Building Techno and House rhythms on the Roland TR-909
“I bought my 909 in the ’90s when it was at the peak of its popularity in Techno, House and Rave music. This old faithful has been to many raves and house parties back in the day, yet, amazingly, still works and more importantly, grooves like a fox on rollerblades.”
The Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer is a partially analog, partially sample-based, drum machine introduced by the Japanese Roland Corporation in 1983. The brainchild of Tadao Kikumoto, the engineer behind the Roland TB-303, it features a 16-step step sequencer and a drum kit that aimed for realism and cost-effectiveness. It is fully programmable, and like its predecessor, the TR-808, it can store entire songs with multiple sections, as opposed to simply storing patterns. It was the first MIDI-equipped drum machine. Around 10,000 units were produced.
TT-303 Controlling Modular
Background description:
Machinedrum is master midi clock to TT-303 which sends CV to Intellijel Rubicon.
Gate is sent to Quadra. Other modules used: Dixie ii, Planar, Dr Octature, uVCA, uFold & uVCF
TB 303 How to program Da Funk
Daft Punk/Da Funk Program by Roland TB-303
Linn Drum LM-2 Vintage Drum Machine Overview
The LinnDrum was the second machine from Linn Electronics. It’s basically an upgraded version of the original LM-1 with added crash and ride cymbals to the kit. The LinnDrum uses samples of acoustic drum sounds. At the time, they sounded great and much more realistic and they were a fresh alternative to the analog drum sounds of the ’80’s drum machines. The LinnDrum also had a handy upgrade option, a well designed layout and interface, and live drum trigger inputs.
The LinnDrum had beefed up the sampled sounds from 28 to a 35kHz sample rate. It features 15 sounds including bass, snare, rimshot, hihat, crash, ride, three toms, cabasa, tambourine, high and low congas, cowbell, and clap. Up to 12 sounds are available simultaneously. Individual controls are available to tune, pan, and mix each drum sound via dedicated knobs and sliders. An Accent is available for the kick, snare and hats. The handy upgrade options involve inserting new chips containing new sets of sampled drum sounds created by many session drummers of the time.
The sequencer had some innovative features (for the time) such as swing, quantizing and memory storage! Two-bar patterns can be recorded in real or step time, with or without quantizing. There are 56 user patterns for storing your drum patterns. There are also 42 preset drum patterns. Patterns can be arranged into Songs for which there are 49 memory locations. Old songs and patterns can be off-loaded to cassette tape for storage. Designed for the studio, there are 15 individual outputs for each sound around the back as well as external sync and trigger but no MIDI (unless modified by a 3rd party). The LinnDrum’s features made it the most professional drum machine of its time.
TB303 programming with random tune tweaking
A quick demo of programming the TB303, then some random tune tweaking.
The Roland TB303 is a monophonic analog bass synthesizer married to a pattern-based step sequencer released in 1982. It features a single analog oscillator with two waveforms (ramp or square) and has a simple but excellent VCF (filter) with resonance, cut-off, and envelope controls. There are also knobs to adjust tuning, envelope decay, tempo and accent amount.
It’s not a performance synthesizer because you have to program a pattern of notes and timing info into it (sort of like a drum machine). Patterns can then be linked into songs. It was originally made to accompany a drum machine, the TR-606 specifically, and provide bass-line accompaniment to guitarists, keyboard players, etc. It was not a successful product in its time. As a result, creative DJs and aspiring electronic musicians found them for next to no money and began using them for techno and acid music. Usually a single pattern is continuously played while the performer tweaks the knobs creating an exciting and expressive musical event.
The TB-303 has become one of the most sought after vintage synths ever! It has helped develop and stylize many forms of electronic music including House, Acid, Trance and Ambient. If ever there was a need for a repetitive bassline/groove or an extremely resonant and bubbly sound, the 303 is KING. Truly a unique machine with a very identifiable sound! It has spun off several imitators as well: Novation Bass Station, ReBirth, Doepfer MS-404, MAM MB-33, Syntecno TeeBee, and more (see Related & Alternative Gear sidebar).
A short sequence showing how a TR606 sounds when distorted.
