Korg KR-55B Rhythm 55B

In the market

• 1985-10: GBP 70 — UK budget buyer guide target price; older/second-hand context. KR55B; guide allows second-hand target figures. Not an original retail or launch price. Source ↗
• 1983-09-17: GBP 239 — UK Music Ground advertised mail-order offer. KR55B rhythm unit; Korg specials/full-guarantee context. Advertised delivery one week; no completed transaction or launch-price proof. Source ↗

On record

• ESTECHO — Arpeggio Down. Artist names this recording as using the KR-55B. Source ↗
• ESTECHO — Fast Forward. Artist names this recording as using the KR-55B. Source ↗
• Beem — Undeloh. KR55b preset rhythms explicitly identified among principal album instruments. Source ↗
• Rimela — Korg KR-55 Jams May’21. Rimela names the KR-55 among the instruments used for five 2021 jam recordings. Source ↗

In the studio and on stage

• Depeche Mode — Early live and studio setup. Depeche Mode say they are using a Roland TR-808 instead of the Korg KR-55 because the 808 is more compatible with their equipment and more versatile. Source ↗

Ninety-six patterns on a preset machine

The KR-55B is a generous kind of rhythm box. Korg’s British advertising gave it 96 patterns, introductions and fills, while its manual sets the choices around sixteen selectors, three lettered buttons and an I/II variation switch. A player does not write every event; they conduct a ready-made rhythm section through its changes.

Thanks for the memories — Korg range advertisement, One Two Testing December 1982, pp.46–47 ↗ KR-55B Korg Rhythm owner’s manual (English/German/French) ↗

Introductions, fills and swing

The front-panel controls turn accompaniment into a performance. An intro/fill button can launch a rhythm with an introduction or drop a fill into the running beat, while the swing control shifts the feel of the patterns. The machine also gives its twelve named percussion sounds six level controls, letting a player rebalance the kit as the music develops.

KR-55B Korg Rhythm owner’s manual (English/German/French) ↗

Made to sit with other instruments

Korg drew the KR-55B connected to organs, guitar amplification, hi-fi and P.A. systems, and supplied a double footswitch for start/stop and intro/fill. Its trigger output could drive compatible Korg synthesizers or sequencers in time. This is an accompaniment box that was ready to become part of an electronic rig.

KR-55B Korg Rhythm owner’s manual (English/German/French) ↗

On the shop floor

A September 1983 Music Ground advertisement offered the KR-55B for £239. Its preset rhythms, introductions and fills were ready to accompany a player without first programming a beat; the footswitch let that player bring the rhythm in while keeping both hands on another instrument.

Music Ground mail-order specials, Sounds 17 September 1983, p.60 ↗ KR-55B Korg Rhythm owner’s manual (English/German/French) ↗

ESTECHO’s two named tracks

ESTECHO’s “Arpeggio Down” and “Fast Forward” bring the KR-55B into a modern recording setup. The artist names the machine on both tracks, although the individual patterns and parts are not specified.

Korg Rhythm 55B ↗

Beem’s preset rhythms

On Beem’s Undeloh, released on 30 April 2021, the KR-55B’s preset rhythms sit among the album’s principal instruments. The credits give this accompaniment box another setting: part of a musician’s chosen palette, decades after it was offered beside organs and amplifiers.

Undeloh — artist release notes and credits ↗