Bruce Forat is an electronics engineer,

computer programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

, music producer, songwriter and co-founder and president of Forat Music and Electronics Corporation, founded in 1986. He is known for providing samples, service and upgrades for all Linn Electronics products after Linn went out of business in 1986. He also designed and manufactured the Forat F16 rack mount digital sampler and the Forat F9000: a debugged and improved version of the ill-fated Linn 9000 drum machine.

Forat Music and Electronics

Forat Music and Electronics (also known as Forat Electronics or Forat Music) is a California-based corporation specializing in

electronic musical instrument An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronic circuitry. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical, electronic or digital audio signal that ultimately is plugged into ...

design, manufacturing, service, upgrades and customization, in particular, drum machines and digital samplers.

History

In 1982, Bruce Forat joined Linn Electronics as an electronics technician. When Linn went out of business in February 1986, brothers Bruce and Ben formed Forat Electronics Corporation in Studio City, California and purchased all of Linn's remaining assets. They hired some former Linn employees including

Steve Alcorn Steve Alcorn (born 1956) is an American entrepreneur, engineer, inventor, author and teacher best known for his involvement in the theme park industry. As a co-founder of MicroDaSys, he was an early pioneer of computer peripherals. Biography Bor ...

, former Vice President of Engineering and Chief Operating Officer. Forat revamped the original Linn Electronics line, including the LM-1, LinnDrum, and

LinnSequencer The LinnSequencer is a rack-mount 32-track hardware MIDI sequencer manufactured by Linn Electronics and released in 1985 at a list price of US $1,250. An optional Remote Control was available. Like the LinnDrum Midistudio, the LinnSequencer use ...

. They completely reinvented the ill-fated Linn 9000 drum machine and dubbed it the Forat F9000: the first fully functional integrated sampling / sequencing / MIDI work station. They produce software and hardware upgrades and modifications for the Linn 9000, Forat F9000, and the

and modifications, sounds and a MIDI Retrofit Kit for the LinnDrum. In 1987, Forat introduced the

F16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful ...

: the first 16 bit digital sampler tailored for drummers featuring MIDI capabilities, dynamic response to incoming trigger signals and, with a trigger response time of 0.1 milliseconds, the fastest audio-triggering digital sampler ever sold. Over the years, Forat has expanded into other aspects of electronic music technology. Today, they service, upgrade and customize most types of drum machines and many brands of vintage analog synthesizers. They're an authorized service center for Akai, Yamaha &

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

. They provide repairs and upgrades for the Akai line of hard disk recorders, samplers and the entire Akai MPC series of drum machines. They service Yamaha musical products including their line of digital consoles, drum machines and keyboards, the entire

line of products including MV series workstations and MC Groove samplers. They've produced thousands of custom digital sample sounds for use with the Linn 9000, Forat F9000, LinnDrum, Forat F16, Ensoniq ASR-10, Akai MPC series and the

MV-8000 & MV-8800. They've done custom paint jobs on keyboards and most of the Akai MPC and

drum machines and music workstations. In 2012, Bruce Forat worked as a drum machine design consultant for Akai. At the time of writing (2015), Forat Electronics continues to provide products and services to music artists, producers and engineers around the world.

Notable customers

According to Forat, there are over 8,000 Forat Electronics F9000s and

s in use today around the world. Artists, producers and engineers who use Forat products, sounds, services, upgrades and modifications include: * Atom™ alias Señor Coconut alias Uwe Schmidt * Kenneth "Babyface" EdmondsConsole Confessions - The Great Music Producers in Their Own Words. Published by Backbeat Books - 2005 - "When we were recording Boyz II Men's "End of the Road" at Studio 4 in Philly, Babyface turned to me and said, "What we have here is a very good song."... We only had six hours to record all the vocals on "End of the Road," which is not a lot of time. Each guy sang on his own track and then the group sang together live while an MPC-60 drum machine and a Forat F-16 sampler kept the backbeat." * Glen Ballard ( Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror) * Marcus Brown (

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

) * Def Leppard * DJ Quick *

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* Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis * L.A. Reid * Alan Moulder * Dave "Hard Drive" Pensado *

John "JR" Robinson John Frederick Robinson (born December 29, 1954), known professionally as JR, is an American drummer and session musician who has been called "one of the most recorded drummers in history". He is known for his work with producer Quincy Jones, in ...

( Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Rufus) *

RZA Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (born July 5, 1969), better known by his stage name the RZA ( ), is an American rapper, actor, filmmaker, and record producer. He is the ''de facto'' leader of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, having produced most albums ...

( Wu-Tang Clan) * Mike Shipley * Will Smith *

Stock, Aitken & Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considered ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

* Wu-Tang Clan Grammy Award-winning mix engineer, Dave "Hard Drive" Pensado says "the Forat F16 is my little secret weapon." When Alan Moulder (Nine Inch Nails) was asked: "Is there a piece of equipment you can't do without?" he replied: "I've got a Forat F16 that I use to trigger kicks and snares".

References

External links

* http://www.forat.com/ Forat Music and Electronics Corporation {{DEFAULTSORT:Forat, Bruce American musical instrument makers Living people Businesspeople from California Year of birth missing (living people)