Zoë Blade's notebook

TR-808

Like an 808 bass drum, we sound real good.

— Derek B, "Bad Young Brother", 1988

TR-808 tech specs

Roland TR-808
Roland TR-808

The TR-808 was an analogue drum machine released by Roland in 1982.

Its sounds are all synthesised with analogue electronics, giving it a distinctive stylised sound. Conversely, those sounds are triggered by a digital microprocessor, allowing its rhythms to be fully programmed from scratch.

While it wasn't the first programmable drum machine, the sounds are much better than on previous efforts, and at the suggestion of Don Lewis,[5] even slightly tweakable. They also have separate outputs, so you can level and EQ them independently, and even add effects to only specific sounds.

Especially with the 808, Roland probably did more than any other company to elevate drum machines from playing tacky backing rhythms for home organs to being fully-fledged compositional tools in their own right. Of course, it later helped that it was fully embraced by Black American musicians as a cornerstone of both techno and hip hop.

Quotes

You know, it's like when the ensemble string sounds first came out, and everyone was using them. After a while, it seemed better to use the string synth as a string synth than to try and get it sounding like an orchestra, and that's what we've done with the 808. The secret is to take the technology and use it for what it is, not what you want it to be. I mean, I don't know who's down there at Roland, but if that's supposed to be a real authentic cowbell sound... shoot 'em, man! But we like it. That's why there's so much of it on "Hangin' On a String".

— Carl McIntosh, Loose Ends, 1985[6]

I used the 808 because it was the sound I wanted more. A Linn is great but it doesn't give you too much of an electro sound, it's too realistic! I love the 808, it's a classic. Ideally what I'd like to do is get all the sounds out of the 808 made into chips for my Linn, because the 808 is a pest to program.

— Paul Hardcastle, 1985[7]

It's a wonderful machine. I don't know why, but there's something unique about it. We bought a TR-707 first, and when we used that we were really disappointed. It sounded so mechanical, so black and white. The 808 seems to have rounded edges. It doesn't seem to have attempted to sound like a drum at all. It's got its own character.

— John Whitehead, It's Immaterial, 1986[8]

I did something called "Bass Machine" with T La Rock, where I took the 808 snare and pitch-changed it. People thought "wow!" because nobody'd ever done that with an 808 before.

I sample it. With the 808, that also means I can take the quantization off. You can't do that on the 808 itself. When I make a beat, I make the kick drum really off. I take, like, 4/4 time and really change it up and make it more funky that way. After I've sampled something, I get something new and forget about it. I have the sounds, so I can use them again.

— Kurtis Mantronik, Mantronix, 1987[9]

I still use the 808 and 909. I don't like Roland's latest drum machines, but the 808 and 909 are classics. The 808 has a real techno feel. Everything on that drum machine has an electronic feel, it's not like digitally-sampled real drums.

— Juan Atkins, 1988[10]

The whole of dance music for the last seven years has been guided by one drum machine, the TR-808. And it's taken eight or nine years for Roland to re-release those same sounds on a card for their new digital drum machine. If the 808 hadn't been invented we'd all be doing something different now. It literally changed the course of dance music. Nick Martinelli made his name on the 808 cowbell, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis made their name on the 808, and without the 808 what would the whole Miami bass scene be doing?

I rang Roland and they told me they didn't want to look backwards, they want to look to the future, which is something I totally agree with. But we're not looking to the future of the same market; they're looking at Sting and Dire Straits and ignoring the people who were brought up on the 808 and 909.

It's what people want, why is it taking so long? The 808 was never MIDI, thankfully the 909 is MIDI and that's why it's getting so much use at the moment. Don't these people buy Inner City albums and hear Kevin Saunderson using 909s and 727s until he's blue in the face?

— Simon Harris, 1989[11]

The TR-808 is a long way from the sound of a real drum, and that's what makes it interesting.

— Jean-Michel Jarre, 1993[12]

Notable users

Technical notes

The TR-808 uses a 4-bit NEC μPD650 microprocessor, and four NEC μPD444s for a combined 4096 nibbles of RAM.[4]

It can trigger up to twelve things at once, eleven sounds and one accent: ACcent, Bass Drum, Snare Drum, Low Tom, Mid Tom, High Tom, RimShot, handClaP, CowBell, CYmbal, Open Hi-hat, and Closed Hi-hat. This suggests each position in the sequence uses 12 bits (3 nibbles). As with the TR-606, this means the one global accent is shared amongst all sounds at once.

