Electronic musical instrument of the day - Roland TR 808

[Martin Red]

The TR-808 is a classic analog drum machine. It is the signature sound used in most R&B and hip-hop as well as a lot of dance and techno music. Its drum sounds include the most famous resonating low kick, the snappiest snares, low/mid/hi toms, low/mid/hi congas, rimshot, claves, hand clap, maracas, cowbell, cymbal, open hihat, and closed hihat. The sounds have a very thin and pure quality and aren't grungy like the TR-909. Booming bass kicks, crispy snares and that typical cowbell sound made famous during the 80's are all part of the 808 and its famous sound.

All of the sounds can be edited and/or tuned and have individual outputs. Unfortunately it is not MIDI equipped but it does use DIN Sync. Clearly this has been one of the most important and famous drum machines in the history of music. (Where do you think 808 State got their name?) Famous users include Orbital, Uberzone, Download, 808 State, BT, Bomb The Bass, Sense Datum, The Prodigy, Josh Wink, Faithless, Skinny Puppy, Bushflange, Jimi Tenor, A Guy Called Gerald, Eat Static, Dr. Dre, Freddy Fresh, Richie Hawtin, Jean Michel Jarre, Marvin Gaye, Luke Vibert, Ice Cube and Puff Daddy.

http://www.vintagesynth.org/roland/808.shtml

also, usefull info: -
http://machines.hyperreal.org/catego...s/TR-808/?0065

[ June 28, 2004, 02:37 PM: Message edited by: Martin Red ]

[JorgeG]

Thanks Martin Red. [img]graemlins/respekt.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Martin Red]

Roland were always pioneers of the rhythm box. From their early attempts as Ace Tone right through to their (semi-programmable) CR78, they were always pushing the boundaries of what a drum machine should be.

It was the TR808, however, that made people sit up and listen. For the first time, here was totally programmable drum machine that allowed you to create your own rhythms almost without restriction (and not a samba in sight!).

However, there was a problem - the sounds.

They were distinctly 'electronic' and whilst many marvelled at the advanced programming possibilities, the same people also scoffed at the quality of the sounds on offer.Of course, some artists embraced the technology and used it for what it was... a source of progammable electronic rhythms.

The 808 enjoyed marginal success on the occasional record (Marvin Gaye's 'Sexual Healing' for example) but it wasn't a runaway success for Roland when it was released. What didn't help the TR808's fortunes at the time was that it wasn't cheap and few people could justisfy the expense of $1,000 for artificial, synthetic drum sounds. We certainly couldn't.

The TR808's fate was sealed, however, with the release of the LinnDrum two years later in 1982... a programable drum machine with 'real' drum sounds.... how could the 808 compete? It just couldn't and the TR808 all but sank without trace.

Until the birth of techno that is.

Believe it or not, there was a time when you couldn't give an 808 away and they were available in second-hand shops and the classifieds for silly prices. In the absence of any alternative, impoverished pioneers of the techno scene bought these cheap beatboxes and used (and abused!) them on their tracks. With the runaway success of this new musical style, the TR808 was suddenly fashionable.... in fact, its use was so widespread, you'd be forgiven for thinking that some law had been passed somewhere that made it compulsory to use an 808! But as well as fashionable, the 808 also became expensive and something that once languished in the window of a second-hand shop for $50 was now fetching upwards of $1,000 or more.

The 808's popularity continues to this day and still features in one way or another on a high percentage of records of varying musical styles and genres. However, more often than not, the sounds you hear will probably be samples of the original.

There's a lot to be said for using the original though. For a start, you get the 808's original 'sequencer' with it's rock solid timing. You also have a load of controls to play with to modify the key sounds such as kick and snare and, of course, multiple outputs to treat these sounds on a mixer.

Having said that, using samples of the original is very convenient and whilst you lose the ability to tweak the sounds in the same way as the original, it could be argued that once in a sampler, you can actually do more with the sounds plus, of course, you have full velocity control of the sounds. Using samples also means that you can integrate these sounds into a modern music making environment more easily.

The samples on here offer are taken from a website that seems to have lain dormant for eight years. The samples were originally created by one Michael Fischer who has carefully sampled almost every variation of the original's sounds directly from the output of the 808 with no processing or 'enhancement'. The result is a set of very authentic sounding 808 samples that would be indistinguishable from the real thing.

