Knowra Roland TR-808 Roland TR-808 The Roland TR-808 is a programmable electronic drum machine introduced in 1980. Its synthesized bass drum, snare, and percussion sounds became distinctive elements of popular music.
Analog synthesis : Sound generation using continuously varying electrical signals rather than discrete digital samples. The TR-808 creates drum voices with analog circuits instead of recordings of acoustic drums.
Ikutaro Kakehashi : A Japanese engineer and entrepreneur who founded Roland Corporation and led its development of electronic instruments. He founded Roland, the company that developed and released the TR-808.
Hip-hop music : A cultural movement and music genre that emerged in the Bronx in the 1970s, encompassing rapping, DJing, breakdancing, and related arts. Producers used the 808's powerful bass drum and crisp percussion to build stark, looped beats.
808 State : A British electronic music group formed in Manchester in 1987 and named after the Roland TR-808. The group made the machine's influence explicit in its name and electronic music.
Roland CR-78 : A Roland programmable rhythm machine released in 1978, using preset sounds and user-programmable patterns. The CR-78 offered programmable rhythms before the TR-808, but with preset-style percussion sounds.
Step sequencer : A sequencer that arranges musical events in a repeating grid of steps. Its 16-step programming grid lets patterns loop and be edited in real time.
Roland Corporation : A Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded in 1972. Roland designed and manufactured the TR-808 as part of its early rhythm-machine line.
Miami bass : A hip-hop subgenre from Miami known for heavy bass, dance-oriented rhythms, and electronic production. Its booming low end became closely associated with the TR-808 bass drum.
Acid house : A style of house music associated with the Roland TB-303's squelching bass sound and late-1980s club culture. The TR-808's programmable beats often accompanied the TB-303 sounds central to acid house.
Linn LM-1 : A drum machine released in 1980 that played digitally sampled acoustic drum sounds. Its sampled realism contrasted with the TR-808's deliberately synthetic analog percussion.
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