Rhythm Boxes From Mars

Rhythm Boxes are some of the most useful and creative tools for a music producer. From making vibey lo-fi indie, to layering for house and techno, to some real groovy disco - these tried and true patterns always tend to come in handy. We compiled our favorite four rhythm boxes into one pack, including all their preset pattern loops (full as well as stripped for layering) and their isolated one shots. This pack contains the most iconic rhythm box, the CR78, and a couple rarities!

These are the 4 rhythm boxes we sampled:

CR78:

This is the classic. We know it, we love it. When you think of rhythm box, this is the sound that comes to mind. This pack contains all the classic patterns and isolated one shots recorded pristinely, as well as distorted versions that have been mangled with a vintage 1960s organ mixer. Metallic percussion, warm analog kicks, crisp 808-ish snares, and some of the smoothest hi hats of all time. 

R64:

The R64 from early 1980s Italy has the functionality and limitations of a typical rhythm box, but sounds quite different, as it's sample based rather than analog. 12bit PCM samples, sourced mostly from acoustic percussion, give the R64 a punchy quality more akin to a punchy 80s drum machines than the CR78. But unlike these classic EPROM based machines, the R64 sports analog sounding cymbal samples, giving the unit a unique, hybrid flavor all its own. There are possibly less than 10 working versions of this machine, making it the rarest drum machine in this pack.

Rhythm 700:

"It's big and from the 70s" is the most information you can find about the Rhythm 700, also known as the TR 700. It's another rare one - a 3ft tall analog rhythm box that doubles quite nicely as a piece of studio furniture. The sound is unbeatable - early 70s analog drums, with airy hi hats, a punchy snare and snappy analog percussion. It's older and a bit grittier (there is some noise) than its late 70s siblings the CR-68 and CR-78. We also sampled and re-pitched this rhythm box’s one shots using the SP sampler for even more grit and flexibility.

MR10:

This is one of the overlooked rhythm box gems of early 80s. It is all analog, and sounds like an extremely snappy cross between a CR78 and an 808. It has a certain edge that translates it very well to modern electronic music styles. This thing cuts!

This pack contains 486 WAV files from these 4 drum machines - 262 loops of their preset patterns, and 14 kits of one shots for a total of 224 one shots.