip. Don't know that one.
th-cam.com/video/maeV2NO8SoY/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/q95bFxKhWd8/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/ysTOFGqdAr0/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/DpDazUnKjFI/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/Fmio37Z0y-o/w-d-xo.html
Brilliant!
I really dig this jam at the end, very creative use of MS-20 and also REALLY FREAKIN COOL harmony
Thank you
YOOOOO, Congrats on 100K fam!!!!
Excellent micro-documentary about a cool piece of kit.
Thanks for another great presentation, Alex.
Love this drum machine didnt realise Roxy Music used it too. Behringer are doing great things preserving history
When I was in 7th grade Metamatic was one of my favorite albums! It was just as I started to realize that I wanted to get into music production,. I had no idea it was as a CR-78 for the drums! But listening back through it it’s really clear!!! Thanks for mentioning it, I’ve been having a lot of fun relistening to it again!
An important album for so many, even though it's not widely known in popular culture, yeah.
Very John Foxx ish track at the end there. Have Metamatic on original vinyl, cd and the later released 3CD set, great album and sounds why I've loved synthesizers since I first took note of them as a kid being used by ABBA. Great video as usual.
CR-78 and Odyssey and you're already amongst the Foxxes. 😉
Massive love for referencing the "I Can't Go For That" video.
Duchess by Genesis is probably my favorite use of the CR-78.
I Am a Camera by The Buggles from Adventures in Modern Recording. The album also features a lot of Linn LM-1, Simmons SDS-V, and TR-808.
genesis used the crap out of one yeah, roland the bisexual drum machine
Great roland cr78 video. I remember seeing pop group the quick use this on their song hip shake jerk back in 1980.
Great video! Thanks for putting this together... didn't know Phil used this on In The Air Tonight. Fun stuff!
I'm 99% sure that Metamatic was one of the first two albums I ever bought. It holds up extremely well today, and the production quality is solid. The other album was Replicas, and yes... I was one of those people shouting "what about Gary Numan?" :)
Thank you, Alex! It was brief but informative. All musical examples took me back to a pleasant past.
Metamatic, what an album. My mates mocked me endlessly for going “liquid in the sheets”! But I knew it was a work of art.
It certainly is.
"Underpants!"
I love the CR-78! It might be my favourite sounding Roland drum machine overall
Just remembered that Asmus Tietchens did 4 or 5 albums (his early ones all on Sky Records) with a alot of heavily processed CR78 in them. I think later Hematic Sunsets albums also had CR78 but I could be wrong.
Sick guy for including the samples!
Great Video Alex :) So glad you showed Foxx... It's amazing that damn CR-78 is the drums for the whole album... I will never part with mine !!
Thanks for the sample pack!
Love the song at the end. Sounds like a timeless classic from 1981!
78 and old synths FTW!
1. The Cure - New Day
[Ariel is also great but has no full version due to tape's run-out during live recording...]
2. The Glove - Looking-glass Girl
[a rare case of using CR78's accent function]
3. Depeche Mode - In Chains
[I would choose Barrel Of A Gun if I was certain it's CR78]
4. John Foxx - A New Kind Of Man
[from the best album ever (eq aequo with Violator
"Face the future, face it now, you can't stop it anyhow" :)))
Fantastic video as always!!! Thank you!
Yes I was screaming at the screen and then you pulled out that album and I was immediately calmed and transported.
😉
My favorite drum machine hihats of all time, love my Cyclone TT-78
Awesome thanks....soundtrack of my youth...
Yes, I am so pleased you featured John Foxx’s amazing album!
Thx so much for these samples!
Your videos are like a trip down memory lane! I remember seeing this when it came out and I thought it was more of a toy. Little did know how iconic it would become. I love how you used your Mini Korg 700 in the track. Great video as usual and track.
Has a sound we can all hear in our head before even switching it on!
I still have one! Lovely machine.
Hall & Oates also used on Kiss on my list too, definitely Roland foundation for the TR-808.
Great video and thanks to be so kind on sharing the samples, that takes time and effort, very grateful.
Cheers!
FYI: I got the sounds of the CR-78 on my Uno Drum, they have the Anthology Libraries with a lot of samples of old drums machines to load on the Uno Drum, is a cheap alternative in hardware mode.
CR-78 is kinda cool. Kinda wondering when Roland will shrink it into a boutique. ^^
And huge thanks for those samples! They're greatly appreciated!
Thanks for your video on this Alex! And the sample pack is cool, it really adds something new to load this onto a TR-8S (which is probably way too digital for your studio, but it is a very versatile choice for limited space and budget).
