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The LoFi Magic of a Scottish Tape Drum Machine
Рет қаралды 65,911
Күн бұрынThe Bandmaster Powerhouse is a drum machine unlike any other: it uses 8-Track tape recordings of drum and percussion loops to play back "Funky Beat", "Modern Waltz" and "Disco" patterns. Made by GR International in Perth, Scotland in the 1970s, only few survive and the tapes are even rarer. The warble and flutter, especially when pitched down, is horrible from a technical perspective, but it adds layers of texture that are a dream come true for the rare groove enthusiast.
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@Hainbach 10 ай бұрын
Get the Powerhouse samples and support my work: patreon.com/hainbach Get the Hainpack: www.audiothing.net/bundle/hainpack/
@SAMKINGSTONMUSIC 10 ай бұрын
This is incredible. Any chance you plan to track down the other tapes in the series? Would be amazing to have those samples as well
@buttguy 10 ай бұрын
the only thing better than this thing existing in the first place is the fact that the drums sound EXACTLY like you'd hope they would. Beautiful.
@redgopnik2227 10 ай бұрын
this would go crazy in lofi breakcore... the busyness of the loops and that warm crunch is so good
@FungleFunTime 10 ай бұрын
What on earth is lofi breakcore
@GuyGamer1 10 ай бұрын
@@FungleFunTimeBreakcore is jungle on steroids. So an even lower fidelity version of that.
@FungleFunTime 10 ай бұрын
@@GuyGamer1 so you mean breakcore.
@danhectic5629 10 ай бұрын
@@FungleFunTime yea like old doormouse.
@Ratimus_ 10 ай бұрын
@@FungleFunTimeJust because you haven't heard of something doesn't mean it isn't real. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your philosophy"
@liamforsyth2993 10 ай бұрын
I’m Scottish and never heard of this. Also it sounds like it came straight out of a silent hill game. Trip hop for days.
@mycityglory 10 ай бұрын
Glad someone else thought Silent Hill as well!
@emiloguechoons9030 10 ай бұрын
I live in Perth, Scotland and it's crazy to think a drum machine was ever built here, that's amazing, thanks for shining a spotlight on it!!
@pascoebrock5877 10 ай бұрын
very cool 8 track someone had lots of time to build this
@TRIPPLEJAY00 10 ай бұрын
My family is from Perth, I'm a Murray, originally McMurray century's ago. May the mighty Scots live on.
@LeeGee 10 ай бұрын
@@TRIPPLEJAY00There's s reason people left Scotland.
@BF-up5xw 10 ай бұрын
@@LeeGee That's probably my ancestors fault; I'm English.
@VirtualModular 10 ай бұрын
Ha, I love this thread. I'm English but live near Edinburgh. My wife is Scottish, originally from Ayr and constantly moans about the weather, litter, people etc. She wants to move to Spain, but unfortunately my English compatriots screwed that up voting oot the EU. Cheers for that! I don't think a Scottish drum machine is at all surprising though, Instruo are based in Glasgow and Scots invented plenty of stuff like TV for example. It's not all kilts and sheep farming north of the border 🤣
@simonlevermore1385 10 ай бұрын
I love that the video is 8:08 long. That has to be deliberate! Well played.
@Hainbach 10 ай бұрын
First export was 8:09 - I just had to edit out a second when I saw that
@Project4four 10 ай бұрын
@@Hainbachthat's dedication ❤
@vinylarchaeologist 10 ай бұрын
6:04 “Finding a unicorn that also plays the trumpet very well” 😂 Haha, agree 100%-most unicorns I know suck at playing the trumpet.
@AlexBallMusic 10 ай бұрын
I _totally_ forgot about that thing! I've got all the loops deep on a drive somewhere. Great to see and hear you with it.
@JorbLovesGear 10 ай бұрын
Another instrument that feels like it was specifically invented for you to find it decades later 😅😂😂. Insanely cool tech, and the sounds are great.
@isaiahhudson5470 10 ай бұрын
Give me more you know about I’m curious 😭 !!!
@Patchisamoon 10 ай бұрын
I love it that this segment times out to exactly "808" .
