A May 1982 French Elektor offer lists the SRB-600 at 995 francs. That places it on sale in France; its maker and original launch date remain unresolved.
The machine in the record
Rhythmic Robot / the SRB-600 in Kontakt.
Rhythmic Robot sampled the SRB-600 for a Kontakt instrument, giving its recorded sounds a new working environment. The software adds combinable presets and host-tempo synchronisation; these are not documented controls of the original box.
Read SRB-600 Kontakt instrument ↗A small box for a small setup
Two microphone sockets, a rhythm selector and a handful of knobs: the SRB-600 brings accompaniment and incoming sound together on one panel. Its mixer and echo sit beside the preset drummer, making a compact centre for a voice or instrument with a rhythm behind it. The attraction is the combination of jobs. The model name is clear on the case; its maker remains unidentified.
SRB 600 — specialist instrument inspection ↗ SRB 600: Appareil Rythmique / Echo product notice ↗
Choose a rhythm; bring the inputs in
R. Nickel’s inspection describes selecting one rhythm with the rotary switch and setting tempo and level with the paired control, which also starts and stops the drummer. The input sockets share their own level control. Nickel explicitly says the hardware rhythms cannot be combined. Later software made from its sounds offers more freedom, but those controls do not belong to this front panel. He reports bass drum, snare, claves, cymbal and hi-hat voices, with internal adjustments distinct from the performer’s front-panel controls.
The echo has a different job
The echo works on incoming sound, rather than automatically surrounding the drum pattern. Nickel describes a fixed bucket-brigade delay of about 65 milliseconds, with the Echo control adjusting feedback, and says the rhythm signal cannot enter that path without modification. That separation matters: this is a rhythm box with an input effect, not evidence that its own drums were designed to echo.
A French offer, then a software afterlife
Elektor’s May 1982 notice describes a Japanese unit with eight rhythms and five instruments; the adjacent order form offers item 34004 for 995 French francs. It is a dated offer, rather than a settled launch date or worldwide price. The later specialist account gives conflicting rhythm counts, so the surviving documentation does not support a single confident total. Rhythmic Robot subsequently sampled the instrument for Kontakt. Its combinable presets and host-tempo synchronisation are software facilities, extending the recorded material rather than revealing hidden hardware controls.
SRB 600: Appareil Rythmique / Echo product notice ↗ SRB 600 — specialist instrument inspection ↗ SRB-600 sampled instrument description ↗
Recording and working accounts
Explore 1 source account
- Rhythmic Robot Audio — SRB-600 Kontakt instrument
Rhythmic Robot sampled the SRB-600 for a Kontakt instrument, giving its recorded sounds a new working environment. The software adds combinable presets and host-tempo synchronisation; these are not documented controls of the original box.
Sources
The visual archive
Further visual evidence.
Sources for images shown earlier (1)
Additional visual sources (1)
Original publications and related image sources.
- Elektor France — SRB-600 Rhythm/Echo unit ↗
May 1982 · Elektor France · Issue 47 PDF and SRB-600 material