The TR-808
A drum machine that flopped, then became the sound of hip hop. Meet the Roland TR-808 and its synthetic sounds, program a hip-hop beat on its 16-step grid, and turn its long, booming kick into a bass line tuned to a minor loop.
In this lesson you'll
- Meet the 808's sounds (kick, snare, handclap, hi-hats, cowbell) and hear why its kick, a decaying sine wave, doubles as a deep bass note when its decay is long.
- Program a hip-hop beat on a 16-step grid: kick on 1, 8, 11, clap on 5 and 13 (beats 2 and 4), hi-hats on the odd steps (eighth notes).
- Tune an 808 bass line to a minor loop (Em – C – G – D): each long kick plays the root of its chord, and play along.
Music in this lesson
- Sexual HealingMarvin Gaye · 1982
- Planet RockAfrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force · 1982
Remember
The Roland TR-808 (1980) generated its sounds with analog circuits instead of playing recordings, so its drums sound synthetic; it sold poorly at first, then hip hop and electro producers embraced it once it was cheap second hand.
Its kick is basically a decaying sine wave: make the decay long and tune it to the root of each chord, and the kick becomes the bass line, the bass of trap music.
You program it on a step sequencer: 16 buttons, one per sixteenth note, lit for each hit, the same grid as the backbeat and the dembow.