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Yes, we’re skipping the digital Roland TR-707, the much-loved perfect beat go-to for early '90s pop stars (and all over every track by Erasure (opens in new tab), INXS’s Need You Tonight (opens in new tab) and countless Chicago house tracks (opens in new tab)) and going for its little-known Latin American twin instead… That’s what they all did in the '80s (opens in new tab). So next time you’re stuck for drum sounds just lean on the Linn. The ability to pitch up and pitch down the sounds (as well as change volume and pan levels) did give users some flexibility (most notably signing-off Prince’s signature sound, the pitched-down Linn rimshot that's all over Let’s Go Crazy (opens in new tab) and When Does Cry (opens in new tab)) but it’s incredible to think that hundreds (if not thousands) of hit records all use the exact same clicky, crisp and still-so-relevant kick, snare, hi-hats, toms, cymbals, cowbell and claps that Roger Linn recorded and digitised.

While it was possible to swap out the ‘one sound per chip’ EEPROMs inside the LinnDrum - and there was a whole side industry built around expansion chips - most users simply stuck with the excellent factory sounds on board. Thrill to the most hi-tech sound around (circa 1982) and realise that, for most of the time, you’re simply listening to a Linn (opens in new tab). Want to hear it in action? The definitive Linn album is Dare by The Human League and even more so its remix album, Love and Dancing. The LinnDrum put real sounds in the hands of non-drummers for the first time, liberating non-bands and (dare we say it) non-musicians so that they could finally make great, era-defining music. It teamed an easily programmed ticking heart with an expert pick of well recorded real drum sounds delivered through the all-new magic of digital sampling. Thus, the LinnDrum basically ‘reset’ music. Which meant that - for years after their invention - electronic drums were used purely for ‘electronic music’, forever the poor relation of ‘real’ music, which still proudly struggled with mic'ing up a real kit and finding someone skilled, sober and reliable enough to show up night after night and hit it as mechanically as possible.