>it's nice at least to noodle around with concept stuff or if you're in a tight space with >no real studio or immediate access to a drummer.
Yep. It allowed some experimenting for music writers to have something and show it to a drummer asking: Can the groove be played this way? Compared to say where Frank Zappa would have all music scores for every instrument composed ahead of schedule and when musicians show up for rehearsal with Frank....the demand would be..."it will be played this way....no exceptions."
>Playing around with it especially within a MAME context is hella neat and it just makes >me miss those days even more.
I hope TB 303 system can be eventually emulated. I am glad Casio RZ-1 is a start. I forgot that Alesis drum system is also emulated. I haven't looked to see if it is fully emulated.