NAMM: Dave Smith and Roger Linn Create a Tempest

YouTube via DaveSmithInstruments | January 13, 2011

Boomchik arrives in a Tempest (click and scroll to see how it has evolved over time).

"Analog Drum Machine a First for Legendary Designers

January 13, 2011—Dave Smith Instruments today introduced Tempest, a new analog drum machine, at the 2011 NAMM Show. Tempest is a collaboration between Smith and longtime friend and fellow instrument designer Roger Linn. Though they've consulted with each other on past projects, Tempest marks the first time a product will carry both the Dave Smith Instruments and Roger Linn Design logos. 'If you're going to make a drum machine, who better to have in your corner than Roger Linn?' said Smith, referring to Linn's legacy as inventor of the digital drum machine.

Though Smith is also responsible for some fine drum machines—most notably Sequential's DrumTraks and Studio 440—Tempest is his first to utilize analog synthesis to generate the sounds. "We've designed a very flexible new synth voice for Tempest," said Smith. Linn added, "The design of Tempest reflects a rethinking of what a drum machine needs to be in the current era. It's not so much a drum machine as a new musical performance instrument for the creation, manipulation, and arrangement of beat-oriented music, with an intuitive and efficient use of human gestures."

Tempest's 16 velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads are arranged in an 8 x 2 array to facilitate both real-time and step entry of beats. Two pressure- and position-sensitive Note FX slide controllers provide a unique new method of performance and control.

"We're very excited about Tempest," said Smith. "It's an instrument with a lot of personality and it's great fun to play. It has been a long time since there has been anything new in the drum machine world."

Tempest is expected to be available by June 2011 with a projected MAP of $1,999.00.

Summary of Features

CLICK FOR MORE »

An Interview with Roger Linn by Mark Vail

Published on Jan 12, 2016 Redaktion Megasynth

An interview with Roger Linn by Mark Vail.

Playlist:
Roger Linn im Interview Teil 1 who is Roger Linn?
Roger Linn im Interview Teil 2 über David Cockerell
Roger Linn im Interview Teil 3 AdrenaLinn
Roger Linn im Interview Teil 4 DSI Tempest
Roger Linn im Interview Teil 5 LinnStrument

VProm V 2.0 - Linn LM-1 Based Soft Synth by AJLAB aka Aly James Lab

VProm plug-in vs Hardware LM-1 video upload by Aly James

"Direct comparison* between Linn LM-1 direct output and VProm plug-in.
LM-1 recorded straight, VProm direct, no FX, no EQ, no dynamics."

VProm Linn LM-1 VST drum machine overview & tutorial

video upload by Tech Raven

"VProm, by Aly James Lab, VST plugin of the famous Linn LM-1 drum machine. In my opinion, Vprom is the last word on Linn LM-1 plugins, nothing compares, not even close."

via AJLAB

A legend never dies!
The VProm was originally based on THE killer drum machine in town back in the early 80s, this expensive drum computer was also the first to include real drum samples back in the days!

Early sample based drum machines used samples of acoustic drum sounds recorded on the fly through some basic hardware. The way they were recorded without any kind of anti-aliasing makes them cut better in a mix than anything available at the time, they sounded so great that they became an alternative to the analog drum sounds of that era. To this day, the unique sound of this vintage machine is highly regarded because only using samples of the analog output is not enough to reproduce the wide range of sound and character of this beast. One DAC(converter)and clock per voice and yummy filters! Yes it is a historical piece of gear that take a huge place in the 80s sound picture. Only around 500 of these things are out there so don't count on finding a working one easily and forget for cheap. It has been used by major acts like Prince, Phil Collins, Thompson Twins, Stevie Wonder, Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, The Human League, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, John Carpenter, Todd Rundgren,The Art of Noise... The Machine was made by a musician for musicians and I tried to stick to that standard :) So as there were no accurate VST for that legend out there... I had to make the VProm!

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT! IT MAKES THINGS HAPPEN, SUCH AS VProm ON WIN, MAC, x86 AND x64 Platforms!