It's my birthday today, and you've just given me a delightful present, made from your own love & effort :)
God bless you, sir. May your rewards be mighty and often.
Thank you for the nostalgic sound of CR-78 !! !! You create an enjoyable track bro !! !!
How did I not know about Fade to Grey and this (and bearing in mind who was behind that track, of COURSE it is). Great video, and loved the outro piece.
Yep, it's really obvious when you know. Those Ultravox guys got around.
@@AlexBallMusic And you got a Simmons SDS-III to make the huge tom sound of Fade to Grey, Rusty Egan confirmed to me they use one Visage album.
@@AlexBallMusic Magazine were the majority (McGeoch, Formula, Adamson). It was only Currie from the reincarnated Ultravox. Egan and Ure from the Rich Kids. The pair from Tubeway Army, too.
I was surprised too, and then I wasn't. It seems so obvious once you hear in Alex's video. and go... why on earth didn't I realise it earlier?;)
thanx for the samples Alex
I always liked the sound of this. Fun demo Alex! :)
Ceramic Hello - The Absence of a Canary
New musik - Anywhere.
Two 80s albums that feature the CR78 heavily.
Like an animal by the glove with Robert Smith of the Cure and Steve Severin of Sousxie and the Banshees. Cr 78 is the intro to the track
Finally! Love the CR-78! I'm gonna pick one of these up one day!
Ha-ha! Prepare to pay a fortune! Videos like this drive the prices skywards.
Wait for the Behringer clone to come out.
Metamatic... great album. Great video, thanks!!
Excellent performance to he music you play towards the end.
With out a doubt. My favorite drum machine sound. Duchess was such a game changer
My favorite drum machine, very expressive sounds.
The Heart of Glass intro is so iconic!
Heck, I remember that. Another bit of gear I couldn't afford 😢 I had an electric organ with rhythms although not programmable but I had to make do with that. My first programmable was the TR-606. Also had Metamatic. Will have to listen to it again now 👍
Alex, Thank you for the sample pack! I look forward to having fun with them!
Enjoy!
First time here. Thank you for this. It was fun to revisit some music history with you :) Thanks for the samples! Will load them in my MpC Live and see what transpires. Keep it up!
Metamatic by John Foxx is one of the best synth albums of the 80s, highly recommended listening.
Another great video Alex, and thanks for the samples, much appreciated!
Props to you, Alex, for spotlighting John Foxx’s ‘Metamatic’ and mentioning that his song (and Virgin subsidiary label) “Metal Beat” was inspired by the “Metallic Beat” setting of the CR-78. I always thought it was his exact inspiration. He also used plenty of Arp Odyssey, so it was a perfect choice for your track. I’m a longtime fan of that album (and it’s accompanying singles and b-sides), so it’s pretty cool seeing it receive this kind of recognition.
Forgotten Keys did a brilliant emulation of this for Kontakt, including the sounds, the built in patterns and importantly being able to combine the different rhythm patterns (and much simpler programming than a WS-1 :) ) There were also presets, including the excellent “Gary Numan Live 79”…
Seconded. Great way to get an authentic CR-78 experience (as opposed to samples) and great price too.
Thirded, they nailed the preset Duchess by Genesis
Absolutely brilliant video as always, what a drum machine and love the track!! Thanks for the sample pack - a real bonus!
Enjoy!
....... Japan ...... still love that band, shame they didn't live out that long tbh 😔
@group-music Great early 80's new wave band 😔🙌
I once read Warran Cann modded the crap out of his. I've a CR78 myself being Metamatic is prob my all time favorite album ..I send it through MXR 126 Flanger. .Sounds a bit gorgeous !!
It flanges beautifully, yeah!
Yeah, the song ‘Dislocation’ from Systems of Romance was born out of their CR78 starting to break down.
I’m very happy to have watched this video because I had never heard of John Foxx before. I just checked out some of his work and I love it! I’m a new Gary Numan fan and had been wondering if there were any other artists with a similar sound. Foxx sounds similar to me but also different enough to stand out from Numan.
@@Kkidzz Warren Cann explained that all of the percussive sounds in "Dislocation" are entirely from the ARP Odyssey which they stumbled on while trying to make it do the bass drum sound in "Just For a Moment".
Awesome track Alex. Very evocative of the whole vibe and using super cool vintage stuff.
