1972 Ace Tone Rhythm Ace FR-6 Videos by Synthies & Ronan

Published on Feb 19, 2018 Synthies & Ronan

Playlist:
1. making techno with a drum machine from 1972
2. session w/ rhythm ace fr-6 + effects (first hands-on)
3. EDM Jam w/ Ace Tone Rhythm Ace FR-6 (Roland TR-55)
4. I am in love with the Rhythm Ace FR-6 (*Roland TR-55) Techno Techno, ja

"*The FR-6 design would later be updated and released by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Roland’s TR Series. (Roland TR-55 Rhythm Arranger)

...and by the way Moby has two of these 😎 check out the seventh second in the link below:"

Moby's Drum Machine & Synth Collection

VINTAGE RHYTHM ACE FR-6

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via this auction

Update via Christopher Keep in the comments: "I own both an FR 6 and a CR 78. Heart of Glass was definitely recorded with a CR 78. There's no pulse out on the FR 6, and hence no way to sync it with the LFOs on the Roland SH 1000 used for the sweeping pulse effect. That said, the FR 6 is pretty cool; you can pop the hood off and adjust the volume and tone of all the individual sounds using the tunable pots. A modders dream."

"VINTAGE RHYTHM ACE FR-6 old school analog drum machine manufactured by Ace Elcetronic Industries in Japan. this is the RARE AND HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER weird little rhythm unit that came into vogue on early electro records and used on disco and house tracks of the 60s/70s/80s....EXACTLY the one heard on everything from Blondie's 'Heart of Glass' to today's electro punk and indie freakouts."

Some claim the Roland CR-78 was used, but others state the sound was closer to the FR-6. Wikipedia currently has the following:

"The production of 'Heart of Glass' was discussed in detail by Richard Allinson and Steve Levine on the BBC Radio 2 radio program The Record Producers that was aired on May 25, 2009. As explained in the program, the production of 'Heart of Glass' was built around the use of a Roland CR-78 drum machine. The CR-78 was first introduced in 1978, the same year that Parallel Lines was recorded, and the use of this device on 'Heart of Glass' was, according to the program, among the earliest uses of this device in popular music. As the program explained, it was also very unusual to use a drum machine in the context of a rock band.

In deciding to use the CR-78 for 'Heart of Glass,' the choice was made to combine the sound of the drum machine with the sound of actual drumming. This reflected the hybrid nature of the song, the combination of a drum machine that was typically used in the context of dance music with the actual drum sound that was a traditional aspect of rock recordings. In combining these elements, the sound of the drum machine was first recorded on an individual track. To synchronize the actual drum play with the drum machine, the drums were also recorded on separate tracks, with the bass drum recorded separately from the rest of the drums.

Having combined the drums with the drum machine, another important feature of the CR-78 was that it could be used to send a trigger pulse to the early polymorphic synthesizers. This trigger pulse feature was also used on 'Heart of Glass.' The trigger pulse created by the CR-78 became a distinctive electronic/synth element of the song. The additional synthesizer portions of the song were played separately.

For the guitars, each guitar part was again recorded on separate tracks. For the vocals, a single track and a double track of Debbie Harry's voice were combined into a single vocal recording.

In an interview in the magazine that is part of the collector's edition for the ninth Blondie studio album Panic of Girls, Debbie Harry explained that band members Chris Stein and Jimmy Destri had purchased the CR-78 from a music store on 47th Street in Manhattan, and that this is how the device had become part of the production of 'Heart of Glass': 'Chris and Jimmy were always going over to 47th Street where all the music stores were, and one day they came back with this little rhythm box, which went 'tikka tikka tikka'... And the rest is history!' Stein also credited Destri with influencing the song's sound, saying he 'had a lot to do with how the record sounds... It was Jimmy who brought in the drum machine and a synthesiser. Synchronising them was a big deal at the time. It all had to be done manually, with every note and beat played in real time rather than looped over.'[6]"

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Nihon Hammond & Ace Tone (Pre ROLAND) Rhythm Ace FR-6 Drum Machines

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Ace Tone (Pre ROLAND) Rhythm Ace FR-6 SN 078045 via this auction

Nihon Hammond Rhythm Ace FR-6 SN 571308 via this auction

Note the different branding SN plates on the back.

