Roland TR-8S

Pros

• a Digitakt or TR8S is arguably x0x style but they will load samples and you can play around with the timing.
• Roland TR-8S – Absolutely in love. Gives me endless fun and I want it to remain the heart of my setup forever. The immediacy, control, and tactile feel when playing live are unmatched for me.
• I’m actually thinking of selling my syntakt for the TR8S (or hex inverter drum machine coming out from Erica synths) because the hands on controls on the machine are really the only ones you need to tweak.
• On the other hand there’s the TR8S which seems like a complete package but I never hear it being used for harder stuff? I guess it’s possible but still makes me skeptical, also people say it sounds thin. But the faders, 3 knobs per track...
• The TR-8S also happens to be a very capable drum machine with a ton of immediacy, performance capabilities, and FX, It's sample-based, which is a pro if you like to just load up a kit and start playing

Cons

• I have not owned the t8 but I have owned the tr8s which was (at the time) their flagship drum machine.
• Downsides? Always being tied only to quantization, limited sample storage, and menu diving (no wave display) somewhat limit my creative workflow.
• I found the tr8s extremely frustrating to use with its 2 line lcd screen and abbreviations for everything. Also didn’t like how kits and sequences were managed. ... Tr8 is frustrating if you like to design your own kits then sequence it.
• My problem with the TR8S is that the pattern chaining and general ability to structure longer sequences together feels clunky and limiting. I think if you took the time to plan out what you want around 1-bar segments it may be fine, but...
• I had the TR8s which I sold for the TR6S which i eventually sold for the Digitakt.