One of the best drum machines ever. 16 velocity-sensitive pads, excellent sounds, great rock, electronic, ethnic and industrial style drum kits. Most sounds are editable - tune, decay, attack, nuance, output, etc... Other pluses are the 8 separate outputs, ideal in the studio, for example when you want a dry kick and a snare with a lot of FX. Extensive MIDI options, Flame and Roll buttons, very pleasant to program patterns and sequencer. But its coolest trick: the Feel Patches which can give your beat a human touch! That is, you can keep the timbre, the velocity, and the timing of the programmed patterns very tight and constant (like a computer) or vary them a bit at random (like a human drummer) as you wish. The sounds are ROM-based samples, the R8 has 32-note polyphony, 68 instruments, 32 presets and 100 programmable patterns. The R8 is/was used by Orbital, Underworld, Jimmy Edgar, Autechre, 808 State, Dave Holmes, Fluke, Human League, The Shamen, New Order, 808 State, Prince, Massive Attack, Jean-Michel Jarre, Autechre, Aphex Twin, Colin Towns, Jermaine Jackson, PIG, Jimmy Edgar, NTRSN, N-Trance, Tangerine Dream, Studio Fresh and Anthony Manning.