The range of drum kits built into the RT-223 is amazing. A total of 70 drum kits are onboard, with acoustic drum sounds for rock, R&B, funk, and jazz. You can add an analog rhythm machine great for techno and hip hop, and ethnic percussion sounds are available. There are also five human voice “Beat Box" style percussion kits, so you can create advanced rhythm tracks where kick, snare, scratch and other instrument sounds are expressed as human voices.

A drum kit consists of 13 pads x 3 banks equalling 39 sounds per kit. Sound sources can be freely selected and assigned to the pads. Fine-tune parameters such as pitch, level, and panning to create original drum kits. The RT-223 can store up to 58 user-programmed kits. The Bass Machine lets users choose from electric bass styles such as Pick, Finger, and Slap. Or select Acoustic Bass, Synthesizer Bass, or one of the other bass sources, 12 in total. To create a bass line, users play the pads with assigned chromatic pitches just like a keyboard. A dedicated switch mutes the bass sound at any time.

From rock, jazz, and funk to club and house, the RT-223 comes with 440 drum patterns that can be used straight away. A large number of phrase variations including intro, fill-in, and ending patterns are also provided. By simply combining these, users can easily whip up backing rhythms. Programming patterns is a snap, thanks to the touch-sensitive drum pads. The RT-223 records not only your timing, but also the dynamics of your finger work. You can create and store up to 511 patterns. The process is made even easier through visual cues provided by the self-lit pads and the FAST (Formula Assisted Song Translator) method.