User Reviews at zZounds

"Skeptical cheap-skate totally smitten with the beats" submitted June 14, 2004

By a customer from gmail.com

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Music Style: Hip-hop, rock, blues, funk

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Sound: Before using this little machine I was quite skeptical about the quality of sound reproduction of drum machines in general, but the DR 770 has changed my mind. With the exception of weak crash cymbal sounds, the drums are quite realistic. With a little tweaking of ambience and various sound parameters, it's like having a live drummer in the studio. The touch sensitive pads are not as dynamic in range as they could be, but they still make for excellent nuance. The sound is a lot better than I expected Feature: I see many complaints about the LCD. It doesn't bother me, but it is strange that they wouldn't throw that in. The programming is easy. The step recording of songs is very convenient. Quality: Well, I recently bought it and all I can do is keep my fingers crossed because it's not exactly a strong piece of equipment. Value: I found this to be money well spent. I expected less for $350 and got so much. Manufacturer Support: Dunno. The Wow Factor: Great little box. Technically, it is really loaded. The little cheap box makes it a wolf in sheeps clothing. But it looks nice in my studio set up if that is an issue (?). Overall: I am really happy with this. I'll be over it when I hire a full-time live in drummer, or win the lottery. Inthe mean-time, this has proved to be the missing link in my total music making capabilities.

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"Good features & sounds with one annoying drawback designed by idiots!" submitted January 28, 2008

By a customer from btconnect.com

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Musical Background: Played pro and semi pro for over 40 years, also have own recording studio.

Music Style: All types - mainly 60s and 70s Rock'n'Roll and dance-band.

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Sound: Pretty good sound - just like the DR-550 which I also own(2 of them in fact!) and have I used both models for over 10 years now for live gigs. The sound is good but there is one annoying "feature" that both machines have. Feature: Just about everything you could wish for in terms of options and sounds but for one annoying "feature" - read on... Ease of Use: HERE is the annoying bit. Pity the designers of this family have never played with it live and used the drum machine for themselves in the real world of live music. When you hit the stop footswitch the sound stops when release of the switch (might sound daft but actually a it's a very good feature as it's easier to be more accurate when you release than when you step on to a footswith especially if you're singing and playing at the same time. BUT WHEN YOU HIT THE FOOTWITCH AGAIN TO RE-START, THE SILLY MACHINE STARTS AT THE POINT IN THD DRUM PATTERN WHERE YOU FINISHED!!! Why on earth doesn't it go back to the beginning of the patter to restart like real professional drum machines? Simple. It's 'coz the idiots who designed it never thought of it because they've never use it live themselves - otherwise this stupid annoying "feature" would never have hit the streets. They did it with the DR-550 and now with the DR-770. OH DO GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER YOU IDIOTS AT BOSS/ROLAND!!! More than happy to give you a spec that would be so easy to implement - if only you'd listen to a real musician who uses it in the real music world, not a lab. Quality: Good sturdy quality build with non-vol memory (beter than the 6xAA memory batteries needed with the D%-55- which used to let you down and loose memory just before you started performing. Value: Pretty naff in the UK but as I bought mine in the USA 9less than half price), good value for me Manufacturer Support: Never had to use it for this machine but most unhelpful and very "jobsworth" orientated when I had a problem with a guitar synth pickup! The Wow Factor: Great - apart from that incredibly stupid "feature" of starting the drum pattern in the middle when you re-start it. Overall: I've used it for some time now and am not looking around for another. If I was, I'd probably avoid BOSS purely because of the stupid issue over starting the pattern in the middle. It really is annoying in a live environment and no other drum nachines I know of do this - they all do the sensible thing and restart at the beginning of the pattern. I know of many users of drum machines who hav avoided BOSS just because of this point.

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"try it before you buy -- I think it's pretty bad but it came very well-recommended from people I respect." submitted June 26, 2004

By a customer from computer.org

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Music Style: alt

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Sound: I was expecting much better sound quality. I mean, you can get freeware like doggiebox that has kits that sound like a live drummer and this unit not does not sound like a live drummer but the kits sound like synth as well. The preprogrammed samples sound, well, like computer generated garbage. Feature: The swing function doesn't work on all settings. Quality: Does not seem very sturdy. You'll spend a fair amount of time worrying about breaking it. Value: If I had driven down to a guitar center and spent 30 minutes with this, I'd have gone entirely with my laptop and a control surface. Manufacturer Support: Go ahead, try and get a printed list of all the preprogrammed samples. Try contacting the company. Try visiting their website. Try finding a company-supported user's forum. Anything that Bose or Taylor or even Korg have been doing for say, oh, the last few years... This company is stuck in the 1980s when it comes to music equipment support and that is not a compliment! Overall: I must say, all of my references for this product were good. I told some gigging and studio musician friends of mine, I need a drum machine, I need it to be versatile but I don't want to get lost in dealing wiht it because the focus is songcraft. And this was pretty much universally recommended as the best. I just find it to be cheaply-made but worst, the sounds do not sound like drums whether preprogrammed or roll your own.

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Boss DR-770 Dru Machine Customer Review submitted April 27, 2004

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Sound: i like the drum sounds but the high hits could have been a little clearer for me

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"Fix the footswitch default!" submitted August 3, 2006

By a customer from yahoo.com

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Musical Background: Active musician

Music Style: Blues, Pop, Rock

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Sound: Sounds reasonably good, as good as I expected, or better. Feature: I just use it for backup in my live solo act. Haven't tried to customize tracks or anything, because...well, see "Ease of Use" below... I HATE the fact that I have to have two footswitches to reset to the beginning of a pattern. My old Alesis SR16 defaulted to the beginning of the pattern when you stop it with the footswitch; this unit picks up where you left off unless you add another footswitch for "reset." Then, if you add a pause to a live song, you have to kick TWO footswitches. While the manual suggests that you can assign that function to a footswitch (the ubiquitous "RST_S/S" setting), mine doesn't seem to have it. That s**cks... Ease of Use: This machine doesn't differ much from the rest, but programming songs seems just too much trouble. The learning curve and time requirement is just too steep for a non-drummer. That's why I just use it for pattern playing live. Would be nice to be able to use the second footswitch for fills, which would be possible if I wasn't already having to use it for the "'reset' to beginning of pattern" as indicated above. Quality: Seems pretty well made, but I'm becoming very disillusioned with the aforementioned problems. Value: I suppose the value is okay, especially for tech-heads who can get into the programming of this thing. Manufacturer Support: No email support? A "knowledge base" that doesn't address the problems I've mentioned? An owner's manual that describes footswitch settings I don't have in my "utility" program? Man, I'm afraid to even try calling these people on the phone... The Wow Factor: Sex appeal? Give me a sweaty, long-haired, stoned, drunk, off-beat drummer over this any day. It's a blue box with mechanical metronomic beats and drawbacks. You want sex appeal, watch TV. Overall: I'm looking for something else now.

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Boss DR770 Drum Machine

User Ratings

"Skeptical cheap-skate totally smitten with the beats" submitted June 14, 2004

"Good features & sounds with one annoying drawback designed by idiots!" submitted January 28, 2008

"try it before you buy -- I think it's pretty bad but it came very well-recommended from people I respect." submitted June 26, 2004

Boss DR-770 Dru Machine Customer Review submitted April 27, 2004

"Fix the footswitch default!" submitted August 3, 2006