Wurlitzer SideMan - 1950s Tube Drum Machine

[@FuzzyCabesas]

Aww, man, you have some of the coolest, old school gadgets around. Imagine somone making a Hip Hop album with this thing.

[@peahix]

actually, it has a built in amp/speaker. it was intended to be a stand-alone unit that you could put beside, say, your piano or something. there's no jack on the outside of the unit for PA hookup, but you can get a signal directly from the amp, like i did for this recording.

[@SerialGothQueens]

Sounds exactly like the band Suicide. RIP, Alan Vega.

[@theredreceivers]

Just imagine if this sound had become popular in the 50's. We would have had primitive techo 20 years before its time.

[@peahix]

they turn up on ebay from time to time- you might want to add a favorite search to be automatically notified.

[@cobolsaurus]

HOw could I live without having seen this...

[@432hertz]

what a beauty ! the tempo controls sliderod/wheel arrangement is especially amusing.so organic!

[@firstmusic00]

Very cool. It reminds me of my grandmother's old organ. I was just a kid when I played with it. That would have been in the early '70's and it was at least 20 years old then. It had very similar percussion sounds on it.

[@paulj0557tonehead]

Just picked up some good organ scores today- Jensen V-21 driver $20, a Jensen RP-201 , a Wurlitzer Rotosonic cab like new- $10, Leslie demo boxes $7 ea. ,etc, a vintage aftermarket key percussion unit with more tubes than I have ever seen on one, and lots of NOS organ demo records for Conn and Lowrey, but the worst news is that the same people busted apart TWO FULLY WORKING SIDEMANS! I also scored a WURLITZER BRASS HORN from the same people 3 weeks ago for $50 complete in the box and was told then they had a couple of Sideman units they would hold for me, but their destromatic helper didn't apparently get the news.

[@atree7923]

Nice portrait of Mark Hammil you've got there...

[@rot_studios]

Thing's frigging huge. Love the mechanical rhythm generator!

[@CassetteMaster]

That is soo cool! It's cool to see the machanical device work and all the tube chassisis and speaker! Those beats... wow~!

[@I967]

HOLY SH*TF**K!!! im into tube technology, but this just freaked me out....never knew they had a DRUM MACHINE in the 50's!! wish i had this at home....AMAAAZING!!!

[@Coastincolt]

Sound @ the beginning sounds a little like the old Salt N Pepa hit " Push It', just slightly slower. Cool little machine. Many of the old analog music makers were very clever; case in point the Hammond tone wheel. What a brilliant idea, & still very unique sounding!

[@LHUPA]

Very stunning this drum box! I had never think a rhythm box was built in this era! We can see that Wurlitzer is a jukebox maker with the automat system closely built on the jukebox searcing unit! It's a rarity today!

[@MaartenvanRossemLezingen]

This with some jazzy vinyls and you could've made lofi hip hop in the 50s

[@smooooth_]

shit someone should try that

[@ShadowPlay1919]

@@smooooth_ it's not the same thing but there is a band that does New Order on Old instruments from the 30s

[@HipixOFFICIAL]

Isn't the plural of vinyl just vinyl?

[@functionform]

Beautiful sound to this, thanks for the great recording.

[@ednolbed]

ow! it hurts how beautiful this is...

[@ChristianSchonbergerMusic]

Great stuff. This doesn't sound much different from the first transistor based rhythm boxes built into early 1970s entertainment and home organs. Like a thud for a kicj drum, several woody clicks and a hiss - that's all. Sample that thing and you can make the coolest hip hop groove. Love the contact wheel and the non-stepped transmission wheel to control tempo. Nifty stuff!

[@krisscanlon1265]

Christian Schonberger years later I agree I hear Blondie and I hear Ultravox Hiroshima mon amour

[@tubellarbells]

Mmm...this is a real gift to all music lovers and technology freaks. It reminds me of the great use Arthur Brown's KINGDOM COME band made of a probably transitor drum box on their landmark album JOURNEY. You are lucky to have this toy home !

[@taigkyo]

I see KZbin's "like" and "dislike" buttons... but where's the "love" button?

