You may not know the 808 drum machine, but you have definitely heard it: the original Roland TR-808 was the first programmable drum machine and has been a mainstay of electronic music ever since.

That headline sounds suspect, but it is the most succinct way to explain why the Roland TR-808 drum machine has a very distinct, and difficult to replicate noise circuit. The drum machine was ...

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A physical drum machine is essentially a box that plays drum sounds. They can either use synthesized sounds or audio samples.

Aside from a few interesting outliers, most hardware drum machines come equipped with a step sequencer that will be loosely rooted in the design used by Roland’s classic 808 and 909. However ...