Roland CR-8000 Drum Machine With Zen Delay, Retroverb Lancet, Sherman Filterbank and Spice

Published on Apr 6, 2020 Perfect Circuit

"Some drum machines sound awesome by themselves—the CR-8000 included—but they often sound better when massaged, mangled, and otherwise augmented with external effects. In this video, the CR-8000 is processed through a variety of desktop effects: delays, filters, distortion, reverb, and more.

The CR-8000 is a peculiar but awesome machine in its own right: the guts of a TR-808 in a package like a preset rhythm machine from the '70s. Still programmable and performable, it provides a solid set of sounds for digging into with various types of effects.

In this video, we first test out some time-based effects, using an Erica Zen Delay and Vermona Retroverb Lancet. The Zen Delay provides flanging/comb filtering and short delay effects, turning the raw tone into something more glitchy and choppy than possible with the CR-8000 alone. We then turn to the Retroverb Lancet, which uses a spring reverb to create murky, dark sense of space and a filter for overall tone shaping.

Then, we try a variety of distortion-oriented effects. The Sherman Filterbank Compact is a filter/distortion unit excellent for creating bizarre audio-reactive effects. Here, it dynamically tracks the incoming sound to create pseudo-scratching effects, harsh synth-like tones, and absurd sound effects, great for bringing an entirely new voice to the mix. The Plankton Spice, on the other hand, combines similar dynamic modulation with a Nutube-based distortion and bit crusher to create lo-fi, aggressive bass tones and glitches, bringing the inherently tonal kick and tom sounds to the forefront and turning cymbals and hats into harsh glitches and bursts.

Check these timestamps for each effect:
00:06 Erica Synths Zen Delay
02:06 Vermona Retroverb Lancet
04:24 Sherman Filterbank 2 Compact
06:45 Plankton Electronics Spice

Zen Delay available here: https://www.perfectcircuit.com/erica-...

Retroverb Lancet available here: https://www.perfectcircuit.com/vermon...

Filterbank 2 Compact available here: https://www.perfectcircuit.com/sherma...

Spice available here: https://www.perfectcircuit.com/plankt..."