When I first dove into finally making electronic music a few years ago, it was to make the kind of acid house and vaguely-techno stuff that clicked with me when I was younger. The 909 was that sound, by and large.
First and foremost, I don't care about absolutely identical waveforms to the original. I wanted a thumping version of the 909 "thing" and after only a few days, this had delivered that. Sending clock to my MIDI splitter, sonics are good, things are sync'd -- now it's just time to get to work learning the nuances.
Those few years ago, when I decided to get a drum machine to go with my TD-3, at the time, the RD-8 was my only option - I don't think the RD-6 was out yet, and the RD-9 was still vaporware.
'80s/'90s acid house, Detroit Techno, the mid-'90s Big Beat wave, all the early Aphex and Warp I could put in my ears, Homework -- all that pre-Y2K era beat-driven music, this is largely the source of the programmed drums I love, with the exception of the early-'80s electro era, which my RD-8 covers perfectly. (I've got far too many "Planet Rock" variations in there right now. Well, you can never too many, but you take my meaning.)
The RD-8 really taught me a lot about programming drum machines in general, so I'm very excited to "graduate" to a different type of machine and some new features, plus the sounds I've always wanted in a hardware drum machine.
Now I just need to really get to know it. Being built on the same basic skeleton as the RD-8 makes it easier, but things like "double tapping for accent" are new workflow quirks (which I understand even Roland soon abandoned?).
But, along with learning how to properly deploy the MS-1 that's also new to me will be a blast.
My last big batch of acid house stuff was done with my intital setup of the RD-8, TD-3, and a Volca Keys. And frankly, I went pretty far with that over a full-length and a couple EPs.
I suppose this setup is now the backbone of whatever I come up with next:
