Roland TR-606

The Roland TR-606 Drumatix is a programmable analogue synthesis drum machine built by the Roland Corporation from 1981 to 1984. It was originally designed to be used with the Roland TB-303, a monophonic analogue bass synthesizer, to provide a simple drum and bass accompaniment to guitarists without backing bands. The TR-606 was part of Roland's line of "Computer Controlled" musical instruments that are now very highly sought after. The TR-808 drum machine was first in the line of products dating back to 1980, the TB-303 and TR-606 launched in 1983 as a matched pair to provide solo artists the chance to practice without other individuals, solely using the TR-606 and TB-303 as drums and bass lines to practice to, but the programming and artificial sounds made the boxes uncomfortable to use and they lost their luster in a short time. The TR-909 drum machine completed the computer controlled lineup and added MIDI functions but the group was doomed to an early demise as popular music soon shifted to sampled drum sounds and real bass lines for hit songs, as sample capabilites were the newest development of the late 1980's. At one time the TR-606 could be found in pawn shops for as little as $50 but since the resurgence in popularity of analog drum sounds for electronic music, the TR-606 will commonly sell for $300 to $400 on ebay, still witnessed today.

Whilst it did not sell well at first, it did eventually become an integral part of the early acid house electronic music scene, and is still used by many electronic musicians today.

The TR-606 was used by legendary punk rock/noise rock band Big Black and was credited on their records as "Roland". The Artist in Front of The Strobe Light Live, as one of the group's two 'Robots'.

Outside of rock music, the TR-606 was commonly used by electronic music artists Aphex Twin, Mike Ink and Vapourspace. The globally known dj/producer known as Plastikman (Richie Hawtin, FUSE, Plus8 records) used the TR-606 on the famous track "helikopter" as part of its hypnotic assault on the eardrums as the patterns evolve through the adjustment of the knobs on the drum machine to alter the sounds as the song progresses. This progression through the altering of analog drum sounds is the core element in some of the best techno/acid/house that has ever been produced, witnessed in many classic songs of the late 1980's and early 1990's. Even artists that preferred breakbeats to "4 on the floor" rhythms used it, seen when 4Hero credited the TR-606 on their well-received album "Parallel Universe". The TR-606 has six synthesized sounds labeled as: Bass Drum, Snare Drum, Hi Tom, Lo Tom, Cymbal and Open/Closed Hi Hat, as well as an additional function labeled accent, which serves to modify the timbre of the main sound set, rather than produce an additional seventh layer.