Roland R-8

Roland R-8
Roland R-8 Human Rhythm Composer
Manufacturer	Roland
Dates	1989 - 1996
Technical specifications
Input/output

The R-8 Human Rhythm Composer is an electronic drum machine introduced in 1989 by Roland Corporation, using PCM voices. The R-8 features velocity- and pressure-sensitive trigger pads, and the ability to create loops of beats. The device has eight individual outputs, 32-voice polyphony, and four-part multitimbral MIDI.

The R-8 had one RAM memory card slot for saving user-created patterns and songs, and one slot for PCM ROM cards to augment the internal sound banks.

The R-8M is a rackmount version of the R-8, lacking the trigger pads and the sequencer capability, but with three front-facing ROM card slots. These sound libraries may be accessed simultaneously. This device was available from 1990 through 1994.

In 1992, Roland released a second version of the R-8 drum machine, the R-8 MKII. This version offers greatly expanded memory capability as well as bringing onboard most of the libraries from the PCM cards. However, an inferior digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit met with consumer criticism for reduced sound quality. This device was discontinued in 1996.

Known Roland ROM cards: