The Egyptian Lover deserves a mention! He championed the 808 throughout his whole career and taught Luke Skyywalker to program the machine, who went on to form 2 Live Crew and pioneer miami bass Btw didn’t know that A Guy Called Gerald was part of 808 State! Thanks for the great video and history lesson 👏
Egypt is THE King and Ambassador of the 808. Playing it live is even an integral part of his live show. Of course the "Planet Rock/Numbers" groove is the basic, yes, but Egypt takes that to levels far beyond that.
Yeah Gerald contributed to the 808 state album new build and he programmed the drums for Pacific , his song voodoo Ray was originally called voodoo rage but he didn't have enough memory so it became Ray, he made the song originally for a Manchester dance crew called foot patrol
As somebody who has been both a Hip Hop and a Techno Industrial DJ, I really appreciate you did not skip "Dig It" by Skinny Puppy. Back in the days I used to fake out the Goth kids in the mix by throwing Hip Hop acapellas over this and other Electro Industrial rhythms. Thank You for showing the whole picture!
@@_emory Yeah, relistening to the discography now. Check out "Limbo" from the album Service. The bass line in that one was really good. Their last album was actually called City of Light, in the 2010's under HAS/YMO. The main track ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mnPkiVRbJts.htmlsi=dyWe0qloITfGB3wy is great and available on RU-vid.
Another superb TR-808 based track is The Sisters Of Mercy's "Temple Of Love". Like Skinny Puppy's "Dig It", it's used in an unusual context, but rather than industrial in the case of "Temple Of Love" it's guitar based rock. I think they put the snare through a guitar amp, cranked it up, and then recorded it with a close mic to get a heavier sound. That was a classic trick used by a lot of guitar bands with drum machines - check out The Cure's "One Hundred Years" where they did the same with a Boss DR-55 Dr Rhythm.
I absolutely love the Sisters Of Mercy, every song they made apart from the first single damage done were all different drum machines (doktor avalanche), I've tried my best to recreate floorshow and heartland but they are well beyond my skills 😂😂
Floorshow sounds like the TR-606 that replaced the DR-55 they used on Body Electric. But it sounds like there is also an acoustic floor tom on the studio version of Floorshow providing that "tribal" drum pattern.
This was absolutely fantastic. Loved it. My kids have seen a poster of the 808 on my wall for years and are just learning what it actually is…even though they already know the sound so well from many of the songs they’ve grown up with (ie the songs I’ve brainwashed them into liking!)
Hi Captain, another great album recorded with an 808 is "Clics Modernos" by Charly García, one of the best musicians from Argentina (and maybe spanish rock in general) of all times. Songs like "Nos siguen pegando abajo" or "No soy un extraño" were really memorable for an entire generation of young people, who were living in a dictatorial government by the time. Greatings from Argentina, y aguante Charly loco
I just *cannot* get over how good that 8raw8 sounds, easily the best 808 there's ever been (yeah, I know what I'm saying. Original 808s had a budget to contend with, this one did not, it's basically taken the brilliant original design and building it to the highest level of quality possible, free of mass market budget constraints. Best 808 out there is the 8raw8 and I will die on that hill). I really want them to make a 9raw9 0_0.
You’re amazing , I just found you and I’m so excited. I have a 303,606,808&909 waiting for me to learn for two years and I’m finally out of the hospital and I’m so excited . I love acid house and the classic 303 acid house sound so much. 808 hip hop beats are my fuckin shit . I can’t wait ! I have so much gear to learn now that I’m using it to host shows. I suddenly have an excessive amount of kontrollers drum machines , synths , CDJ2000s/DGM900. I never had a chance as it was always being used as I rented mine out (as long as I could be there making sure some trap DJ doesn’t spill beer on them.) Thanks for igniting that excitement again :) RU-vid did the algorithm right for once Please never stop making videos This was so sick and inspiring You’re brilliant ! Whenever someone brings out a synth /drum machine beside the CDJs I know some real shitnis about to play lol.
'Clear' and 'Voodoo Ray' are up there as my fave tunes of all time. The 808 is truly the beat to my youth. Honourable mention goes to the Egyptian Lover, of course.
