Anybody here like the Roland TR-808?

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I really like the Roland TR-808 drum machine (oh~ the sexy~ rimshot...) and the impact it had on electro, hip hop, and house music. It is a work of art from the past created by the Japanese company... Who here likes the 808, or some of the other ones like the 909? Post your opinions below!

Thanks to all you users I will keep the posts coming in the future,

-LegoMaster2149 (Written on August 14, 2017)

It is really nice. I also think the CR-78 and a few of the others had some nice hats and percussion.

Have you heard any of Roland's recent reincarnations of the 808, 909, 303, etc.?

The TR 808 and 909 are great machines, but what about other classics like the TR 606 or the Linndrum?

One of the better sounding of the newer generation of analogs (this one I think 2013):

Sometimes I prefer the 808, other times I prefer the 909.

I think this just got issued by Roland this month. I'm not sure if I'm happy I got turned on to this or not - I just saw that the JX-03 and JP-08 are almost out of stock, on sale, so I'm already picking up both of those this week and it looks like I'll be getting the TR-08 next month.

I usually wouldn't do something that but they're all remakes of uber-classic Roland gear, just as limited in sales scope, and I never could have imagined all three for less than $1000.00. The JU-06 is gorgeous as well just that it's already sold out for good.

I just realized that the TR-08 is the same price as the TB-03.

I do now have all three of the pieces I mentioned - ie. TR-08, JX-03, and JP-08, along with the 25 key controller. I brought the TR-08 and JX-03 to work yesterday and broke them out on lunch break. The combo does sound great but what I think I need is a couple pedals. I got a saturation/overdrive plug on Ebay (Electro-Harmonix Hot Tubes) last night and in another month or so I might look for a decent reverb with high-pass and low-pass settings that I can link prior to the saturation.

So far my impression of the JX-03, for as simple as it is, it does have the ability to crank out some pretty warm and usable sounds. It may be a little bit before I try the JP-08 because I'm really hoping to get much more technical mastery with all of these pieces than I was with my vst synths. Even though it might sound cheesy I'm really coming to appreciate hardware again and how much you gain from having dedicated units where you can twist the knobs directly. Even a controller keyboard is a bit alienating. I know it shouldn't matter but I get that as human beings we, as well as our creativity, aren't really based fully in either the rational or practical. Either way I think this will help me keep my practice up.

If I were to throw down on more gear at this rate in the next few years, I could see myself going with more analog drum machines (like the Tanzbar) as well as the Korg Arp Odyssey or one of the Moogs or Oberheims (the later really sound gorgeous IMHO). A lot of that's in the category of course of being a bit big to take to work in a laptop bag so I'm still not sure if I'd do it but I suppose if what I have now gets me dedicated again I might consider it.

The TR-808 is a classic of drum machine design. Its influence cannot be understated.