VPROM accurately reproduces the internal circuitry and filtering of the first legendary Drum Machine but is also perfectly able to read and import original, custom or vintage EPROMs from other Drum Machines of that era, legendary 80s machines such as the Linndrum, DMX, DrumTraks etc.(.bin files that you can find on the net) An EPROM is an integrated circuit that was used to store short audio sample data in a compressed format. VPROM is the closest thing to the real deal - reading and decoding original EPROM data images in real time using the exact decode table from the AM6070 DAC at a variable sample rate. VPROM also allow experimenting with your own sample database. You can convert samples with external tools and load compatible ULaw companded images (see manual for more info).

I hope you enjoy making funky grooves with VPROM as much as I do!

Disclaimer: The original name of this VST, "VLinn", has been changed at the request of the Linn Electronics copyright holder, Roger Linn. It is now named "VPROM". Aly James Lab has no affiliation with Roger Linn and has not received any consent from Roger Linn. We do not claim to reproduce the sounds of Roger Linn s product but rather this product creates sounds inspired by Roger Linn s past products.

SWEETWATER - GEARFEST 2015 - The Inventors of Synth (Roger Linn, Dave Smith & Tom Oberheim)

Published on Jun 16, 2015 THE MUSICIAN NETWORK (TMNtv)

"At Sweetwater's GearFest 2015, we were extremely lucky to have attended & filmed a one-of-a-kind seminar & panel discussion with three (3) HUGE contributors (i.e. 'The Inventors') of = The Synthesizer: Mr. Roger Linn, Mr. Dave Smith and Mr. Tom Oberheim. If you are an Electronic Musician and a synth-lover, then you NEED to watch this video, in its' entirety. Great Thanks to Sweetwater for putting this seminar & panel on during GearFest! Sincerely, The Musician Network (TMNtv)"

Update:

Tom Oberheim Interviewed by Sweetwater Sound

Published on Jun 29, 2015 SweetwaterSound

"Mitch Gallagher sits down with synthesizer legend Tom Oberheim for a special interview at Sweetwater's GearFest 2015. A pioneer of the synth and MIDI world, Tom Oberheim co-designed the Synthesizer Expansion Module (SEM), a device that allowed musicians to simultaneously combine live playing and sequenced playback - a concept that pre-dated the MIDI revolution. In 1981, he, along with Roland's Ikutaro Kakehashi and Sequential's Dave Smith, developed the MIDI spec, which changed the course of modern music. Tom recently re-released his famed Two Voice synth."

Dave Smith Interviewed by Sweetwater

Published on Jun 22, 2015 SweetwaterSound

"Mitch Gallagher sits down with synth pioneer Dave Smith here at Sweetwater Sound. Dave was visiting Sweetwater for GearFest '15, featuring a special panel discussion between Dave Smith, Roger Linn, and Tom Oberheim.

Legendary synth designer and Grammy-winner Dave Smith was the founder of Sequential Circuits in the mid-'70s. His Prophet-5, the world's first fully programmable polyphonic synth, was the first musical instrument with an embedded microprocessor. Dave is also known as the driving force behind the development of the MIDI specification. He has continued to innovate, and recently unveiled his latest synth creation, the Sequential Prophet-6."

The first soft synth ever, Seer Systems Reality, gets a mention.

Roger Linn Interviewed by Sweetwater

Published on Jul 10, 2015 SweetwaterSound

"At GearFest '15, synthesizer pioneer Roger Linn sat down with Mitch Gallagher to talk music and electronic instruments. Technical Grammy award-winner Roger Linn invented the LM-1 Drum Computer (the first sample-based drum machine) in 1979. He later designed the Akai MPC60, which combined a sampling drum machine with a real-time MIDI sequencer. His guitar effects unit, AdrenaLinn, has been used on hit recordings by John Mayer and Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 2014 he released the LinnStrument, an expressive MIDI performance controller.

The Sweetwater Minute, Vol. 298"

Meet the Luma-1 - Joe Britt's Enhanced LM-1 Drum Machine In Collaboration with Roger Linn

Joe Britt LM1+ demo video upload by Roger Linn

This one is in via Soviet Space Child.

Above is a prototype Luma-1 in an LM-1 case. Below you'll see some pics of the upcoming Luma1 branded case along with some details.

