What they DON'T tell you about the TR-909.. (external instruments!)

[@Dirty1200]

TR-909 and S950 midi combo is a classic house setup (early dj.sneak and so on) kzbin.info/www/bejne/ipjcfnh9admgd7M

[@gwEmbassy]

I will need to try this setup myself!

[@falangistavaleroso9689]

I am going to get an s950 of a friend who bought new , I own a 909 and almost all those boxes.

[@Dirty1200]

Ian Pooley used that setup aswell

[@siccavicca]

Yep I made HIPHOP. THAT WAY SINCE 1987!!!!!

[@robertocaldarigi2845]

@@siccaviccaconcordo. si fa da anni. Non è una funzione nascosta. Lo si fa con qualsiasi drum maschine tramite midi. Basta mappare il range di ricezione dello strumento extra. Nulla di nuovo. 👍

[@Rompler_Rocco]

Genuinely shocked to have not heard this mentioned before now! Very sensible addition for the time. And IMHO, the modern "clones" should have included it.

[@gwEmbassy]

Yes, they should definitely have included it. Very cool feature.

[@Dathom1986]

@gwEmbassy have they or haven't they? ,Roland have cut a few corners if the haven't.. and I was considering a tr09 but if it hasn't got that feature its a kick in the teeth

[@FetzAV]

Incredible!!! Thank you so much for making this video! New 909 owner and I can't wait to try this out! Subscribed! Cheers from Cali USA!

[@gwEmbassy]

Thanks for the sub :) :)

[@venusiansky]

One still useful feature of this is to create a synth or bass line with TR-909 Shuffle. Though you can always capture 909 shuffle as a groove template in your DAW and sync anything to that timing.

[@gwEmbassy]

That’s a very good tip!

[@DarrenJHorgan]

OMG ,,, I never new this, ,never seen or heard about this until now,, rarely read a manual,, looking forward to experimenting with this now.

[@gwEmbassy]

It’s a cool feature :)

[@klivvervision]

The External MIDI mode was my favorite feature of the 909. I loved triggering arps and RPS patterns on my JP-8000. I don't understand why Roland hasn't included this on any of the remakes or any other TR device. (Roland's Bulk Librarian for the MC-50 also is handy for doing bulk dumps & backups over SysEx, which someone else may have commented on here.)

[@gwEmbassy]

I agree, they should have included it on the boutique

[@TimJacksonOriginal]

Nice. The DR-202 drum machine also has this feature (plus a built-in basic bass Rompler).

[@gwEmbassy]

A few people rate the DR-202. Maybe I should try one at some point :) Thanks for watching!

[@TimJacksonOriginal]

​ @gwEm’s gwEmbassy It's a decent enough machine, though probably not for techno so much as breakbeats, hip hop, dub/reggae kind of styles. There are some nice features like the groove templates that add an extra level of complexity. For me its biggest flaw was the LCD screen with no backlight. It made it nigh on impossible to take to gigs without a headtorch! :)

[@gwEmbassy]

That is quite a big flaw!

[@ASH-ou4cg]

Quite interesting! I had no clue about this! It does seem a little cumbersome to deal with, but I can see its usefulness. It also keeps things really tight with the 909 drums themselves. Thanks for sharing! I had no idea you had a 909. You must be rich, you have so much. ;)

[@gwEmbassy]

I wish I was rich!!! Definitely not with this stuff ;)

[@ASH-ou4cg]

@@gwEmbassy haha, well you do have a lot of jealousy inducing kit! I had no clue you even had a 909, since you always rave about the 707, instead!

[@gwEmbassy]

I do prefer the 707 to the 909. I was thinking about making a video explaining why actually :) With the 909, there’s actually only one position where the knobs sound the best, so it might as well have fixed sounds like the 707.. although the 909 sounds are awesome of course.

[@ASH-ou4cg]

@@gwEmbassy You see, another thing I didn't know. Everybody seems to rave about how flexible the 909 is, but if it doesn't actually sound good when altered, then what is the point? I give a thumbs up to that comparison video. I have never seen another video like this and I think it'll be very enlightening to watch. please do. Thanks and keep up the great work!

