Drum Machines Have No Soul

Preset rhythm machine

Univox SR-95

Ten rhythm buttons and an A/B selector give the Univox SR-95 twenty preset accompaniments, from waltz and samba to four rock patterns.

The accompaniment years →
Univox SR-95 — Moby collection sale photographc. 2018 listing · The Official Moby Reverb Shop / ReverbSource & credit ↗

Univox’s SR-95 was offered in Lafayette’s 1977 catalogue at US$229.95 as the twenty-rhythm Super Rhythmer.

01 // Rhythm selection

Twenty preset rhythms under a lid

Ten rhythm buttons and an A/B selector give the Univox SR-95 twenty preset accompaniments, from waltz and samba to four rock patterns. The Super Rhythmer puts those choices across the front of a compact, angled case. Lafayette offered it for US$229.95 in its 1977 catalogue: a dated retail offer, not an established launch price.

SR-95 Electronic Automatic Rhythm Instrument: Service Manual ↗ Lafayette 1977 catalogue: Univox SR-95 Super Rhythmer ↗

02 // Start & stop

The first beat always matters

Choose a rhythm, turn the tempo knob and press Start/Stop. The lamps show the selected rhythm section while stopped, then flash on the first beat of each measure during play. A connected foot pedal performs the same start/stop job, leaving both hands available for the instrument being accompanied.

SR-95 Electronic Automatic Rhythm Instrument: Service Manual ↗

03 // Balance & outputs

A mix that could be touched

Three additional-volume sliders blend quijada, guiro and tambourine into the rhythm. Master volume sets the overall level; the manual says raising Tone Balance emphasises cymbal and maracas tones. It directs the high-level output to an electronic organ and the low-level output to another amplifier. A rear compartment stores the leads and pedal; a vinyl cover completes the listed accessories.

SR-95 Electronic Automatic Rhythm Instrument: Service Manual ↗

04 // Later music

A later, credited life

Domotic names a Univox SR-95 and Korg MS-10 on the official page for “Univox,” from Fourrure Sounds, released on 9 April 2016. The pairing is documented, but the page does not allocate particular sounds, patterns or processing to either instrument. The retained image is the album’s artwork, not a photograph of the setup.

Univox ↗

Domotic — Univox
Domotic — Univox — album artwork. Artist release ↗
05 // Working lives

The pleasure of the fixed pattern

The panel offers selection and balance rather than a memory for newly written sequences. In 2012, Aimee Norwich welcomed that simplicity and described combining buttons to make other rhythms; she was describing her own later experience with the box. I SATELLITE’s studio inventory separately lists an SR-95. Its nearby account of writing “City Streets” concerns an SR-120, not this model.

SR-95 Electronic Automatic Rhythm Instrument: Service Manual ↗ Thursday Gear Review: Univox SR-95 ↗ Omeganaut: I SATELLITE studio gear ↗

06 // Recorded palette

Steve Moore’s rhythm-machine palette

Steve Moore’s Primitive Neural Pathways credits both the SR-95 Super Rhythmer and SR-55 among a wider instrument list. The artist page dates its release to 9 August 2011 but also says it originally appeared through Static Caravan in 2010. The SR-95 belongs to that release-wide palette; the credits do not identify which rhythm machine plays on each track.

Primitive Neural Pathways ↗

07 // Live performance

A place in a live orchestra

Mat Watson included the SR-95 in the instrument list for Magnitudes, the MESS Synthesiser Orchestra’s planned March 2021 debut. His pre-concert interview described players operating the machines live, without a MIDI-controlled, synchronised arrangement. It documents the proposed role of a preset box among many instruments, not confirmation of what happened at the concert.

Magnitudes: Behind-the-scenes of the MESS Synthesiser Orchestra’s live debut ↗

08 // An unspecified Univox

The Univox on “Everybody Hurts”

Peter Buck told Ira Robbins that he bought a twenty-dollar Univox drum machine and recorded “Everybody Hurts” live with Mike Mills around its metronomic feel. The author’s republication of the October 1992 interview gives no model number. It is a direct account of an unspecified Univox, not a confirmed SR-95 recording credit.

R.E.M.: Nice Guys Still Finish First ↗

In the market

Explore 1 period price record

Recording and working accounts

Explore 8 source accounts
Explore further records and collection accounts

Records and working lives

Further SR-95 accounts.

Cover artwork for Analytica — Strategy of Tension.
Analytica — Strategy Of Tension: retained artwork identifies the release or source-recording context, not a machine, session or sound allocation.

Analytica / Strategy Of Tension

The same label account lists a Univox SR-95 in Analytica’s rhythm-machine palette for Strategy Of Tension.

Read Ice Machine Records release page ↗
Cover artwork for Steve Moore — Primitive Neural Pathways.
Steve Moore — Primitive Neural Pathways: retained artwork identifies the release or source-recording context, not a machine, session or sound allocation.

Steve Moore / Primitive Neural Pathways

Steve Moore lists a Univox SR-95 Super Rhythmer among the instruments used for Primitive Neural Pathways.

Read Primitive Neural Pathways ↗

Reported association

Moby / Reported Univox SR-95 video appearance

Equipboard indexes Moby with a Univox SR-95, describing an appearance at 3:12 in an unidentified YouTube video.

Read Univox SR-95 — artist-use index ↗

Moby / Univox SR-95 collection sale

The Official Moby Reverb Shop listed a working Univox SR-95 with footswitch as part of Moby’s private drum-machine collection.

Read Univox SR-95 owned by Moby ↗

Sources

  1. SR-95 Electronic Automatic Rhythm Instrument: Service Manual
  2. Lafayette 1977 catalogue: Univox SR-95 Super Rhythmer
  3. Omeganaut: I SATELLITE studio gear
  4. Thursday Gear Review: Univox SR-95
  5. R.E.M.: Nice Guys Still Finish First
  6. Univox
  7. Magnitudes: Behind-the-scenes of the MESS Synthesiser Orchestra’s live debut
  8. Univox SR-95 — artist-use index
  9. Primitive Neural Pathways
  10. Univox SR-95 owned by Moby

The visual archive

Further visual evidence.

Sources for images shown earlier (4)
Additional visual sources (2)

Original publications and related image sources.

Machine Museum image viewer

Collection photograph shown in this machine story.