About
Roland TR-626 is the last one of the Roland TR drum machine series.
Roland TR-626 (1987)
PCM drum machine with lower-bit samples (supposed to be 12-bit).
Here are some .mp3 examples of TR-626.
All sounds are recorded without any effects, internal or external.
For more examples, see SONY DPS-V55 Multi-FX page - TR-626 is processed by DPS-V55 there.
Internal demo with the pitch edited (670KB)
The earlier TR series (TR-808/TR-909 etc.) had analog synth drums. The first pure-PCM TRs are TR-707/TR-727. Later lower-end version TR-505 came out, and TR-626 is its extended version, which became TR's last. Roland MKS-7's PCM drum part is said to be related to TR-707.
TR-626 was released in 1987, when Roland focused on LA synths like D-50 / D-110 / MT-32. TR-626's PCM engine might be related to MT-32's drum part, but MT-32 has better functionality - any synthesized tone can be mapped in a drum kit. See Roland MT-32 page for the drum sound examples.
Also Burnkit 2600 site shows very deep modification of TR-626. It transforms 626 into a wholly new drum synthesizer.
Roland TR-707 (1985)
Roland TR-505 (1986)
Roland MT-32 (1987)
Deep Synthesis: Home10. 30. 2005