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Ace Tone (Roland) Rhythm Ace Drum Machines Comparison Test

Published on Jan 27, 2018 SUBTOKYOSHOP

"Ace Tone (the forerunner of Roland) Rhythm Ace Drum Machines Comparison Test

1. Ace Tone Rhythm Ace FR-6
2. Ace Tone Rhythm Ace FR-7L
3. Ace Tone Rhythm Ace FR-8L

recorded with Drawmer LX-20 compressor and Ableton Live"

subtokyoshop on eBay | subtokyoshop on Reverb

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06 01 21 Ace Tone - Rhythm Ace FR-6

batchas

"I finished to repair, modify and clean the FR-6.
Next step will be to replace the grey panel I took as prototype."

06 01 21 Rhythm Ace FR-6 with BugBrand Modular [02]
batchas

"First test after repairing and modifying the FR-6.
Next step will be to clean it and mount the knobs.
In a further stage I'll replace the grey prototype panel."

Part 1 here

Japanese Rack Reverb Comparison Test 02 with Ace Tone FR 6 Rhythm Ace

Published on Oct 18, 2018 SUBTOKYOSHOP

"Japanese Rack Reverb Comparison Test 02
with Ace Tone FR 6 Rhythm Ace Drum Machine

1. Vesta Fire RV-2 Dual Reverberation Device (Stereo Spring Reverb)
2. Yamaha SPX90II Multi Effect Processor (Digital Multi Effect - #64 Rev4 Plate)
3. Sony DPS-R7 Reverberator (Digital Multi Effect - #2 Studio Ambience for Drum)

with
Ace Tone FR-6 Rhythm Ace Drum Machine
Drawmer LX20 Dual Expander Compressor

subtokyoshop on eBay | subtokyoshop on Reverb

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Batchas Modified Rhythm Ace FR-6

"Trying different presets... The modified Rhythm Ace is now ready!"

Listhen through the 2nd video at 1:03. Damn.

Follow-up to this post. You can find addtional Rhythm Ace FR-6 posts here.

Rhythm Ace FR-6 MIDI (uniPulse Demo)

video upload by Tubbutec

"Midified Rhythm Ace Fr-6 using our uniPulse interface:
https://tubbutec.de/unipulse/
Video and installation by https://www.instagram.com/juicythedj/

Link to the installation guide:
https://tubbutec.de/blog/rhythm-ace-f..."

Ace Tone (Roland) Rhythm Ace FR-6 + Roland RE-201 Space Echo test

Published on Jun 2, 2016 SubTokyoShop

"Ace Tone (Roland) Rhythm Ace FR-6
+ Roland RE-201 Space Echo test

recorded with Drawmer LX20 compressor"

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Rhythm Ace FR-6 SN 0020062

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via this auction

"Ace FR-6 Rhythm Ace Pre Roland Vintage Drum Machine"

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AceTone (Roland) Rhythm Ace FR-6 + Roland RE 201

Published on Nov 10, 2014 subtokyoshop

"AceTone (Roland) Rhythm Ace FR-6
Vintage Classic Drum Machine made by AceTone / Nihon Hammond Corp(former name of Roland corp), around 1970.

