808 sounds?

[tiger vomitt]

what do you use for 808 drum machine sounds?

ive used samples but i dont have a really good collection (not enough pitch choices, one sample is too dirty, one might be too noisy, etc). i love the 808 sounds but i dont have any good ones at the moment.

for anyone that has used an actual tr808, is there any advantage to using it instead of samples? (im thinking the sound may be cool and thick like my juno 106)

how about a cheesy boss drum machine like a dr110. do the sounds suck?

it's been a while since ive used an actual drum machine (yes i realize the irony in that statement)

thanks!

[dubphaser]

I use a Boss DR5. Cool 808, 909 and other drum sounds. Some usable general synth sounds. Very tweakable pitches and decays. Software wise - Rebirth does a pretty good job at emulating the 808, 909 and TB-303. I'm sure there are tons of options out there.

...Boom-Tick-BoomBoom-Tick...

[XXGABEXX]

My Roland MC-303 does a decent job. There's a good sized following of these machines online - just like any cool toy I suppose. They have cool synthy sounds if you need them and they're pretty cheap nowadays, too.

-GABE

[jdsowa]

I've been making rap and r&B for 10 years now and I think the 808 samples that you can find by searching google are just fine. What I DO have a problem with are the CR78 samples floating around. I can never make a pattern that sounds like Graham Central Station "The Jam"s drum break.

[Rodgre]

I use Reason for the majority of my electronic drum samples. It has decent 808, 909, and CR-78 sounds, I think.

Another thing that I do, and this is infinitely cooler, is to run a kick track, especially a regular old rock kick drum through a filter (either a Mooger Fooger LPF, or an Electrix Filter Factory) and set the filter for a low frequency and just enough resonance that it has a little decay. You can even blend a little envelope follower with it so it goes "DOO0000ooooooo" down in pitch.

Blend this to taste with your kick drum and check it on the subwoofer. Instant 808-ish kick drum and a cool way to get stupid low end out of you kick without EQing or triggering.

Roger

[inverseroom]

Boss DR-770. Everything is tunable in several parameters.

The Boss DR-110 is an AWWWWWESOME little machine! I got mine for fifty bucks. It's a bit noisy but it has a grid programmer like the 707, a nice snappy snare, a pretty cool Dustbuster-sounding crash, and THE BEST HANDCLAP I'VE EVER HEARD! No indiv. outs, no MIDI, and the kick is weak, though there's supposed to be a mod (replace resistor R70 with a 1k pot) that makes it thicker and tunable. I haven't done it though.

I'm on a drum machine roll right now--gonna get this circuit bending guy to f&%* up my 505 with 3-way switches, that oughta be good...

JRL

[wing]

i have them sampled on my akai s900... sounds gritty and unlike a true 808, yet at the same time, magical. i mean, magical if you like that kind of sound.

[toothpastefordinner]

I dunno, I have an 808 and I just like the way it "feels"... I can't quantify that really. I do know that it's very, very nice to be able to tweak the sound of the drums in real-time, and I like programming it.

The "accent" changes the tonality of the drum sounds as well as their volume (and the extent of both is changed by how you set the "accent" knob) so that may be part of it. I like the individual outs and the fact I can trigger other analog drum machines from it. And it syncs to MIDI, or vice versa, with a din-sync converter.

The root of the issue here, I'm sure, is the fact that I'm lazy and don't like to sample or program things...


drew
toothpastefordinner.com

[filterdish]

don't forget about Rebirth! Propellerheads debut software and one of my all time favorites. I still use this program all the time (although there's no OSX update) because I think it has the best 808 and 909 sounds out there besides the real thing. The parameters are all scaled to the original and sound like the original. you can get access to the buffers by using modpacker i believe (comes with rebirth) and you can use this program via rewire. and the distortion in that program is pretty cool.

[tiger vomitt]

yes i did forget about rebirth! very cool program tho, i havent used it in so long. it did have cool 808 sounds. im gonna check that out later, luckily i still use OS9 for music stuff

i think that may be my best bet short of a real 808.

and toothpaste, thanks for the confirmation that a real 808 is ass kickin

thanks!

[SLAG]

808 samples

[tiger vomitt]

OMG it's the mother load!


thanks Tom!

[joel hamilton]

We have a pre-midi 808 at the studio, and the velocity affecting the timbre and pitch a little is SO crucial to the sound!

I DO love using reason with a zillion different samples we have made, or collected (not the factory sound bank), but the old 808 is pretty sick. Just recording a pattern into protools, then sequencing the changes in protools is awesome.

we have an R8 as well, which comes in handy once a year. Oh and a Dr. rhythm that is cool for certain things.

reason gets used the most though. And the qy-10 for the click....

I wish someone would do a good embedded sample of the velocity/pitch change of an 808, so I could use it in reason. Maybe I will do it just for kick and snare...

[I'm Painting Again]

the real thing sounds best but you can get pretty close with high quality samples..i play with my friends 808 and have samples and they are not the same..samples dont mimic the natural feedback in the electronics or the quirks of the sequencer or the fluctuating current inside the transistors..and rebirth sounds like a casio version of an 808..disgusting..the beastie boys are correct in saying "make no mistake nothing sounds quite like an 8-0-8"

[the-cruel]

what do you use for 808 drum machine sounds?

I've got the DR-660 which is just OK, but slightly editable.

I also loaded some 808 audio patterns into a KORG ES-1, and used the time slice feature with added effects. Kinda cool.