From: robg@citr.uq.oz.au (Rob Geraghty)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.synth,rec.music.makers,comp.music,alt.rave
Subject: Re: What are 303's and 808's?
Date: 4 Jan 93 23:51:10 GMT
Distribution: inet
Organization: Prentice Centre, University of Queensland

br326@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Raphael Pungin) writes:
>	I've heard of something called 303 and 808 that are used to produce
>techno music. What exactly are those things? Are those synthesizers, trackers,
>or something else?

To fill in the picture of Roland's evolution of drum-machines a little -

The Roland TR808 was their first "Rhythm Composer".  A drum machine which
could be programmed with drum patterns and patterns linked into "songs".
The sound sources of the TR808 were analog, but were so good that they
became "classic" drum sounds in dance music.  I'm not sure when it was
actually released but I think I first used one back in about 1980?

The TR606 drum machine was released in about 1982.  It also featured
analog sounds, though these were not nearly as good as those of the
TR808.  That's not surprising since the TR606 was about one third the
size of the TR808 and designed to be able to run from batteries.  So the
TR606 was the first truly portable drum machine.

The TB303 Bassline was released along with the TR606 as an accomaniment
to it.  The styling and case is almost identical.  The TB303 has an
internal monophonic bass synth but also has CV and Gate outputs to
control CV/Gate synths.  The major (unfortunate) difference is that
while the internal synth can be programmed with volume accents this
doesn't get through CV/Gate control.  On the bright side, slides can be
programmed which *are* sent through.  This sort of portamento took a lot
longer to get into MIDI synths.

The TR808 was superseded in late 1983 by the TR909.  The 909 was the
first drum-machine to feature digital samples of a real drum kit.  All
the samples were tunable, and some were modifiable in other ways.  The
TR909 did not stay on the market long, however.

The TR909 was effectively replaced by the TR707.  The TR707 also
featured digital samples, though no tuning and only volume control over
the sounds.  However it was much cheaper and became more popular.
Another machine was produced called the 727 which replaced the 707's
standard rock kit with other percussion sounds (such as latin
percussion).  The 727 was not a great success because other cheaper
instruments had become available with more extensive features.

The later TR505 featured all the sounds of the TR808, 727, and other
Roland machines as samples yet was cheaper and a fraction of the size.
(anyone feel free to correct me on this one - I'm not sure about it).
I think I am getting confused here with the Boss drum machine mentioned
elsewhere (DR550?).

The thing which fascinates me is why Roland's numbering went all over
the place (mostly backwards...).

There were earlier rhythm boxes such as the CR80 (used by Phil Collins
in "In the Air Tonight") and the CR8000.  These had preprogrammed
patterns as well as user patterns but the patterns could not be chained
into songs.  The sounds were not nearly as realistic as the later machines
but had a charm of their own...

BTW programming the CR80 was *awful*!!

One other thing - the machines prior to the 909 only had Sync (24ppqn)
connections to connect them to other devices.  Later machines featured
MIDI and in some cases Sync as well.  The 707 and 909 had both.  I have
used this feature as a means to link MIDI and sync devices.  The 909 and
707 also had a nice tape sync feature as well.  One advantage of using
MIDI with machines like the 707 is that the velocity provides 128 volume
levels instead of the three available through the front panel.

Rob

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Geraghty               | 3 things are important to me 
robg@durian.citr.oz.au     | The gift of love, the joy of life
CITR                       | And the making of music in all its forms
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.synth,rec.music.makers,comp.music,alt.rave