According to @luma1_drum_machine:

"Welcome! We are two US based engineers who are building and selling a few Luma1 Drum Machines with Roger Linn and Joe Britt’s consent."

"While the Luma1 hardware design is in the final stage for preparation before manufacturing, there is much work happening on the software side. Luma1 is running the original LM1 code on the Z80 CPU while the secondary ARM processor delivers new features. Those include custom sound loading, MIDI, synchronization and now added OLED support. More work needs to be done to expand it and bring brand the new functionality, but we’re really happy with the progress."

Click the pics for larger shots. You can find a full write-up on Roger Linn's website here, and additional demos and pics on Instagram here.

Roger Linn: "I've recently met a new friend named Joe Britt, founder and CEO of a tech company here in Silicon Valley called Afero, and designer of some significant tech products over the years.

Lucky for me, Joe also has a personal interest in my old drum machines. A few years ago, a friend of his gave him (!) one of my old LM1 drum machines. He enjoyed playing with it, but he wished it had a few extra features like loading alternate sounds from files, and pitch and pan knobs on the front panel.

So he decided to make his own enhanced LM1. He searched the web and found some incomplete old schematics, filled in the gaps by reverse-engineering the boards, then redesigned and replaced all of the circuit boards to include his enhancements. Note in the photo above that his redesigned boards are about half the size of the original boards, and are purple! Prince would have loved that."

LinnDrum II on Roger Linn Design

The LinnDrum II is now up on Roger Linn Design. via MG.

"In January 2007, Dave Smith and I (Roger Linn) pre-annouced BoomChik, a new drum machine product that we are creating together. Since that time, we received many enthusiastic comments and suggestions from musicians around the world that caused us to rethink and enhance the product's design. The bad news is that this design change (along with Dave's release of Prophet '08 and my release of AdrenaLinn III) has delayed our development. The good news is that the product has grown into a far more capable instrument. Also, we've decided to change the name to LinnDrum II, recalling an innovative drum machine from a bygone era. Please read on for more details.

There will be two models: the all-digital “LinnDrum II”, available from Roger Linn Design and the “LinnDrum II Analog”, which adds four voice analog synth voices and 27 dual-function voicing knobs, available from Dave Smith Instruments. We're currently estimating street prices of around $1000 for LinnDrum II and around $1500 for LinnDrum II Analog. Here's a brief summary of the product features:

Features common to both products:
* Operating system is optimized for realtime live performance, with the ability to switch between beats, drop in and out of record on different beats, switch in and out of song mode and much more, all without stopping play.
* Digital voices have nearly the same signal and modulation path--including modulated filters and resonators--as shown on the LinnDrum 2 Analog panel. Total number of voices is not yet determined.
* 16 standard 1.1 inch square velocity and pressure-sensitive drum pads, assignable to sounds, tunings, beats, track mutes, pad mutes or sequence steps.
* Both MPC-style real time and 808-style step recording are provided, and the 16 pads are backlit for visual animation.
* Real-time stereo digital effects on output mix--modulated multi-mode filtering, guitar amp model and bit/sample rate reduction distortion, modulated resonator, compressor, deley, reverb and EQ--with 6 dedicated on/off keys to switch them individually in or out in real time.
* Compact flash slot for data save/load/backup, or for expansion of internal sound storage.
* Internal RAM and flash size is yet to be decided; at least 16 mbytes for each.
* 128 x 64 dot graphic LCD.
* USB port for transferring samples and other files, MIDI messages and audio I/O to and from computer.
* 4 pushbutton soft knobs below the LCD, acting either as soft knobs or soft keys.
* 52 lit buttons for extensive real-time performance control.
* 2 sliders assignable to a large variety of real-time functions.
* HELP key gives descriptive text for any screen, data field, function key or knob.
* Pressing DETAILS key followed by any panel key presents a screen of settings related to the key pressed.
* 2 pairs of stereo outputs, with phones output fed from either pair.
* Stereo inputs for sampling, audio processing or triggering sounds.
* MIDI in and out.
* 2 inputs for either foot switches or expression pedals, assignable to a wide variety of functions.

Additional features on Dave's LinnDrum II Analog:
* Four complex analog voices based on the same Curtis-chip synth voices used in the highly-aclaimed Prophet '08 and Evolver keyboards.
* Four direct ouputs for the four analog voices.
* 27 dedicated dual-function rotary encoders for voicing the analog and digital voices.