I still love the CR-78 after I got a CD with loops on in the 90's. A nice amount of gated reverb & compression and you could turn those little popcorn beats into monster beats. Thanks for the sample pack 👍
The CR78 at the beginning of Genesis' Duchess is an absolute classic
Thank you for your gear history lesson. I don't think I've ever listened to any of the John Foxx's albums so I will educate myself immediately on this one
Awesome. Great sound design throughout the final track. That patch on the Korg700 is piercing my nape in such a pleasant way! :-)
Hey Marius!
Got the album in the post the other day, very enjoyable. Beautiful stuff.
Korg700 - video coming about that dude.
The prophet glamour-shot snapping for I can't go for that 🤣😂🤣🔥🔥
😉
Yes. The good old CR78 - everything I listened to in the late 70’s & early 80’s had this drum machine on it. Used to go to the local music shop which stocked Roland and play with it pretending to be Visage or Gary Numan.
2:37 I was listening to this part in another tab, and it gave me such a whiplash that I felt like a gorilla about to drop the sickest drum solo in history.
One of those drum machines I would love to own but they just get more and more expensive. great demo Alex
The cyclone clone tt78 is very good!
The evil B is supposed to release a version at some point as well.
My friend Jeff was a drummer for a somewhat famous Texas band. His brother played that John Foxx album nonstop until Jeff turned “Underpass” into “Underpants” and his brother couldn’t listen to the song anymore.
UNDERPANTS!
Thanks for great overview, and the free samples!!!
Enjoy!
Nice To Hear That Again Had One off The Side Next To My CS60 & Roland SH5 Arrh The Good Old Day's No Midi
Primitive interfacing on this of course, with its TRIG OUT jack! Another track, for all you jazz heads out there, the title track from around 6'10 on 'As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls' by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays. They also used the box on a couple of other tracks here and there.
Fantastic video and the track at the end amazing 🤩 defo a nod to the great man John Foxx , keep up the great work 😊👏👏
1998 for 500 DM gekauft . Metamatic !
Still working still the best still my love 🎶⚙️
I love my CR-78 (with Kenton MIDI)
Edgar Froese was a big fan of the snare
It’s also fun sticking it through a Jupiter 4 - great example on YT if you search . Roland CR78 - Jupiter 4 - Mick Frigerio
I know the video very well. Big fan of Mick.
@@AlexBallMusic Yea he super nice guy - Does love modding his gear ! I’d love to drop my Polymoog 280a with you to review.
I’s really love to hear your track at the end 😎
Thank you for the brilliant video, and for the mention of one of the milestones in electronic new wave (yes I'm an old fan of John Foxx), and congrats for the foxxesque track in the video. Great!
Cheers Paolo.
I was just looking up this drum machine! It was used in the movie "Liquid Sky" for a scene where there is a live music performance.
Oh really? Thanks, didn't know that.
If I see a drum machine or synth in a movie, you know that's all I'm looking at. If I can't ID it right away, I'll spend way too much time trying to figure it out. I knew I'd seen this one before, but it took way too long to ID this one for some reason.
You're a riot, Alex! Love it.
Cheers John.
How interesting, Roland made and is still making wonderful things
They are indeed.
Thank you for mentioning John Foxx. Always thought that was such an under appreciated record.
A classic.
My favorite analog "drum" machine. I know, the 606, the 808, the 909 and all the classics, but this one has such a unique sound! Instant John Foxx, Ultravox, Gary Numan......
Edit: I wrote this before you even mentioned Metamatic lol my man
Great stuff, I really love the CR-78, though I gawked at the prices and bought a TT-78 instead which sounds similar but has a totally different interface… it’s a beautiful and distinctive drum machine, and yes I also identify John Foxx/Metal Beat (Metamatic being one of my favourite albums) with Metallic Beat 😄
Yes Dammit! Another Alex Ball video! Yay!
I'm really into synthpunk right now so the CR-78 is basically my favourite drum machine, not only for things like Metamatic but also Solid Space's Space Museum and Das Kabinnete's 2000's release, Spy Thriller, both of which are basically a showcase of the versatility of this unit
Just before you showed Metamatic I was saying "what about John Foxx" and a second later... thank you, never had a CR 78 but Ive used machines and software that emulate it o.k. not sure if a facsimile would ever catch its sonic prowess... someday though, some day I will have one.
Oddly never had previously heard of Metamatic nor John Fox. To me, sounds like a precursor to DEVO. Excellent discovery; thank you! Also, thank you for the sample pack :) On 2/14, a well-known developer of digital instruments is releasing what many are expecting to be a CR-78 VST. Should prove interesting!