Beat Instrumental’s October 1979 price guide lists both the Hohner Rhythm 80 and Rhythm 80K. That is dated market evidence, not a verified launch announcement.
The machine in the record
Roberto Colombo / L’impossibile è certo.
The official L’impossibile è certo credits list a Hohner Rhythm 80K among the electronic drums used by producer and arranger Roberto Colombo. It is an album-level credit, not a part-by-part analysis, but it gives the Hohner a precise record context.
Read Antonella Ruggiero — L’impossibile è certo: credits ↗More records in the archive
The machine keeps turning up.
Jimi Tenor / Wormhole Mystic
The Hohner Rhythm 80 appears in the published vintage-machine list for Jimi Tenor’s Wormhole Mystic, whose tracks began as programmed rhythm-box loops.
Read Jimi Tenor — Wormhole Mystic ↗
Sahnemann / Zutaten vom Sahnemann
Sahnemann’s release notes identify a Hohner Rhythm 80 among the instruments used for Zutaten vom Sahnemann.
Read Sahnemann / Zutaten vom Sahnemann ↗MESS Synthesiser Orchestra / Mat Watson / Magnitudes — planned live debut
Mat Watson’s instrument list for Magnitudes, the MESS Synthesiser Orchestra’s planned debut work, includes a Hohner Rhythm 80. He describes a performance in which the archive machines would be played live rather than sequenced.
Read Magnitudes: Behind-the-scenes of the MESS Synthesiser Orchestra’s live debut ↗Let the variations take turns
Choose one of twenty rhythm buttons, then select variations and a repetition interval of two, four, eight or sixteen bars. R. Nickel’s inspection describes selected variations playing in succession. The four variation positions include the basic pattern, and some contain a different rhythm rather than a small alteration. The player can arrange preset changes without writing the drum events step by step.
Hohner Rhythm 80(K) ↗ Vintage-Drumcomputer: Hohner Rhythm 80 Analogdrumcomputer (1977) ↗
Tempo, fade and a carrying case
Theo Bloderer’s hands-on review describes Tempo Automation setting a rhythm’s assigned speed instead of using the tempo knob, Fade Out lowering the pattern to silence, and Cymbal removing that voice. Rear footswitch sockets serve start/stop and fade. The reviewed 80K is housed in a carrying case; the review distinguishes it from the other enclosure. Goldbaby also describes a briefcase 80K, but its tentative date is not launch evidence.
Vintage-Drumcomputer: Hohner Rhythm 80 Analogdrumcomputer (1977) ↗ Hohner Rhythm 80(K) ↗ Analog AutoRhythms Vol. 1 machine booklet, PDF p. 8 ↗
MIDI belongs to the retrofit
Tubbutec’s 2021 uniPulse installation documents a later way to trigger the Rhythm 80’s sounds over MIDI. Its ten instruments use eleven trigger points because the cowbell has two components. That is retrofit engineering, not a factory MIDI feature or proof that an unmodified Hohner offers velocity-sensitive playing.
Keep the 80K credit attached
Antonella Ruggiero’s official credits for L’impossibile è certo, released on 19 February 2014, list Hohner Rhythm 80K among Roberto Colombo’s electronic drums. They establish album-level use, not a particular track or audible part. Sahnemann’s 2024 Zutaten vom Sahnemann notes instead name Rhythm 80 alongside voice, Hohner Bass 3 and a washing machine. Each release keeps its own model wording; neither credit identifies a preset.
Antonella Ruggiero — L’impossibile è certo: credits ↗ Sahnemann / Zutaten vom Sahnemann ↗
The visual archive
Further visual evidence.
Sources for images shown earlier (3)
- Organ69 — Hohner Rhythm 80 ↗
- Sahnemann — Zutaten vom Sahnemann ↗
2024-04-25 · Sahnemann / release artwork via Bandcamp · Official Bandcamp release-page artwork (Open Graph image) - Antonella Ruggiero — L’impossibile è certo ↗
2014-02-19 · Antonella Ruggiero official site / album artwork · Official album page, cover and credits
Additional visual sources (3)
Original publications and related image sources.
- Beat Instrumental October 1979 ↗
October 1979 · Beat Instrumental · Printed/PDF p. 69; guide terms p. 58 - Hohner Rhythm 80 / 80K schematics ↗
Undated document · Hohner · Original manufacturer link from 2009 review; pages unknown - Rhythm 80K hands-on review photographs ↗
22 August 2009 · Amazona / photographer credit to verify · Product, controls and interior images accompanying review