Ghost In The Machine: The Most Important Drum Machines in Music History

The Beat Box collection of Joe Mansfield is on display at the Red Bull Music Academy's NYC headquarters.

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Back in 1959, when the Rudolph Wurlitzer Corporation debuted the Side Man, originally intended as an accompanist for organ players who didn't have a live drummer to help them keep time, nobody could have foreseen the way drum machines would transform popular music. From Sly Stone's early experiments with the Funk Box to Rick Rubin's bombastic deployment of the Roland TR-808, beat boxes have opened up whole new worlds of creative possibilities for producers in all genres, from soul to pop to hip-hop.

Joe Mansfield, the Boston based producer responsible for records like Ed O.G.'s "Be a Father To Your Child," grew so fond of drum machines that he began searching for old beat boxes whenever he would go on record-digging expeditions. "I just started picking them up when they were cheap," he says. "Some would be in thrift shops. You could get one for ten bucks." His collection soon grew to the point where he required special storage for all his rare and unusual specimens.

Like all true collectors, Mansfield will never rest until he finds that one last piece: the EKO ComputeRhythm. "There weren't very many of them made," he says. "Recently they had one for ten grand, but I could never bring myself to pay that. If you see one for sale let me know."

Many of Manfield's treasures were chronicled in last year's coffee-table book Beat Box: A Drum Machine Obsession, and now 101 pieces from his collection are on view at Red Bull Studios on 18th Street in Manhattan as part the Red Bull Music Academy Festival. The exhibition, called Beat: Repeat, runs until the end of the month.

"Binary code doesn't know time," says RBMA's Torsten Schmidt. "It's extremely difficult for algorithms to know how time works. Just like when your Mac says something will take four hours to download and it takes 30 minutes. When you're talking 8-bit technology, it's even more unpredictable." Such idiosyncracies give each drum machine its own unique personality. What we're about to do right now is take a look back at the most important drum machines in music history—and some of the greatest music made with them.

The Wurlitzer Side Man

Maestro Rhythm King MRK-2

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This early analog drum machine fell into the hands of sonic visionary Sly Stone, who called it "the Funk Box." Armed with 18 preset rhythms, pitch control, and triggers to play specific sounds over top of the beat,  the Funk Box was featuerd all over Sly's groundbreaking album There's a Riot Goin On

As heard on:

Sly Stone "Family Affair" (1971)

Vox Percussion King

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This 1967 drum machine was outfitted with two foot pedals—one for the kick, one for the hi-hat—and ten tap buttons to trigger stuff like crash cymbal, brush cymbal, drum roll, and castanets. The German duo Kraftwerk modified the VOX that they used on their album Autobahn, but nobody ever put the VOX to greater effect than Grandmaster Flash. While the Furious Five shouted out the Zulu Gestapo, Flash went off. Just listen to this!

As heard on:

Kraftwerk "Autobahn" (1974)

Grandmaster Flash "Flash IT To The Beat" (Bozo Meko Live Version) (1982)

PAiA Programmable Drum Set

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This was the first programmable drum machine in history, first produced in 1975. Although it was eventually replaced by the Linn LM-1, and has since become something of a rarity, early adapters like Peter Gabriel jumped on the new technology and put it to work making cutting-edge hits.


As heard on:

Peter Gabriel "Games Without Frontiers" (1980)

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Bee Gees Rhythm Machine

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This tiny 1978 drum machine was not considered  a serious instrument so much as a novelty collectible for fans of the Australian vocal trio the Brothers Gibb—that is, until the German band Kraftwerk put it to work on their album Computer World

As heard on:

Kraftwerk "Pocket Calculator" ("Taschenrechner") (1981)

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Roland Compu-Rhythm CR-78

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Roland's 1978 model took drum machine technology to another level by allowing producers to program and store their own rhythm patterns. Of course the machine had its own preset rhythms as well—34 to be exact, each of which could be manipulated to suit the needs of artists ranging from Hall & Oates to Ultravox.

As heard on:

Blondie "Heart of Glass" (1978)

Frankie Beverly & Maze "Joy and Pain" (1980)

Phil Collins "In The Air Tonight" (1981)

Linn LM1 Drum Computer

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Back in 1979 guitarist Roger Linn changed the game by inventing the first drum machine featuring digital samples of acoustic drum sounds. The resulting "drum computer" was expensive but UK eletro-pop group The Human League found it well worth the price when they used it on their number-one smash hit "Don't You Want Me." And while Eddie Murphy enjoyed less success with his slept-on rap jam "Boogie In Your Butt," he didn't really care because he was about to be a huge movie star.

As heard on:

The Human League "Don't You Want Me" (1981) 

Eddie Murphy "Boogie in Your Butt" (1982)

Oberheim DMX

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Earl Simmons was just 12 years old when Oberheim rolled out its own digital drum machine. Like Linn's LM-1, the DMX featured samples of real drum sounds—as well as hand claps and shakers. The sound was harder and punchier than Linn's "drum computer," making it perfectly suited to rap music. The DMX soon became an indispensible tool for pioneering hip-hop producers like Larry Smith and Rick Rubin.

As heard on: 

Run-DMC "Sucker MCs" (1984)

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The Beastie Boys "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" (1986)

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Slick Rick "Children's Story" (1988)

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BOSS Dr. Rhythm DR-55

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Boss was a division of Roland, creators of the world-famous TR-808. In 1980 they rolled out the Dr. Rhythm, a rudimentary drum machine with just four sounds—snare, kick, cymbal, and hi-hat—and no preset rhythms. But musicians from Schoolly D to The Cure and Sisters of Mercy dug its easy programmability.

As heard on:

The Cure "One Hundred Years" (1982)

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The Sisters of Mercy "Body Electric" (1984)

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E-Mu Drumulator

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Soon after E-Mu systems debuted this flexible relatively low-cost machine—featuring eight different drum sounds stored on microchips which coul be triggered via pads played with actual drum sticks, British new wave bands like Depeche Mode and Tears for Fears put it to work on their biggest hit singles.

As heard on:

Depeche Mode "Everything Counts" (1983)

Tears for Fears "Shout" (1984)

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LinnDrum

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Roger Linn brought out a new and improved version of his "drum computer" in 1982 and the LinnDrum immediately became standard equipment in recording studios. There were more sounds, better sounds (with a sample rate stepped up from 28 kHz to a 35 kHz), and enough memory storage for up to 99 original rhythms that could be dumped onto cassette tape. Talk about state of the art!

As heard on:

Michael Jackson "Thriller" (1983)

Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F” (Beverly Hills Cop theme) (1984)

Roland TR-808

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Easily the most famous drum machine of all time, the Roland TR-808 (or simply 808 for short) is the only beat box to be featured in a Kanye West album title. The 808's hand-claps, snare, and cowbell are cool, but this machine is most famous for its kick drum, which brought the earth-shaking boom to groundbreaking records like "Planet Rock" and birthed whole genres of "Miami bass" music—word to Uncle Luke

As heard on:

Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force "Planet Rock" (1982)

Eazy-E "The Boyz-N-The-Hood" (1987)

2 Live Crew "Me So Horny" (1989)
 

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