Recorded with Roland RE-201 Space Echo and DBX 160X Compressor"

subtokyoshop on eBay | subtokyoshop on Reverb

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Circuit Bending a Roland TR-77 aka Bentley Rhythm Ace FR-8L

Details on the bends on Circuitbenders.co.uk. Interesting bit on the history of the TR-77:

"Why both names you might ask? Well, before Roland came into existence there was a company in the 70's called Acetone who distributed several drum machines of the 'sit on top of your home organ' variety. These machines were mostly firmly in the Rhumba and Bossanova camps, but in the UK they were marketed under the name Bentley Rhythm Ace, which is as good a name as any i guess. Eventually all these distributors morphed into the mighty beast that was Roland in the late 70's and early 80's, but many of their product ranges seem to have been redesigned and sold as Roland machines, often at the same time as appearing under other names. One of these is the Bentley Rhythm Ace FR8L which is to all intents and purposes a Roland TR77 drum machine, the first product ever to bear the Roland name."

You can find an image of the FR-8L in this previous post. For comparison, here is a pic of an FR-6.

NIHON HAMMOND Rhythm Ace FR-6

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via this auction

See the seller's other items for more.

"1974 Vintage Rhythm Ace Model FR-6 Full Auto Sound Unit Drum Machine."

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Ace Tone FR-6 Rhythm Ace 70's Beat Box + Fostex 3180 Spring Reverb test

Published on May 20, 2019 SUBTOKYOSHOP

"Ace Tone FR-6 Rhythm Ace 70's Beat Box + Fostex 3180 Spring Reverb test"

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Vintage Bentley Rhythm Ace Drum Machine FR-6

via this auction
"Vintage 1970's Bentley Rhythm Ace FR-6 drum machine, for the classic retro analogue Sounds

Rarer than the common Long organ top ones with the music rest, this would fit in much better in a studio set up.

Beats 2-beat selectable by rotory knob, Bass drum, Base drum and snare, Fox trot one, Swing one, March, Hara Nara
Beats 4 beat selectable by rotory knob, Bass drum, Bass drum and snare, Fox trot two, Swing two, Swing three, Tango.
Plus Bossa Nova, Samba, Mambo, Cha-Cha, Beguine, Rock N Roll, Ballard, Slow Rock and Waltz.

Large on/off switch
Volume,
Tempo,
Ballance."

Ace Tone FR-6 Rhythm Ace + Sony HR-MP5 Multi Processor test

Published on Jul 11, 2016 SubTokyoShop

"Ace Tone FR-6 Rhythm Ace 70's Vintage Analog Drum Machine
+ Sony HR-MP5 Multi Processor

effects bypassed at the end of the video"

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Rhythm Ace FR-6

via this auction

"1974 Vintage Rhythm Ace Model FR-6 Full Auto Sound Unit Drum Machine."

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Moby's Drum Machines For Sale

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You can find them on Reverb here.

Don't miss the video here.

Update: some pics and details captured. I made the mistake of trying to capture them all and then realized how many were listed. :) I ended up switching to the more esoteric models. Quite a few have never been featured here on MATRIXSYNTH before. What's a little bit interesting, is only two new labels were needed, one for Domino and one for Side-Kick-Er. All other brands have been featured before. See the labels at the bottom of this post. Side note: Blogger limits the number of characters to 200 for labels, so I wasn't able to capture them all for this post. You can always search for the brand names featured for more. I assume most do this anyway. The labels are more for maintenance and for finding posts that may not feature brand names in descriptions.

Pictured:

Realistic Concertmate Electronic Accompanist-Metronome

"Fully analog rhythmic companion utilizing 5 beat buttons to combine how you wish. Features metronome, speaker and line out, and tempo control.

Serial: 42-2103. Works with no issue."

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07 30 21 Rhythm Ace, Minimoog & Fenix

video upload by batchas

"I took out my Musonics Minimoog to calibrate it and jammed a bit with the Ace Tone Rhythm Ace FR-6 I modified and the Synton Fenix 2 & 3."

12 14 23 Ace Tone Rhythm Ace FR-6

video upload by batchas

'Modded FR-6 triggered by Synton Fenix III sequencer.
I added reverb, delay and overdrive."