What is interesting, however, is how little variation there is on the original when you listen to the different samples side by side and whilst some of the sounds offer variable tuning, the range is minimal and nothing that cannot be achieved on a sampler with little (or no) effect on the original sound. Probably the most variable sound on the 808 is the snare drum where you have control over the tuning and also the balance of noise against the pitched 'tone' of the sound (using the curiously labelled 'SNAPPY' control). We have gone some way to recreate this using velocity crossfade:


Low velocity will trigger a sample with a low 'snappy' setting... medium velocity will trigger a sample with a 'snappy' setting of around halfway.... higher velocity will trigger a sample with a full-on 'snappy' setting.

So, rather than using the sampler's lowpass filter to emulate this effect as is often the case in other sample libraries, you are actually triggering authentic samples from the original at different velocities.

Two snare drums are available - a low pitched one and a high pitched one. Both use the velocity crossfade technique described above.

Other samples feature variations made on the original (for example, kick drum, hi-hats and cymbals) and we have chosen versions that best represent the sounds in question.

The samples are mapped out across the bottom two octaves with the drums spanning C1-B1 and the 'percussion' spanning C2-B2.

We have normalised all the original samples for optimum dynamics.

http://www.hollowsun.com/vintage/808/

[Martin Red]

House music takes its name from a Chicago, USA nightclub, the Warehouse, where a pulsating, mesmerising, predominantly electronic form of disco music became hugely popular in the early and mid-80s. House can be characterised by its relentless 4/4 tempo, its emphasised percussion (notably the bass or kick drum and hissing high-hat cymbals) combined with looped vocal codas, dramatic piano vamps, drum rolls and repetitive synthesiser riffs. Although he cannot be credited with its invention, DJ Frankie Knuckles from the South Bronx, New York, was certainly instrumental in refining the form. Knuckles was a protйgй of David Mancuso 's pivotal Manhattan "house parties" whose heyday was in the early to mid-70s. Knuckles had also worked with another groundbreaking DJ/sound engineer, Larry Levan and Nicky Siano - DJ at the famous New York club, the Gallery. In 1977, aged 22, Knuckles re-located from New York to Chicago to help establish a new club. The club became known as the Warehouse and an abbreviated form of the name eventually became synonymous with the extended, turbo-charged disco records that were invented specifically for its dancefloor. Between 1977 and 1981, the club's crowd was mainly black and gay, and Knuckles played disco anthems from labels such as Philadelphia International Records and Salsoul. To add extra zest to his sets, Knuckles began to manipulate the records themselves by transferring them onto reel-to-reel tape. He would then remix them to extend certain parts, such as the breakdown to bass and drums, and to emphasise and repeat others such as vocal codas or brass and orchestral "stabs'. These effects have since become the hallmarks of early house music. Although Levan and others had tried similar techniques in New York, in Chicago they were still striking and the impact of Knuckles' sets soon made the Warehouse the hottest Saturday night in town. An important innovation was Knuckles" introduction of pre-set percussion patterns from an early drum machine that he played in synchronicity with the records, to boost their kick and high-hat drum sounds.

In 1984, Knuckles left the Warehouse to set up a new club, the Powerplant. Around this time, he bought a Roland TR-909 drum instrument from the then unknown techno pioneer from Detroit, Derrick May . Again, Knuckles was able to supercharge the percussion sections of his records by adding the forceful and distinctive sound of the 909 to crash in dramatically, bridge between discs or "pump up the bass" - a technique he practised endlessly during the week in readiness for Saturday night. In parallel with these improvisations, radio DJs on Chicago's WBMX station - Farley Jackmaster Funk , Ralph Rosario, Kenny "Jammin'" Jason, Mickey "Mixin'" Oliver and Scott Seals (known as the Hot Mix 5) were perfecting the art of mixing - creating dynamic turntable collages by switching between record decks using a mixing unit. It was not long before they too incorporated drum machines and eventually synthesisers. It was here that the division between artist and DJ began to blur, as the manipulation of pre-recorded sound became more pronounced. Another Chicago club, the Music Box, was home to DJ, Ron Hardy , who was also creating powerful new sound with stripped down and extended synthetic drum sections. Like many clubs and raves before and since, the Music Box did not serve alcohol, tacitly embracing the use of drugs (PCP, large quantities of LSD and MDMA). This only served to intensify the atmosphere of abandon and ecstasy. This "symbiosis" between narcotics - including alcohol - and the music has remained at the heart of club culture ever since.

