Right now i am listening to the Batman CD, and it makes me think something i thought of before when this CD was released: the drummachine beats on this tracks sound quite different from the once Prince used before.

First, they sound inspired by the house / dancemusic released around that time, they sound much more simple and direct then lets say the beats on When Doves Cry and the Ballad of Dorothy Parker;

Second, they dont sound at all like his trademark Linn-drummachine sound, more like a Roland drummachine.

Anyone can help me out on this?

to my ears there's no Linn on the Batman CD. It's possible he's using a processed Linn tom on Vicki Waiting. It's evident he's using the Fairlight on Arms of Orion and Scandalous though.

I've been listening to it all week

I've tried to break down and reproduce some of the sounds myself (With both the Linn LM-1 & The LinnDrum) and have pretty much come to the conclusion that most of the record is the Linn. It's possible that there's also some Roland R5/R8 sounds on there as well with added percussion samples. "The Future" sounds like a heavily filtered Linn LM-1 or at least sampled Linn hits (w/filter) as does "Electric Chair". "Arms of Orion" is definately a Linn though, by the sound of the clap, probably the LinnDrum. "Partyman" & "Trust" might be the earlier said Rolands as well as the snare on "Lemon Crush". "Vicki Waiting" sounds like the Linn (might be other elements mixed in... listen to the Hi-Hat interplay). "Scandalous" is the LM-1 all the way and I'm not sure exactly what "Batdance" uses. "Feel U Up" sounds like it's the Linn 9000, based on the clap and hi-hat. Next thread..... Graffiti Bridge !!!!!