What drum machine did Cabaret Voltaire use on Nag Nag Nag?

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There's a quote attributed to RHK about this:

Then we got a Selmer which was amazing because it could do drum rolls. None of these were programmable, it had three different varieties, a drum roll every four bars or every eight or whatever. It was the one we used on "Nag Nag Nag".

Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Monday, 18 October 2021 06:01 (two years ago) link

Only thing is that no Selmer drum machine does fills, at least that I can find.

Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Monday, 18 October 2021 06:02 (two years ago) link

I can't find any organ-top drum machines of that era that have fill capability, either.

Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Monday, 18 October 2021 06:03 (two years ago) link

they built their own in the early days, they used kits but messed around with them, whatever they used it wasn't a standard piece of equipment

edited to reflect developments which occurred (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 18 October 2021 06:47 (two years ago) link

Are we talking electromechanical here? Microprocessor-based?

Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Monday, 18 October 2021 08:12 (two years ago) link

maybe a Hillwood HR-30 Super Variation (badged as Selmer)?

equaliser, Monday, 18 October 2021 08:45 (two years ago) link

the HR-2 in this demo gets tantalisingly close, if only the demonstrator left on all the congas at the slower tempo on ROCK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6UAaRiDUzo

assert (matttkkkk), Monday, 18 October 2021 08:56 (two years ago) link

Yeah, that's an interesting possibility. I hadn't heard of this drum machine before, and I'd love to get my hands on one.

Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Monday, 18 October 2021 17:04 (two years ago) link

maybe a Hillwood HR-30 Super Variation (badged as Selmer)?

I'm thinking that the HR-30 would be in the same retail/resale price range as the CR-68 or CR-78, and while I don't know how much RHK had to spend on such things at the time, my intuition is that it was slightly out of reach in 1979.

Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Monday, 18 October 2021 17:10 (two years ago) link

why am I going "ah ha ha" like Alan Vega during that whole video

StanM, Monday, 18 October 2021 17:34 (two years ago) link

I know this wasn't the question or the answer but look how an analog drum machine from the 60s worked:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipdi3THbBVU

StanM, Monday, 18 October 2021 17:40 (two years ago) link

This beautiful drum machine is always the answer.

Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Monday, 18 October 2021 20:08 (two years ago) link

two weeks pass...

Well, I have acquired a Hillwood HR-2, and while it's definitely got fills, it's not the Nag Nag Nag drum machine.

Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Sunday, 7 November 2021 04:13 (two years ago) link

:(

assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 7 November 2021 04:46 (two years ago) link

Perhaps if you tweet at @chrisrwatson he might recall?

Maresn3st, Sunday, 7 November 2021 12:08 (two years ago) link

two years pass...

I'm starting to think that it's a CR-68. It's got a fill which is very, very close. The CR-68 is brighter than Nag Nag Nag's DM tho, so I'd want to see how it could be filtered to match.

Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Saturday, 3 February 2024 08:00 (two months ago) link

I don't have a CR-68 tho and that's gonna run one big one to supply for this flite of fancy.

Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Saturday, 3 February 2024 08:02 (two months ago) link

https://www.mylifeinthemoshofghosts.com/content/images/2017/06/CabsWesternWorksEdit.jpg

Not the answer, but in this photo you can see the Farfisa Rhythm 10.

As far as the Hillwood... check out this at around the 2:40 mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ow6crFDRrA

Reeves Gabrels' Funko Pop (majorairbro), Sunday, 4 February 2024 06:55 (two months ago) link

According to a book: RHYTHM MACHINES (Volume 1) which "documents the rise and fall of the preset pattern rhythm units" there is a listing for a Selmer HR-30.

Also in the Western Works photo you can just barely see an EMS Synthi Hi Fli... incredibly rare and sought after now.

Reeves Gabrels' Funko Pop (majorairbro), Sunday, 4 February 2024 07:05 (two months ago) link

The Hillwood HR-30 looks quite promising. I've had it on search for ages, with no hits on ebay or reverb. This has got to be just a rare beast of a box.

Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Monday, 5 February 2024 06:11 (two months ago) link


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