Zoom RhythmTrak Drum Machine
January 29, 1998
Definitely not your ordinary drum machine, the new RhythmTrak ... 234 from Zoom includes over 100 distinctive drum kits and 50 bass patterns, easy to use real time recording, a bunch of special performance features, General MIDI and more.
Destined to redefine the category, the RhythmTrak starts with drum sounds loaded with character and attitude. The sampling sessions for these sounds were done using vintage pro equipment, famous drum rooms and many different types of drums for the rock, studio, funk, hard rock, acoustic, ballad and modern kits.
Plenty of mic positions were also captured and the resulting room ambiences were carefully mixed. The machine sounds (rap, hip/hop, techno) were sampled, tweaked for more punch and optimized entirely in the digital domain.
Most of the snares are true stereo, and the sample rates of all the main drums are full bandwidth (44kHz). The percussion sounds are also exceptional: In addition to the traditional Latin rhythms, there are Middle Eastern, Indian, Celtic, and African drums as well. Ultimately, with variations and stacked combos, over 100 kits are available.
The RhythmTrak also has Bass. It's a rhythm section or a garage band in one box. The pads sustain for as long as you hold them in bass mode, and you can tune up any scale you want, up and down three octaves. The 50 Bass patches include all the most popular instrumental sounds and combinations.
For more excitement in live performance, the RhythmTrak has a "SoundJammer" slider and a Repeat button that let users put down a closed hat part w/repeat, jam volume with the slider; do trendy Techno effects like adding super fast snare or kick or weird stuff like caking any sound down up to two octaves and other functions not found on drum machines.
EZ RealTime recording lets everything can happen while the beat is up: You can erase on the fly, punch in and out of record, change settings, change sounds, etc.
A special Groove Play feature lets you play back drum/bass patterns by hitting the pads and holding them. Then you can try out the pads - there's a default selection of grooves already there - it's easy to DJ together a musical thing right on the spot. Also, you can use your own patterns and experiment with Song forms.
The RhythmTrak also features a General MIDI Module with a connection that turns the RhythmTrak into a plug & play GM expander along with a full complement of practical features.
The amazing RhythmTrak ... 234 drum machine has an MSRP of $329. For more Zoom information, please call (516) 364-2244, fax (516) 364-3888 or write: Samson Technologies Corp. P.O. Box 903 1, Syosset, NY 11791-903 1. Visit Zoom at www.samsontech.com. | 
