(no subject)
A couple of weekends ago we went to Tansley car boot where I picked up a couple of drum machines for £15, without power supplies or manuals: An Alesis SR-16 and a Zoom RhythmTrak RT-123. A fair price, I thought, for running the risk that they might both be knackered. I actually made an offer at £15 for both, instead of £10 and £6 respectively.
The SR-16 required a rare 9V AC adapter - not something one typically finds in ones Odd Bits Box, but one I had from an old USRobotics 56k modem. Fired it up, and it works like a charm! Upon power, it presents a little "(C) 1990 Alesis" message, and then it's plain sailing. In terms of MIDI-ness it's the superior unit, with both In and Out ports, and it has some delightfully "90s"-sounding drumkits as well as some which will still very easily pass as contemporary - probably one of the reasons the unit still retails for £110.
The RhythmTrak was more trouble - not to say that digging out the AC adapter wasn't a pain. It too runs off 9V but this time DC. Bizarrely I don't have any 9V DC adapters that would fit its socket, except the one that's plugged into my MIDI keyboard (also £5 at Tansley). To my dismay, the unit didn't show any sign of life when I plugged it in. But to my interest, the socket appeared to be loose. So I grabbed a screwdriver and the soldering iron and some solder, whipped the bottom off the unit and soldered the tabs back onto the board. And hey presto, it powered up! :D I'm tempted to say that it was going for £6 because they knew it was knackered. This one came out in 1999, and they sell on eBay now for between £30 and £80! I think there's meant to be a *click* from two builtin piezoelectric speakers when you press a key, but it's not something I'm going to miss. The keys light up when you press them, and that's enough for me. This one is better as an accompaniment for live guitar - it features Line In, and Midi is In only for the timing signal. It also has facilities for programming a secondary drum track as well as a bassline, with some of the bass samples being surprisingly deep.
The SR-16 required a rare 9V AC adapter - not something one typically finds in ones Odd Bits Box, but one I had from an old USRobotics 56k modem. Fired it up, and it works like a charm! Upon power, it presents a little "(C) 1990 Alesis" message, and then it's plain sailing. In terms of MIDI-ness it's the superior unit, with both In and Out ports, and it has some delightfully "90s"-sounding drumkits as well as some which will still very easily pass as contemporary - probably one of the reasons the unit still retails for £110.
The RhythmTrak was more trouble - not to say that digging out the AC adapter wasn't a pain. It too runs off 9V but this time DC. Bizarrely I don't have any 9V DC adapters that would fit its socket, except the one that's plugged into my MIDI keyboard (also £5 at Tansley). To my dismay, the unit didn't show any sign of life when I plugged it in. But to my interest, the socket appeared to be loose. So I grabbed a screwdriver and the soldering iron and some solder, whipped the bottom off the unit and soldered the tabs back onto the board. And hey presto, it powered up! :D I'm tempted to say that it was going for £6 because they knew it was knackered. This one came out in 1999, and they sell on eBay now for between £30 and £80! I think there's meant to be a *click* from two builtin piezoelectric speakers when you press a key, but it's not something I'm going to miss. The keys light up when you press them, and that's enough for me. This one is better as an accompaniment for live guitar - it features Line In, and Midi is In only for the timing signal. It also has facilities for programming a secondary drum track as well as a bassline, with some of the bass samples being surprisingly deep.