The Roland TR-808 is an analog dum machine and sequencer from the early 1980’s that can be found on countless tracks from various genres like hiphop, electronica and edm. It was created and developed by Roland founder, the late Ikutaro Kakehashi (RIP!) and found it’s home in many studios and on many songs throughout the 80s and 90s. The classic 808 sound is still used to great effect today and a modern variant of this iconic device was released in 2014 by Roland in the form of the TR-8.
A great resource for crafting some 808 sounds 14 essential Roland TR-808 tips can be found on the MusicRadar website…
Drums form the rhythmical bed for the rest of your song’s parts so it is important to have alot of interest and movement so that the beat does not get monotenous over time, a great piece of advice is you should be able to listen to nothing but the drum channels of a song and not get bored on a straight listen. Drum programming (and synthesis in general) is a great skill to have and having a few pieces of actual ‘hardware’ in your studio kit is essential for a truly ‘hands on’ approach to production.
Ofcourse the original Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer is a highly sought after item and can often be seen selling for over $5k online… If you happen to find one at a good price *grab it* -not only is it a great piece of classic electronic hardware but the price is only likely to go up as it becomes more collectible as the years pass by.
Much love and thanks to Ikutaro Kakehash and we are eternally grateful for his immense contribution to live music, production and the sounds we have all grown up dancing to- Rest In Peace!