Roland TR-808

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Roland TR-808

The TR-808 - or more precisely: the "TR-808 Rhythm Composer" - is an analog drum computer made by the Japanese company Roland , which was launched in 1980.

history

In the history of electronic dance music, the TR-808 enjoys a cult status that is hardly comparable. Their rather artificial and soft, but especially in the bass range, very powerful sound was u. a. Formative for early hip-hop and electro, including the Miami Bass , but also for house and acid house . Occasionally it was also used in pop music and can be heard , for example, on many Phil Collins and Genesis recordings. One of the greatest hits in which the 808 is exposed is Marvin Gaye's " Sexual Healing " (1982). In Whitney Houston's " I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) " (1987) is the characteristic Cowbell be heard; the song begins with a repeated pattern of the 808.

technology

The TR-808 offers the following sounds: bass drum , snare , low / mid / hi toms or congas , rimshot , claves , handclap or maracas , cowbell , cymbal ( crash cymbal ), open and closed hi-hat . It also has a sophisticated step sequencer with chase programming and an accent function. As with most analog synthesizers, the sound is generated by subtractive synthesis .

The bass drum can be changed by means of a filter (tone) and the length of the envelope curve (decay). This is a bridged-T network - oscillator , a low filter and a VCA . The attack is a CV pulse generator that is added to the audio signal. The typical flattening of the decay immediately after the attack acts like a compression .

The snare drum consists of a tunable basic tone and an adjustable noise component (snappy). The low, mid and hi toms or congas can each be tuned in pitch (tuning). The cymbal (cymbal) can be adjusted spectrally (tone) and in length (decay). For the hi-hats, the sum of six strongly detuned oscillators is filtered over a high pass . The length of the open hi-hat (decay) can be adjusted.

There are 13 outputs available for the instruments. The sum, which can be mixed using the level controls, is available at two outputs called Master Out , one with a high level and one with a low level. The individual instruments can be tapped from the master out via their sockets, i. H. a plug in the socket takes the instrument out of the sum. Bass drum, snare, cowbell, cymbal, closed and open hi-hat each have their own output. Low, mid and high tom / conga, clap and maracas as well as rimshot and claves are only alternative, i.e. H. via switch on the top.

A synchronization is possible in both directions via the SYNC socket developed by Roland . For operation in a MIDI environment, an external midi-to-sync converter or the installation of a MIDI interface is required. Cowbell, Clap and Accent are also available as programmable triggers . This can be used to control analog synthesizers that work according to the Roland standard (i.e. with CV / Gate ), but also arpeggiators or sequencers .

successor

In 1983, the successor to the TR-808, the TR-909 , came on the market, which had a much harder and rougher sound. While the sounds of the 808 offer an extremely high frequency spectrum, the bass drum can be lowered accordingly and the hi-hats are usually very high, the 909 is characterized by a more center-weighted sound design. It has found widespread use , particularly in house and techno . Unlike the 808, the 909 has a MIDI interface and a five-level shuffle mode. Similar (and similarly influential) Roland drum computers, each with their own sound characteristics, are the TR-606 (1982) - also known as "the poor man's 808" - and the TR-707 (1985), which among other things played a decisive role in the sound of early House has shaped.

In 2014 Roland launched the TR-8, a combination of 808 and 909. With the 7X7-TR8 sound extension, it also offers the sounds of the 606, 707 and 727 (a side model of the 707 with Latin American sounds). In contrast to the original machines, the sound generation is digital, but emulates the original circuits and thus also the sound behavior of the old devices ("Analog Circuit Behavior"). The revised model TR-8S was released in 2018, which, in addition to other improvements, now also provides the option of playing samples .

In 2015, as part of Roland's boutique series, an almost identical replica of the 808 (optically and in terms of sound and operation) appeared under the name TR-08.

Emulations and replicas

Although sampled TR-808 sounds are readily available today, the original TR-808 is still in great demand and the prices for used devices are correspondingly high. Due to the great demand, various replicas and software emulations of the 808 have been developed over the years .

Propellerhead launched the ReBirth RB-338 software emulation in 1996, which combined two Roland TB-303s with an 808. As a hardware replica there is the Novation drum station, which offers the sounds of the two classics TR-808/909, but with completely digital sound generation, without a step sequencer and with poor timing. With the Miami, the Acidlab company offers a replica with fully analog sound generation.

Other replica projects with a sequencer and analog sound generator are the MB-808 from ucapps and the Yocto from e-licktronic. The last two projects, however, are aimed exclusively at the DIY community and are not sold commercially as finished devices to end customers.

Behringer launched the RD-8 in 2019, which is not only similar to the TR-808 in terms of sound, but also optically. The distinctive colored buttons of the original are arranged in reverse order on the RD-8, and the RD-8 has some additional functions compared to the TR-808, as well as a 4-digit 7- segment display .

Trivia

  • The British electronics band 808 State was named after the Roland TR-808 in 1988.
  • In 2003 Ricardo Villalobos released a track called 808 The Bassqueen on the Lo-Fi Stereo label in honor of the TR-808 .
  • Rapper Kanye West released the album 808s & Heartbreak in 2008 .
  • The band Deichkind mentions the TR-808 in the song So 'ne Musik with the text line "We press the 808 all night."
  • The rapper Ufo361 called his solo album 808 .

Web links

Commons : Roland TR-808  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Gordon Reid: Practical Bass Drum Synthesis at Sound on Sound.
  2. ↑ https://www.amazona.de/black-box-roland-tr-606/
  3. ↑ Test: Acidlab Miami, TR-808 clone drum computer. In: AMAZONA.de. December 11, 2016, accessed on July 29, 2020 (German).
  4. ↑ Thorsten Klose: MIDIbox 808 - Specification. MIDIBOX, February 16, 2020, accessed on July 29, 2020 .
  5. ↑ DIY: e-licktronic YOCTO Kit for TR-808 Clone. In: AMAZONA.de. November 18, 2013, accessed on July 29, 2020 (German).
  6. ↑ Ricardo Villalobos - 808 The Bassqueen at Discogs