[@gwEmbassy]

Ok! I will do this video. I’m not so sure the 909 is that flexible and the interface is cumbersome. It does sound amazing though and it is iconic due to being used on a lot of famous tracks. I do think about selling the 909 from time to time. The 808, though, is a beautiful machine.

[@thatmr.a8010]

Polyphonic no less?! Awesome, thank you for this tip! I will try it out asap. This is gonna be fun!

[@gwEmbassy]

Enjoy Mr A!

[@thatmr.a8010]

@@gwEmbassy This works like a charm! Love ya bro!

[@zibbybone]

I've made several videos using the 909's External Instrument Mode on my Channel. I even have one video with TWO 909s, one playing bass sound on Jupiter 6 & the other playing chords on a JD-800.

[@gwEmbassy]

Nice one! I’ll check those out :)

[@kentaccordionist]

In the late 1980s I used a Yamaha rx17 to sequence bass lines to my dx100, by changing the midi notes output by the different drums.

[@gwEmbassy]

That’s neat :)

[@UncleGordon1978]

very interesting thank you! more 909 vids pls !

[@gwEmbassy]

Thanks! You got it :)

[@OffworldRecords]

Great video - well explained

[@gwEmbassy]

Thanks!

[@MLochMusic]

Hi mate. Thanks so much 👍🏻

[@gwEmbassy]

You’re welcome :)

[@vincevega8127]

This is how did all his big hits with tr909 with external mode to trigger s950 and mackie mixer! But this can be done with most drum machine that send midi out.

[@gwEmbassy]

I think you missed the name of the artist in your comment. I’m dying to know who :)

[@MLochMusic]

Hi mate, me again with a difficult Q. ha. How do you program the 909 polyphonically? I want to do chords with my Juno. Also Im going to guess you can only output one MIDI channel at a time? IE cant do say Bass on MIDI ch 1 and Chords on MIDI ch 2 Thanks again.

[@gwEmbassy]

It’s polyphonic, but only one channel

[@moondog297]

Any chance you know how to sync a tr 909 with a sequential Tom I can sequence it, but I can’t get it to start and stop at the same time and I can find anything on KZbin.

[@gwEmbassy]

Sorry Greg, I’ve never used a Sequential Tom :(

[@FabioCuccuMusic]

Is there any way to sequence other midi notes outside that fixed range?

[@gwEmbassy]

No, it has to be that fixed range

[@kilevox]

I have to ask if this same feature has the TR-707? I know you are having it and it was produced a year after 909 was.

[@gwEmbassy]

No, the 707 doesn’t have this feature. But the 707 does have other cool features. Overall, I do prefer the 707. But that kick drum!

[@hINC]

It's in the manual. So I guess "they" told us. What's not really in the manual is the possibilty of saving and loading patterns via MIDI sysex.

[@gwEmbassy]

Agreed. Not many people talk about the feature though, which is crazy because I think it’s one of the coolest things about the 909

[@gwEmbassy]

And I did find the manual description about the external sequencer not the best written. But it was enough to figure it out for sure.

[@gwEmbassy]

I didn’t know about the sysex feature!

[@jokerz909]

Can you use more than 1 instrument ? Seems like you only have 1 option being any ext inst is all I can do with mine. I triggered a line on live 11. But I was not able to program more than one midi channel . Is it possible to use Ext Inst for 16 Midi Channels? At this point I only have 16 Midi notes.

[@gwEmbassy]

Yes, that’s all you get. Perfect for triggering an external sampler though

[@dogunit3034]

how do you copy and paste the ext instrument ?

[@gwEmbassy]

Isn’t it: select destination, shift, copy, source, enter?

[@dogunit3034]

@@gwEmbassy hope so!

[@siccavicca]

Its NOT A SECRET “ I have made many records ..hiphop , jazz and abstract music” using my 909 as my main sequencers from 1987 to Around 2000. Mostly triggering my Akai S950 custom sampler .I love it .. and will use it again as mine has just been serviced .but I don’t bleav it can send accents over midi ..”but I could be wrong”

[@gwEmbassy]

That’s brilliant feedback. Would love to hear some.

