Overall User Ratings (based on 160 ratings)
Submitted September 15, 2013 by alan p in valencia, NA
"A drum machine and a whole lot more"
I lot this little unit. I bought it way back when they came out, before I even had a PC. I recorded tons of demos by programing songs and using it to control my old Casio keyboards. Even today, with several DAWs, plugins, etc., I still use it and am thinking about it with me to play some solo gigs. No the sounds aren´t the best in the world and I don´t really use it for recording in my home studio. Usually I just use it nowadays for a quick beat to play along with or when I´m looking for a little inspiration and I feel like playing with some loops. I have seen very few other units that give you four tracks to program. When putting together a song you can also change the key of the loops which lets you use one loop for several different parts of the song. I don´t want to jinx myself but I have had mine for almost 20 years and it still works perfectly. There is also a program you can buy (cheap) that works as an interface with your computer that lets you import and export all your data to and from your PC. One more thing I love about the DR5 is that you can choose from 18 different chord types and choose different voicings for these chords as if they were being played on a guitar. I have found some really cool progressions playing with this feature.
Musical Background:
amateur musician for 20+ years. I play guitar, harmonica, sing and play a little keyboard.
Musical Style:
indie rock, indie pop, country, folk
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Submitted May 1, 2003 by a customer from hotmail.com
"Practical and Realistic"
I'd replace it with the same if lost or stolen... unless they made a newer DR-5000 or something.
Sound
The sounds are weak, as should be expected for the size-to-feature-to-price ratio. BUT... the sounds work great as a reference until you are ready to plug in the external sound module or sampler.
Improving the internal sounds is not worth the bother or added cost.
Features
I've had mine for 5 years. With it's simple guitarist-friendly layout, the DR-5 has allowed me to develop skill for composing and arranging multi-track music. It was the first electronic musical I ever purchased, and I often use it as a master control.
Quality
The jog dial went goofy after I tried taking it apart for fun... ooops!
I ordered a replacement dial and it works perfectly again.
Value
No one wants to pay too much, but I have no regret for buying the DR-5. At the risk of sounding cheesy, it literally gave my music wings and expanded my ideas, once limited to only the guitar.
Manufacturer Support
Just needed to replace a part I broke. It was fast and easy to order the part.
The Wow Factor
Sex appeal? Ummm... for an electronic musical device, I find this oldie to be "well-hung."
Musical Style:
most
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Submitted February 29, 2004 by a customer from yahoo.com
"very depenable"
i'll give it another 7 years the the reason only because technology is gettin futuristic every year.
Sound
i like because i can record a beat on cd and a lot of people ttells me it sounds professional
Features
everything u need to produce a demo or produce your own album in buildt inside th dr5
Quality
the only thing to worry about the dr5 is leaving it on the carpet. it can make the machine disfunctional
Value
yes
Manufacturer Support
never tried
The Wow Factor
i love the designs that it gives to the home studio. it doesnt look cheap
Musical Style:
rap
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Submitted May 10, 2004 by a customer from eircom.net
"perfect for what i need"
i will look for same
Sound
I have used a dr-5 for the past 7years, It has helped keep me in work.Im different from the pack,determining how I give my songs the right amount of oomp.EXCELLENT.
Features
bass line excellent.
Quality
I hope to be using it for another 5 years
Value
yes
Manufacturer Support
no
The Wow Factor
from 1-10 6
Musical Style:
drum and base
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Submitted November 20, 2003 by a customer from Norman.cc
"iF YOU WANT JUST PROGRAMED RHYTHM DRUM PATTERNS, YOU ARE BETTER OFF BUYING AN ECONOMICAL KEYBOARD WITH THOSE FEATURE."
I was totally disastified after one evening reading the manual and trying to learn to use it.
So what did I do, I ordered the Video.
The video is a big help but it STILL TOO COMPLICATED!!!
Sound
"If you want to study manuals forever - this is it"
Its complicated to learn how to use and I found that I
was spending more time learing how to use the dam
thing then I was working on my music.
Value
This would be a nice item for for about $40 dollars.
Its worst feature is difficult to learn to use.
Musical Style:
POP, Country, Rock
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Boss DR-5 Dr. Rhythm Customer Review
Sound
Instruments other than drums don't sound good and realistic. Pads aren't velocity sensitive and only 4 accents are possible. So real drum effect is impossible.
Features
Sequencer has very little memory, it fills up at about 3-4 complex songs and i dont want to use a computer sequencer for extra storage. They could put a diskette driver for extra storage but they didn't. Why use the machine sequencer if you will have to transfer your data to a computer? Guitar to MIDI conversion doesn't work well (even in its monophonic (one note at a time) mode.
Value
not worth 350 dollars
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