Zoom RhythmTrak RT-123

. . . yet another drum machine, but it's see-through!

Don't get me wrong, even though this was a bottom-of-the-line box it did have 3 tracks to sequence. You could fire off patterns, even multiple patterns, at the same time, on the fly, d.j. style – and it had bass sounds!

And yes, it was a produced in very beautiful see-through blue plastic. I loved it as an object.

Specs:
• Drum kits: 80.
• Bass programs: 25.
• Rhythm patterns: 297 preset, 99 user.
• Songs: 99.
• Maximum notes: 10,000.
• Maximum polyphony: 30 voices.
• Resolution: 96 PPQN.
• Tempo range: 40-250bpm.
• Quantise values: quarter, eighth, eighth triplet, sixteenth, sixteenth triplet, thirty-second, thirty-second triplet notes, and off.
• Outputs: quarter-inch jack (L/Mono, R); headphones.
• Inputs: MIDI In; quarter-inch mono line in; footswitch.
• Power: 9V AC.

After playing with it for a while I ended up triggering sounds on this from my sequencer. When it comes down to it, unless you are not computer savvy, who needs a drum machine? Sequencers are more powerful and easier to edit.

Goods: It was pretty translucent blue plastic toy. The pads lit up. Ooh! It was fun and really small.

Bads: No tuning on the sounds. It had a high end bite that I found low-rez sounding. Only stereo audio outs, and no midi out, so forget about exporting your pattern data.

I think it cost about $125. I got like $90 or so for it after a few months. You can pick one up on ebay now for about $50, I'd guess.