The SpecDrum was an inexpensive drum machine, designed by musicians Alan Pateman and Peter HennigElectric Avenue
(BBC 1988) SpecDrum (Micro Live follow-on) between 1984 and 1985, and unlike most contemporary drum machines, was a

peripheral A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by the ...

for the popular

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

home computer. It was released under licence by

Cheetah Marketing Cheetah Marketing was a United Kingdom-based company that produced electronic music-related hardware products and software for home computer systems during the 1980s. They later changed their name to Cheetah International Ltd. Based in Cardiff, ...

in 1985. It was notable for its low retail price of £29.95, when standalone alternatives typically cost around £250-£300 for a similar functionality. They sold about 30 000 units the first year making it one of the best selling hardware add-ons for the ZX Spectrum.

Description

The device connected to the expansion bus on the

. The ZX Spectrum ran software that was used to program rhythm patterns, and chain these into songs. Patterns and songs could then be loaded and saved onto

cassette tape The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...

. The SpecDrum was an 8-voice machine (i.e. it allowed the user to load 8 different

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

samples). However it only had 3 output channels (i.e. maximum

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

of 3 samples at a time) - the first channel could trigger the 'bass drum' voice, the second channel was used for the three snare/tom voices, and the third channel for the remaining four samples. The standard kit consisted of

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

snare drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used ...

, mid and low

tomtoms A tom drum is a cylindrical drum with no Rattle (percussion beater), snares, named from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala language. It was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between in diameter, tho ...

, cowbell,

hi-hat A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock, pop, jazz, and blues. Hi-hats consist o ...

open and closed and

hand claps A clap is the percussive sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often quickly and repeatedly to express appreciation or approval (see applause), b ...

. The sound has been compared to that of a LinnDrum. Cheetah also sold 'electro', 'afro' and 'Latin' kits on cassette, which could be loaded into the ZX Spectrum in place of the standard one. In addition, software was available enabling the user to sample and build their own custom kits. The SpecDrum could also, in principle, be synchronized to other musical equipment, using a sync pulse sent and received from the ZX Spectrum's "ear" and "mic" audio input/output sockets.Crash 27: Specdrum
/ref> Artists who have used it include

Nigel Powell Nigel Powell (born 1 October 1971) is an English multi-instrumental musician from Abingdon. Powell was born in Bromley, London, and educated at Abingdon School. While at school he was in a band called Illiterate Hands, which also featured futu ...

who used for a 1987 demo with The Illiterate Hands that also featured

Jonny Greenwood Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician and composer. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the alternative rock band Radiohead, and has written numerous film scores. Along with his elder brother, th ...

(of

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

) on keyboards and harmonica and vocals by

Andy Yorke Andy Yorke (born 10 January 1972) is an English musician and former lead singer and guitarist for the band Unbelievable Truth. He is the younger brother of Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke. Early life Yorke began singing when he was ten. At the a ...

(of Unbelievable Truth). The SpecDrum was followed by the Cheetah MD8, which did not require a separate computer. An

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

app version has been created by the designer Alan Pateman in 2016. There is also a software version for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

.SpecDrum 2000
/ref>

Description

References

See also