How cool is that?! Here is a “real” drum machine inspired by the legendary TR-808. A “drum robot” which consists of a complete drum set built in a big box, with each instrument being triggered by Midi. So, what started to be the first digital drum becomes analog and goes back in the digital loop. Hard to understand? Watch this video.

MR-808 – mechanic drum robot from Sonic Robots on Vimeo.

Moritz Simon Geist who built this says “… we are the first ones to transfer the electronic sounds of the most influential electronic drum computer TR-808 into the real world and make it highly playable for a musician! The idea behind the installation is to highlight the origin of the sounds in a way no conventional media of electronic music production is usually able to… We mainly used motors and solenoids as actuators, which are triggered by a power electronic device and an Arduino. The musical control is realized with MIDI, the latency and the lighting control system are implemented in MAX / MSP.”

Find out more about the background and its nerdy technical features

But that’s not all! There is also a band, “Science Fiction Children” who sound a bit like The Rapture or Bodi Bill, check out their hit “Rise of the toys”

Rise of the Toys – Science Fiction Children from david campesino on Vimeo.