tim@fisher.UUCP (Tim Snyder) (03/20/86)
T. J. Thompson asks: > > ... I just talked to a music store that said the Tom was being > discontinued. He also said Linn drum was (temporarily?) shutting down. > What's the story here? Does anyone know any details about this? > I know the sampling machines are taking over the world, but... > > Does anyone know of a good *tunable* drum machine for under $1000? A music store on 48th St. in NYC told me a few months ago that YAMAHA were shutting down and that the DX-7 was being discontinued. You should go to a Linn or Seq. Circuits dealer and see what they say; this business can be an enormous racket! But, your fear of the Seq. Circuits TOM being discontinued points out the reason I chose not to buy it: there will come a time when it IS discontinued, and, unless they sell several carloads of these units, nobody will be manufacturing the cartridges required for their use. Obsoletion! You are better off with a machine using "chips" for drum samples, as do the Linn and the Oberheim DX(A). These are my choices of machines. The Linn has the best sound and capabilities. Linn may, however, be in financial trouble. Roger Linn apparently spent huge quantities of cash developing God's drum machine, the Linn 9000 (~$5000). The cheaper Linn can be had for reasonable price now since many owners are trading their's in for 9000's. You may get one for about $1500, used. New ones are $2000 +. (I know, not in your price range.) The Oberheim is much cheaper and almost as good. It sounds wonderful and has a myriad of features, including an unbelievably well human- engineered design and instruction manual (which are important since these machines can do so much!). If you have questions, I own one and can probably answer them. The chips are manufactured by several companies, so the obsoletion thing is minimized. The price is an amazing ~$900. This machine offers the best (by far) capability to price ratio at this time. What about tunability? This is important to me, and the DX almost satisfies me on these grounds. The TOM is the only machine I am aware of which allows PROGRAMMABLE tunings. Many (most) machines, including the Yamaha ones and the Roland ones (which, by the way, have the best sounds of the non-Linn machines), have absolutely no tuning capabilities. The Oberheim has tuning pots in the back which vary the tunings one-half octave, which is usually more than enough. The only way to vary tuning mid-song is to reach back there and turn the knob (not so jumpin'). There are three toms on the "tom" channel, and these are at intervals which are satisfactory. Tuning the toms brings them all up or down a corresponding amount. Let us know if you learn anything interesting in your quest for digitals. Rhythmus! Tim Snyder