the signal generated when converted by the audio interface loses quality? I would also like to understand why samples recorded by famous machines like the 909 are not of the same quality as those recorded by a real 909 machine, are they not recorded in the same way? For example a sample taken from a goldbaby tr909 is not of the same quality as the same machine in my possession? why? does the sampling process deteriorate the sound then? as goldbaby shared his sounds are not 100% authentic then (?)

how should I use a drum machine, do I have to use it continuously from the beginning to the end of the track, or can I record the patterns in daw directly and so in theory disconnect the connection to the drum machine?

At home I have a tr707 for the moment, (in the future I would like to get the 909)
Help me understand how I should use it. The machine is connected to an audient id14 mkII card and finally arrives at the PC (Ableton Daw)
-> Can I sample these sounds without losing their quality? I have this big doubt.
Or as asked before do I have to use the drum machine until I export the track?

 

I once read an article, which I couldn't find again, that describes why the PC and the audio interface can't reproduce the sound of the hardware 1:1. These are physical technical limitations.

The better your AD/DA converter chip and the layout of your audio interface's circuit board, the better the quality of the sampled instrument. You should get very good audio quality with the Audient iD14 MK.

Due to the DAC chip's very low processing power compared to a PC, interpolation in the DAC is performed using simple filters and fixed-point calculations. Often, the samples are simply copied until the modulator rate is reached. A powerful audio PC with high-quality filters and floating-point precision calculations can be a great help here.

You can use your drum machine however and whenever you want; the signal coming out of the drum machine is always the same and goes through your audio interface directly to the PC, where you press the record button, and the DAW then records it.

Goldbaby usually edits his samples!

 

Last edited: Mar 22, 2025

after suitable chemical stimulation and large doses of alcohol, most people would be hard pressed to notice the difference between drum samples and a stampede of gazelles. Surely we all need something to worry about, but try to focus those worried neurons on a facet of your life that might produce a positive outcome in some sort of overall grander scale.

me, I worry, that my daw, doesn't sound the same as my neighbors daw, and my whites and colours just aren't as bright anymore on laundry day.

 

I wouldn't worry about the fidelity of old instruments, most of those have character, not sound quality. And that can be captured faithfully by modern ADCs/DACs.

The greatest thing about a real 909 is the very easy and quick to use sequencer, and the fact that it has knobs to tweak the sounds, sometimes live. The cymbal samples in the 909 are 6 bits (the 707 is 8 bit if I remember correctly), so we're not exactly talking high fidelity. Yes, there's a certain liveliness in the other sounds due to analog circuitry, but that's nothing that can't be fixed by getting a few round-robin samples. In a track you can't tell the difference anyway.

 

The only way to hear the true sound of a 909 is to become energy itself and go into the machine where the processing happens. You could study in Tibet for ten lifetimes and not achieve the level of karma that is required to accomplish this.

 

A majority of the vintage "Roland drum machine samples" referred to in sample pack marketing blurbs are not original machines, or even machines at all. Some can be Behringer or nicer clones, some can be newer Roland Boutique models, and some are flat out software emulations. They use "weasel words" in their descriptions of the "gear" used in so many of those packs it is not even funny. 606. 707, 727's can still be found used for under a thousand bucks. Usually like $500-$750 ball park if you are lucky. (and not on reverb.com because everything on there is some amount of overpriced initially).

Goldbaby is not some 20 year old kid buying a $8000 tr-808 prices. All you have to do is listen to know that. All of them will use some amount of additional processing. The real answer is easy. They are lying about gear they do not have and most have never even seen in person.


Want to see how to know? Take a picture of that 707 you have in front of the computer screen with this thread showing in the image.

 

Last edited: Mar 22, 2025

707 is digital you can dump ROM samples from the EEPROMs, that will be the highest quality you can get from the box
as well as the digital part of 909
for analog sounds get the best converter you can and don't bother any more, better think about composition and how to be original your music
Answering about difference, every 909 is a bit different because first of all it's analogue circuit which 40 years old, than difference in sampling path or post processing you never know when a sample is made by someone else