The new accessibility of technology, such as that made by Roland of Japan, served to empower those hedonists, dancers and DJs wishing to create their own soundscapes for the dancefloor. Many machines (the Roland 808 , 909 and 727 for example) .......................
cont. "history of house music"http://www.housemusic.by.ru/history1.htm

[JMJ]

The TR 808, 909, 707, and Linn Drum were the foundation for 99% of all the house music that came out of Chicago in the mid to late 80's. The funny thing is that the 808 was NEVER really cheap to buy here because it was in such demand......JMJ

[djyoavb]

b-b-b-b-b-bang the boxxx...
and when i get that feeling, i want sexual healinggg [img]graemlins/snoopy.gif[/img]

[Martin Red]

john mccready
bluffers guide: 808,909,303

This piece originally featured in Jockey Slut magazine as a lay man's primer to the old Japanese technology that almost all house and techno was founded on. Next stop Tomorrow's World for me....

Techno has turned ordinary record buyers into badly informed
technology-obsessives.
Sorry to put a spanner in your kraftwerks but Techno, in case you hadn’t noticed, has got fuck all to do with technology. The original
sounds of Detroit ( which spotters are still trying to
carbon copy ten years down the line) were made with
cheap boxes with less complex wiring in them than the average
pocket calculator. Derrick, and his Gary Numan
obsessed mates couldn’t afford anything else at the
time. Yet over zealous fan boys insist on making
simple music signifying a vague futurist agenda.
into an ideology. Little wonder then that the now
antiquated and outmoded equipment used by the early
pioneers of techno (and house too) has become over-
valued, over-priced and overworked in back bedrooms
and studios across the land. Can’t keep up with the
counter bores at your local specialist record store?
Find yourself wondering just what knobs the Chemical
Brothers are twisting so furiously during those
apocalyptic drum rolls? Feel like a girl when the lads
are talking techno-twaddle? Then read on for an
instant guide to the machines they all want for
Christmas.

If you need a reason why you can’t have a
decent conversation with any DJ who has been inside a
twenty-mile radius of a recording studio, then you
need to speak to Roland. Not Ro-land with the glasses
on from Grange Hill, but a Japanese electronic musical
instrument manufacturer who, opening for business in
1972, couldn’t have foreseen the influence its
percussive gadgets would have on a whole genre of
music. Roland’s first products were square-bear
synthesisers and pianos. Sales of their cheap and
cheerful Dr Rhythm Drum Machine in 1979 convinced
them however, that there was a demand for unrealistic
bongs, clicks and clonks.

Before the DR55, drum machines had looked like your mum's dressing
tables with flashing lights and sounded like the entire contents of a knife
draw been thrown down the stairs. And you couldn’t
program them either. Roland technology had invented
the future. Oh dear. Next stop, Depeche Mode.

If the DR 55 was a rhythmic Lada, the TR 808 was recognised
as a percussive Rolls Royce of its day. By the time
it had really started to make its mark around 1987, it
was almost a decade old and the cabaret pianists who
had originally bought it had also forgotten about it. It’s
sad to say that despite its quaint charms, the 808’s
familiarity has bred contempt. Although it can be
heard used in an almost inspirational manner on
Rhythim Is Rhythim’s ‘It Is What It Is’ and it’s
distinctive bass drum boom is still sworn by, it never
really had the punch to power house like the TR 909.
Still, Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing is built around it
and many mid-eighties soul records would be largely
empty had it not been made available. Add to this the
fact that, even now, you can’t make an Electro record
without sampling the endearingly crap cowbell sound,
and it’s clear that the TR 808 will go down in
rhythmic history.