There's still a lot of work to do so late 2008 is our best estimate of when the products will be ready. If you'd like to be updated on the progress and informed when we're ready to ship, or if you have any comments or suggestions, please send us an email. And to all those whose comments and suggestions helped refine our design (special thanks to Noaka for help on the visual design), please accept our sincere thanks.

Thanks,

Roger Linn"

Roger Linn on Bob Moog - Electronic Voyager TESTIMONIAL #1

Roger Linn on Bob Moog - Electronic Voyager TESTIMONIAL #1 from Electronic Voyager on Vimeo.

"We are down to the FINAL 6 days of our Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for our Bob Moog history. Roger Linn appreciates the importance of telling Bob Moog's crucial chapter in electronic music history, and offered to share his feelings about Bob for the Electronic Voyager cause.

Electronic Voyager: Retracing Bob Moog’s Sonic Journey…

Support us on Kickstarter April 25 to May 25, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/ElectronicVoyagerKickstarter

Roger Linn is a legendary electronic music instrument designer, best known for his groundbreaking LinnDrum and Akai MPC sampling drum machines, both of which revolutionized the music industry. Bob Moog directly inspired Roger’s career path into electronic instrument design, and the two became colleagues and friends.

Roger not only enthusiastically agreed to be interviewed about Bob for Electronic Voyager, he also offered to film this testimonial about his professional and personal admiration for Bob Moog. Thank you Roger!"

Roger Linn + Carl Craig - Dubspot Workshop Recap

Roger Linn + Carl Craig - Dubspot Workshop Recap @ Decibel: 'Evolution of Drum Machines'

Published on Nov 16, 2012 by DubSpot

"More info: http://bit.ly/TIfQZj
During Dubspot's recent trip to Seattle's Decibel Festival, our video team caught up with Roger Linn, the godfather of the modern drum machine, Carl Craig, one of Detroit's most talented producers, for a lecture/discussion about the history and evolution of the rhythm machines that have shaped our musical world.

One of the most inspiring elements of Seattle's annual Decibel Festival is the conversations that transpire between some of the world's most talented musical thinkers. Decibel acts as a catalyst for these moments, with lectures and demonstrations taking place throughout the festival. We were especially excited to catch a workshop where drum machine creator and pioneer Roger Linn joined Detroit techno innovator Carl Craig for a talk on the evolution of drum machines and the future of electronic rhythm.

In this video, Linn explains that our assumption of drum machines appearing in the early 80s is incorrect, and he takes us on a tour of early electronic rhythm devices such as Leon Thermin's Rhythmicon (1930), the Chamberlin Rhythmate (1957), Raymond Scott's Bandito the Bongo Artist (1963), Seeburg's Select-A-Rhythm (1964), the PAiA Programmable Drum Set (1975) and the CompuRhythm CR-78 (1978). Craig probes with questions regarding interface design for musicians vs. engineers, discusses the development of drum interfaces, and talks about how the Akai MPC changed his production and composition techniques."

Roger Linn Events Featuring Eigenharp, Haken & SLABS

This in via Eigenharp:

"I'm writing to let you know about four events We will be attending in the San Francisco area from May 5th through 9th, Hosted by Roger Linn of Linn drum fame. We will be presenting the Eigenharps along with other revolutionary electronic instruments:

1) The Eigenharp, demonstrated by Geert Bevin, Senior Software Developer from UK-based Eigenlabs.


2) The Continuum from Haken Audio, demonstrated by bay area pianist Ed Goldfarb.


3) SLABS, a new instrument designed by David Wessel, director of Cal Berkeley's CNMAT computer music department.


4) The LinnStrument prototype by Roger Linn [see this video presentation of Roger Linn and this post announcing the Linnstrument back on May 15 of 2010.]

One thing that makes these instruments so uniquely expressive is their ability to sense the precise movements of each finger in 3-dimensional space (for example, pressure for note expression, left/right for pitch, and forward/backward for timbre), and to do that for all fingers simultaneously. But each instrument also presents many other innovative ideas and improvements over the limitations of traditional mechanical-age instruments.