[@PaulAup62]

Do you know how much of this is applicable to the boutique version

[@gwEmbassy]

I don’t think the boutique version has the external instrument sequencer. At least, when I checked the manual. Which is a pity. The boutique version sounds really good though.

[@gwEmbassy]

What I didn’t like about the boutique when I tried was the small buttons. Have a try with one before you go for it.

[@dogunit3034]

Hi Gwen, do you know of a quick way to dump a tr909 pattern data into Ableton? (not the external instrument rather the drum pattern)

[@gwEmbassy]

Hi Dog Unit, I don’t know of a quick way. The 909 doesn’t send MIDI out for the drum patterns I believe, only the ext instrument. I does have a sysex mode apparently, not really explained in the manual. Maybe you could investigate that.

[@gwEmbassy]

www.colinfraser.com/tr909/909-sysex-howto.txt

[@dogunit3034]

@@gwEmbassy I love using the 909s internal sequencer it never sounds right using it as a midi module! I wish there was a way round it!

[@dogunit3034]

ill have to have a chart on my wall for the pattern / track write procedure!

[@matthewjimenez9861]

I was wondering if the TR-09 has this plz write back

[@gwEmbassy]

As far as I know, it does not

[@mariopak2730]

Cool

[@gwEmbassy]

😃

[@klinkske]

If,i m right, the mc303 does that the same way. Funny to hear you say ‘in the box’ :)

[@gwEmbassy]

That might be true! I’ve never tried an MC-303 but it’s on my bucket list :)

[@BWPT.]

The MC-303 is actually quite a capable sequencer when you delve into it, you can change gate length for each step for example. I used one for years to sequence synths and sampler for playing live sets, I only ever programmed it in step mode too.

[@TeslaDanser]

The 505 is the same. Unbelievable midi spec for the price

[@gwEmbassy]

Actually the 505 is a bit different with its MIDI sequencing. I have a video on that too.

[@TeslaDanser]

@@gwEmbassy oh, okay, thanks for that. Checking yr vid out now :)

[@TeslaDanser]

I just watch it there. Nice video. I was only reading the 505 manual last night , thought it could do all in the 909 video. I have that hks kit for the 505 too. Just too lazy to install it haha

[@autoy]

You’re limited to that particular note range or is there a way to transpose the notes?

[@gwEmbassy]

You are limited to a specific range of 16 notes

[@BWPT.]

Will it flam?

[@gwEmbassy]

Never tried flaming on the external instruments channel. But I suppose it won’t flam.

[@portra_services]

Damn!

[@gwEmbassy]

😎

[@lownrgy]

There is something very familiar with 909 external groove

[@gwEmbassy]

I’ve been intending to go back and make a track with the 909 sequencing a sampler. You are right, the 909 does have its own groove.

[@vanitygamble565]

I remember a youtube vid about this a number of years back - thoughnot so much depth.

[@gwEmbassy]

I figured it was an interesting one to cover

[@vanitygamble565]

@@gwEmbassy Definitely - and much more comprehensive too

[@2001pulsar]

Same also for TR-707

[@2001pulsar]

But not separate from the rhythm sequence

[@gwEmbassy]

You are right, it’s not separate, which is an important limitation.

[@SebastianSnoeck]

i used this only once , in 93 or 94

[@gwEmbassy]

Did you find it useful?

[@dogunit3034]

are you stuck on one octave

[@gwEmbassy]

it’s a little over 1 yes

[@Dathom1986]

Just midi sync it all ..if you can be bothered 😕

[@gwEmbassy]

that could definitely work depending on the setup

[@Dathom1986]

@gwEmbassy they call it a daisy chain ..it would work if each piece of equipment had it's own internal sequencer .. no problem!!!

[@divad-deee-vice]

Just shows nobody reads manuals! 😂

[@gwEmbassy]

definitely!!

[@mariopak4817]

Cool

[@gwEmbassy]

🙏