The Beats: Roland TR-808

Twenty -five years ago the powers that be said hip-hop and rap music was a fad and it wouldn't last. Seemed to me at the time that I was witnessing the beginning of a new music era that would last a lifetime. There was too much passion for it to go away! Whether you are into the music or not, the one thing that we can all agree on is that the sounds that were used permeated all music including Rock and even Country. The basic sounds that were used then and used now come from the same sources. I remember the first time I saw an 808 drum machine. Dave McMurray, saxophonist for Was Not Was had just purchased it and was programming up a storm... It was like he had taken up a new percussion instrument and he was becoming intimate with every nuance of the piece. Up until this time musicians who had a penchant for rhythm but didn't play drums had to wait until they could get with a drummer and percussionist to work out the rhythm.

Now, one guy could sit at home and come up with the whole concept of the song with new and interesting sounds to boot! On first hearing those sounds it was a little unnerving because we had all been listening to natural sounds. What were we to do with such a thing? Why is it that the bass drum is sounding like an oscillator? The snare sounds like a toy drum!? Well, it soon became apparent that once a drum machine was laid out it inspired all sorts if sonic creativity....

So where did all these sounds come from.... the sounds of the “808” come from 1980, when Roland began production of the TR-808 Rhythm Composer (the TR initializing Transistor Rhythm). Roland released it as a tool for making demos, however it was an analog drum synthesizer that was released right after the first digital sampling drum machine, the Linn LM-1, and thus was considered inferior to the more natural sounding Linn drum sampler. Nevertheless, like all new technology, sometimes the best isn’t necessarily what sells. The 808 sold for about $1,000 and the LM-1 was $5,000. Needless to say, the 808 became rather popular simply do to the price point.

As always, technology progressed and more and more realistic drum machines were released and the TR-808 was discontinued in 1984. As these newer drum machines became popular, the 808’s price dropped considerably and gained a whole new life for hip-hop artists as it provided rhythm at a cheap price. It became a staple in hip-hop and rap music developing at that time and is still used today. In fact its popularity has put the price of this particular analog drum machine at roughly the same as a new one in 1980 after inflation adjustments.

It’s still used today in hip-hop, rap, R&B, and all sorts of electronic dance music to provide a very distinct low frequency boom. If you don’t know what it sounds like, click the audio sample below (though you may not actually be able to hear much of it on your laptop speakers), and be watching for next weeks blog about the Linn drum!