Chamberlin Rhythmate Tape Loop Drum Machine

[@MrSilkydrew]

Imagine jamming this back in the day, Pure Fire

[@virgilio72]

Samplers' grandfather! Very cool, and loops are hi-fi, too!

[@SiliconBassist]

The crosstalk just adds more character! : )

[@royniles]

That thing even makes rim shots!

[@matzomaniac]

this thing has good some dope tracks!

[@VJFranzK]

I bet the "crosstalk" could be interesting for circutbendy stuff ;-) another great video.

[@snolan1990]

Ever since I heard about this machine I have wanted to hear it and I have to say it sounds really good, The ride is just how I expected it to be.

[@nutritionontape]

I just love how crusty and warm these sounds are. I'm looking forward to getting the Optigan disc from you and jamming with these on the MPC1000. Matt

[@Raunchola]

1:33 Trio - DaDaDa ;) It's absolutely impressing to see an ancient instrument which is in such a good working condition. Love it.

[@ImantaBabite]

Thanks very, very much for this upload!! 1:34 sounds like "When You Find Out" by The Nerves, and I may have heard 1:28 on some soul 45. So I guess these did get used on records occasionally, but just aren't as widely discussed nowadays.

[@enmach1]

Thanks for sharing, what a hoot! Surprised Portishead never adopted one as a band member.

[@cj1000xyu]

That was the first thing that sprang to mind for me too; Has Adrian Utley got one of these with his own drum loops in it?

[@b-north]

thank you so much to posting this , this is apart of my life's passion and history ...

[@gregoryagogo]

You just supplied thousands of creative musicians with enough drums to make any track!

[@robfriedrich2822]

Sounds more natural, than the first drum machines without any mechanical parts, but the sound of an iron lung.

[@bigcitymusic]

@JBKShoup Grandpa was quite a brilliant inventor; his creations still amaze us today!

[@davidrebus619]

The snare 'sample' alone, but the bells and chimes push it over the top! :)

[@bonespiel]

I remember seeing something very similar to this that was attached to my uncles fancy organ he had. Quite impressive for its time that is for sure.

[@SardarDholi]

That is nuts. Makes all my Top of the range Akai gear looks worthless. Thats absolutly amazing. I wish i could get my hands on oldskool gear like that. Nice one mate. Cheers

[@lukisnootis5708]

it has sort of a locomotive steam engine train vibe the way it just chugs along

[@AmiGuitar]

that kick drum is so cool

[@greensleeves32]

so dope! I want one to wreck and sample and produce with! It has that great analog sound I can hear even through my computer speakers... damn that's cool... ty for that!

[@MarsHottentot]

100% super cool. Can't wait for that disc set!

[@thePOLYGIRL]

real cool sounds on the tapes ! wow

[@Dillinify]

Very ahead of it's time instrument, amazing

[@AnaSousa-jy1fe]

I need this ASAP!!!

[@jeffkahl]

that was really cool! pretty authentic sounding beats too!

[@paulj0557tonehead]

I've made lots of tape loops with a standard Wollensak table top reel to reel. Up until about 10 years ago you could find a Wollensak RR's 3-4 times a year, but they seem to be extinct now....but anyway, I'm jealous! This could be fun. To clean up the sound of your loops, provided this even has an output jack on it, I had much luck with a little known device called a dynamic range expander, model DB1. In conjunction with an aural exciter, and I bet you'd think there was a young drum looper. in..

[@Ramshackled17]

amazing sounds.

[@peahix]

ok, i'll resist the temptation to make more lewd innuendo! ;) there have been a couple on ebay in recent years, at least one of which i seem to remember was listed several times with no takers at some large sum of money. seems to me the last one i saw that actually sold went for less than you might expect- maybe $500-$600? can't remember. i paid $150- for mine at a garage sale years ago.

[@AndresYatesCohen]

Awesome !!! beautiful real analog sounds.

[@benmckinney2941]

Love the beat at 1:36. Monster A Go Go!

[@mellotrongirl]

Holay kow! what a versatile unit!

[@Amazology]

Simply Outstanding !

