roland r8 jazz brush card

[canada]

Question regarding the Roland R8 jazz brush card (Sn R8 02)

5 6 7 8 says "swish" ... I am from the old school and swish was a drummer using both brushes in a circular motion for jazz ballads.

Just purchased an R8 with this card and those 4 selections do not sound anything like this?
Might I be doing something wrong or does the R8 stock and cards have no ... brush swish?

Thanks ... from a "dinosaur".

[Baus]

Hello Canada,

I am pretty sure that THAT's what those sounds are meant for. It might be a matter of programming though.

In the 90's I used to own a Boss DR-660 which, in my experience, was sort of like the R8 and that little drum
machine was very well capable of realistic jazz patterns, it had the same sort of samples as the R8.

I assume you have checked the demo of the Jazz card to hear what should be possible. If not then check this
demo of the R8M, the Module version of the R8. The second demo is the Jazz card.

Let me know what you think.

Good luck,

Robin.
The Netherlands

[Z]

I think Baus forgot to add my demo video in his post. 2nd demo song is the Jazz Brush card
[youtube][/youtube]

[canada]

Thank you Robin and Z.

I spent about 4 hours on utube searching the R8 stock sounds and its jazz and brush Rom cards.

I have yet to hear the "swish" you would hear from a lounge drummer using the circular motions of his two brushes.
Strange for Roland not to include this vintage effect ... at least to this old man!

The main reason I bought the R8 was because the jazz brush card said ... 5 6 7 and 8 had the swish sound on the snare.

Again, thank you both.

[Baus]

Thanks for the back-up on that Z. Yes, I forgot to post the link to your video

Canada, I don't know if it's just me but I do hear a Swish sound all throughout that demo.

[canada]

Thank you Baus ... I will reinitialize my R8 ... that may (?) be part of the problem why I don't hear any swish.

[haj]

Thanks for the back-up on that Z. Yes, I forgot to post the link to your video

Canada, I don't know if it's just me but I do hear a Swish sound all throughout that demo.

I hear the sound but it's very short. Maybe it's because the rom's limitation but usually it's played like the sound is continuous.

[canada]

I agree haj ... if you went into a lounge with a jazz trio playing, you would hear that continuous swish of the brushes on the snare. Are there any drum machines that have this feature?

[Baus]

All the way from 1:24 to 1:37 I hear the sound that I would call 'swish'.

Yes, It's short and you need to program it in the R8 to make it sound 'real'.
The R8 does not have any 'looped' samples.

If you want loops you need to look at samplers. Than you can loop the swish endlessly.

[knolan]

You can adjust the decay of any sound on the R8. So you can customise that fast "swish" and make it longer. Some sounds also allow you to adjust the decay times separately for the attack portion of the sound and the shell resonant portion of the sound. Download the manual and check page 46 on Decay settings, and also check the data card data-sheet to see if it offers one or two part decay (if there's an "*" next to the sound it has two part decay setting capability.


Note also that some sounds have a "Nuance" parameter setting - meaning that lower frequency content in the sound will sound louder by raising the Nuance value. Again, the data sheet will reveal if that swish sound can be affected by the R8's Nuance parameter ("*" or "**" shown next to the sound. Check page 47 of the manual


Next - check page 42 of the manual to see if the "Brush Roll Parameter" is applicable to that swish sound.

Finally, its also worth checking how you have the "Assign Type" parameter set (Page 50) - with choices of Poly, Mono or Exc 1-8. If Poly, swishes will run on even if the next is played. In mono however, one swish will kill off the previous one, and if set to an Exc number of 1 to 8 then any other sound with the same Exc number will kill the swish when it also plays.


Overall, the R8 is an amazing drum machine - among the best every made and still enormously relevant today. The range and sophistication of sound manipulation, and performance features, takes it well beyond your normal drum machine capabilities and into the realm of very personal, experimental and customisable rhythm generator. I'd be surprised if you could not manipulate that "swish" into the state you desire.

After years of sitting on my shelf, I'm currently resurrecting my R8, re-reading the manual (and hence why I could point to all those features ) and am like you on a mission to acquire some of the many excellent sample cards for it. The mind boggles with the potential of this device; though it is hard going to understand and program (in my opinion!) - so you will have to spend a little time to get the best of what you want from it.

[ninja6485]

Is there a difference between the mkI and the MK II?

[canada]

Thank you knolan for all that info,

I am a "dinosaur" (84) pretty heady stuff for me, but my young drummer bought an R8 when it first came out and is looking forward to getting back into it.

One would think more drum machines would have a preset swish, but I have yet to find one??

[knolan]

80 is the new 60 - no qualification of age ever needed in my book (now that I'm getting a bit older too ). And never too old to be interested in music or music technology - and I assure you - the R8 has always been a challenging device (why it say on my shelf for a few years!!). But is is a class act, way ahead of its time, and worth sitting down with for a few hours to explore. Best of luck with it!!

Very best,
Kevin.

[madtheory]

Is there a difference between the mkI and the MK II?

More memory in the mark 2, which means more sounds built in AFAIK.

There's also the R-70, which is pretty much a mark 3, except your programmes for the R-8 won't load into it.

Yes complex, powerful machine. I guess it has to be given that it is trying to be a "Human Rhythm Composer". But did Roland have to make the manual so challenging, and the MIDI even more so? I'll get over it- still hunting for an R-70 at a reasonable price I have the Roland SPD-11 drum pads/ sound module that, even against a modern sample library, has a huge sound (it's the R-8/ R-70 stuff). I assume Eric Pershing had a hand in the design? Another "class act"

[canada]

The R8 has 68 instruments.
Where in the manual (or elsewhere) can I see a list of what these instrument sounds are?
I just have a manual online but have not found them listed yet, and would brush be one of them?