The Golden Blog: Quirky Online Drum Machines
Related link: http://www.keyboardmuseum.org/d_machines/vdrums.html
It’s my 50th O’Reilly blog (!), so for this nostalgic occasion, I thought I’d cover something old but cool. Coincidentally, I just stumbled across the Virtual Drum Machines site, where you can play Flash emulations of dozens of electronic rhythm boxes.
A couple of them are classics, but most are wonderfully obscure thrift-store discoveries, unearthed and sampled by Joseph Rivers of the Audio Playground Synthesizer Museum. The emulations, apparently built five years ago, are primitive-looking as well, but I found their fizzy sounds and jerky rhythms strangely inspiring. Consider the 1970s Conn Min-O-Matic, with its wacky “Teen Beat”:
…Or the Boss DR-110, with its classic Roland programming grid:
After you’ve explored the three dozen drum machines, check out the virtual keyboards, such as the unbelievably grungy Bee Gees Rhythm Machine, built in 1978 by Mattel:
A note on the site says you can buy a CD containing high-quality samples of these museum pieces for just $35. I e-mailed Rivers yesterday for more information but haven’t heard back yet. In the meantime, you could try using a streamripper application to grab the audio from the online emulations and use it to inspire your own music.
All in all, a golden opportunity.
Found any other pawnshop prizes lately?
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My brother, Paul, has an original Minomatic by Conn, at his home in Robbinsdale MN. It is in 95% great shape, and my guess is, he is interested in selling it. Give him a call.... woodyemahiser@yahoo.com
I've never even seen the Bee Gees Rhythm Machine. I would expect this to be a high priced piece of merchandise, depending on the condition. It is definitley rare!!!
I've never even seen the Bee Gees Rhythm Machine. I woudl expect this to be a high priced piece of merchandise, depending on the condition. It is definitley rare!!!
@Anthony: I have no idea how much a Min-o-Matic would fetch, but thanks for inspiring me to revisit Joseph's online demo. Did you check with him on prices?
Hey David,
I used to have a conn min-o-matic rhythm and I let a friend have it. I was wondering about how much you think it would go for on ebay and how hard are they to find. I can't find one anywhere.
Thanx
Anthony