@@RandoManFPVyou’re not alone in this man 😂 I’m a total newb 🤝 The subject matter is fascinating, and I foresee a massive rabbit hole in my very near future 🔮 Maybe by this time you’ll have fallen into that same rabbit hole and you’ll have learned so much that these jokes totally make sense to you!!! 😊
Yes, apparently even Tadao Kikumoto didn't know that Roland lent one to YMO, he was very surprised when he heard it during the live broadcast :) The first album to feature the TR-808 is a not so clear cut case, however. One of the other records that lay claim to the throne is "The Monitors - Nobody Told Me". According to Dan Leroy's book "Dancing to the Drum Machine" the first person to record with an 808 may have been Suzanne Ciani. She began work on her album "Seven Waves" in 1979, but it was not released until three years later.
Oh my gooooosh, this is awesome! :D I really like the structuring of the video and how you alternated between 808 history, introducing a song's drum pattern and explaining it before giving it a play, said pattern selections are nice, the visuals are clean, the bits of humor sprinkled around were funny, and the end jam almost made me want to cry (especially with the spacey chords at 18:03 (and then the further harmonizing at 18:23, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa))~ 💙
Ultra huge mad props 👌 for mentioning skinny puppy in the video🙏 one of my favorite bands of all time! They're actually on their farewell tour right now. I have tickets to see them in San Francisco in November. I can't wait to see them. if there's one artist I would love you to do a video on with his drum programming skills is cEvin Key of said band. His ability to make abstract beets and the level of detail he gives to the sound sculpting and sound design of his drum sounds (along with everything else in his music) is on another level in his own time 🎹🎛️🎚️🎧👌🙏🙏🙏
Glad you liked it! "Smothered Hope" was another one I transcribed by Skinny Puppy. I'm always amazed how different their beats sound compared to everything else out there. Have fun at the concert :)
@@CaptainPikant thank you I heard that smothered Hope was actually done on a tr-909 if you want to hear some crazy rhythms that cEvin Key has done check out his project "download" in particular the first two albums furnis, and the eyes of Stanley pain
What a great video! Props for not using all the usual examples we see, I learned a lot! One overlooked jam is How We Do by The Game featuring 50 Cent. Classic 808 simplicity resulting in a hit
A song I’m convinced was conceived from goofing around with the 808 is “Now This is Fun” by Depeche Mode. It was incidentally also the first song of theirs that I really truly loved due to its quirky rhythm changes in the bridge.
If anyone out there in the Pikant army is wanting that classic Roland sound on a budget, the Roland T-8 is what you need...hoping Cap will profile it one day. A combo of 808 and 909 drums with a 303 style bass thrown in for good measure, and a 32 step sequencer, all for just under 200 bux. My only gripe...no cowbell?!? Maybe in a software update. Oh, also, it has a built-in rechargeable battery, and it's teeny. Again, hoping Cap takes a gander later on. And thanks man, GREAT mini-doc...that aquatic epic band is a joint that missed me completely back in the day!
Those are the ones that I also think of when it comes to the 808... Also Lil Suzy "take me in your arms" and Jocelyn Enríquez "Do you miss me"... And Planet Soul "Set you free"..... This was also considered as latin hip hop/freestyle/ heartthrob and when it came to Ghost Town Djs, that style was considered Miami Bass...
You CAN do the rapid fire trap hats on an 808. It has the ability to alternate between two 16 step patterns. So instead of treating those as two 16 step patterns, just treat it as one 32 step pattern. So instead of the beats being 1, 5, 9, and 13 they are 1 and 9 on both patterns. So now adjacent steps in a pattern are 32nd notes rater than 16th notes. You just have to boost the tempo to compensate for the longer pattern. I just did this with my Key Step Pro and the Electronic (808) sound card for my Roland R-8M. On the KSP you can set the time division to 32nds. So I didn't have to double the tempo. It works great. It gets me the machine gun style trap hats. One nice thing about the R-8M (and presumably the R8) is that it responds to MIDI pitch. So I can live tweak the pitch of the sounds. The R-8M is a fantastic drum sound unit. I HIGHLY recommend it.
