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September 20, 2011 11:56 PM

What's this particular old drum machine beat?

The most obvious example I know: Gorillaz - Last Living Souls, as the intro.

I hear this very beat a lot (it seems to be the Amen break of the preset rhythm world) but I don't know where it comes from. I know presumably it's off an electronic organ or old drum machine; more specific details are desired (like is it the "Samba" beat on the Yamaha XYZwhatever, that kind of detail).

posted by solarion to media & arts (10 answers total)

Sounds like a Casiotone.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:13 AM on September 21, 2011

It doesn't quite sound like a Casiotone to me, but it could be just that with enough processing. It sort of reminds me of the TR-66. If there is indeed extra filtering and sample cut-upness going on it could be just about anything.
posted by tremspeed at 12:24 AM on September 21, 2011

I wouldn't be surprised if it's an Ace Tone Rhythm Ace.

Sample here - fast forward to 40s
posted by The Discredited Ape at 12:29 AM on September 21, 2011 [3 favorites]

This isn't totally right either, but to give you an idea of how many similar sounding rhythm boxes there are, have a listen to this:

http://www.submodern.com/slowburn/?p=736

It's a Maestro Rhythm King, the unit used for Sly & the Family Stone's Family Affair. Could feasibly be one of those, sped up a bit/EQed.
posted by The Discredited Ape at 1:02 AM on September 21, 2011

I dont know. I initially thought Casiotone as well. But i don't think it matches any of the preset rhythms.

But I did find this, which is a preview page for someone who is selling sample packs of old rhythm machines. It has samples of around 20 machines' preset rhythms. I had a poke around but didn't find that exact beat.

All of the machines do sound really similar so it is hard to narrow down based on the sound of the Gorillas song, also it could've been processed.

Do you have another example?
posted by lrobertjones at 1:14 AM on September 21, 2011

I don't believe it's cut-up in any way; although EQing is pretty likely.

...I probably should've found more examples of this particular beat. I'll go looking.
posted by solarion at 1:20 AM on September 21, 2011

Seconding the Ace Tone Rhythm Ace.
posted by chocolatepeanutbuttercup at 4:37 AM on September 21, 2011

Yep. Rhythm Ace. Those are great, especially the bossa and samba beats.
posted by umbú at 9:34 AM on September 21, 2011

As someone who whittled together a sample set from my friend's dad's Rhythm Ace myself several years ago (Ace Tone went on to become Roland, FYI!), my first thought upon hearing it was that it sounded very Rhythm Ace-y (it's those old analog synthesized congas). Could be, that cha-cha preset from the video above sounds like it to me!
posted by stleric at 11:02 AM on September 21, 2011

...yeah, I'm not sure why I didn't see the Rhythm Ace answer earlier.

I'll do some more looking to see if I can find some higher quality samples but that preset (besides a bit of pitching) certainly does sound like it.
posted by solarion at 9:18 AM on October 4, 2011