The cream coloured horror box
referred to as the TR 909 might have gone down in
history too had a load of UK deadheads with ideas
buzzing around their empty heads like lonely wasps not
got their hands on this now creatively unsalvageable
machine. It got off to a good start in the hands of,
Farley, Armando, Mike Dunn and Steve Poindexter as the
essential jacking box. The 909 was house music and we
loved it dearly until some English burk found out you
could multiply the snare drum sound until it became a
kind of sonic blur, ever increasing in volume. Hey
Presto! A house DJ with the musical intelligence of a
Toto fan had invented the infamous drum roll- Saturday
night nightmare of every discerning dancer. Now its
sad subtlety- free thump plots the course of a million
double-pack remixes and, as a result of its popularity
with the under-educated, should you want to buy one,
you won't get much change from a grand. Cheaper say,
to sample yourself running a stick along the school
railings and far more original. If you still have a
909 and are feeling a bit of a herb by now, why not,
like Derrick May and Aphex Twin, pretend to your mates
that you have taken the top off yours and fiddled
around with it to make it sound better then everyone
else’s.

The Roland TR 303, smallest and most
influential box of them all, began life as an
impenetrable automated bass player. Only people with
heads as big as Brian Eno's could figure out how to work the
303. A commercial flop for Roland until...

The great Marshall Jefferson once told me that nobody in Chicago
could get anything out of this silver machine so
someone came up with the solution of taking the
batteries out, putting them back in, switching the 303
on and seeing what happened. That could explain a lot
of the nonsensical, impossible genius of early acid.
The batteries story is probably bollocks but, then
again, pre- 1987, you'd have died of shock had you
heard someone strolling down the street whistling
Acid Tracks. As a result of records like this, the 303
became known as the acid machine. Acid, put simply,
is the sound made by a constantly repeating pattern
modulated with the little knobs on the top of the
machine so it becomes bassier, then more extreme or
squelchy and distorted. Most of the great acid records
consist of a drum pattern and someone twisting these
knobs round for an hour or two. Boring now, I know,
but it sounded like all hell was being let loose back
then. The fact that the 303 died a creative death
several years back did not however stop Josh Wink from
making a career out of shaking his fake dreads around,
hunched over a 303 while treating us to the house equivalent
of a sad metal guitar solo. Add to this the fact that
lads with no shirts on, in the time-honoured fashion
of air guitarists at rawk shows across middle America,
now twist their thumbs and fingers around in mid-air
during the acid sections of progressive house records,
and it’s clear much damage has been done.

Yet, the simple aims of the faceless men from Osaka- to provide
the drummer-less with drums; the bass-less with bass,
have inadvertently provided us with a lot of great
music. Even so, the great house/techno dustbin is so
full of mindless nonsense, I suggest that, rather than
joining in when the lads start talking Roland
numbers, you should declare the conversation bollocks
and start talking about Moogs and Theremins like the
proper little clever dick I know you are

source = http://www.mccready.cwc.net/guide808.html

[dj c-los]

i saw one of these selling as a vintage beat machine on EBAY and was at about $1000.00.

Anyone know how much these sold for back in the days?

[Martin Red]

Originally posted by JMJ:
The TR 808, 909, 707, and Linn Drum were the foundation for 99% of all the house music that came out of Chicago in the mid to late 80's. The funny thing is that the 808 was NEVER really cheap to buy here because it was in such demand......JMJ

knowledge [img]graemlins/grinyes.gif[/img]

[djyoavb]

i still miss my 909... God knows i needed that money [img]graemlins/shudder.gif[/img]

[JMJ]

Originally posted by c-los medrano:
i saw one of these selling as a vintage beat machine on EBAY and was at about $1000.00.

Anyone know how much these sold for back in the days?

$400 - 500 in Chicago, mid '80's.......JMJ

[Martin Red]

A Brief History of Techno
Any given moment, countless individuals are listening to techno. It’s hard to believe that a mere ten years ago techno was considered an underground movement. Techno music has grown from virtual obscurity to a genre embraced by millions of listeners and musicians worldwide.

Why is techno so successful? Perhaps its recent popularity is due to the growing number of people who are accepting computer technology as an integral part of their lives. Because techno is created almost entirely with electronics, much of it has become an expression of the interface between humans and machines. This relationship developed quite recently.


