Linn 9000: History and Key Facts

The Linn 9000 is an electronic musical instrument manufactured by Linn Electronics as the successor to the LinnDrum. It was introduced in 1984 at a list price of $5,000, ($7,000 fully expanded) and about 1,100 units were produced.

It combined MIDI sequencing and audio sampling (optional) with a set of 18 velocity and pressure sensitive performance pads, to produce an instrument optimized for use as a drum machine. It featured programmable hi-hat decay, 18 digital drum sounds, a mixer section, 18 individual 1/4" outputs, an LCD, 6 external trigger inputs and an internal floppy disk drive (optional). Despite possessing innovative and groundbreaking features and influencing many future drum machine designs, chronic software bugs led to a reputation for unreliability, and ultimately contributed to the eventual demise of Linn Electronics.

The Linn 9000 was used on many recordings throughout the 1980s, including international hits such as Stacey Q's "Two of Hearts", Divine's "You Think You're a Man", "Give It Up", "I'm So Beautiful", "Show Me Around" and "T Shirts and Tight Blue Jeans", Eric Carmen's "Hungry Eyes", and Rick Astley's "Together Forever". Michael Lloyd also used it in videos from the hit children's video series Kidsongs in 1986 and 1987.

The Linn 9000 would get a new lease on life when Forat Music and Electronics purchased Linn's remaining assets, fixed all of the bugs, added new features and dubbed it the Forat F9000.

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