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There are instruments which define the sound of music from the 1980's and then there's THIS one. Inventor Roger Linn knew of earlier drum machines which found use on Disco tracks and weirdly enough, prog bands like Genesis (who used a Yamaha Drum machine to very good effect on their "Duke" album.) But found that they sounded too sterile for his taste, so deciding that he could do better decided to go at it himself.
He sampled a real drummer and made it so the samples could be placed on a grid which could also be programmed to have variations. In addition he also added pitch shifting ability so people could change the sound of the samples according to their personal liking. Later versions of his unit also incorporated Midi so they could be hooked up to synthesizers adding melodies to the beats.
Linn found plenty of people taking up his machine and using it not only for composing but also as a useful recording tool. Here's one of the decade's biggest hits and it features that unmistakable sound of a Linndrum
But that the Linndrum could do more than just do dance beats was proven when Pat Benatar used one on her "Angry young woman" anthem "Love is a battlefield"
And the Linndrum also found plenty of takers with the New wave movement, most notably with Tears For fears who used it on THIS song.
But let's be honest, if there's one guy who used a Linndrum and made it his signature sound it's got to be THIS guy.
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Prince first used a Linndrum on the "Controversy" album but really got into using it on the "1999" album where he discovered that if he used the pitch control on the hand claps he'd get this cool "Thuddy" sound, it became part of his signature sound.
"1999", "Little Red Corvette", "Let's go crazy", "The beautiful ones", "When doves cry", "Raspberry beret", "Sign O the times" the list of Prince Classics which used the Linndrum is endless.
So I'm going for a lesser known one
There are instruments which define the sound of music from the 1980's and then there's THIS one. Inventor Roger Linn knew of earlier drum machines which found use on Disco tracks and weirdly enough, prog bands like Genesis (who used a Yamaha Drum machine to very good effect on their "Duke" album.) But found that they sounded too sterile for his taste, so deciding that he could do better decided to go at it himself.
He sampled a real drummer and made it so the samples could be placed on a grid which could also be programmed to have variations. In addition he also added pitch shifting ability so people could change the sound of the samples according to their personal liking. Later versions of his unit also incorporated Midi so they could be hooked up to synthesizers adding melodies to the beats.
Linn found plenty of people taking up his machine and using it not only for composing but also as a useful recording tool. Here's one of the decade's biggest hits and it features that unmistakable sound of a Linndrum
But that the Linndrum could do more than just do dance beats was proven when Pat Benatar used one on her "Angry young woman" anthem "Love is a battlefield"
And the Linndrum also found plenty of takers with the New wave movement, most notably with Tears For fears who used it on THIS song.
But let's be honest, if there's one guy who used a Linndrum and made it his signature sound it's got to be THIS guy.
image removed
Prince first used a Linndrum on the "Controversy" album but really got into using it on the "1999" album where he discovered that if he used the pitch control on the hand claps he'd get this cool "Thuddy" sound, it became part of his signature sound.
"1999", "Little Red Corvette", "Let's go crazy", "The beautiful ones", "When doves cry", "Raspberry beret", "Sign O the times" the list of Prince Classics which used the Linndrum is endless.
So I'm going for a lesser known one
