Linn 9000

In the market

• 1985-03: GBP 4495 — UK contemporary review price. Reviewed machine Source ↗
• 1985-04: GBP 5169.25 — UK contemporary review price. Reviewed machine Source ↗

On record

• Rick Astley — Never Gonna Give You Up. Astley identifies the Linn 9000 in the backing-track discussion. Source ↗
• Atom™ — <3 — album production. Artist includes Linn 9000 in album sound-processing workflow. Source ↗
• Jeff Lorber — Nu Shooz production period. Jeff Lorber says he used a Linn 9000 while helping craft a hit album for Portland group Nu Shooz. Source ↗
• Fine Young Cannibals / David Z — “She Drives Me Crazy”. “She Drives Me Crazy” was made at Paisley Park with Prince’s Linn 9000. David Steele programmed the machine, while producer David Z identifies its conga preset as the starting point for the distinctive treated snare sound. Source ↗
• Nu Genea — Nuova Napoli. Nu Genea’s official credits list a Linn 9000 drum machine among the instruments used for Nuova Napoli, with Massimo Di Lena credited for drum programming. Source ↗
• Gonzalo Martinez — gonzalo martinez y sus congas pensantes. Gonzalo Martinez lists a Linn 9000 among the equipment used for gonzalo martinez y sus congas pensantes. Source ↗
• Osunlade — Pyrography. Osunlade’s track credits identify a Linn 9000 on “I’m Happy”, “Idiosyncracy” and “Pheramones”. Source ↗
• Die Form / Erick Benzi — POUPÉE MÉCANIQUE. Die Form credits Erick Benzi with Linn 9000 programming, arrangement and mix work on POUPÉE MÉCANIQUE. Source ↗
• Julian Juno — Julian Juno. Julian Juno’s release credits list a Linn 9000 among the drum machines used. Source ↗
• Atom TM / Odd Machine — Phase In — NSP 06. Phase In’s release notes identify Atom TM’s Linn 9000 and LM-2 rhythm programming for the record. Source ↗
• Rhythm Electronics — Vintage Drum Machines for Roland MC-707 & MC-101. Rhythm Electronics includes a Linn 9000 kit and pattern set in Vintage Drum Machines for Roland MC-707 & MC-101, describing the source samples as recorded from mint-state machines. Source ↗
• Die Form — Poupée Mécanique. Die Form credit the Linn 9000 as drum machine and sequencer, with Erick Benzi handling its programming. Source ↗

In the studio and on stage

• Mike Stock / Stock Aitken Waterman — Unnamed composition during PWL studio visit. Reporter observes Stock using Linn 9000 alongside TR-727. Source ↗

One clock for drums and keyboard parts

Play a drum pattern, then record an external MIDI keyboard beside it. Paul Colbert’s March 1985 example has a four-bar drum part repeating beneath a sixteen-bar keyboard sequence without a separate synchronisation setup. The 9000 records MIDI performance data, not the synthesizer’s audio: the external instrument still supplies its sound. Joining those jobs on one panel was its practical proposition.

Roger Linn Design — Museum ↗ Linn 9000, pp. 30–31 ↗

A pattern played under the hands

Strike a pad to record its dynamics; hold Repeat to enter a regular series of strokes and vary pressure to change their level. The hi-hat decay control changes note length, while faders place the drum parts in the mix. Bob Henrit’s April 1985 showroom account describes working on a selected loop, then copying and joining sections. Eighteen pads are playing positions, not proof of eighteen independently sampled recordings.

Linn 9000 ↗ Linn 9000, pp. 30–31 ↗ Linn 9000 — Rhythmcheck ↗

The reviewed machine and the promised options

Paul Wiffen’s April 1985 unit lacked step-time entry; he discussed user-sampling, disk, trigger and SMPTE cards as forthcoming additions. Henrit’s account describes step editing, and Colbert discusses facilities absent from his review sample. Their operating versions remain unresolved. A later advertisement or upgraded survivor cannot settle what every early purchaser received. Wiffen’s £4,500 before VAT is a dated British review price, not the same measure as Linn’s later dollar recollection.

Roger Linn Design — Museum ↗ Linn 9000 ↗ Linn 9000, pp. 30–31 ↗ Linn 9000 — Rhythmcheck ↗

A named record and an unnamed studio visit

Rick Astley identifies the Linn 9000 in the backing-track discussion for “Never Gonna Give You Up” in Song Exploder. That is named-record testimony, not a breakdown of every drum sound or mix. Tim Goodyer’s June 1987 PWL visit separately observes Mike Stock building a rhythm with a Linn 9000 and TR-727 while Matt Aitken plays a D-50 guide. The report does not name that composition.

Song Exploder episode 233: Rick Astley — Never Gonna Give You Up, official transcript ↗ Production Line, Music Technology ↗

Atom™: sound material rather than a running arrangement

In his April 2020 studio interview, Atom™ describes sending sounds among machines, including the Linn 9000, during work on <3. He rarely builds large patterns on it; instead, he shapes source material and edits the results in Pro Tools. He also reports faults in his own instrument. This is an album-level processing account and an individual owner’s experience, not a factory-configuration specification or evidence that the whole album ran from its sequencer.

In the studio with Atom™ ↗

Repair, revision and the MPC connection

The end of Linn Electronics was not the end of the instruments. Bruce Forat’s later interview describes rewriting the operating software; Jeff Lorber and Oliver Leiber recall both studio use and failures. The Forat F-9000 is a revised continuation, not the configuration of every original 9000. Roger Linn separately describes the MPC concept as re-engineering this sampler/sequencer idea with Akai. Simon Trask’s April 1988 MPC60 review supplies a contemporary comparison, not proof that the two machines were interchangeable.

Roger Linn Design — Museum ↗ The Unknown Heroes of Drum Machines ↗ Industry Interview — Roger Linn, page 3 ↗ Akai MPC60 ↗