Roland CR-8000
Overview
The archive's fact sheet for the Roland CR-8000 came back empty. No identity block, no production years, no price, no spec rows. This page won't pad that with guesses. The CR-8000 does show up in the documentation the archive holds, just not in the way a typical product page expects.
The period press treats the machine as one entry in a broader line. Modern Recording (September 1982, p.26) reported that Roland had announced two new updated models to replace the popular CR-68 and CR-78. They were designated the CR-5000 and CR-8000. The piece also noted that the CompuRhythm line had been among the most popular brands of drum synthesizer. The same piece describes a separate Roland product that uses a digitally controlled oscillator, so the CR-8000 should not be confused with the DCO-based machine discussed alongside it. Mix (June 1984, p.165) caught the CR-8000 in working use. A performer cutting back on live keyboard duties described a rig with a Roland 606 Drumatix controlling a Sequential Circuits Pro-One. The 8000 handled handclaps because they sounded better than the ones on the big drum machines, and it was also used to trigger a sequencer.
Beyond those two mentions, the period record is thin. A 1998 classified listing in Sound on Sound (September 1998, p.219) shows a TR-808 with MIDI at £499 and a JD-800 at £699, but no CR-8000. The machine doesn't turn up in the secondhand columns the way the 808, 606, and 78 do. That absence is informative. The CR-8000 is a documented machine with a real feature set, but it has not been canonized the way its more famous siblings have. Anyone buying one is buying a CompuRhythm with a handclap voice.
The archive cannot currently state production years, original price, country of manufacture, the full drum voice list, pattern counts, or physical dimensions. The fact sheet returned nothing. This page will be revised when documentation surfaces.
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