Some people fuss about the 808/909 sounds not being quite as good as the originals, which is true, however you would be surprized at how many bands have used the R8 for these sounds anyway, and most people can't tell. A bit of EQ/reverb/etc, and this machine can pass as an 808/909, it's just that the original machines have a wide range of tweakability with each sound that this machine does not have. Obviously this machine is going to be much cheaper than getting an 808 or 909, let alone both!

The programming is simple for most basic things. The grid edit mode is excellent for getting started quickly, and was greatly missed on Rolands later drum machines. There are some deep programming options, but for some people it will get tiresome refering to the horribly written manual.

The OS is a little wacky, although some people don't seem to mind. Like anything, once you are used to it, no problem.

Some machines are a pain to program because there are so few buttons for so many options. This thing has a lot of buttons, no problem there, it's just a little confusing getting your head around the modes and how everything is layered in this beast.

You are not going to get effects/EQ like most new machines, but this was designed to replace a traditional drummer, so it has all those outputs! The idea there is that you EQ and add reverb at the mixing desk as you would a 10 track drum take. Most people would not bother to hook up all the outs, but if you do, and use different verbs on different drums, and EQ, and compress the kick and snare, you can really get a distinct sound that no other 2 output machine will give you.

Overall, it's the most fun drum machine I have ever owned, although the Korg electribes are pretty damn fun too. I've sampled the R8MkII into an electribe to get the best of both worlds.

This is not completely true. While it is that when using SOUND edit, the sample itself gets edited and when assigned to different banks or pads, it sounds the same, it IS possible to overcome this, by using PERFORMANCE edit. Recently I needed to program a simple bassline (||:Am-G-F-E:||)and if I would use SOUND EDIT, the bass-sounds on different pads would all have the same pitch. But, by editing in PERFORMANCE EDIT, you could change the individual pitch per pad.

Anyway, I traded my mint DR670 for this mint R8MKII (quite a deal, huh? ;-) ) and I'm very impressed with the editability, cymbals (although they should have included more ride cymbals), but I only use the DRY kick or the FACE_Kick. (Face_kick is good for metal/hardrock kit) Also the snare dept. doesn't completely fullfill my needs. I really dig the SHARP_SN and the SOLID_SN, but eventhough some of the other snares sound really thick (WOOD, LA, FAT), they're too "80's" IMO. I would like a cool "rehearsal room" kinda sound, a sort of dry, realistic sound.

Does anyone know if one of the extra cards has this kinda sounds? Or does anyone have suggestions how to tune the included snares to make a more realistic sound? Bank A is my allround realistic kit Bank B is my rock/metal kit Bank C is my over-the-top 80's/industrial/heavy/dance kit Bank D is the standard jazzkit Bank E is half bassguitar, half percussion.

The R8 is quite a pain in the arse to program, but the sounds can be very convincing. Also the 8 outputs and the feel patches help.