Okay there are three ways to make your 606 shuffle like a 909 or 707: The first way is by shortening the pattern length to 12. You then put the bassdrums on steps 1 and 7 and the shuffling hihats on steps 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 12. Don't put anything on steps 2, 5, 8, or 11 or it'll sound really crap. 123456789012 BD x-----x----- CH x-xx-xx-xx-x OH ---x-----x-- This is very easy to do, and is the most common way of getting your 606 (and 303 and 808) shuffling. Unfortunately the shuffle value can't be changed, so you can't write one really shuffly track, and one slightly shuffly track. The second way to shuffle your 606 is by using a MIDI sequencer as the master clock. What you have to do is put your sequencer in a swinging mode. So on each step (16th note), you swing the tempo from something low up to something high and back. A nice funky setting is swinging from 90bpm to 180bpm. If you then plug the output of your MIDI/dinsync converter into the 606, the 606 should swing funkily too. However, here again you're making *all* your instruments shuffle at the same speed, whereas often you only want your drums shuffling, with the synths just playing straight. The only way to do this with dinsync is the third, and most difficult method - triggering dinsync directly from an external sequencer or drum machine. Roland dinsync is click-driven, meaning that the tempo is controlled by the speed of the "clicks" coming through PIN 3 in the dinsync port. Every six clicks, the 606 moves forward one step in 4/4 mode (in 2/4 mode it's every three clicks). Shuffling tempos means splitting the space in between each step unevenly. So instead of the steps triggering like this: X---x---X---x---X---x---X---x--- They trigger like this: X----x--X----x--X----x--X----x-- Or if you put more "swing" in the shuffle, it can trigger even further out: X-----x-X-----x-X-----x-X-----x- So what you have to do is send an irregular click signal into the dinsync port. This involves wiring a jack->dinsync cord and triggering dinsync from another machine. To make a jack->dinsync cord, you have to connect the TIP wire of the jack to PIN 3 (click) of the din plug. The RING wire of the jack should be connected to PIN 2 (ground) of the din plug. The pins are numbered like this: (view from back of plug) 2 5 4 3 O 1 If you plug the jack into an output of a drum machine with a trigger output and the din plug into your 606 dinsync in socket, your 606 will be ready to sync. However, you can't hear it yet because you still need to connect PIN 1 (run/stop) of the din plug to a run/stop trigger from another piece of gear. This can be anything you want - if you can make your sequencer send a click when it starts and stops, that'd be fine. Otherwise you can "jumper" PIN 1 from another dinsync machine over to PIN 1 of the 606. The 606 should now advance one step for every 6 (or 3) clicks coming through PIN 3. Now, assuming you have a decent sequencer providing the click output, you can vary the space between the clicks like this: | step 1 | step 2 | 1-----2-----3-----4-----5-----6-----1---2---3---4---5---6---1-----2-----etc This way the second step will finish faster than the first, which will create a shuffle effect. Bear in mind it's probably alot easier just to buy a MIDI/dinsync converter to achieve the same effect; i've only included this for people who want to keep another dinsync or click-based machine as the master. Alex Cavaye 1998