Designed for acoustic musicians on the go or just jamming out at home, the DR-01S Rhythm Partner from BOSS is an electronic percussion engine which provides organic-sounding, simple grooves in a variety of rhythms, styles, and instrument combinations. Use the DR-01S to bolster your performance as you busk in the park, or simply replace your staid, rigid metronome with a pattern sporting a little more groove and bounce. In either scenario, an on-board speaker plays back rhythmic samples in 24-bit digital conversion to ensure high sound quality.

A simple-to-use panel allows you to select beats and genre variations, giving you the ability to layer up to seven different instruments to play your own custom beat. Prefer the pattern you’ve programmed? Store it in one of 50 favorite slots to recall at a later date. Volume, time-signature, and tempo are also easily adjustable. Instruments include shakers, tambourines, cajon, bells, full drum kits, and more. Each instrument category houses grooves composed by real-world percussionists for a natural, organic backdrop during your performance.

You’ll also note the connective possibilities, which allow for routing sound from the DR-01S to external amplifiers, or playing audio from your smartphone or compatible device through the auxiliary input jack. Should you want to control the unit with separately available footswitches, a dedicated 1/4" TRS jack makes this possible. The Rhythm Partner can be powered for up to 10 hours by means of six AA batteries, or you can make use of the included AC adapter.