LinnDrum II

Roger Linn. A pioneering figure in the world of electronic music. As important to Hip Hop as the artists who created it. Without the MPC where would we be? One thing is certain. We would not have the technological innovations that inspired so many artistic breakthroughs. The evolution of electronic music has always been directly linked to the tools used to create it. The MPC 60 & the MPC 3000 are to Hip Hop what the Strat & SG are to Rock. Roger Linn’s designs have helped define a culture.


Third design:



The LinnDrum II. It’s a collaborative effort between Linn and Dave Smith. The instrument is still in development and this is the third design revision. I like it the best. A classic blend of the old and the new. The wood panels remind me of the vintage synths that inspired the early years of electronic music. The sloped angle of the display panel is similar to the 60 mkII and the LM-1. It’s spacey looking without the stripped down plastic box aesthetic found in so many other samplers on the market. It looks like an instrument where others look like expensive toys.




Modern updates give us all the benefits of todays technology. USB, a monitor out, a built-in analog synth, a turntable-pre for direct sampling, analog I/O…and who knows what else? They’re not saying much. No tech specs have been released beyond what’s visible in the photos. Production has been delayed and we probably won’t get any final details until they’re ready to launch. If you’re interested you can sign up for their mailing below in the update from Roger Linn. Solid

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Preview: LinnDrum II

LinnDrum II is a drum machine that’s currently in development. Following on my (Roger's) early drum machine products like the LM1-1 Drum Computer, LinnDrum and Linn9000, as well as the MPC product line I originally designed for Akai, the goal of LinnDrum II is be a new musical instrument for the real-time creation and improvisation of beat-oriented music, both in live performance and in the studio.

Originally conceived as a collaboration with Dave Smith, along the way we discovered that Dave’s customers and mine wanted different products and it would be too expensive to make a product that met the needs of both. So it’s going to be a Roger Linn Design product, but still contains many benefits of Dave’s earlier involvement.

There’s still plenty of work for my small company to do, but when we’re closer to release we’ll be posting more information on this page. For now, I can only say that while it won’t be an analog product it will introduce a number of creative and fun ways to create beats, and will provide a very high degree of hands-on, real-time control of beat and sound manipulation in an intuitive way designed to guide new and surprising ideas from the musician’s head with very little effort. And I suspect most people will find the price less than they were expecting. Please hold your questions for now; as more information is available, I’ll post it here and significant updates will be sent to our LinnDrum II Email List.

I recognize that this product has been in development for a while now. However, the fun for me in designing a product is to try to implement it in a new way that surprises and delights, and for better or worse I tend to take my time getting the details right. Thanks for your patience. Roger Linn

Second design:






First design:



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