[@Eyemallfunkedup]

Beautiful. My ears appreciate it.

[@BarryWarne]

this is wonderful - - the unit could star in it's own Sci-Fi movie. I am stunned by the sounds. And the technology. Mostly mechanical. Ahead of it's time.

[@buddyeagle]

thank you Professor Beat Box, cool stuff bro! awesome Rhythm Machine.

[@peahix]

prince used the linndrum on most of his recordings in the early 80s

[@ShadowPlay1919]

I need this especially to make post-punk sounds

[@minihats]

that bolero rhythm sounded totally metal

[@bricology]

You hear the term "drum machine" tossed around with little thought as to what it means. Now, THIS is a drum machine, in the truest sense of the phrase. An electric motor, brushes and contacts, analog noise generators, a tube amp and a speaker. I defy anyone to show me something more true to the concept of a "drum machine" that was ever produced for consumers than this. I love mine, scratchy pots and all.

[@epservice]

absolute wicked machine! thanks for sharing!!

[@yoyoyayu]

This is so beautiful

[@bertskoi]

I'm impressed!

[@joelou]

absolutely amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!

[@tresillo]

Thanks fingerzzzzz for showing! ;-)

[@greensmurf9623]

Thanks for posting this

[@paulj0557tonehead]

5/15/11 was one w/ a Wurli 4700 in Bowling Green Ohio for a hundred bucks total for both!( another rare incredible sounding organ, as are the 4500, 4520, 4502- same as prev., but no key percussion). Also the 4300 is same, but in spinet form. Ironically it had same exact functions as the 4500/4520.

[@tannerin]

i was expecting tape loops a la mellotron but this is actually a lot more interesting!

[@peahix]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJ6kk6ewgqibfs0

[@supersolid]

someone call 911; the tom fills at 2:35 are melting my face

[@biotonk]

that's beautiful! thank you for this.

[@muzikman2008]

Wow! so mechanical! i never knew these existed till now...thanks for sharing :o)

[@gregoryagogo]

Amazing.

[@vulturedot3x3]

Haha thats badass it's like a steampunk drum machine!!

[@migraine516]

That thing is fucking bonkers. Moby's drum machine collection video brought me here.

[@PopsGribs]

That device really is a very interesting piece of electronic music history. I see this video was posted a few years ago. If the OP is still around, is the device still functioning? The device might not have been manufactured originally for recording, but it certainly creates appealing analog drum sounds that could easily be recorded/sampled.

[@MrWJDillon]

I've heard from a few sources that the Sideman's didn't have an output. You'd just have to mic the speaker itself and try it that way.

[@m2mm4m]

‘That‘s never going to catch on!’

[@64mung]

Amazing !!

[@thePOLYGIRL]

really great sounding ! i just dance now ! : )

[@figamarsa]

Nice machine

[@ModernSaxDotCom]

wow, never seen this before........would be interested in know who was recording with this back then

[@paulj0557tonehead]

I bet the original purchaser was impressed highly by the Western beat. I bet you could do a mod here and there and get it to sound really cool. Except I've yet to hear an intensely sounding tube anything, except when it comes to guitar amps, then nothing is better! I especially like the mechanical sequencer. Crazy!! I grew up playing around with a Hammond tonewheel organ w/ the fizzy pop tuht ssss drums. No wonder I now play a B3 instead of the drums. What about the REAL drum machine??

[@Meteotrance]

my gosh it's electromechanical drum machine just awesome ^^ !!!

[@samplesmasher]

Awesome!

[@drlids]

Fabulous!

[@philiphaggardberry1289]

I have 2 olsen drum machines from 1969 that sound a lot like this. One has tunable sounds if you open it up and take a small screwdriver to it.

[@REMchout]

very cool!

[@bobsiebecker1257]

Pretty cool for its time.

[@paulj0557tonehead]

Worth and value aren't muddied by our screwed up economy when it comes to the great electronic organs and accessories of the past (save Hammond) There aren't enough smart people out there who realize how incredible electronic organs are, and it seems to apply to the Sideman too. You can go on Craigslist any day and find a supurb organ for next to nothing! Get a Wurlitzer 4500 or 4300 (listen John La Duca) There was a 4700 & a Sideman for $100 in Bowling Green Ohio last year that didn't sell!