Here are the events:
Thursday, May 5 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Audio (CCRMA)
660 Lomita Dr. Stanford, CA 94305
Directions: https://ccrma.stanford.edu/about/directions
At this event, the Eigenharp, Continuum and LinnStrument will be demonstrated and discussed.

Friday, May 6 from 7 to 9 p.m.
University of California Berkeley's Center For New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT)
1750 Arch Street, Berkeley, CA 94709
http://cnmat.berkeley.edu/
At this event, the Eigenharp. SLABS and LinnStrument will be demonstrated and discussed.

Saturday, May 7 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Guitar Center San Francisco, Pro Audio Department
1645 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94109
At this event, the Eigenharp and LinnStrument will be demonstrated and discussed.

Monday, May 9 from 4:45 to 5:45 p.m.
SF Music Tech Conference
Hotel Kabuki, 1625 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94115
At this event, the Eigenharp, Continuum and LinnStrument will be demonstrated and discussed.
Note: Conference entry fee is required--see www.sfmusictech.com

Please join us to see, learn about--and even try out for yourself--these radical new instruments that are changing the way music is made. Please note that these instruments are not otherwise available in the bay area to see or try out."

"Over the Rainbow" on LinnStrument with Theremin sound

video upload by Roger Linn

"'Over the Rainbow', performed by Roger Linn on LinnStrument, using the 'Theremin' sound from the 'LinnStrument MPE' library in Surge XT."

Update:

The LinnStrumentalists Volume 3

video upload by Roger Linn

A third compilation of videos submitted by the more than 4000 LinnStrument players around the world.

Here's more information about each of the segments:

0:00
Name: Ernesto Domingo
From: Inglewood, CA, USA
“Sleep Walk”
Source video:

• Sleep Walk - Ern...
Sound: Jazz Guitar from Kontakt Factory Library

00:36
Player: Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater
From: New York, USA
Title: Over the Rainbow
Source video:

CLICK FOR MORE »

Roger Linn Interviewed by Sweetwater

Published on Jul 10, 2015 SweetwaterSound

"At GearFest '15, synthesizer pioneer Roger Linn sat down with Mitch Gallagher to talk music and electronic instruments. Technical Grammy award-winner Roger Linn invented the LM-1 Drum Computer (the first sample-based drum machine) in 1979. He later designed the Akai MPC60, which combined a sampling drum machine with a real-time MIDI sequencer. His guitar effects unit, AdrenaLinn, has been used on hit recordings by John Mayer and Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 2014 he released the LinnStrument, an expressive MIDI performance controller.

The Sweetwater Minute, Vol. 298"

See SWEETWATER - GEARFEST 2015 - The Inventors of Synth (Roger Linn, Dave Smith & Tom Oberheim) for the panel and follow-up interviews.

LinnStrument Theremin, played by Roger Linn

video upload by Roger Linn

"LinnStrument, theremin, Roger Linn, Roger Linn Design, MPE, MPE controller, expressive controller"

LinnStrument - Air on a G String

YouTube Uploaded by rogerlinndesign on Jun 13, 2011
Not that kind of G string.
"Roger Linn performs 'Air on a G String' by J.S. Bach on his prototype of the LinnStrument, a new musical instrument with 3D Note Expression, coming from Roger Linn Design."

LinnStrument - Gloomy Sunday

Uploaded by rogerlinndesign on Jun 13, 2011

"'Gloomy Sunday' by Rezső Seress, performed by Roger Linn on his "LinnStrument" prototype, a new musical instrument with 3D Note Expression, coming from Roger Linn Design."

Roger Linn Previews New LinnStrument Prototype

Roger Linn Previews New LinnStrument Prototype from Turnstyle Video on Vimeo.

"Unless you're a musician AND a tech head, the name Roger Linn won't ring a bell. But you have heard of prolific artist Prince and J Dilla. Well Linn is the man behind the machines (LinnDrum,& Akai MPC) that made these legends popular and changed the way music is created.

Mr. Linn has a new toy -- the LinnStrument. It looks like an iPad with a grid of pressure sensitive note buttons to capture expression, pitch and timbre of each note individually and all at once. The product is not yet ready for mass consumption but take a sneak peek at the LinnStument prototype in action."