References

  1. "Soho Soundhouse" Soho Soundhouse (Vendor), Electronics & Music Maker, Dec 1982, p. 45
  2. "Soho Soundhouse" Soho Soundhouse (Vendor), Electronics & Music Maker, Oct 1982, p. 27
  3. "Future Music" Future Music (Vendor), Electronics & Music Maker, Jan 1985, pp. 40—41
  4. "TR-808 service notes" Roland, Jun 1981
  5. "Conversation With Electronic Music Pioneer Don Lewis" Brave Sound Productions, Dec 2020
  6. "Loose Connections" Tim Goodyer, Electronics & Music Maker, Jun 1985, pp. 54—56
  7. "19 Ways to Number 1" Richard Walmsley, Electronic Soundmaker & Computer Music, Aug 1985, pp. 26—28
  8. "Immaterial Gains" Tim Goodyer, Electronics & Music Maker, Sep 1986, p. 36
  9. "Music Madness" Tim Goodyer, Music Technology, Apr 1987, pp. 67—70
  10. "Future Shock" Simon Trask, Music Technology, Dec 1988, pp. 38—43
  11. "The Bassment Tapes" Tim Goodyer, Music Technology, Sep 1989, pp. 44—49
  12. "Sound And Vision" Phil Ward, Music Technology, Aug 1993, pp. 50—54
  13. "The State of Technology" Simon Trask, Music Technology, Nov 1989, pp. 54—60
  14. "Teenage Kicks" Phil Ward, Music Technology, Oct 1993, pp. 18—19
  15. "In the Studio With Biosphere" Headphone Commute, Jan 2021
  16. "Beat Dis" Mike Collins, Sound On Sound, Jun 1991, pp. 24—30
  17. "Strange Changes" Simon Trask, Music Technology, Dec 1991, pp. 30—36
  18. "The Creative Technology Institute" Chris Heath, Electronics & Music Maker, Sep 1984, pp. 38—40
  19. "What's That Noise?" Tim Goodyer, Music Technology, Aug 1990, pp. 30—34
  20. "The HEX Guide To Multimedia" Simon Trask, Music Technology, Oct 1993, pp. 36—38
  21. "Depeche Mode" Steve Howell, Electronics & Music Maker, May 1982, pp. 40—41
  22. "Eat Static: Chart Success" Jonathan Miller, Sound On Sound, Jan 1997
  23. "'The Man Was a Genius': Tales From Making Marvin Gaye's Final Album" Chris Williams, The Atlantic, Oct 2012
  24. "A Guy Called Gerald" Vie Marshall, Micro Music, Oct 1989, pp. 75—76
  25. "Voodoo Chile" Simon Trask, Music Technology, Apr 1990, pp. 50—54
  26. "Kracked Plastik" Roger Brown, The Mix, Dec 1994, pp. 110—114
  27. "Signal Path: Richie Hawtin on His Origins as F.U.S.E. and How He Made Techno in the Early '90s" Maya-Roisin Slater, Fact, May 2019
  28. Rendez-Vous Jean-Michel Jarre, 1986
  29. "DJ Jazzy Jeff" Simon Trask, Phaze 1, Nov 1988, p. 12
  30. "Emotional Foundations" Simon Trask, Music Technology, Mar 1989, pp. 54—57
  31. "Deep Vibrations" Simon Trask, Music Technology, Aug 1991, pp. 60—65
  32. "Advance Guard" Simon Trask, Future Music, Jan 1995, pp. 46—48
  33. "Home Electro-Musician" Rudiger Lorenz, Electronics & Music Maker, Aug 1983, p. 69
  34. "Interview: Originals... Kurtis Mantronik" 909 Originals, Aug 2020
  35. "Techno Rhythim" Simon Trask, Music Technology, Nov 1990, pp. 38—42
  36. "Recording Moby's 'Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?'" Tom Flint, Sound On Sound, Feb 2000
  37. "Liam Howlett: The Prodigy & Firestarter" Paul Nagle, Sound On Sound, Sep 1996
  38. "Playing With Fire!" Robin Green, The Mix, Mar 1997
  39. House Music... The Real Story Jesse Saunders, 2007, ISBN 1-4241-8994-2, pp. 55—57
  40. "The Techno Wave" Simon Trask, Music Technology, Sep 1988, pp. 70—73
  41. "SNAP! to tomorrow" Roger Brown, The Mix, Nov 1994, pp. 84—88
  42. "Warp Factor 8" Simon Trask, Music Technology, Nov 1993, pp. 32—33
  43. "Tales Of The Supernatural" Simon Trask, Music Technology, Dec 1990, pp. 48—52
  44. "Stereo Speakers" Phil Ward, Music Technology, Apr 1993, pp. 40—45
  45. "Electric gypsy" Tim Barr, The Mix, Mar 1995, pp. 88—92
  46. "The New Tangerine Dream" Mike Beecher, Electronics & Music Maker, Jan 1982, pp. 44—54
  47. "Isao Tomita" Mike Beecher, Electronics & Music Maker, Feb 1983, pp. 50—52
  48. "Jyoti Mishra: Today Derby, Tomorrow the World!" Paul Tingen, Sound On Sound, Apr 1997
  49. "Downstairs At Erics" Dan Goldstein, Electronics & Music Maker, Mar 1984, pp. 45—51

Reviews

Retrospectives

Tips

Downloads

Documentation

Samples

Digital step sequencers: MS-1 | RD-6 | SH-101 | TB-303 | TR-606 | TR-808

Drum machines: R-8 | RD-6 | TR-606 | TR-808 | TR-909

Roland: DCB | JV-1080 | Juno-6 | Juno-106 | MC-4 | MC-8 | MPU-101 | R-8 | SH-101 | SN-R8 series | SN-U110 series | SO-PCM1 series | SR-JV80 series | System-100 | System-100M | TB-303 | TR-606 | TR-808 | TR-909 | U-110 | VP-330 | W-30