13/03/2021
808 History
The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patterns. Unlike its nearest competitor at the time, the more expensive Linn LM-1, the 808 generates sounds using analog synthesisrather than playing samples.
Launched when electronic music had yet to become mainstream, the 808 received mixed reviews for its unrealistic drum sounds and was a commercial failure. After building approximately 12,000 units, Roland discontinued the 808 after its semiconductorsbecame impossible to restock. It was succeeded by the TR-909 in 1983.
Over the course of the 1980s, the 808 attracted a cult following among underground musicians for its affordability on the used market, ease of use, and idiosyncratic sounds, particularly its deep, "booming" bass drum. It became a cornerstone of the emerging electronic, dance, and hip hop genres, popularized by early hits such as "Sexual Healing" by Marvin Gaye and "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force.
The 808 was eventually used on more hit records than any other drum machine. Its particular popularity in hip hop has made it one of the most influential inventions in popular music, comparable to the Fender Stratocaster's impact on rock. Its sounds are included with music software and modern drum machines, and it has inspired numerous clones.
In the late 1960s, the Hammond Organ Company hired American musician and engineer Don Lewis to demonstrate its products. Among them was an electronic organ with a built-in drum machine designed by the Japanese company Ace Tone. At the time, drum machines were most often used to accompany home organs. They did not allow users to program rhythms,but had preset patterns such as bossa nova. Lewis was known for performances using electronic instruments he had modified himself, decades before the popularization of instrument "hacking" via circuit bending. He made extensive modifications to the Ace Tone drum machine, creating his own rhythms and wiring it through his organ's expression pedal to accent the percussion.
Lewis was approached by Ace Tone president and founder Ikutaro Kakehashi, who wanted to know how Lewis had achieved the sounds using the Ace Tone machine.In 1972, Kakehashi formed the Roland Corporation, and hired Lewis to help design drum machines. By the late 1970s, microprocessors were appearing in instruments such as the Roland MC-8 Microcomposer, and Kakehashi realized they could be used to program drum machines. In 1978, Roland released the CompuRhythm CR-78, the first drum machine with which users could write, save, and replay their own patterns.
With its next machine, the TR-808, Roland aimed to develop a drum machine for the professional market, expecting that it would mainly be used to create demos. The concept was to build a "drum synthesizer" with which users could program drum sequences and edit parameters such as tuning, decay, and level. Though the engineers aimed to emulate real percussion, the prohibitive cost of memory drove them to design sound-generating hardware instead of using samples (prerecorded sounds). Kakehashi deliberately purchased faulty transistors that created the machine's distinctive "sizzling" sound. Chief engineer Makoto Muroi credited the design of the analog voice circuits to "Mr. Nakamura" and the software to "Mr. Matsuoka".
The 808 produces sounds in imitation of acoustic percussion: the bass drum, snare, toms, conga, rimshot, claves, handclap, maraca, cowbell, cymbal, and hi-hat (open and closed). Rather than playing samples, the machine generates sounds using analog synthesis; the TR in TR-808 stands for "Transistor Rhythm". Users can program up to 32 patterns using the step sequencer, chain up to 768 measures, and place accents on individual beats. Users can also set the tempo and time signature, including unusual signatures such as 5
4 and 7
8.
The 808 was the first drum machine with which users could program a percussion track from beginning to end, complete with breaksand rolls. It includes volume k***s for each voice, numerous audio outputs, and a DIN sync port (a precursor to MIDI) to synchronize with other devices. Its three trigger outputs can synchronize with synthesizers and other equipment.
The 808's sounds do not resemble real percussion, and have been described as "clicky and hypnotic", "robotic", "spacey","toy-like" and "futuristic". Fact described them as a combination of "synth tones and white noise" that resembled "bursts coming from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop" more than a real drum kit. The machine is noted for its powerful bass drum sound, built from a sine oscillator, low-pass filter, and voltage-controlled amplifier. The bass drum decaycontrol allows users to lengthen the sound, creating uniquely low frequencies that flattenslightly over time, possibly not by design.The New Yorker described the kick drum as the 808's defining feature.
The 808 is one of the most influential inventions in popular music. In 2019, DJMag wrote that it is "probably the most used drum machine in the last 40 years".Samples of its sounds are common in music software, and it has inspired numerous unlicensed clones. Flavorwire wrote that "the 808 has become so ubiquitous over the years that its beats are almost a language of their own—you know the sounds even if you have no idea what a drum machine is, and as such, you also notice when somebody messes with them or uses them in unusual contexts". The New Yorker wrote in 2015 that the 808 was the bedrock of the modern "urban-youth-culture soundtrack", particularly in trap music, and had influenced a new blend of dance and retro hip hop that "embraces and fetishizes ... street music from the past".According to Slate, it was instrumental in pop music's shift from conventional structure and harmonic progression to "thinking in terms of sequences, discrete passages of sound and time to be repeated and revised ad infinitum".