Don't miss Dave Smith in the background.

Akai Roger Linn MPC3000 Drum Machine - Excellent condition

The Best MPC3000 video ever? Don't miss the ending.
YouTube via levelfour | May 11, 2010 | 1:56 -

"A little rock and roll story: Once upon a time, we all worked for Leon Russell in a faraway magic place called Leon Land.... Ok, so everybody didn't work for Leon, but a lot of people I know did. Leon's personal engineer right before me was a young guitar player from California named Roger Linn. Roger liked Leon's idea of a user-programable drum machine so much, he left Leon to design his first product called the LINN DRUM. I took Roger's place as Leon's engineer when he left. The 1st recordings we made were with a "machine" put together from several pieces Roger brought over in a cardboard box. It wasn't long though before the LINN DRUM was ready, and as they say... the rest is history. Roger evolved the product until the MPC3000 - arguably the best of the bunch - marketed by Akai.

I made a little demo so you can hear the factory sounds.

Here's the link for the ebay auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?..."
Sold For: US $730.00

BoomChik on Dave Smith Instruments and Roger Linn Design

The following is up on the Dave Smith Instruments site:

"Yes, it's been a long time since I've updated the site. The Evolver synths continue to grow in popularity and get great reviews. Also, we announced a new gem in the works at the NAMM show last month, a new drum machine tentatively called BoomChik. I am designing this with Roger Linn, the undisputed king of drum machines, who not only invented them back in the late 70s/80s (LM-1, Linndrum, Linn 9000), but also designed the MPCs that just about everyone uses now.

We're about a year away from production, so it's currently in the vaporware, uh, I mean, computer simulation stage. Below is the current vision, though it will likely go through a number of changes over the year. We will update the website every few months with the latest status, so in the meanwhile please don't ask about features or specifics on the design - it's all subject to change anyway! As far as price, best guess is $1000 - $1500 range. We're shooting for the lower, but we all know how that can go.

Basically, it is meant to be a drum machine, not an MPC. It will have both real analog percussion and normal sample playback, plus a bunch of novel processing. The idea is to produce sounds with some real, unique personality, different from everything else out there. Those of you with Evolvers can likely imagine what sounds will be possible, but it should go beyond that also."

The following is on the Roger Linn Design site:

"Dave and I annouced this work-in-progress at his booth at the January NAMM show. In our weekly meetings of the Dead Presidents Society), we've been discussing for a while the idea of doing a product together and figured a drum machine with both analog & sampled sounds would be fun. This picture is only a 3D rendering I made up, but it shows the direction we're going in our development. This design will no doubt change and we're still probably a year off until release, but we decided to put this up on our sites to get feedback and start spreading the word. Click on it to see a high-res picture and learn more about the details.

The basic idea at this point is that it will have 4 analog voices similar to Dave's Evolver, using either the analog oscillators or samples as sound sources, plus a number of digital voices that model the analog ones. If you have any realistic suggestions for this product, we'd welcome them at support[at]rogerlinndesign.com. (Replace [at] with @.)"

Linn Sequencer

images via this auction.
"This item here is a Linn Sequencer manufactured back in 1985 prior to Linn Electronics [LE] closing down and Roger Linn moving on to develop the MPC-60 for Akai. This sequencer has the last latest revision operating system installed before LE closed down; 5.17. I was able to test this disk drive with some floppies that I picked up the other day and it does in fact work. These drives are very rare and cost over one-hundred dollars when you find them. The internal memory of the unit can hold 10440 notes. Using the disk drive, you can store 110,000 notes or more according to the Forat website. This is a prime example of awesome workmanship by Roger Linn and shows that he had the sequencers nailed before he started working for Akai. This unit here excels and gives you plenty of options. It's simple to use, as easy as using a tape cassette deck.

The LCD is crisp and the backlight works great. It passes the memory test as well. The operating condition is excellent. The cosmetic condition on the face is excellent, looks great mounted. The chassis is sort of beat up as you can see. The rear of it looks pretty good too! In this auction you will receive:

1x LinnSequencer [Linn Sequencer] 32 Track MIDI Recorder
1x power chord
9x ds/dd disks for use with the disk drive, there were 10, but one disappeared somewhere from the little one. ;)
2x floppie drive cleaner disks and no solution, but an empty solution bottle.
1x copy of the www.forat.com/sequencer/ information/instructions printed out."