@RogerWarszawa 10 ай бұрын
A bit like every time I look at my watch and it's 8.08 or 9.09 I hear beats in my head 🤘
@alanbaxter8100 10 ай бұрын
Only us drum machine nutters would notice that,, and i also do the same when i “clock” the time
@GizzyDillespee 10 ай бұрын
Oh, I love these drum sounds!
@musiclabmn 10 ай бұрын
Wowsers... i'm a connoisseur of strange, unique and interesting music gear but this is the coolest and simplest thing i've ever seen! I almost want to convert one of my old 8 track players into something that can do this. The drum loops are absolutely fantastic too.
@ThMntnst 10 ай бұрын
I honestly was not ready for that WHAT-moment, when you started the drums. If someone asked me to describe what I think it could sound like before actually hearing it, I would not say "a loopbased lofi-Boombap-powerhouse".
@RadonX9 10 ай бұрын
Was not expecting to hear the name of my tiny hometown in a Hainbach video but here we are
@h2o1969 10 ай бұрын
How cool! I think 8 track offers some interesting possibilities as a performance tool. Lisa Belladonna said that she used to perform with 8 track players and some tapes that she prepared for the show.
@johnumm2472 10 ай бұрын
Funny , I’ve just added a cranky old Emu ESI-32 to my jamming synths, I feel much the same about its crunch on beats. Nice work
@RogerWarszawa 10 ай бұрын
My favourite thing about this machine are the two little 'cupboards/shelves' for storing the cassettes 👌 The lovely crunchy sounds aren't bad either 😊
@julietmorison741 10 ай бұрын
I have a lead on a Birotron actually. There is a place called Studio Bell in Calgary, Alberta, Canada that has a massive collection of keyboards. I once got to tour their back warehouse rooms and saw that they had a Birotron, which the tour guide assured me was in playable condition, though I didn't get to hear it played. I get the impression that even the curators there might not know just how rare it is, to be honest. But it's all a bit of a hike from Berlin...
@stewart_foster 10 ай бұрын
Wow I'm a couple hours away maybe I'll check that place out one day, good info
@Hainbach 10 ай бұрын
Oh I have to contact them, thank you!
@Hainbach 10 ай бұрын
I wrote them! They also have a Novachord, always wanted to play one. Hopefully a trip to Canade is on order!
@julietmorison741 10 ай бұрын
@@Hainbach Happy I could help!
@julietmorison741 10 ай бұрын
@@stewart_foster If you do go on a day when you can do a tour, they hide all the really cool stuff in the back rooms for some reason...
@Nethanieal 10 ай бұрын
Good Morning from BC Canada , waking up with coffee and this video put me in a special place . Nice jam !
@DJ_Cthulhu 10 ай бұрын
A mini Mellotron for lo-fi beats. Never heard of this bit of kit before. Cool 😎
@JonMurray 10 ай бұрын
I can’t believe as a Scottish person I didn’t know this!!!
@Hainbach 10 ай бұрын
It is very very rare as not many survived.
@JonMurray 10 ай бұрын
I love it’s sound! The second tape had a real hip hop feel to it. I have a few friends from Perth, I’ll ask if any older relatives know the name of the manufacturer. Thank you for showcasing it!
@JonathanConda 10 ай бұрын
Joined your Patreon based on this. And Yes, I already have 1,000,000,000,000 drum samples and, yes, I need more, LOL
@Hainbach 10 ай бұрын
It never ends! :-) Thanks for supporting!
@hiddentechno8266 10 ай бұрын
If Oor Wullie made a boom bap album, this would be his go to drum machine, just dae it!
@brendanthegreek 10 ай бұрын
All they had to do was wait fifty years for it to be one of the greatest things ever made.
@NicholasBryantBonzaiSequoias 10 ай бұрын
Drum machine and.. Luxembourg ? Got to vote for that as I've never heard of a drum machine from there! :)
@momtnz 10 ай бұрын
BMI Mini Computer from Benelux Musical Instrument company perhaps? The Riha FR12 was also made by BMI...in the book Drumfax 1.