[@asger7442]

0:51 i think this loop slowed down is what phil elverum used on 'I Want Wind To Blow' by The MIcrophones :)

[@Leo_Berger]

Why isn't this as known as the Mellotron? This is genius, long before it's time

[@marsmediapro]

+Leo Berger The Mellotron, as you may know, was the Chamberlin design, basically stolen and repackaged...

[@davidrebus619]

If Tony Banks had had one of these, Peter Gabriel would have been the first MC hahaha

[@b-north]

they stole from henry

[@plasticsoul9051]

good luck! if you do find one of these be prepared to pay HUGE money for it. anything Chamberlin is outrageously expensive.

[@polyvoks]

many thanks for that, I'm very happy to ear that very beautiful and rare intrument , I'm also looking for one , congratulations take care lucky man !

[@marsmediapro]

This is incredible!

[@peahix]

mine was likely made in the 60s. it did need some work, and continues to need upkeep, but nothing major. it would not be easy to replace the tapes because they're an odd width 3-track format.

[@evilsnox6830]

some of these samples are on the sims 2 soundtrack by mark motherbaugh

[@kgbinfo]

It sounds better than every drum machine that came after it.

[@FreddieMaranzano]

Simply Awesome!

[@OfficialOddOneOut]

Record samples! Sounds awesome!

[@b-north]

went through the comments just to see if someone else was gonna sample the sounds like i was lol ...

[@NeilVanceNeilVance]

Truely amazing!

[@youvexme]

this is cool as all hell. I want one!

[@Merlin97]

That rig is better than the digitized samples we buy these days. Its like having some old pro on a classic kit sitting right in the room with you jamming. What's the total volume output like? I suppose it could be amped. Thanks for showing this, man!

[@nancythetall]

@MrWestonColleon That's part of the sound. Tape is pleasant.

[@MarsHottentot]

The man was a genius!

[@FeCr3]

Wow! Never seen before!

[@VJFranzK]

1:27 best drums here!

[@bartenational]

that reminds me, I had an idea of making cassette drum and rythem loops and selling them in the 80's but I didn't have any resource for making them

[@orincat10]

the tapes sound great

[@driftliketokyo34ftw35]

It’s like a mellotron that plays itself.

[@bartenational]

Great stuff

[@mosteasterly]

brilliant

[@gregoryagogo]

Super-neeto!

[@CassetteMaster]

That thing is AWESOME!! So cool how it uses TAPE loops! ANALOG drum machine with TUBES! I love it! I liked the beats at :44, 1:41 and 3:33.

[@EricAll4soundsAlbert]

Excellent

[@roosmarcel1968]

I believe Moby owns one too

[@Thetitwrench]

@funkberto i wouldn't call it a "rhythm box," as that implies "drum machine." it was a keyboard instrument whose tones were pulsed according to their harmonic series relation with the bottom note (fundamental). do a youtube search to see a demo video of the rhythmicon- apparently i can't post a link to it in the comments...

[@kevCarrico]

1:28 sounds kinda like jack white’s “i’ve got you surrounded.”

[@corkodrimples]

You are right on! He just released a new video on Instagram going through new a fender collab (which looks bananas btw), and he's got one right there! Great ear, dude

[@samplesmasher]

Awesome!

[@midinotes]

The impressive bit is how the drummer managed to play each of those tracks in time so they could splice the tape loops exactly for a seemless loop. Very 50s drum kit and certainly no rock and pop styles!

[@milklordnomadic]

that is mo dopenessssss

[@aleksidyll]

nice!

[@nancythetall]

I am salivating.

[@MrSilkydrew]

No Song Mode?

[@stonedapesociety5628]

Crazy! : )

[@PrimitiveInTheExtreme]

Wow!!!

[@feinmotoriker]

Great demo of a great machine! Isn't it possible to avoid this hasty change of the small lever back to the A position after tape change, but go from C over B to A position every second tape for a more convenient listening experience?

[@wellylhakim3619]

Awesome

[@videogamehistorian]

This is an amazing machine ! A question: given the enormous number of times the loop passes against the head, what was the typical life of the loops ? What type of tape was used ? At what speed did it play ? It would be fun to see the inside.

