Hey there everyone! My latest post is something very special.. I have worked out all of the 15 blocks of 519 rows of SysEx inside the Roland TR-707. I completed this as a potential pre-cursor to the TR-626. It all started out by a bit of luck, I managed to get my hands on this bit of kit which I’d say would useful be out of my reach.
I then started think about how to I use it – do I trigger the sounds from a DAW? if so, probably best to get my hands on something like the Expert Sleepers Usamo to keep the timing tight or so I run it from the machine itself? and get something like the ER-M multclock to keep things tight. My conclusion was – why get a TR-707? the samples are easy to replicate with Battery – so why not see what’s onboard and here is the key. It has its own, Roland shuffles and groove. Own interactions onboard the TR-707 – so that’s the character but to harness this, I’d need to edit all of the patterns and then string together into a sequence for songs. I can then start the TR-707, din sync’d with the multiclock and get the vibe, not just the sound.
Well, all of this is a good plan but what a headache. Recording patterns is a really job – especially the pattern editor tap option. You can make beats in moments. Absolutely love it but then – stringing it together? wow, that’s a lot of patterns to remember and I’m not that great at remembering much. So, time for an editor to unlock the power of this beautiful machine from 1985.
MIDI Interface!
Due to the long 519 chain, I decided to re-write the send with ACK checks. Therefore, midi in and out need to be hooked up to access any send/receive functions such as dump and transmit.
Download links coming soon- I need to retest with the MOTU Express 128.