August 3, 2015

“808 Day” Celebrates the Legendary Roland TR-808

Jim Bybee [Roland US] Industry #808day, 808, AIRA, Drum Machine, Low End Theory, Roland, Six01, TR-808, TR-9

Musicians, Producers, and Fans Recognize the Influential Drum Machine on August 8th

Celebrate 808 Day on August 8th.

On August 8th (8/08), the global music community will come together to honor the iconic Roland TR-808 drum machine, an instrument that’s inspired countless artists and changed the face of contemporary music. The events will take place on what’s been dubbed “808 Day,” and festivities can be tracked on social media with the hashtag #808day.

January 22, 2015

New Product: MX-1 Mix Performer

Jim Bybee [Roland US] Product News 808, AIRA, DAW, EDM, effects, mixer, recording, TR-8, TR-808

The Mixer Reimagined as a Musical Instrument

The Roland MX-1 Mix Performer brings your entire electronic music rig together.

If you’ve been looking for a more powerful and flexible way to mix and control all your electronic music gear live and in the studio, your wait is over—the MX-1 Mix Performer has arrived! Combining a mixer, control surface, audio interface, and step-based effector into one portable device, the MX-1 is the perfect command center for your rig. It seamlessly brings together your AIRA gear, synths, drum machines, loops, DAW tracks, and more into a single performance-optimized mixing instrument that’s ready to be played.

February 13, 2014

TR-808 Drum Machine Flashback

OV Valle [Roland US] Product News Breaks, Drum Machine, Electro, Hip Hop, House, TR-808 1 Comment

Revisiting the TR-808 Drum Machine

Author: Oz Owen and Roland UK Features Team

Let’s kick this off with a little bit of trivia: the TR- 808 has been used on more hit records than any other drum machine. Read that again. This simple fact is made all the more improbable when you look back at the inauspicious launch of the TR-808. The year is 1980, and Linn has just unleashed the (much more expensive) LM-1 sampling drum machine. Consequently the TR-808 is considered a poor relation due to its synthesized sounds and lack of “pro” features. A pretty harsh debut, given that the TR-808’s designers intended for it to provide rhythmic backing for demos. So against the odds, just how did Roland’s all-analog beatbox prevail to become the world’s most popular programmable drum machine? More

March 21, 2013

The Making of “Egypt, Egypt”

OV Valle [Roland US] Artists drums, JUPITER-8, keyboards, Synth, Throwback Thursday, TR-808, Vintage 1 Comment

Dublab & Red Bull Present Key Tracks

Key Tracks: Egyptian Lover “Egypt, Egypt” from Red Bull Music Academy on Vimeo.

In January, the Red Bull Music Academy debuted their Key Tracks series with dublab, an LA based non-profit public broadcasting Internet radio station. We were pleased to learn that the series opened with Electro legend Egyptian Lover who happened to make his monster 1984 track “Egypt, Egypt“ on a Roland TR-808 drum machine and a JUPITER-8 synth. In this video, the Egyptian Lover takes us back a couple of decades by recreating his original tune and talking about his inspiration for the song. Check it out!

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November 2, 2012

Rob Ricketts TR-808 Programming Posters

OV Valle [Roland US] Product News Afrika Bambaataa, Drum Machine, drums, Planet Rock, Rob Ricketts, TR-808 2 Comments

Image authorized by: Rob Ricketts

Graphic Designer Rob Ricketts has created a series of posters which teach you how to program a TR-808 drum groove for a well known song. Rob describes the posters like this, “A series of informative posters detailing how some of the most notable drum sequences were programmed using the Roland TR-808 Drum Machine. Each sequence has been analyzed and represented as to allow users to re-program each sequence, key for key.” More