question

[Culprit]

what are 909 and 808 beats?

[Rik_]

beats produced by the roland tr909 and tr808
they are the basis of alot of electronic music

may I suggest
www.google.com
do some reading on it all, learn about the roots of dance, it'll educate you, make you live another 3 years and be more attractive to women

[phunkdust]

808 and 909 are both roland drum machines from the halcyon days of techno... they dont get much use these days - 808 is used in electro but...

i should get around to writing a short history of drummachines (like i should get around to that fruityloops tutorial and review, the album i should be producing, and all the other work i should be doing :D)

[Rik_]

Originally posted by phunkdust

i should get around to writing a short history of drummachines (like i should get around to that fruityloops tutorial and review, the album i should be producing, and all the other work i should be doing :D)

I did a school assignment on Tadao Kikumoto, covering alot of his work and the influences his machines had on music. But I lost that in the great harddrive fuckup of 2001, and my brain failed long before that as well, it's all but distant memories.
Shame really, it was a good read IMO, and would be helpful for topics like this.

[driload]

actually this is a very valid question

i recently wrote a small article with sound examples of all the "name-checked" synths and drum machines in recent popular history

i should upload it to ITM also


one bias that comes through in all my conversation on old technology is AVOID THE HYPE.

for the same price as a shitty old TR-909 you can get the JoMoX XBASE09 which is an AMAZING analogue drum machine with fantastic sequencing power! and youde STILL have money left over to get a swedish massage

i DO like the 808 sound, and i DO still sometimes use the samples i have from my old 808 (sold it for an insane amount and bought a mackie mixer and many weeks rent)

one thing i will say though is the "808" presets on most synths arent from the 808. most of the time the kick drum is from a famous emulation made on the LinnDrum, you can tell yourself by listening to the decay... the real 808 didnt have that long. AND it was big and noisy.

anyway i use some 808 kicks with the attack gently gated off as sub-bass and use lo-fi distorted snare (you know that cheesy sound) as ghost snares in electro tracks


the ONLY people who will go on about how you NEED this old crap gear are the people who OWN it and want to validify spending 2000 on a fucking old toy, or people caught up in the HYPE who want cred


seriously heres my list of what you might WANT but what you should get INSTEAD:

WANT -TB-303
GET -rebirth or nearly ANY VA synth in recent years... which funnily enough will for the most part BE CHEAPER then a 303! and thats the NORMAL ones, dont ask what some idiots are paying for the Devilfish mods!

WANT -TR-909
GET - JoMoX XBase

WANT -TR-808
GET - a fucking sampler

WANT - any other old roland (626, 707, the CR series etc)
GET - the samples from the net


sorry my friends it really is hype, but thats MY OPINION. id rather make music then masterbate about having the biggest collection of expensive old junk...