[@MichaelJHuman]

This is like the Rube Goldberg of drum machines!

[@madincraft]

Good Gawd man! $50? Where? How? Wha!?

[@etronnel]

WHAT A GOOD IDEA....GO AHEAD BRO.....

[@bukuroprince]

Is this older than Doncamatic for sure? I've thought that was the oldest for a long time. It's an interesting footage. Thanks for upload

[@keithcitizen4855]

A museum piece , damn interesting , guess it would of cost a packet in it's day.

[@JoeyLevenson]

wow, the 1950s really? soooo cool

[@Andronicus2007]

Bizzare! Not a surprise this thing didnt really take off! Super-cheesy! Makes a Korg Minipops seem like a real latin percussion band!

[@juliandunn]

Oh god I want one.

[@kizphillyallday]

alot of producers use vintage drum machines to get that certain sound me i never have

[@MrSaturdayNightSpecial]

dude, I would totaly use that to make beats with

[@Syrphe]

It depends how you see what drums are or not. It was maybe more a rhythm machine than something really drumming, indeed.

[@itswagon]

The rotor/motor almost appears like the one you'd find in an old electro-mechanical pinball machine. It looks identical.

[@jaggass]

The Wurlitzer Sideman had a decaying kick drum sound well before the TR-808 did.

[@VJFranzK]

Also, consider the story of Kraftwerks' first drum machine! (See monologue by Wolfgang? in Modulations, or some similar film.)

[@peahix]

to me, a "drum machine" is an electronic device meant to replace a drummer. you can hear a demo of the rhythmicon on youtube and decide for yourself whether it's designed for that.

[@AllenSmithe]

It's a rhythmic synth in my eyes, nothing really drum like other then the fact that the notes aren't sustained.

[@Droidbot_electro]

a-w-e-s-o-m-e!!!!

[@truehousemusic]

Great!!

[@inUR2teeth]

cool. .. but... where the options "trash metal", "hip hop", "drum & bass"?

[@robfriedrich2822]

I guess, it could be possible to program this.

[@Biophob]

nice vintage

[@bbyrd009b]

what a hoot.

[@krishna34674]

wot a butie full meachean ! ps i love valvs....

[@zupamen]

WOOOOOOOOOW

[@cosmicdiscocult]

killer !!!

[@mesaoneCCK]

this would be a great DIY project, if someone could get a hold of the prints and materials. I'll start a band with one of these and two theramins or something!

[@tfrost1988]

Its huge.

[@CoolDudeClem]

That's amazing for such an old machine! How does it make the actual sounds? Are they synth or recordings?

[@PrimitiveInTheExtreme]

WoW!!!

[@DougJ]

Well...it's got a fat bottom end and the toms kinda sound blipy which is cool, but no freakin snares, that would push it over the edge. And if you could program it. That thing is massively massive too, dope though.

[@afxjim]

muy dope

[@TheFreshPeddler]

@ModernSaxDotCom - dont think it was really meant for recording but more for someone to play guitar ect over.

[@tucainga]

brutal!

[@Taobeth]

$50???! You are so lucky!

[@ray8up]

dayum!

[@intuitiveaccess]

1.46 Classic Electro Beat!

[@mralex321]

I want one!

[@411Soulman1]

Didn't Stone Flower Records use one of these in Little Sister's 1970 recording "Somebody's Watching You"?

[@JonnyWinston]

yes it was indeed

[@carlus90]

Amazing! Even if I can't understand how it works...

[@SunnyLicious]

OMG $50!!! jeez!

[@cicciodinonnapapera5]

incredibile!!! ma se si rompe chi la ripara?

[@VideyoJunkei]

cool find! may need a bit of work (instrument balance) usually some caps get leaky...

[@lordmjh]

How did we get to the technology we have now?"Did we get it with some help".

[@RyouRan]

If anything the Rhythmicon strikes me as a sequencer and the Chamberlin Rhythmate as a sampler. Still they're both catagorised as drum machines for some reason.