Indepth demos of the new Arturia Sparkle and Minilab at NAMM 2013
Arturia Minilab is a $99 controller that comes with Analog Factory soft synths and pre-mapped knobs. Sparkle is a hardware controller bundled with their complete Spark drum machine software, and is surprisingly easy to make beats on even for the untrained.
Cyclone Analogic BassBot TT-303 & Roland TR-909
The new Cyclone Analogic BassBot (TT-303) is a spitting image of the original Roland TB-303. It also sounds just like it, and some 21st century innovations! A 64 step sequencer, MIDI, and Arpeggiator to name a few. To put it to the test we brought out the 303’s partner in crime, the Roland TR-909. Also the blue pedal you see is a vintage DOD analog delay with the TT-303 being processed.
You can find more info and purchase the BassBot here:
http://www.switchedonaustin.com/products/cyclone-analogic-tt-303-bass-bot
MR-808 mechanic drum robot live at CYNETART 2012
Science Fiction Children & Moritz Simon Geist live at CYNETART Dresden Hellerau 2012
The MR-808 is the first drum robot that reproduces the drum sounds of the 80s – in the real world! The robot installation MR-808 is a replica of the famous 1980s electronic drum machine TR-808 – with robots playing the drum sounds by Moritz Simon Geist.
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Read on: sonicrobots.com/mr808-eng/
Artist Blog, Livedates: sciencefictionchildren.com
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Instruments used:
MR-808 – mechanic sound robot (all drums, miced)
A mechanic relay controlled via arduino (bass sound)
Gameboy – Arduinoboy hardware (8 bit chiptune sound)
Everything was programmed in Ableton, only equing and compression has been applied.
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Cameras: David Campesino, Konstantin Rinner hochkultur.com/
Music: Moritz Simon Geist
Production: Art Hustle
New sample based iOS drum machine and synth – WEJAAM
WEJAAM – iOS MUSIC GENERATOR
Make your own music Electro, Techno, House … and share a Jam with friends.
Loop-based music sequencer specially designed for playing live, it is associated with an innovative and powerful randomization tool.
WEJAAM allows you to take great pleasure in making music without being a musician.
CREATE
It’s very simple to make a beat, just select from the Djaam library or you also can pick up from the World Jaam community the only think you have to do it’s to create you beat using the hit editor, add sound, delete sound that’s so easy…
LIVE
Give you access to a 5 pads controllers instead than knob in this way you will control simple your feeling with your finger on the screen, we also record your live session.
MASTERING
WEJAAM’s complete mastering system in a single integrated app includes Limiter, Reverb, Delay, Flanger, Equalizer, Chorus, Distortion.
Based on feedback and requests gathered from mastering professionals, Wejaam advanced includes exclusive controls and features.
RANDOM
Random your imagination
With this exclusive features you can easily have access to one million of possibilities, during your live performance run and tap to the random bar to bring up a new pattern idea.
RECORD
Ready to go now ?
Make your own song within minutes and sound like a pro just record your live and create the best traxx ever. Then upload the song and share your mix all around the world.
FEATURES
• Sequencer 6 patterns of 32 notes.
• 6-channel instrument (synthesizer or sampler).
• 1 parametric Filter by channel.
• 2 effect sends per channel (Delay, Reverb, Flanger, Chorus, Overdrive).
• 3-band equalizer.
• Output limiter.
• Export recordings and programs with iTunes.
• Bluetooth Synchronization allows you to play with another person and have the same audio output on each device.
Big Beat – Word’s largest drum machine
Swedish electronic master experimentalist Håkan Lidbo has released a new fascinating video featuring the world’s largest drum machine, details below:
Big Beat is probably the largest drum machine in the World. The buttons stretch over a 10 m wide and 3 m tall wall.
It’s also a place for social contacts. If you want to hold more buttons and create more comples rhythms, you have to find buddies to help you.
It’s also some sort of choreographic machine. You have to explore new positions to hold more buttons.
Finally Big beat is a game. Tones are hidden in the drum sounds. If you find 3 sounds you will go to the next level with new drum sounds. If you the 5th level you have won the game.
Big Beat is built and programmed by Magnus Frenning, concept and sound design by Håkan Lidbo.
DATAMASKIN
