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Is this beast mostly a drum machine? I can't seem to find a definitive answer. I'm more interested in "bleep" and "bloop" type stuff as opposed to just drums.

**EDIT - I think I may have found the answer to this question. Drums only?

The R stands for Rhythm, which is mainly drums.

However it is an emulation of analog-style drum synthesis, which does not produce very convincing realistic drums. It is no sampler!
The sounds are all produced by raw waves and modulation. So it can be very 'bleepy and bloopy'. It can also be very challenging to program anything resembling a real drum at times.
Mainly traditional analog drum machine type sounds.

Generally, it just sounds like Kraftwerk!

The er-1 (and er-1 mk2) are both capable of analog drum sounds, but you can twist and tweak them into more than kicks, snares, toms, etc. Depending on the waveform, depth, speed & decay, is what will come out. You can get R2D2 tones (I doubt you can actually play it like a traditional synth from a midi keyboard controller though) on whatever beat you choose. Spend time with it, and it'll make some sounds no other drum machine gives you.

I have an ER mk2 and absolutely love it. I have zero ability when it comes to programming but can get some great sounds out of this little gem.