Roland TR-77.... The Birth Of Roland!

[HideawayStudio]

Ancient but Nice!

I just received an original Roland TR-77 in superb condition having "won" it on Ebay for £50. I'm really happy with it as it's both an interesting piece of history and actually sounds quite nice for such a primative drum machine.

The sound is very similar (well to my ears!) to the CR-78 as used by Jarre on Oxygene. If I had to fault it, the kick is the weakest sound on it. Some EQ might help!

The TR-77 was the first product released under the name Roland and was designed by the founder of Roland himself, Ikutaro Kakehashi and released in 1972!!

I can't really fault this one - it all works and seems to be quite quiet for something of this age.

Having Just Given It It's First Polish in Lord Knows How Long!


A Quick Demo - Hardly realistic but very analog!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/jpk4j0

Anyone know how many of these things were manufactured??

[Syn303]

I had one of those too many moons ago, i was going to get it modded to accept a clock input, then i sold it. Tom Carpenter of Analogue Solutions can carry out such a mod on your TR-77, so it can be sync'd via midi.

Warren Cann of Ultravox used the TR-77 on the track Hiroshima Mon Amour (Cha-Cha & Baion together). Nice steal at £50 though I'm sure Micke knows how many units were made.

There is a site here should you wish to do some modding or add external clock sync http://www.burnkit2600.com/tr-77/


For the record Jarre, never used a CR-78 on Oxygene (bit early, CR-78 wasn't released till 1978), your thinking of the Keio Minipops-7.

[HideawayStudio]

I had one of those too many moons ago, i was going to get it modded to accept a clock input, then i sold it. Tom Carpenter of Analogue Solutions can carry out such a mod on your TR-77, so it can be sync'd via midi.

Warren Cann of Ultravox used the TR-77 on the track Hiroshima Mon Amour (Cha-Cha & Baion together). Nice steal at £50 though I'm sure Micke knows how many units were made.

There is a site here should you wish to do some modding or add external clock sync http://www.burnkit2600.com/tr-77/


For the record Jarre, never used a CR-78 on Oxygene (bit early, CR-78 wasn't released till 1978), your thinking of the Keio Minipops-7.

Oops... yes you are correct - in fact you are the third person to correct me this evening on this one. It is true enough that they sound pretty similar but, as Z has kindly demonstrated, the Minipops-7 has a slightly more interesting, more resonant sound.

I have the schematics for the TR-77 and I know it's quite easy to manually fire off the sounds and so I think adding midi would be pretty easy. I know it's also possible to add an external sync too.

[Scories]

Actually, I love the TR-77 kick; snappy, bassy, classy, vintage, just right!
Only if it was programmable...

Strangely, it's quite easy to find very-early Japanese gear over here in Québec. I found a Minikorg 700s, a SH-1000 and a TR-77... and they all sound swell.

[polyklinik]

too big for a drum machine.

[I12]

I've bought an acetone organ that has a dm and a filter section on one of the sound generators

they preceded the roland brand name i think

the filter sounds nice and most probably like my sh2000 a moog rip off

has a great smiley logo.

unfortunately no pics

sounds quite good

(posting additional semi useless info )