Editing Drum machine (section)

====Keio-Giken (Korg), Nippon Columbia, and Ace Tone (1963–1967)====
[[File:KORG Donca Matic DA-20 (1963) clip1.jpg|thumb|upright|Korg ''Donca-Matic DA-20'' (1963)]]
In the early 1960s, a nightclub owner in Tokyo, [[Tsutomu Katoh]] was consulted by a notable accordion player, [[Tadashi Osanai]], about the rhythm machine he used for accompaniment in the club, a Wurlitzer Side Man. Osanai, a graduate of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the [[University of Tokyo]], convinced Katoh to finance his efforts to build a better one.<ref name=Colbeck1996>{{cite book
 |last      = Colbeck |first = Julian
 |title     = Keyfax Omnibus Edition
 |publisher = MixBooks
 |date = 1996
 |page      = 52
 |isbn      = 978-0-918371-08-9
}}
</ref> In 1963, their new company Keio-Giken (later [[Korg]]) released their first rhythm machine, the [[List of Korg products#1960s|Donca-Matic DA-20]], using vacuum tube circuits for sounds and a mechanical wheel for rhythm patterns. It was a floor-type machine with a built-in speaker, and featured a keyboard for manual play, in addition to the multiple automatic rhythm patterns. Its price was comparable with the average annual income of Japanese at that time.<ref name=DoncaMatic/>

Next, their effort was focused on the improvement of reliability and performance, along with size and cost reductions. Unstable vacuum tube circuits were replaced with reliable transistor circuits on the Donca-Matic DC-11 in the mid-1960s. In 1966, the bulky mechanical wheel was also replaced with a compact transistor circuit on the [[List of Korg products#1960s|Donca-Matic DE-20]] and DE-11. In 1967, the Mini Pops MP-2 was developed as an option for the [[Yamaha Electone]] (electric organ), and Mini Pops was established as a series of compact desktop rhythm machines. In the United States, Mini Pops MP-3, MP-7, etc. were sold under the [[Univox]] brand by the distributor at that time, Unicord Corporation.<ref name=DoncaMatic>{{cite web
 |title     = Donca-Matic (1963)
 |url     = http://www.korg.co.jp/SoundMakeup/Museum/Doncamatic/
 |work     = Korg Museum
 |publisher     = [[Korg]]
 |access-date     = 2015-07-17
 |archive-date     = 2005-09-03
 |archive-url     = https://web.archive.org/web/20050903144901/http://www.korg.co.jp/SoundMakeup/Museum/Doncamatic/
 |url-status     = dead
 }}</ref>

In 1965, [[Nippon Columbia]] filed a patent for an automatic rhythm instrument. It described it as an "automatic rhythm player which is simple but capable of electronically producing various rhythms in the characteristic tones of a drum, a piccolo and so on." It has some similarities to Seeburg's slightly earlier 1964 patent.<ref name=US3482027>{{cite web|url=http://www.google.ms/patents/US3482027|title=Automatic rhythm instrument}}</ref>

[[File:Ace Tone Rhythm Ace FR-3 - "The Synth World in Naniwa" screenings, talk, and live - UPLINK, Shibuya, 2014-08-24.jpg|thumb|upright|Ace-Tone Rhythm Ace FR-3]]
<!-- COMMENT OUT: GIVEN SOURCE IS UNRELIABLE (see {{Unreliable source}} tag): In 1964, also Ace Electronics (later [[Ace Tone]]; the founder [[Ikutaro Kakehashi]] also founded [[Roland Corporation]] at the later) developed a prototype of ''hand-operated'' [[electronic drums|electronic percussion]] instrument without preset-pattern, called "R1 Rhythm Ace". It was exhibited on Summer [[NAMM]] 1964, however not commercialized.<ref name="sos_roland"/> {{Verify credibility|date=July 2014|reason=The source explained "R1" as a "rhythm machine" without any rhythm pattern function. This terminology is confusing.}} -->
In 1967, [[Ace Tone]] founder [[Ikutaro Kakehashi]] (later founder of [[Roland Corporation]]) developed the preset rhythm-pattern generator using ''[[diode matrix]]'' circuit, which has some similarities to the earlier Seeburg and Nippon Columbia patents. Kakehashi's patent describes his device as a "plurality of inverting circuits and/or clipper circuits" which "are connected to a counting circuit to synthesize the output signal of the counting circuit" where the "synthesized output signal becomes a desired rhythm."<ref name=uspat3651241>{{cite patent
 |country = US
 |number  = 3651241
 |status  = patent
 |title   = Automatic Rhythm Performance Device
 |inventor= [[Ikutaro Kakehashi]] (Ace Electronics Industries, Inc.)
 |fdate   = 3 June 1971
 |gdate   = 1972-03-21
}}</ref>

Ace Tone commercialized its preset rhythm machine, called the FR-1 Rhythm Ace, in 1967. It offered 16 preset patterns, and four buttons to manually play each instrument sound ([[cymbal]], [[claves]], [[cowbell]] and [[bass drum]]). The rhythm patterns could also be cascaded together by pushing multiple rhythm buttons simultaneously, and the possible combination of rhythm patterns were more than a hundred (on the later models of Rhythm Ace, the individual volumes of each instrument could be adjusted with the small knobs or faders). The FR-1 was adopted by the [[Hammond organ|Hammond Organ Company]] for incorporation within their latest organ models. In the US, the units were also marketed under the [[Multivox]] brand by Peter Sorkin Music Company, and in the UK, marketed under the Bentley Rhythm Ace brand.<ref name="sos_roland">{{citation |last=Reid |first=Gordon |year=2004 |title=The History Of Roland Part 1: 1930&ndash;1978 |journal=[[Sound on Sound]] |issue=November |url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov04/articles/roland.htm |access-date=19 June 2011 }}</ref>