@LP6_yt 10 ай бұрын
Great vid. Luxembourg sounds intriguing!
@traitortotheliving 10 ай бұрын
As a huge fan and user of 8 tracks and drum machines I love this! ❤
@harmlesscreationsofthegree1248 10 ай бұрын
This is one of the most amazingly different yet remarkably simple machines I’ve ever seen. I love the funkiness of the loops and the blend feature is clever. And the tone range you get when you slow it down is gorgeous. Thanks for showing us these forgotten pieces of tech 🙂
@ImpliedMusic 10 ай бұрын
"slow tape face" is awesome.
@blackmoofou6385 9 ай бұрын
Wow what a feat to get all those beats lined up. They are really cool breaks too and slowing them down and phasing between the different beats is really cool. What a fascinating machine! My DNA tells me I'm more Scottish thsn English so I'm calling this a W! Thanks again for sharing such an interesting machine. 😊
@Mikefestiva 10 ай бұрын
Pretty cool 👍 thanks for sharing this with us. I remember the old 8 track tapes, I even rocked some 8 tracks in a old Cadillac years ago 😂
@RedMeansRecording 10 ай бұрын
This is absolutely wild and i love it
@Hainbach 10 ай бұрын
Thanks bud!
@connerlabs 10 ай бұрын
Hi from Glasgow, loved the spooky dub at the end
@simonrussell4986 10 ай бұрын
A drummer friend used to live in London, and his workshop was next to Rick Wakeman's rehearsal space where they worked on the Birotron. I'd keep quizzing him for information on it as it was fascinating. He's sadly passed now, but it was great to be reminded of it. And really cool drum machine, although it doesn't seem like you've got any control of when the loop starts.
@timoruohomaki 10 ай бұрын
The cartridge is very similar to carts used in radio broadcast and players manufactured by Sonifex and others...they were also looping and had 1/4" tape with various lengths. The players were very well made and might be an interesting addition to looping experiments in analog setup.
@spritelysprite 10 ай бұрын
Don't forget that wicked electro-demagnetizer thingy to zap the carts blank again... !!!>>>dzzzzzzzzzt
@timoruohomaki 10 ай бұрын
@@spritelysprite And remove your watch before turning on the demagnetizer...
@spritelysprite 10 ай бұрын
@@timoruohomaki what’s a watch? (Jk) 🙃
@rp8564 10 ай бұрын
Dude, Hainbach both the songs in this video kicked ass! Luxembourg gets my vote.
@idj20 10 ай бұрын
"Like finding a unicorn playing the trumpet very well". 🤣I'm going to shoehorn that somewhere in my social media feed today. Being serious, thanks for another interesting and enjoyable video.
@Byron101_ 10 ай бұрын
Oooh I would love to buy this song at the end in a full version ! TripHop style! ❤
@blondeengie 10 ай бұрын
Looks like Cerrone on the tape’s sticker 😳 Thanks for that hainbach !
@voreshbo7031 10 ай бұрын
Those Breakbeats are 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
@curtishoffmann6956 10 ай бұрын
That track at the end of the video is great for Halloween! Spooky, kiddies!
@ChrisHopkinsBass 10 ай бұрын
Those tapes give me major Portishead vibes at the lower tempos
@singlesideman 10 ай бұрын
Fascinating, and fantastically fun! So obscure, too. It really does have a tremendous amount of warm, gritty and real character and feel. It sounds great, and worked beautifully with your piece. Very fun and inspiring. Very nicely done.
@jetlag_beats 10 ай бұрын
Beautiful track in the beginning.... 😍😍😍
@YuanMekong 10 ай бұрын
This sounds amazing! I'm Scottish and this is the first time I've heard about this machine.
@zenders1022 10 ай бұрын
You drove me into a rabbit hole with the Birotron... it's absolute madness and the guy holding the most complete set of tapes seems to be quite insane himself, so good luck getting your hands into one of these. What I can say is that certainly sounds haunting and mysterious, at least the sounds that are left preserved. Nobody knows how it really sounded on its prime.