Techno as we know it started with the German band Kraftwerk. In 1970, Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter began to churn out innovative electronic pop hits. In the United States Kraftwerk did not go unnoticed.

In the early ’80s a trio of pioneers in Detroit began merging the sounds of Kraftwerk with funk. Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson combined synthesizer beats with basslines inspired by Parliament, George Clinton, and Funkadelic. In 1983 Atkins and Richard Davies, aka 3070, released the hit “Techno City” under the name Cybotron. “Techno” was born.

Around the same time, the infant hip hop community picked up elements of Kraftwerk’s music, thanks to DJs like Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash, and created electro. Electro relied heavily on synthesized beats and computery vocoder voices. In 1982, Afrika Bambaataa took the melody from Kraftwerk’s “Trans-Europe Express,” combined it with the chunky beat from Kraftwerk’s “Numbers,” and composed the anthem “Planet Rock.” Electro spawned the idea of the funky computer. MCs rapped over its beats, and breakdancers formed a new culture in the cities where electro reigned.


Techno and electro were made possible by new, inexpensive technology. The Roland TR-808 , a programmable drum machine released in late 1980, formed the distinctive sound for the entire electro genre, and was used in countless early techno tracks...... cont. Brief history of Techno

[Martin Red]

The Stepchild


ROLAND TR-808 DRUM MACHINE


After pioneering the manufacture of drum machines, Roland began to lose its competitive edge in the early '80s, particularly when rival Linn introduced the LinnDrum, which featured beats derived from digitally sampled drums. For musicians in pursuit of an authentic sound, the LinnDrum overshadowed analog synthesizers like Roland's TR-808, which seemed mechanical by comparison. But the 808, introduced in 1979 as a tool for high-end professional musicians to record demos (original list price: $1,195), was slowly finding favor with producers of the then-nascent form of music now called hip hop. In 1982, a black Trekker from the South Bronx named Afrika Bambaataa and the downtown producer Arthur Baker used an 808 to record the intergalactically funky "Planet Rock," perhaps the single most influential track in the history of hip hop, techno, and electro music.

But Roland wasn't listening. It had already ceased production of the machine, even as Chicago DJs like Jesse Saunders picked up 808s secondhand and began using the box in an ingenious way: They "played" it live, like an electric guitar or any other old-fashioned instrument. Saunders employed the 808 as the unifying thump of his marathon 6- to 12-hour sets at the Playground club (which typically included "Planet Rock" and tunes by the B-52's). This was the dawn of house music, yet the TR-808 would play an even more crucial role in techno, especially after trailblazers like Juan Atkins embraced the little black box. Years later, electronic innovators were still name-checking the device. In 1988, a British group that helped define ambient techno named itself 808 State; in 1997, breakbeat scientist Optical redefined dark drum and bass with his sinister, sternum-rattling "Moving 808's" single. But many techno musicians were, and still are, drawn to the internal imperfections of the 808, to everything it wasn't, instead of everything Roland had wanted it to be.

"The 808 and the TR-909 [another key drum machine] both had what I'd call a certain 'slip' to them," explains second-wave Detroit techno pacesetter Richie Hawtin, also known as Plastikman. "They didn't lock at a certain exact tempo. Even when the tempo meter read 130 beats a minute, it only said that because there were just three digits in the counter. That timing slip gives those 808s a certain groove. You can actually open up an 808 and there's some extra knobs inside, so you can detune the box. You'll get lower tones, slightly snappier snares. These little knobs were manually set at the factory, so every 808 is completely different. My track, 'Spastik,' is basically just an 808. It's the most well-balanced track I've produced yet. And it's annihilated everybody who's ever heard it."

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1...ackbox_pr.html

[ June 28, 2004, 03:06 PM: Message edited by: Martin Red ]

[Chicago Skyway Music]

Did someone say TR-808?

