Minimal Wave Records

Hello there,

I wonder if anyone could help me to identify a drummachine used often for minimal wave tracks in the early 80s. A very characteristic feature of that machine is a fill-in that usually occurs at the end of every 4th bar, consisting of the snare hit 8 times in a row (on every 16th note), with accent on the 1st and 5th note.

It appears on, for example,

Infidels - A Place In History (A Tribute to Some Bizarre Vol. 2)
John Paul Young - Our Time Escapes (Return of Flexi Pop Vol. 7)

I hope it’s not a Roland CR-78 (cause I couldn’t afford one), but there’s a sound in that J.P. Young song that sounds like the “metallic beat” sound of the CR-78.

Cheers
Ross

EDIT:
The same machine seems to have been used on the Portion Control Album “Gaining Momentum”. The characteristic fill-in can be heard on the track “Toffee Toffee”. On the other tracks, the drum sounds remind me much of my Ace Tone FR-8L (Roland TR-77).

More and more I believe that it is a CR-78, please confirm anyone…!

It could be Alesis.

The JP Young song is probably a cr-78 (metal beat gives it away). I think the same roll is on the cr-68 though, which should be cheaper.

Infidels use a CR78 - disco preset with the rolling snare fill every 8 bars…This drum machine can be heard on many records from Sadé to Ceramic Hello to John Foxx to Genesis to Kas Product and back again.  Although the CR 68 could be used to similar effect and are about half as expensive.

It is most likely Roland CR-78, I own one and it is simply amazing rhythm machine!
I have been looking for it for a long time and tried to find it cheaper. But then I said, “Screw it” and I bought it for $566 and I don’t regret it. Although, I had to fix it once myself but it great!