Drums on Front 242's 'Front by Front'?

breitt · Post by **breitt** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 8:06 am

What are they using on that superb album? The gut-punch kicks/snares on that release are astounding. Similar percussive power can be heard on Ministry's 'Twitch'.

Z · Post by Z » Mon Dec 10, 2007 3:11 pm

I belive most of the drums on Front By Front are Roland TR-626. I've got the "Cyberpunk" issue of Keyboard magazine, so I'll double check that later.

Z · Post by Z » Mon Dec 10, 2007 3:11 pm

I belive most of the drums on Front By Front are Roland TR-626. I've got the "Cyberpunk" issue of Keyboard magazine, so I'll double check that later.

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 3:28 pm

I'm not sure but on earlier albums such as 1982's "Geography" and 1984's "No Comment" they used a Roland TR-808 and E-mu Drumulator respectively.
Later on they also used an Emulator II for drum sounds.

splitpoint · Post by **splitpoint** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 3:54 pm

+1 on the Emulator. Look for the keyboard magazine article "Cyberpunk" from the earlier 90's.

celebutante · Post by **celebutante** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 7:03 pm

I asked Daniel B once about drum sounds on Tyranny For You and he said it was Roland R-8, though I'm not sure if he was being coy. I have a Pearl DRX-1, and it nails that really aggressive tom/snare thing you hear a lot on those records... pretty sure they used it. And they even used their DX7's for some of the weird percussion (on "Gripped By Fear" right after he says "there is more sand than oil in your engine", that really loud grating bellish sound is obviously FM... hence DX7).

mitchell

pour_furets · Post by **pour_furets** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 9:09 pm

I read that they used a Roland DDR30 for live performances in the mid to late '80s. Definitely some Emulator drums on Front By Front.

Whether it was actually used for the album or not, the TR626 perfectly nails a lot of the percussion sounds on the album--particularly with its complement of Latin percussion sounds. When I listen to my 626, the first thing that pops into my head is late '80s Belgian EBM. The R5/R8 is also well suited for this style. As Celebutante mentioned, Daniel B has often endorsed the R8, though that particular machine was released after Front By Front, so it couldn't have been used for that album.

Userfriend · Post by **Userfriend** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 3:26 pm

Hi, in an interview in a swedish magazine from june/july 1989 they say the following about their use of drums:

"We use preset rhythm machines, but then we try to colour the sounds in the studio through eq, dist, reverb etc. In Circling Overland we had a Roland 626, where we simply changed kick and snare drums to two toms and in that way achieved a more original rhythm pattern. When it comes to sampling we have acquired a very big library, with maybe 300 kicks, 300 snares etc. When we need a special sound we sometimes merge different samples. Another way of getting good rhythm sounds is to work with very short samples and then with reverb so to speak enlarge them."

Drums on Front 242's 'Front by Front'?

Drums on Front 242's 'Front by Front'?

Re: Drums on Front 242's 'Front by Front'?