:D

Sean Hernandez

p.s. I do miss my 909 though. :(

[JMJ]

When I was throwing the Glenwood parties in the mid 80's, I used to sync both the 808 and 909, run the 909 thru a Juno 106 and EM-U Emax via MIDI, and do impromptu jam sessions for 20-30 minutes at a time during my sets, mixing in an out of records with my own stuff and playing keyboards over the top of the records I was playing. I wasn't a great keyboard player, but hardly anybody else was really doing anything like that at the time so it went over BIG. The 909 was actually a great bassline sequencer if you activated the external instrument feature. Those parties were such a great time, mostly because you never knew what was going to go down......JMJ

[ June 28, 2004, 03:31 PM: Message edited by: JMJ ]

[djyoavb]

Originally posted by JMJ:
When I was throwing the Glenwood parties in the mid 80's, I used to sync both the 808 and 909, run the 909 thru a Juno 106 and EM-U Emax via MIDI, and do impromptu jam sessions for 20-30 minutes at a time during my sets, mixing in an out of records with my own stuff and playing keyboards over the top of the records I was playing. I wasn't a great keyboard player, but hardly anybody else was really doing anything like that at the time so it went over BIG. The 909 was actually a great bassline sequencer if you activated the external instrument feature. Those parties were such a great time, mostly because you never knew what was going to go down......JMJ

why won't u do such a session on one of your shows?

p.s.- promote it a few days b4 so we will know when to tune it ;)

p.p.s.- emax2+909- my very first setup

[ June 28, 2004, 05:21 PM: Message edited by: djyoavb ]

[Supine]

The 303 was the most influencial instrument in my musical history. A machine from out of space.

Respect to the 303, 606, 707, 808, and 909 creators.

[djyoavb]

.

[ June 28, 2004, 05:36 PM: Message edited by: djyoavb ]

[djyoavb]

.

[Chicago Skyway Music]

Originally posted by JMJ:
When I was throwing the Glenwood parties in the mid 80's, I used to sync both the 808 and 909, run the 909 thru a Juno 106 and EM-U Emax via MIDI, and do impromptu jam sessions for 20-30 minutes at a time during my sets, mixing in an out of records with my own stuff and playing keyboards over the top of the records I was playing. I wasn't a great keyboard player, but hardly anybody else was really doing anything like that at the time so it went over BIG. The 909 was actually a great bassline sequencer if you activated the external instrument feature. Those parties were such a great time, mostly because you never knew what was going to go down......JMJ

Did I mention I miss my 909. :(

Sean Hernandez

[Martin Red]

Originally posted by Sean Hernandez:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by JMJ:
When I was throwing the Glenwood parties in the mid 80's, I used to sync both the 808 and 909, run the 909 thru a Juno 106 and EM-U Emax via MIDI, and do impromptu jam sessions for 20-30 minutes at a time during my sets, mixing in an out of records with my own stuff and playing keyboards over the top of the records I was playing. I wasn't a great keyboard player, but hardly anybody else was really doing anything like that at the time so it went over BIG. The 909 was actually a great bassline sequencer if you activated the external instrument feature. Those parties were such a great time, mostly because you never knew what was going to go down......JMJ

Did I mention I miss my 909. :(

Sean Hernandez </font>[/QUOTE]"Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all"

How much would a decent used 909 be now ? btw

[JMJ]

Originally posted by Martin Red:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Sean Hernandez:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by JMJ:
When I was throwing the Glenwood parties in the mid 80's, I used to sync both the 808 and 909, run the 909 thru a Juno 106 and EM-U Emax via MIDI, and do impromptu jam sessions for 20-30 minutes at a time during my sets, mixing in an out of records with my own stuff and playing keyboards over the top of the records I was playing. I wasn't a great keyboard player, but hardly anybody else was really doing anything like that at the time so it went over BIG. The 909 was actually a great bassline sequencer if you activated the external instrument feature. Those parties were such a great time, mostly because you never knew what was going to go down......JMJ

Did I mention I miss my 909. :(

Sean Hernandez </font>[/QUOTE]"Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all"

How much would a decent used 909 be now ? btw </font>[/QUOTE]$800 - $1000 US.........JMJ

[Chip_E]

