It's been said that if humanity ever masters full-universe simulation, the inventor will be the Roland corporation, ending its quest to create an exact reproduction of the sound of Run DMC's 808 during a 1983 live performance in a Brooklyn dive bar.
I’ve owned 3 tr-808s in my life. I currently own one. I can confirm that each one sounds different. I’ve samples from each one. The first 2 I owned were from later in the production run. There are 2 distinct revisions of tr-808s. The early models had a shorter higher pitched snare sound and later models were a lower pitch deeper snare. My current 808 is an early revision with the high pitched snare. My current 808 has the weakest clap of the three I’ve owned.<p>I mention all of this to make a few points.
1- I don’t doubt that these rejects contribute to the sound in a very specific way. But I don’t think it is impossible to build an 808 that would not fool even the most seasoned experts.<p>2- the 808 was not exactly a hit product. The “we ran out of parts” line sounds to me like a great way to revise what the real truth of the matter is- it wasn’t selling since sampled drum drum machines like the Lynndrum/Oberheim DX/sequential drumtraks were in far greater demand.
Most people at the time thought the 808 was terrible sounding. It soon was widely available at thrift shops and used gear racks for 10-20% of its original 1000$ price. Ad rock of Beastie Boys fame mentions in an interview that he went to Rogue Music in NYC to get a rickenbacker guitar but instead found a used 808 for 250 bucks around 1984 or 1985. Since the tr909 was released in 84 or so with a focus on sounding more realistic, I don’t think parts availability is the real reason.<p>3- there are solid clones available that are 100% analog and approach if not hit 100% accuracy in the sound. The Yocto kit when assembled competently is pretty much a 1:1 copy. Behringer has a forthcoming rd-808 that is analog and from the videos sounds the business.<p>4- the modeled 808 in the Tr08/tr8/Roland cloud 808 is in the ballpark but the cymbals snare and clap are the weakest parts of the modeling. I would say those pass the 5 minute quick listen test but once you spend time with them you realize it’s not right in an annoying way. If anyone wants to read more about the tr-808 a me Robin Whittle has done some amazing work documenting the circuits, explaining how they work and gives instructions on modifying them. Now that these machines are 30 years old, I hope people don’t mod them and focus on preserving them at this point- especially considering that there will soon be cheap Behringer copies to mod.<p>Finally just want to say it’s great to see this kind of stuff on hn. I could write long winded comments on this stuff all day long.<p>Edit- adding link to RWs 808 mods/info
<a href="http://machines.hyperreal.org/manufacturers/Roland/TR-808/mods/" rel="nofollow">http://machines.hyperreal.org/manufacturers/Roland/TR-808/mo...</a>
I am surprised that Roland would use such an unconventional method for generating noise.<p>Sourcing and testing those bad transistors had to be more expensive than just buying good parts, and surely they must’ve known that their supply of bad parts wouldn’t last forever?
its amazing how prevalent the 808 sound is in modern music... probably 80% of current rap music is based on sounds derived from the 808 kit. The combination of smoothness, "bassiness" and chattering hats and static snare really is infectious.
There is a fun documentary called "808" (available on Amazon Prime) about the history and impact of the TR-808. It's mostly interviews with musicians and only a little technical information.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/808_(film)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/808_(film)</a><p><a href="https://amzn.com/B06XT8M3TV" rel="nofollow">https://amzn.com/B06XT8M3TV</a>
How ironic that an engineering mistake which produced a unique "bad" batch of transistors also produced another engineering mistake. It's bad practice to make use of not reproducible parts, especially as such a unique noise source which basicaly defines a musical instrument. One of the most iconic electronic musical instruments ever created was born by engineering mistakes!<p>But, is there even a way to produce and reproduce a consistent physical noise source that generates the <i>same</i> noise with each physical copy?