HCI Museum
SYS_OK
1980

Linn LM-1 Drum Computer

The drum machine whose pads were both the instrument and the step-sequencer grid — the pad-as-program interface

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Linn LM-1 Drum Computer archival photograph

Overview

Deep dive

Media

Linn LM-1 Drum Computer front panel
The LM-1 front panel: 12 hard-plastic pads that are both trigger pads and the tap-to-program step grid. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Linn LM-1 promotional illustration
LM-1 promotional illustration showing the pad layout. CC BY-SA 3.0, Forat Electronics / Wikimedia Commons.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia — Linn LM-1
  2. The Guardian — The Linn LM-1 drum computer
  3. Roger Linn Design — past products archive
  4. Polynominal — Roger Linn LM-1 manual and history