@phillong5808 10 ай бұрын
Ah yea this is nice, I came across this drum machine years ago and managed to get myself some WAV's of some of the numerous cassette's that came free with the machine. They sound excellent sampled into mpc60
@els1f 10 ай бұрын
That's a truly beautiful sound! 😱😍
@jukesjointOG 10 ай бұрын
It reminds me of a tape version of the “Drum Drops” LPs… which I have bunch of, btw!
@tungtobak 10 ай бұрын
Reminds me of using the DJ Swamp Never Ending Breakbeats vinyls as a drum machine. Which if you haven't done yet, please do. They are not expensive yet and very useful.
@meneerjansen00 10 ай бұрын
Wow! It's the very first rompler/sampler!
@SamHarrisonMusic 10 ай бұрын
blown away by how good this sounds! :)
@J-DUB-F1 10 ай бұрын
Because of course YOU found one, in good working order 😏👍 The thing sounds pretty darn thick!
@Hainbach 10 ай бұрын
It does! Though it could use a full restoration, especially the head alignment is off and the tapes need new foam (which is probably a related issue).
@JaseLovesDub 10 ай бұрын
That yellow t-shirt is awesome!
@HalonOfficial 10 ай бұрын
sounds amazing! 😃
@klinkske 10 ай бұрын
Wow that end track is da bomb 💜
@Hainbach 10 ай бұрын
Thank you!
@Curverbak 5 ай бұрын
@@Hainbach Is there a longer recording available of the end track? This vibe really hits the sweet spot for me
@ChicheTV 10 ай бұрын
Thank's for your videos from France 👍
@MemoPimiento 10 ай бұрын
Awesome! Thanks for this video. I have two eight tracks cassettes tape echos, the Vorg Echo Pack from Pearl Musical Instruments and an Echo Chamber NE 100. Every one sounds on a spetial way, thanks to the age of this cassettes and every spetial mechanism. I love this analog tapes because they are so inpredictible. :)
@JamesPearson 10 ай бұрын
Perth, Scotland - where I was brought up and went to school! Couldn't believe it when you said that's where this was made... although before my time :)
@oddability 10 ай бұрын
The amount of comments from people thinking this is a real instrument is hilarious. This is an amazing way to pitch your sample pack tho!!!!
@Cr3pit0 10 ай бұрын
Holy crap, that thing sounds awesome.
@ghfjfghjasdfasdf 10 ай бұрын
We have come a looooooong way.
@natethacomposer 10 ай бұрын
Nice bit of history! There was a company that did a kontakt library but they re no longer available.
@TomWats0n 10 ай бұрын
The piece you play at the end sounds like Bowie/ Eno from the Low era, superb. Next device? Italy please 😁
@sawiblue 10 ай бұрын
jus amazing
@FLH3official 10 ай бұрын
Next? Luxemburg! BTW, excellent video as usual, Viele Danke, Hainbach!
@leewightman8619 10 ай бұрын
As a Scotsman whos into synths and drum machines iv never heard of this
@theo5216 10 ай бұрын
Now I just want you to make a psych pop album. Great song.
@Sevetamryn 10 ай бұрын
nice video, and i vote for Luxembourg
@keithraney2546 10 ай бұрын
Love It ❤
@hatecouture 10 ай бұрын
That song was awesome! Would love to listen to album of that sound!
@Byron101_ 10 ай бұрын
I prefer real drum sound loops over synthetic 808/909 sounds !! great sound, what a machine...
@Ascania 10 ай бұрын
It's a remarkably simple device. A standard 8-track player, with a motor speed control and a balance potentiometer across the left and right channel coming from the stereo head added to it. The tapes are manufactured without the metal strip where the ends are spliced together and so you don't even need to disable the track switching mechanism in the player. It should be pretty simple to modify a random old player to the same thing.
@celtislam 10 ай бұрын
Ooh I LOVE THIS!!! please bless us with some sample loops x
@Hainbach 10 ай бұрын
I did! All loops are on patreon.com/hainbach in full length, warped and weird
@feethebunny 10 ай бұрын
Interesting. I kinda want one now. Also, voting for Japan.
