Is This Rare Drum Machine The ‘Eastern Bloc 808’?

In his latest video, synthesist Hainbach takes a look at the Vermona DRM, a rare East German drum machine from 1987 that he describes as the ‘Ostblock 808’.

When I came upon this rare analog drum machine made in the GDR in 1987, it seemed like such an odd instrument for the year it was released. As I could find no information on it, I traveled to where it was made, the “Musikwinkel” in Vogtland. The story I found there ended up being fascinating.”

Check it out and share your thoughts in the comments!

15 thoughts on “Is This Rare Drum Machine The ‘Eastern Bloc 808’?

    1. It’s the first drum machine by Vermona, who are still around making excellent instruments. It’s also an interesting piece of music tech history, as it mimics the Sakata DPM48 and even has „digital“ in its name, but unlike its western counterpart they used analog circuits because they were cheaper and more available at the time.

      1. yeah, i guess I just don’t find weird old musical cruft from my teens interesting. It’s not like a PDP-16, or an early Cray or something cool like that.

        1. I am a total musical instruments history buff, so I really enjoy learning about these old machines and how they shaped the music of their era.

        2. yeah, i guess I just don’t find weird old computer cruft from my teens interesting. It’s not like an Akai MPC 60, or an early Vermona or something cool like that.

  1. Very cool instrument and really awesome presentation. Well done Hainbach and well done Synthopia for sharing it. Funny that the Germans hated Vermona during Communism, since they seem to be the best synths made behind the Iron Curtain.

  2. Hello, gentlemen.
    I recently received such a drum machine and it turned out that it had all possible chips firmware flown…. Maybe someone has this machine and can remove the firmware from the chips? I will be very grateful if someone can do it. I am even ready to pay!
    Please email me at [email protected] if you can help me.

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