Linn LM-1

The Linn LM-1 is a drum machine used by Prince. Prince used the LM-1 so extensively, and in such unique ways, that it is considered one of Prince’s signature instruments.

Prince owned at least five LM-1s and had them modified in various ways. This included adding a toggle for cymbal sounds and trigger inputs and outputs. He used it in conjunction with his Boss pedalboard. Although these effects were designed for electric guitar, Prince got many of his signature drum sounds from combining his LM-1 with his Boss effects. It was also used for bass parts – For example, Hot Thing and Forever in My Life feature a tom sample tuned to a specific pitch and run through various effects.

The LM-1 was invented by Roger Linn and released in 1979. Only 525 were produced. Unlike other drum machines of the time that synthesized sounds, it used real samples of a drummer. Prince was not the first artist to use the LM-1 but no other artist made the instrument so integral to their sound. Prince used the instrument in ways unintended by its inventor. For example, Prince played live parts using the pads on the front, overdubbing his own patterns over the programmed beats.

Prince first used the LM-1 on the song “Private Joy” from Controversy. On the 1999 album, it became a key part of his sound, combined with his Oberheim and Arp synthesizers. It became part of Prince’s live set up, with Bobby Z augmenting the programmed beats with his Simmons SDS-V and Syncussion.

The LM-1 would remain Prince’s drum machine of choice for the rest of the 1980s. In 1990s, Prince would use other drum machines and samplers, as well as incorporating more live drums in the studio with the NPG. Prince returned to it on Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic and it remained a key part of his sound for the rest of his career. A LM-1, with a selection of Boss pedals, currently sits in the control room at Paisley Park.

Prince used the Linn LM-1, not the Linn Drum, which was the better model that came out afterwards. [The LM-1] was crystal controlled—that’s what coordinated the beats and the timing of it, so it was heat sensitive, and you’d have to plug the thing in and have it warm up. You couldn’t let it get too hot or your step would start to drift. It was really old school, because it was expensive at the time. It was thousands of dollars to buy one. But Prince liked it because on the back of it there were individual outputs for every individual sound, and there was a tuning knob for each individual sound. You could individually tune every drum that you wanted. He liked to take a percussion mix that would come out of the output of those little faders and run it through his Roland and Boss effects pedals. So, let’s say for example, the hi-hat, cymbals, cabasa, and claps might all be running through a Boss pedal where we could add distortion. We had that heavy metal pedal, the brown one. He had the orange distortion pedal, and the delay, the blue one.

Susan Rogers; In the Studio with Prince—Getting His Sound

To get his sound, Prince made full use of the individual outputs and tuning parameters for each drum sample. He combined these two features with pedals from his Boss pedalboard to create unique drum sounds. When recording, Prince would usually patch a handclap to track one, kick drum to track two, snare to track three and a mix of other percussion on track four, processed through the pedals. For example the famous "knocking" sound heard on many of this songs of this era (When Doves Cry, Paisley Park) involves detuning the sidestick and tambourine sounds and running it through flanging and delay effects. Other sounds include:

• When Doves Cry: tom-toms through the Boss BF-2 Flanger, kick drum through the Boss OC-2 Octave
• 1999: drums through a Cry Baby wah and a Boss DM-2 Delay
• The Ballad of Dorothy Parker: drums through the Boss DS-1 Distortion
• If I Was Your Girlfriend: snare through the Boss BF-2 Flanger
• Hot Thing (bass line): tom through Boss OC-2 Octave and Boss SD-1 overdrive
• Forever In My Life (bass line): tom through Boss VB-2 vibrato, Boss OC-2 Octave and Boss SD-1 overdrive
• Rebirth Of The Flesh: percussion through a Boss TW-1 T-Wah

In addition to these examples, Prince also used the Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal, Boss CE-2 Chorus and Boss DSD-2 Sampler/Delay. Prince would run the Linn LM-1 through an AMS RMX16 Reverb. In particular, Prince would run the kick drum through the "Non Lin 2" reverb preset, which would expand the sound of the kick. This is most noticeable on "Kiss" where there is otherwise no bass part.

Prince liked the timing and feel of the machine. There may have been a scientific reason for this. The clock inside the LM-1 was based on a crystal that heated up as the unit ran, varying the tempo of the drum part. This may have given the machine “human feel” missing from other drum machines.

Nothing has the timing of that thing. It locks up differently than any other drum machine. And believe me, I’ve had every drum machine ever made. When I put my own internal rhythm on top of it, there’s nothing like it.

Prince; Goodbye 1999

Prince also rented the Linn LinnDrum, the successor to the LM-1, when recording at Sunset Sound and later on Batman and Graffiti Bridge. It did not have as many tuning or routing options as the LM-1 and Prince seems to have preferred the older LM-1.