ISLA Instruments S2400 User Manual
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First and foremost, if you’re reading this user manual then the likelihood is that you have either
already purchased an S2400 or are perhaps considering doing so. If you have, then thank you.
I’ve had a serious drum machine fetish for about 25 years now. The first machine I bought was a
broken MXR-185 for cheaps at a local thrift store circa 1996. Broken only in the sense that it had
been abused so much that the insides of the switches had a sticky residue on them from a
certain plant species, resulting in them not releasing after being pressed. After I got it all
running, I was hooked and spent countless evenings making up my own drum patterns.
Not long after that, I got my first sampler; an 8-bit parallel port attachment for my Commodore
Amiga 2000. Sequencer One and OctaMED were my music software weapons of choice for this
machine. From these formative experiences, my fate was set. Electronics repair, computers,
music gear, and music production is pretty much all I’ve ever done, and have been my lifelong
love ever since those early days.
The engineering side of me pretty much took a hiatus for the best part of a decade as I worked
as a co-producer and record label manager for the DJ/Producer Ian Carey. Fast forward to 2015,
and again, a visit to a thrift store here in the USA (I’d emigrated here from the UK a few years
before, via Spain for seven years) resulted in me walking out with a broken Alesis HR-16 drum
machine of which I started modifying and hot rodding into being able to do all sorts of things
including reading samples from custom burnt EPROMS. I uploaded the results of my
modifications onto YouTube (lookup: Rhythm Imposer) and pretty soon after was bombarded
with emails from folks wanting me to make them a similar machine.
I guess the universe was trying to tell me something, and that was to culminate my love of
electronics, music production, and old-skool hardware workflows into a modern, yet familiar
machine with the aesthetic and sonic character that pays tribute to some of the most inspiring
and prolific machines of the 80s and 90s. And, Dave Rossum, a true pioneer, and a personal hero
of mine, I hope this machine pays tribute to you as well.
Bringing this machine to life has been a labour of love from a very small team of like-minded and
dedicated individuals of whom, with the exception of myself, are an absolute crock-pot full of
talent and experience, without which, there would be no S2400.
Once again, THANK YOU to our customers and followers, for believing in this project enough to
crowd-fund it into existence. I for one can’t wait to see what you come up with on your
machine.
Now, switch your machine on, take a deep breath, relax… and turn the page.
Brad Holland
ISLA Instruments