Originally posted by Martin Red:
House music takes its name from a Chicago, USA nightclub, the Warehouse, where a pulsating, mesmerising, predominantly electronic form of disco music became hugely popular in the early and mid-80s. House can be characterised by its relentless 4/4 tempo, its emphasised percussion (notably the bass or kick drum and hissing high-hat cymbals) combined with looped vocal codas, dramatic piano vamps, drum rolls and repetitive synthesiser riffs. Although he cannot be credited with its invention, DJ Frankie Knuckles from the South Bronx, New York, was certainly instrumental in refining the form. Knuckles was a protйgй of David Mancuso 's pivotal Manhattan "house parties" whose heyday was in the early to mid-70s. Knuckles had also worked with another groundbreaking DJ/sound engineer, Larry Levan and Nicky Siano - DJ at the famous New York club, the Gallery. In 1977, aged 22, Knuckles re-located from New York to Chicago to help establish a new club. The club became known as the Warehouse and an abbreviated form of the name eventually became synonymous with the extended, turbo-charged disco records that were invented specifically for its dancefloor. Between 1977 and 1981, the club's crowd was mainly black and gay, and Knuckles played disco anthems from labels such as Philadelphia International Records and Salsoul. To add extra zest to his sets, Knuckles began to manipulate the records themselves by transferring them onto reel-to-reel tape. He would then remix them to extend certain parts, such as the breakdown to bass and drums, and to emphasise and repeat others such as vocal codas or brass and orchestral "stabs'. These effects have since become the hallmarks of early house music. Although Levan and others had tried similar techniques in New York, in Chicago they were still striking and the impact of Knuckles' sets soon made the Warehouse the hottest Saturday night in town. An important innovation was Knuckles" introduction of pre-set percussion patterns from an early drum machine that he played in synchronicity with the records, to boost their kick and high-hat drum sounds.

In 1984, Knuckles left the Warehouse to set up a new club, the Powerplant. Around this time, he bought a Roland TR-909 drum instrument from the then unknown techno pioneer from Detroit, Derrick May . Again, Knuckles was able to supercharge the percussion sections of his records by adding the forceful and distinctive sound of the 909 to crash in dramatically, bridge between discs or "pump up the bass" - a technique he practised endlessly during the week in readiness for Saturday night. In parallel with these improvisations, radio DJs on Chicago's WBMX station - Farley Jackmaster Funk , Ralph Rosario, Kenny "Jammin'" Jason, Mickey "Mixin'" Oliver and Scott Seals (known as the Hot Mix 5) were perfecting the art of mixing - creating dynamic turntable collages by switching between record decks using a mixing unit. It was not long before they too incorporated drum machines and eventually synthesisers. It was here that the division between artist and DJ began to blur, as the manipulation of pre-recorded sound became more pronounced. Another Chicago club, the Music Box, was home to DJ, Ron Hardy , who was also creating powerful new sound with stripped down and extended synthetic drum sections. Like many clubs and raves before and since, the Music Box did not serve alcohol, tacitly embracing the use of drugs (PCP, large quantities of LSD and MDMA). This only served to intensify the atmosphere of abandon and ecstasy. This "symbiosis" between narcotics - including alcohol - and the music has remained at the heart of club culture ever since.

The new accessibility of technology, such as that made by Roland of Japan, served to empower those hedonists, dancers and DJs wishing to create their own soundscapes for the dancefloor. Many machines (the Roland 808 , 909 and 727 for example) .......................
cont. "history of house music"http://www.housemusic.by.ru/history1.htm

Lots of fiction in this article.
The truest fact is "he cannot be credited with its invention".
Nothing against Mr. Knuckles, but those who believe that a DJ created House Music by playing other people's records, must also believe that Dick Clark invented Rock & Roll.

Standby for some devastating truths in
"The Unusual Suspects - Once Upon a Time in House Music".

-e.

[Mocambo]

Originally posted by Sean Hernandez:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by JMJ:
When I was throwing the Glenwood parties in the mid 80's, I used to sync both the 808 and 909, run the 909 thru a Juno 106 and EM-U Emax via MIDI, and do impromptu jam sessions for 20-30 minutes at a time during my sets, mixing in an out of records with my own stuff and playing keyboards over the top of the records I was playing. I wasn't a great keyboard player, but hardly anybody else was really doing anything like that at the time so it went over BIG. The 909 was actually a great bassline sequencer if you activated the external instrument feature. Those parties were such a great time, mostly because you never knew what was going to go down......JMJ

Did I mention I miss my 909. :(

Sean Hernandez </font>[/QUOTE]I love the sound of the 909