DR-550 MkII Dr. Rhythm
Drum Machine
The DR-550 MkII is the upgraded version of the venerable, original DR-550. A big difference from the original model is the fact that the base ROM has been almost doubled and now features 91 drum sounds. The machine works at 16-bit and is fairly clean and punchy. Many of its sounds remind of its bigger sister, the Roland R-8.
Useful features include 'tone color', that allows you to modify the basic filter frequencies of each sample, and 'decay', that obviously lengthens or shortens the sample.
Drum Machines ⇝ Roland ⇝ Roland Boss DR-5 Dr. Rhythm Section. The Boss DR-5 is a drum machine with backing accompaniment and can be used to sequence entire songs. Its design is geared toward guitarists who want to add drum, bass, and keyboard parts to their songs. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Boss Dr-550 MKII Dr. Rhythm Drum Machine Mk2 With AC Adapter at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
There are 64 preset patterns on board, and 64 more slots for your own creations. Also, as in other drum machines in the DR-series, you can chain patterns to forms songs - In the DR-550 MkII, up to 8 songs consisting of up to 160 measures each.
A big improvement from the previous 220-series is the inclusion of a basic MIDI IN port, which allows the unit to be synchronized to a sequencer, or another drum machine. There's no MIDI OUT though, so in order to save your created patterns, you have to resort to the old-fashioned way of storing to cassette tape, using the tape interface.
There are seven factory demo songs programmed in ROM, that show off the capabilities of this machine:
Song 1 - Classic Rock rhythms, Latin beats, Rap patterns;
Song 2 - 8-beat patterns, Blues, Hard Rock, Disco, House, Latin, March
Song 3 - 16-beat patterns, Funk, Fusion, Samba
Song 4 - Rock rhythms, Jazz patterns including brushes, Merengue
Song 5 - Funk, R 'n' B, Oldies, more Latin
Song 6 - Reggae, 5/4 jazz
Boss Dr-550 Mkii Dr Rhythm Drum Machine User's Manual 3
Song 7 - Bossanova, Latin.
Boss DR-550 MkII Drum Samples (44.1MHz, stereo, .wav files)
Available at www.roland.com
Reset the Boss DR-550 Mk II
Power on while keeping pressed the '-1/<' and '>/+1' buttons; then press 'Start'.
- extremely light and portable;
- easy to program;
- high quality sounds.
| Features at a glance | |
| Year of release: | |
| Polyphony: | |
| Display: | |
| Preset Patterns: | |
| Pads: | |
| Pads respond to velocity: | |
| Pads respond to aftertouch | |
| Sound generation method: | |
| MIDI: | |
| Sound expansion capabilities: | |
| Outputs: | |
| Effects: | |
| Controls: | |
| Pedal controls: | |
| Tape Sync: | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Weight: | |
Links
| SITE | Type of resource | DESCRIPTION |
The Boss DR-5 is a drum machine with backing accompaniment and can be used to sequence entire songs. Its design is geared toward guitarists who want to add drum, bass, and keyboard parts to their songs.
It has a guitar input with a built-in tuner and amp simulator.
To reinitialize a DR-5 to factory settings, hold down the two FRET SHIFT keys and then turn the power on. Then let go of the FRET SHIFT keys. You should see 'System Init?' on the screen. Press ENTER to reinitialize the device, or EXIT to cancel.
There is a freeware software editor for Windows available from Rubicon Systems.
Specifications
Boss Dr-550 Mkii Dr Rhythm Drum Machine User's Manual 2
Year Released: 1994
Number of Pads: 36
Polyphony: 19 notes
Preset Patterns: 200
User Patterns: 200
User Songs: 20
Preset Drumkits: 48
User Drumkits: 16
Boss Dr-550 Mkii Dr Rhythm Drum Machine User's Manual 1
Tempo Range: 40 - 250 BPM
Sequencer Resolution: 48 PPQN
ROM Size: 256 waveforms at 16-bit resolution
Screen: custom LCD
Weight: 0.93 kg
Boss Dr-550 Mkii Dr Rhythm Drum Machine User's Manual 10
Dimensions: 226 mm x 180 mm x 45 mm
The DR-5 can be powered with six AA batteries.
User Demo Videos
Rating
File Downloads
Items for Sale on Reverb
Boss DR-5 Dr. Rhythm Section Drum Machine Made in JAPAN With Boss Bag, Owners Manual ($139)
Boss DR-5 Dr. Rhythm Section Drum Machine ($100)
Boss DR-5 Dr. Rhythm Section Drum Machine ($119)
Boss Dr-550 Mkii Dr Rhythm Drum Machine User's Manual Instructions
Boss DR-5 Drum Machine ($99.99)
Boss BRC-120 AC Adapter for DR-770, SP-505, VF-1, GR-33, GR-20, JS-5, GT-3, GT-6, GT-6B, and GT-8 ($39.99)
Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-55 - 4-AA battery holder ($7.99)
Boss Rotary Encoder Knob Replacement Part for Dr Rhythm DR-5 ($24.99)
Boss BRC-120 AC Power Supply Adapter for DR-770, 880, SP-505, VF-1, GR-33, 20, JS-5 ($39.99)