Roger Linn

Roger Linn is an American industrial designer, mainly of electronic drum machines, and has recently branched out into guitar effects pedals. He is known for designing the first drum machine to use digital samples. His products have become underground hits, being used on many famous recordings. Besides being an accomplished guitarist and producer, Roger Linn is also a member of the Dead Presidents Society, a group of distinguished innovators in the field of electronic music.

In 1979, Roger Linn and Alex Moffett co-founded Linn Moffett Electronics (soon to be renamed Linn Electronics) to develop Linn's design for a drum machine that uses digital samples. It would be called LM-1 for Linn/Moffett/1. Moffett would leave the company in 1982.

In 1980, Roger Linn revolutionized the world of electronic musical instruments with the release of the world's first drum machine to use digital samples, the LM-1 Drum Computer. The LM-1 was the first drum machine to use samples of a real drum kit, though Roger Linn cannot recall exactly which session drummer played the sounds that he used. To further add to the mystery, an entry in the online museum of the Roger Linn Design company credits L.A. session drummer Art Wood with most of the samples. Examples of the LM-1 in use can be found on recordings by Prince, Gary Numan, and Michael Jackson.

In 1982 Linn released the LinnDrum as the successor to the LM-1. It improved on the LM-1 in some ways like the addition of crash and ride cymbal samples. One drawback: on the LinnDrum only the snare, tom and conga samples can be tuned, whereas the LM-1 allows every sound to be individually tuned. Its high-quality samples, flexibility and affordability made the LinnDrum popular. It sold more units than its predecessor (the LM-1) and its successor (the Linn 9000) combined. The LinnDrum was used on countless recordings throughout the 1980s, including a-Ha's international hit "Take on Me".

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