[@markvigil8667]

TR 808's Grandpa. Run it through a Korg mini kp and get great lo fi beats👍

[@gordongate]

I presume that as its a tape loop, the tempo is fixed by the speed of the recording otherwise the souinds would pitch shift varying the tape speed.

[@GNeuman]

Fantastic!! Does it have MIDI???

[@troshs]

Sad to think the folks who played for the loops are all likely long in their graves by now, but they are immortalized by this machine :)

[@dedpxl]

to me it doesn't make a difference if the creators are alive or not. why would that matter at all, the drum machine is made and that's it. it's not like you need them alive to appreciate this.

[@RobertoGinsburg]

@peahix Maybe wasn't a drum machine, but was a rhythm box

[@terrytees]

WOW, sounds great. Crazy to think its over 60 years old. These are the orginal tapes sounds right?

[@Lachlant1984]

I highly doubt this machine has MIDI, after all, it's based on analogue tape loops.

[@olijack57]

I maybe the price of this machine it functions like a mellotron ? wonderful !

[@TheCabinneighbors]

Is there a place where i can get sampled loops of this?

[@j2gomes]

ikmultimedia sampletron also had them

[@crieverytim]

kontakt just recreated it

[@yossarian1633]

If you have the G-Force M-Tron vst it has an add on Chamberlin sample pack that is highly regarded. As I type this (April 19, 2020) it and the M-Tron itself are on a rare sale, 60% off which is 10 more %'s than it's ever been on sale for.

[@suedelacy]

reverb-drum-machines-free

[@buddyeagle]

the first Drum Machine or Rhythm box was RHYTHMICON.

[@DJBonc]

does it still have the original tape loops? can you put new ones in with any sample on them?

[@peahix]

@buddyeagle The rhythmicon wasn't anything like a drum machine

[@morganfisherart]

When you change the tempo does the pitch change too?

[@TheHumppaidiootti]

Yes, tempo change is made by changing tape speed Btw, if you want to hear this effect yourself, listen Tom Waits' Ocean Doesn't Want Me Today. There is Chamberlin played at very low speed setting

[@groundzeroday]

awesome sounds! was there a built-in speaker or 1/4" outputs, or what?

[@planetpoog]

I want one 🥺

[@robinsss]

Jack it up!!

[@BarryWarne]

does Tom Waits know about this? He probably owns two or three . .. very cool. Can I ask how you come across this stuff?

[@TheHumppaidiootti]

Old comment, but Tom Waits' is known user. Bone Machine has Chamberlin on atleast three tracks, usually played at very low speed. So low you can't really identify them as a drum beats

[@konfusion303]

I recently acquired one of these and am wondering what they would sell for in today's market?

[@crieverytim]

12k

[@GNeuman]

Yes, 1983 to be precise, the Yamaha DX9 I bought in 1984 was one of the first synths to have MIDI.. Sheeesh........try to make a joke.........

[@Lachlant1984]

When was the unit made? Did you have to restore it when you got it? Would it be easy to replace the tapes in the unit?

[@agustinmiranda6361]

Hello friend I wonder if you can help me. I have the same equipment, but burn this back resistance of the transformer, which is in the metal box that is bolted on the left side next to the horn. is that color is brown, but I need to know that other colors have. If you will kindly tell me the colors or take a picture. i will be very grateful For the attention given wing this, I send a cordial greeting and I leave wishing the best for you

[@jasonlane4629]

That's amazing. I could use the shit out of those beats.

[@michelerandall123]

Makes me think of Gotye = Wally de Backer special interests.

[@RustyNuts]

How do I find one of these!!

[@RobertoGinsburg]

From what YEAR appear this tape loop machine?

[@dedpxl]

surely it sounded better in person?

[@TheHumppaidiootti]

I believe not much better. Those drum loops are very messy recordings, probably recorded with one microphone in a garage, because you really can hear that room reverb in them

[@j.ernestoamezcuamendez6912]

Uff!

[@rosskstar]

Moody Blues apparently