Forgotten Keys

The Hardware

The Maestro Rhythm King MRK-1 & MRK-2 are American built drum machines from the 1960s–1970s. Most famously used by Sly & the Family Stone. They are completely analogue of course and like all these old machines, have their own distinct sound.

Both models are identical sound-wise. The MRK-2 introduced a balance control between drum and cymbal sounds, a metronome which is activated by pulling the tempo knob out and some minor changes in the rhythm patterns. Gone is the Pasa Doble and Disco patterns, Swing is re-named Swing Ⅰ while Swing Ⅱ and Swing Waltz are added.

Although there are eight manual sound trigger buttons on the front panel, there are more than eight sounds available, so sampling involves a bit more work than just pressing those buttons. Also of note are the two Cymbal sounds which have varying decay and attack depending on which rhythm or combination of rhythms are selected. You might get an open high-hat, maracas or something in-between.

Any Lowrey Organ players from around the early 1970s may recognise the sounds and rhythms of these machines as they were often built-in or added-on to some models from this period, such as the Holiday model. In fact, this was my first encounter with them as I was lucky enough to have a Lowrey Holiday TLO-IR as a youngster around the mid 1970s which looked exactly like this:

The rhythm start/stop was accomplished using a knee-lever so you could have both hands ready as soon as the rhythm started. As you can see, some Lowrey organs had the manual sound trigger buttons built-in but no rhythm unit (old organ players term for drum machine).

The Kontakt Library

Details of the Kontakt library and how to purchase it are here. Please ensure that it is compatible with your set-up before purchasing.