@intheblink 10 ай бұрын
Awesome! I want these samples. May finally sign up for the Patreon :)
@Spudcore 10 ай бұрын
Luxembourg please! The Powerhouse is an amazingly unique and characterful instrument, and well utilised here by your fine self.
@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777 10 ай бұрын
amazing they got the tracks to line up on tape like that back then to crossfade back and forth
@alanbaxter8100 10 ай бұрын
This is utterly incredible,, and judging by the empty space that holds the cartridges , there has to be 4 others out there
@IanJamesBeats 10 ай бұрын
Holy crap the loops sound AMAZING.
@masocre 10 ай бұрын
this unit sounds magical and it's it's neat to learn Mount Kimbie used this edit: Luxembourg!
@nojuanatall3281 10 ай бұрын
This sounds amazing. I could write some sick bass lines over those beats.
@billypilgrim1 10 ай бұрын
Sounds like something Boards of Canada would use
@joedevitt132 10 ай бұрын
Came here to say just this.
@billypilgrim1 10 ай бұрын
@@joedevitt132 they’re Scottish as well
@kid.forever 10 ай бұрын
Wow! Instant Portishead! ❤
@Romantyk_Zagrebelski 10 ай бұрын
Its a very interesting tape drum machine!
@Giovy-Perez 10 ай бұрын
whoa!!!!!!!!!!!! BEAutiful! #8track . is gold
@stooja 10 ай бұрын
Great song, man
@Hainbach 10 ай бұрын
Thank you!
@gavinpeters9531 10 ай бұрын
Please make an 8track amen loop, put a wider pot for speed (and possibly speed doubler), and a crossfader instead of knob for A/B!!!!! I always thought "jungle concrete" would be a cool project
@Hainbach 10 ай бұрын
AB is already a crossfader, so that is cool. I have to talk to my tech and see what is possible. The rarity of this unit and lack of 8-Track tapes here makes me bit careful.
@RogerWarszawa 10 ай бұрын
@@Hainbach As you mentioned, 8-tracks we're much bigger in the States, blank tapes/cartridges (or cheap tapes that could be recorded over) are probably more available there. Lisa Bella Donna talks about her use of 8-track compositions in this video tour of her studio: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gp6mmZxq2NG3c4k.htmlsi=HMhaDpTQqiO2uqhM
@gakhed 10 ай бұрын
So cool!
@AFULimited 10 ай бұрын
I still have two of them and usually the tape head holder breaks. I have 8 tapes each. Nice wonky machine and fun.
@richsackett3423 10 ай бұрын
The lowest lo-fi I've ever heard. Your work always impresses. BTW, the drummer who recorded those loops was a great drummer. Excellent playing.
@Hainbach 10 ай бұрын
Yes! And the percussion on the Latin stuff is fantastic
@romeisfallingagain 10 ай бұрын
sounds like a cross between the drums from only fools and horses, and outkasts version of my favourite things
@theimperfectionist1990 9 ай бұрын
Super interesting!
@voreshbo7031 10 ай бұрын
You should definitely make a drumbreak pack with this beauty ❤
@Hainbach 10 ай бұрын
It is on patreon.com/hainbach already :-)
@voreshbo7031 10 ай бұрын
@@Hainbach awesome! ♥️
@audiblevideo 10 ай бұрын
Definitely Japan - they have some of the weirdest and coolest stuff and always from a very unique angle
@DeadWhiteButterflies 10 ай бұрын
7:20 This definitely sounds like the cave level in a 90's Final Fantasy game, presumably as you look for some Irn Bru to drink while playing around with the Powerhouse.
@Sinnersainthuman 10 ай бұрын
that vibe 😮 so good
@dougllewellyn4620 10 ай бұрын
8 tracks are BACK, babeeee! They never really left, but have been lurking in closets and attics, waiting for the right time to re-emerge, like cicadas.
@daneguitarist1 10 ай бұрын
that is pretty cool Hainbach! Its like.... an old version of the sp404
@pavelmazalek2838 10 ай бұрын
I like those beats
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