MAMEWorld Forums - News - Linn Drum wip *edited again*

https://gurudumps.otenko.com

Another fix from Guru.

28th June 2026

I've been working on adding the factory drum presets to the LinnDrum emulation. A .wav recording of the factory cassette is available but the cassette isn't emulated on the LinnDrum so there's no way to load it in. In reality all the cassette loading does is put some numbers into the battery-backed memory so the .wav was decoded to binary data then added to the default NVRAM at the correct location and all the factory presets are now playable. Together with adding in some sample ROMs that were previously missing, this brings the LinnDrum into good working order and is now usable just by pressing the numbers and the play button.
This is now how the LinnDrum would have shipped from the factory back in 1982.

Normally I would send the new files to the person who wrote the emulation but in this case the guy (m1macrophage) has no public contact info but if he contacts me directly I'll pass on the data.

Here's a quick video of it in action.... If you were paying attention you will also notice some other stuff was changed, some of it is subtle and some not so subtle.

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nzG8Ty48aAs&ra=m

Emulated LinnDrum with Installed Factory Drum Patterns (Improved Artwork)
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For a reference comparison with actual hardware equipment of the emulated item, here is a video from SynthMania running factory patterns of the unit.

Linn LinnDrum original factory patterns

SynthMania

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AClwk4naXSo&ra=m

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Definitely looking forward to having this LM-2 model being improved.

While m1macrophage is busy with improving sound/cem3394.cpp hopefully someone can post a url to Guru’s web page about recent Linn Drum updates. Linn Drum emulation in MAME is currently missing a few sound sample roms and what Guru has done will improve the emulation work. There is also cassette hardware used with Linn Dum.

It appears one of the improved part of the layout update includes brighter LED status illumination when a different button selection occurs. It is closer matching to the video of a Linn Drum unit when the video was recorded by SynthMania years earlier.