Modded Roland CR5000

images via this auction. samples below.
via Gregor:
"I am selling my modded CR5000. You know, the CR5000 is NOT programmable. But i added some features to this one which makes it quite usable in a normal setup. This is a unique piece of Hardware with extremely expanded possibilities:

On the back there is a Din-Socket for synchronizing it with to Midi using the Standard Din/Sync. (You need a Midi/Din/Sync Interface for using this feature).

Also on the back there are individual Sound Output-Jacks. They are aligned to the Volumepot-Section in the common manner removing the sounds from the sum when inserting cable. That means: As long as no cable is inserted on the individual-out-jacs, you get the sum of all sounds at the output jack. Each cable you put in the individual-out jacks removes this sound (or sounds) from the sum and send it into your cable.

On top i mounted a VHS-Tape-Cover (safely screwed) which holds the switches and dials for soundtwaeking. There are 3.5mm Jacks for triggering the individual Sounds and also one for the Accent. The latter is pretty cool: when you tune in a very long Bassdrum and fire an Accent in the decay-phase of the BD the sound is shortly amplified: BouuuuUUUuuuum. Sound can be triggered from short audiosource or trigger or gatesignals. They are not velocitysensitive though. You have to use the accent-feature to make your patterns dynamic. 4 trigger-inputs are lying on a DIN-Jack. This is my personal Studio-Interface. You should solder an adapter with a DIN-Plug and 4 Sockets - pretty easy. There are 3 more switches: one changes the triggerjacks of open hihat with Accent and vice versa. And two others route the Conga Low and Mid Triggerinputes either to Congas or to the two TomTom Hi and Low Soundsources.

The whole Unit comes with the complete servicemanual for CR5000 ad CR8000 from Roland and the personal notes i made while searching the moddingpoints.

The Drumcomputer look pretty new and everything works like the originial and NEARLY perfect. The only problem is, that the 2 pushbuttons for selecting the rythm rows 2 and 3 are going to die at the moment. They wont work properly any more. It is NOT an electrical problem, i checked that. Replace these to rusty buttons with any new buttons and you can select your rhythms quite perfectly. Using internal or external synchronisation is determined by the switch on the backside near the DIN7Sync input.

Now on to the tweaking possibilities:

The Bassdrum of the CR-Machines is made of two oscillators. I added for each oscillator a TUNE and a DECAY-Dial. Decay can be cranked up until the oscillators are running endless.

Snaredrum has PITCH and SNAP DECAY, There is also a switch for making the SD very long in decay. This switch overrides the snap decay.

For the HiHats we have TUNE for tweaking the sound of the wellknown Roland-6-Oscillator-Noise and HH DECAY. You also have a 3-State-Switch for filtering the Hihats to SHARP or to SOFT, middle is standard-Sound. This switch alters the Bandpassfilter after the HH.

Next is cymbal: there is a pot altering the Highpassfilter of the Cymbal. THis is very cool, it changes the sound of the Cymbal totally from the warm standard sound to a very agressive and sterile "Tsssssss".

The cowbell consists also of 2 oscillators which can be TUNEd individually. Also you can manually set the cowbell DECAY or switch it to a very long decay. Same like SD, when switched to "long decay" removes the function from the decay-dial. The dial i like most in here is the Cowbell-Highpass. The pot sets the cutofffrequency of the cowbell. The higher you set it, the more resonance comes in.

Clave can be PITCHed

Rim can be PITCHed

All three Congas (VERY cool sound, totally different to the 808-sine-congs) can be PITCHed. The higher the pitch, the longer the decay. This happens automatically due to schematics."

Samples (mirrored here):
cr5k_1.mp3
cr5k_2.mp3
cr5k_3.mp3
cr5k_4.mp3
cr5k_5.mp3
cr5k_6.mp3
cr5k_7.mp3
cr5k_8.mp3
cr5k_bd.mp3
cr5k_conga_hh_bd.mp3
cr5k_cym_hh.mp3
cr5k_rim_clave_bd.mp3
cr5k_sd_cowbell.mp3"