Built in drawer.

via heliospace

Linn 9000 Discography

JB found this one on Discogs, an actual discography for the Linn 9000. I did a couple of searches on Discogs for other synths and although I didn't find any comprehensive discographies, I did find mention of some synths in various albums/tracks, for example minimoog brought up Gary Numan's I Die you Die. On the Linn 9000:

"Real Name: Linn 9000
Profile: Many Stock, Aitken & Waterman Hit Factory productions credited the famous Stock and Aitken with keyboards, programming, guitars and suchlike. Curiously they almost always credited the same unknown drummer - the mysterious "A. Linn".

The credit was an in-joke and an anti-muso tease, the name being a reference to the Linn 9000 the studio used to create their relentless pop beats.

The Linn 9000 was Linn Electronics' last instrument. Introduced in 1984, it was a combination of sequencer and drum machine. When Linn Electronics went out of business in early 1986, Roger Linn went to work for Akai, furthering his design ideas in such products as the MPC60 sampling and sequencing drum system and the ASQ10 sequencer."

MXR 185 Digital Drum Computer

via this auction

"The MXR 185 Digital Drum Computer was a noble but brief attempt by MXR to break into the once burgeoning market of the drum machine frenzy in the early 80s. The Founder of MXR and also Alesis, Keith Barr, saw the potential for an "in" into the market and decided to consult both Roger Linn and Tom Oberheim on the design concepts of a proper digital drum machine. At the time of the development of what was to become the 185, Roger Linn who reveling in the glory of the LM-1, was just putting the finishing touches on the LinnDrum and Tom Oberheim who already had massive success with the DMX was looking to make improvements with the DX. The MXR 185 was one of the EARLY drum machines and was directly modeled after the Linn and Oberheim concepts. Unfortunately, the MXR was unable to recreate the allure of the Linn and DMX which were already de facto staples in the music industry. Though this drum machine definitely embodies the essence of the earliest drum machines, it really didn't offer anything that made the buyer want to change what they had and with MIDI popping up on the scene at this time, MXR was just a little behind in what was a very high-pace and ferociously competitive time in the electronic music instrument industry...

First off, this unit is really clean. This would be perfect for a museum or for a Rompler Mod project. The sounds are thick and chunky like a Linn and just dripping with character. The unit does NOT have MIDI though there are MIDI to PPQ converters out there to make it run on MIDI. The sequencer section has a couple of limitations like: You can't change programs while the sequencer is running. You have to press stop, change patterns and then press start again. The unit does not like corrupt patterns. I have confirmed that the CR2032 memory battery in this unit is dead so if the unit sits long enough with no power, the memory starts to fault and then you will have to program the pattern again. All this unit really needs though is someone to take it under their wing and give it a purposeful life again. It's very cool, very rare and very clean."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Dave Smith And Roger Linn Live at Robotspeak - Tempest Release Oct 15

"DAVE SMITH AND ROGER LINN WILL BE LIVE AND IN PERSON AT ROBOTSPEAK THIS COMING SATURDAY OCT 15th 2011 At 11:00AM. JOIN US WHEN DAVE AND ROGER MAKE A RARE APPEARENCE TO 'CELEBRATE' THE MUCH AWAITED RELEASE OF THE TEMPEST.

ROBOTSPEAK JUST RECIEVED IT's FIRST ALLOTMENT OF TEMPEST'S. THESE WILL BE GONE BEFORE YOU KNOW IT. PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL TO RESERVE ONE BEFORE THEY ARE GONE. MAKE SURE YOU JOIN US FOR SATURDAY'S DISCUSSION AND DEMONSTRATION OF THIS DAVE SMITH, ROGER LINN COLLABORATION. TEMPEST'S WILL BE SIGNED!

TEMPEST BAGS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE!

GRAB SOME COFFEE AND WE WILL SEE YOU AT 11:00 AM THIS SATURDAY

PLEASE RSVP VIA: info@robotspeak.com"

via brian c