MXR 185 [1983]
In the 70s, MXR transformed music by creating innovative effects pedals that defined the era’s iconic swirling guitar and electric piano sounds and set lasting standards for distortion and sustain stomp boxes. However, as technology advanced, the company struggled to keep pace. Seeking new revenue, MXR entered the booming drum machine market—spurred by the success of Linn and Emu—and released the MXR 185 Drum Computer in the mid-1980s.
The machine offers twelve standard drum sounds—including bass drum, snare, toms, hi-hats, cymbals, claps, block, and bell—with sound quality that’s slightly less crisp than competitors like the Drumulator. The Rim and Snare samples ARE almost indistinguishable from each other! And the woodblock does seem to have a flam on it.
A useful feature called “shift” allows pitch adjustments of ±1% across all sounds, although this range is narrower than what other drum machines offered at the time. Each sound has its own output slider for level control, with individual outputs positioned at the rear of the machine behind their respective sliders.
Patterns, the basic building blocks of songs, can be up to 99 beats long, and the machine stores up to 100 patterns and 100 songs. Lithium batteries preserve memory for up to five years without power. To program a pattern, you select a pattern number and length, then record rhythms in real time using dedicated pads for each sound. Songs are created by sequencing these patterns in the desired order.
This drum machine wasn’t successful since it seems like it pretty much disappeared without trace almost as soon as it was released. Maybe it was because it lacked the new-fangled MIDI ports that were appearing on gear of the era. Whatever it was, the MXR 185 faded into drum machine obscurity…
• What do you think about this drum machine?
• What drum machine do you want to see next?
Sources: Hollowsun, Muzines
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