Sound and sequence
Roland TR-808
A deep exhibition with its governed listening and sequence study.
Enter the TR-808 exhibition →
THE ELECTRONIC RHYTHM ARCHIVEDRUM MACHINES HAVE NO SOUL
MACHINE EXHIBITIONS
A machine
changes the room.
Look at the whole instrument. Try the controls. Follow the records and the documents back to their time.
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CURATED DOORS
Four ways into the Museum.
These exhibitions are invitations, not a ranking or the full archive. Every image states its source role.
Sound under the fingers
LinnDrum
A source-led exhibition of the sampler that made drum-machine memory feel playable.
Enter the LinnDrum exhibition →
Period advertisement
E-mu SP-1200
Time in four zones, with a silent, manual-backed memory study.
Enter the SP-1200 exhibition →
Collection photograph
Roland TR-66
A rhythm before the grid, with the complete instrument in view.
Open the TR-66 machine file →THE MACHINE MUSEUM
ONE HISTORY.
MANY ROUTES.
Deep exhibitions.
Begin here for close inspection, playable controls and the existing machine files.
Explore the exhibitions ↓The full archive.
Travel through manufacturers, timelines and 234 individual machine dossiers.
Browse all machines →01 // THE LINE
THE ROLAND LINE.
1972—2025.
Twelve machines through time, including the paired CR-68 and CR-78 of 1978. Each card identifies its image role: a complete instrument where possible, or a clearly labelled collection detail. The images come from collection photography, a period catalogue, an official documentary source or credited third-party photography. Dates follow the strongest available record; where Roland’s own sources disagree, the conflict remains visible.
NATIVE MACHINE FILESTWELVE NATIVE FILES
FEATURED ABOVE: TR-707 & TR-66
TWELVE MODELS // 1972—2025
001
Roland Rhythm 77 (TR-77)
TR-77
Lineage advanceThe cabinet eraPreset rhythm leaves the lounge and begins its long walk toward the stage.
002Roland sources differ
Roland TR-66 Rhythm Arranger
TR-66
Lineage advanceThe bridgeA substantial tabletop arranger that turns fixed rhythms into live combinations.
003
Roland CompuRhythm CR-68
CR-68
Lineage advanceDomestic futurismWarm preset pulse, tactile variation and the sound of tomorrow arriving at home.
004
Roland CompuRhythm CR-78
CR-78
Lineage advanceMemory entersThe programmable rhythm box that turned accompaniment into authorship.
005
Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer
TR-808
Lineage advanceThe new low endSixteen steps, improbable bass and a worldwide change in musical gravity.
006
Roland CompuRhythm CR-8000
CR-8000
Lineage advanceThe last arrangerA dense analogue rhythm orchestra poised on the edge of the step-sequencer age.
007
Roland TR-606 Drumatix
TR-606
Lineage advanceSilver circuitrySmall, sharp and built to travel: a complete rhythm section in a silver case.
008
Roland TB-303 Bass Line
TB-303
Lineage advanceThe beautiful errorA synthetic bassist that escaped its brief and learned to speak in acid.
009
Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer
TR-909
Lineage advanceHybrid impactAnalogue force, sampled metal and MIDI discipline: the club grid hardens.
010
Roland TR-707 Rhythm Composer
TR-707
Lineage advanceThe visible gridFaders, matrix display and sampled clarity make the rhythm readable at a glance.
011
Roland TR-727 Rhythm Composer
TR-727
Lineage advanceThe second paletteFifteen PCM percussion voices turn the 707's visible grid into a second, synchronised instrument.
012
Roland TR-1000 Rhythm Creator
TR-1000
Lineage advanceThe family returnsA contemporary machine built as a conversation with fifty years of electronic rhythm.
02 // HOW WE READ A MACHINE
THE SOUND IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.
Every machine asks for a different route. These four lenses keep the evidence legible without forcing every story into the same shape: the object, its engineering, the way people played it, and the life it found beyond its original brief.
- 01 Design & historical context
- 02 Engineering & voice architecture
- 03 Pattern making & performance
- 04 Records, scenes & afterlife
Controls, materials, industrial form and the physical evidence of use.
Voices, clocks, memory, interfaces and the decisions hidden below the panel.
Programming, performance, misuse and the working methods musicians invented.
Records, scenes, testimony, contested stories and cultural transmission.
03 // PATTERN BUREAU
DON'T JUST READ IT.
RUN THE SEQUENCE.
A common four-voice reference desk for testing rhythm itself. Choose a voice, place the beats and press run. Machine-file patterns can then show what a particular instrument adds, removes or makes possible.
PATTERN: FOUNDATION / 4 VOICES / 16 STEPS / 118 BPM
A rhythm archive must make rhythm.
Select a voice, switch its steps on or off, then run the sequence. The sounds are generated here in your browser—no sample or external player required.
Practice patterns built to demonstrate the machine’s controls; they are not transcriptions of released recordings.
A plain quarter-note foundation for learning the four voice lanes before changing the pattern.
EDITING: Bass drum
AUDIO STARTS AFTER YOUR FIRST PRESS