My mate has built a Yocto. I couldn't say for sure how close it sounds from the orginal, a side by side test would be mandatory for that matter, but it definitely delivers a very powerful sound. And does sound to be a nice look alike. Some tweaking are necessary to adjust the sound precisely, because of the variation of fabrication tolerance of the components, but overall a great machine.
BUT
It's a very repetitive, long and discouraging build... not particulary difficult but SUPER boring from what my friend said.
I hang on a french forum anafrog, where some people bought it and compared it to a real 808. They said they absolutely cant hear a difference. Be carefull, it's seem that's the pictures on the build instructions are full of mistakes and wrong resistances values Check the forum of elektronics to be aware. The cool things on the yocto is that the firmware can be updated . More features coming !
I'm really interested in this. I need to hear back from people who build it so I can figure out if it sounds better than the AIRA. I'm on the fence about both.
Also, I'm selling my MFB 522 to fund the YOCTO kit. Letting go of it reluctantly because it's a very nice machine. But soundwise it's too much in the same ballpark as the YOCTO to justify having both. It's in great shape, and I recently installed a processor upgrade to get rid of the midi sync bug.
40 hours?! Whaaw! Congrats! Did it works with no bugs when you first try it? It's seems like if you have a bug, it's really hard to correct it if you don't really know about electronics.
You can see some test on internet with a TR8 and a 808 909 and it seems that the originals are better. Since its digital, you could use the lxr as a sequencer for your daw and use tr samples. IMHO it would sound exactly the same but you have to use a daw. It's too bad you cant import your own samples in the TR8.
Bought a Yocto kit (no time to start soldering) some weeks before I played with some AIRA devices during Musikmesse. Given that the price of a Yocto (400 Euro without case!) compared to a TR8 (495 Euro) is nearly the same, there is much idealism/hobby-ism involved when going for the DIY solution. Sure it will sound different, but the biggest impact in "how it sounds" will be the user. I guess the Yocto will be my 2nd DIY drum machine, the TR8 and the Akai Rythm Wolf will be #3 and #4... :-c
I finished the 9090 a few years ago. I did it in parts as I had the money. Definitely a challenge but many of the parts were standard. It doesn't exactly sound like the 909 since the transistors aren't original. Required for that snare and clap snap. But it is still a beast. You can't trigger it as is with the trigger outs but you can use midi of the LXR.
I built the LXR. Lovely beast and easy to build. I actually found it quite boring to build the control board. No surprise though. Some of the presets need tweeking since some of the sounds are a bit too loud when switching. It is still a very powerful little beast.
I have a Yocto 3rd batch kit. I haven't had time to start it yet, but I will. I might start today. I'm currently figuring out some problems I'm having with a Shruthi XT (another awesome beast). I didn't want to pile up the things I needed to complete. I haven't checked everything in the kit but it seems like they put in the original transistors (and other rare parts). It also looks to be much more simple than the 9090.
I can confirm that the build isn't the easiest. They didn't include IC sockets either, so I'm going to have to get those because I refuse to not use sockets. The instructions are in order of circuit. Parts are somewhat mixed up as they were shipped. I have to use a resistor sheet because they aren't labeled, mixed, and the pictures they have don't show the color well. Most of the resistors are not flat so you have to custom bend them each time.
Comments
My mate has built a Yocto. I couldn't say for sure how close it sounds from the orginal, a side by side test would be mandatory for that matter, but it definitely delivers a very powerful sound. And does sound to be a nice look alike. Some tweaking are necessary to adjust the sound precisely, because of the variation of fabrication tolerance of the components, but overall a great machine.
BUT
It's a very repetitive, long and discouraging build... not particulary difficult but SUPER boring from what my friend said.
Its a very good clone.
The sound is 1:1
But a Roland TR-8 is fine too.
It's seems like if you have a bug, it's really hard to correct it if you don't really know about electronics.
You can see some test on internet with a TR8 and a 808 909 and it seems that the originals are better. Since its digital, you could use the lxr as a sequencer for your daw and use tr samples. IMHO it would sound exactly the same but you have to use a daw. It's too bad you cant import your own samples in the TR8.
..
:-c