Revolution-606 SE is a free Roland TR-606 drum machine sample library by Wave Alchemy, featuring a fully customized NI Kontakt user interface and a reduced set of samples from the full version of Revolution-606.
Revolution-606 SE contains 128 drum samples (as opposed to 5381 samples in the full version), a smaller collection of drum sequences (148 drum sequences in the free version and over 700 in the full version) and various user interface limitations. Also, the free version features 3 accent levels and 6 round robins per note, whereas these numbers are doubled in the full version.
See also: Cassette 606 (Free Roland TR-606 sample pack)
Still, even with all these limitations, I liked playing around with the free version of Revolution-606. This freebie is not for everyone, but it’s definitely worth a download for drum machine aficionados like myself. It would have been much better if the samples in WAV format were also included, but this way you’ll need the full version of NI Kontakt in order to use the freebie.
The included samples sound really, really good. The output of the TR-606 has been recorded through various pieces of outboard gear including the OTO Machines Biscuit, as well as different tube preamps, tape recorders, and a HI-FI unit. In the free version, each drum module is processed with a different piece of outboard gear, so, for example, the snare has been passed through a HI-FI unit and the bass drum has been warmed up with a tube preamp. The full version of the library features all of the outboard gear variations for each drum element.
The user interface looks pretty neat and you can use it to modify the sounds on the fly (not so much so in the free version) and to create rhythmic patterns using the built-in step sequencer. Of course, you can trigger the samples using MIDI notes, however, the sequencer is a great way to build rhythmic patterns in the traditional manner. It’s not really self-explanatory though, so it’s recommended to go through the user manual before really trying to use the built-in sequencer.
The full version of Revolution-606 is priced at £34.95 and the SE version is offered as a free download.
Audio Demo
Check out the Revolution-606 audio demo:
Download
Revolution-606 SE (46.6 MB download size, ZIP archive, contains 1 instrument patch in NKI format for NI Kontakt 5).
Revolution-606 ($44.84)
