OBERHEIM DMX

A Stateside favourite which hasn't really caught on much in the UK due to the dollar exchange more than anything else. A supremely professional machine with massive memory capability, comprehensive editing, versatile combinations of step and real-time recording with auto-correct, multiple outputs and very high-quality sounds which can be changed using alternative circuit cards. Pre-MIDI though, and so losing out a little to the MIDI opposition despite its versatile LED display. Ideally matched to the DSX Sequencer.

LINN LM-1

The LM-1 is, of course, the machine that kicked off the digital sound sampling ball game. It remains a superb quality instrument, although a little lacking on the refinements and presentation side now, and is still in use in studios throughout the world.

Problems on the Linn include simple left or right selection of panning, no tempo display in Run mode, no adjustment for accent level, and limited memory.

However, software and hardware updates did away with many of these problems before the Linn was superceded by the LinnDrum, and a 2.5 times memory expansion made a major difference.

But basics such as auto-correct, realtime programming with a metronome and interchangeable sound chips were all born on the Linn LM-1, and you gotta respect that.

GREENGATE DS:3

The DS:3 started life as a drum machine, but it isn't one now, and may be a little expensive to buy just to play drums. To explain; the system is based on an Apple computer with an added circuit board which can hold four sound samples. The software allows you to write very lengthy patterns with these, but can also loop sounds so you can play musical notes four-note polyphonically. The DS:3 is almost always sold with a keyboard nowadays, but if you want to make and modify your own drum samples or use those from the several library sets available it's ideal.

Sound quality is excellent and the system is always developing, with longer sampling time being a major priority. Sync to tape is reliable and a MIDI card is due soon.

IMPULSE 1

Allen and Heath's Inpulse 1 drum machine has a history behind it like a Norwegian saga, and at the time of writing it's still only available in very limited quantities. It was intended to combine the best of a digital drum kit, a drum machine and a computer, but ended being a bit of a jack of all trades and master of none.

The Inpulse has a set of eight pads on its top surface and these can access either a standard sound or a user sound. The Inpulse offers an unusual degree of control over the sounds, including pitch, decay up to 14 seconds and level, and the left-hand control section deals with output pan while the centre section deals with programming, recording and loading data.

The SMPTE interface makes the Inpulse ideal for professional applications such as film soundtrack work and in fact the machine was one of the first to make SMPTE relatively affordable. Quality of the sounds is exceedingly high, but it's difficult to come to the conclusion that the Inpulse, at the price given, has been somewhat overtaken by both trends and technology.