In case you're referring to 15:43 (Sweatpants): Yes, with a 32 step pattern (A+B) and a 2x tempo multiplier/scale you can get double rolls. But for quintuplet rolls like in Sweatpants you'd need 5 x 16 = 80 steps and more importantly 5 x 80 = 400 BPM. As far as I've read the 808 only went to 300 BPM. Granted, you could switch to a 32nd note scale for double speed and just set it to 200 BPM. But come on, that pattern would look like a swiss cheese with mostly holes. Who would do that? Okay, says the guy who obsessed over programming "Hunter" on a 909. I stand corrected :) ❤
Do you remember “Rebirth” from Steinberg, with one 808, two 303’s and a 909, could play weeks on end with that. Early nineties a genre was born called Gabber, with heavily distorted 808 base drums and annoying screaming Juno 60 sweeps. Still love that!
That was the first "DAW" I used lol. I guess it was more like a digital groovebox? Anyway, yes! You could make a beat with the 808 and the 909 simultaneously, really pretty versatile right there. And then then like you said the two baselines. I still have a small handful of terrible but dear and precious songs I created way back when...1998 or 1999 maybe.
Very nice, and superbly presented! sold my 808 in the 80's, even after I discovered how good the fully decayed bass drum sounded on a PA speaker system.. Love the rimshot of it, and here's a wonderful piece from 2012 which is 75 percent 808: Romare, Freedom (Aspirations of a Prisoner)
Richard Browns remix of Laurie Anderson - superman. Also Carl Craig -demented drums. Your videos are just wonderful, informative and entertaining, both on such a high level. Keep up the good work!
I REALLY enjoyed that! Thanks for making this! Long time Roland fan! I didn't know the R8 had an 808 expansion! That's wild! I got to program an 808 back in day for someone I was working with who owned one. It was a real joy!
here in brazil, the early stages of brazilian funk really used the 808!! recently, fbc' "baile" brought back that sound that we had in the late 90s and early 2000s!!!!!!
The videos are incredible and very educational, giving an insight how beats and songs were programmed. Please take a look at 1980’s groups: Information Society (Running, and What is on Your Mind), Noel (Silent Morning), TKA (X-Ray Vision), and Company B (Fascinated).
Awesome video, thanks. It probably was not easy at all to select the 16 tunes. Too many to choose from. My favorite 808 artist btw is Dive. Dirk just knows how the 808 likes to be (ab)used. 😁
Thank you so much. YMO of course gets credit for the first use of the 808. But what was later called 'Miami Bass' was directly influenced by early singles from The Egyptian Lover and Mantronix. One can't really talk about the 808 without mentioning their contributions. You've already done a bit on The Egyptian Lover. But please study 'The King of the Beats' himself, Kurtis Mantronik from the pioneering hip-hop/electro group Mantronix. Not only did he help make the 808 famous, he also was an early user of the 606 and 909. It's all there to be enjoyed on their albums, The Album and Music Madness as well as productions for T La Rock like Bass Machine, etc.
Hi Meowlifornia :) I've actually already transcribed "In Full Effect" by Mantronix, it's one of my favourite beats but ultimately we had to cut it to get down to 16 patterns.
Also the band Change during their Jam & Lewis production era. Warm (my favourite track) has some great cowbell! And in a similar vein, The S.O.S Band too.
It's interesting you put Skinny Puppy on this list, because the song I think of immediately when the 808 comes up is "The Soul That Creates", from 1983. It's one of the deadliest industrial tracks ever made, and it's slow and heavy with 808. In fact they had tons of TR808 on all their early records.
I might have to check out some of these patterns on my TR8S that I recently got to help me learn how to punch in patterns on it faster. I've literally not even had it a full day yet and I think I found a good afternoon activity.
This is so good and exactly what I need thank you 🙏
8 месяцев назад
So that's it! It's the 808 cowbell sound that we heard everywhere in the 80's! I always wondered where the heck that electronic metallic sound came from. And that orchestra blast too! So iconic!
Thanks for including YMO. Other songs worth to mention imho which became dancefloor 80s classics with the TR-808: Klein & MBO's "Dirty Talk", Man Parrish's "Hip Hop. Be Bop ( Don't Stop)" The Sos Band's "Just be good to me" Strafe's "Set it off" Loose Ends' "Hanging on a string" ( with reverse f/x ) Little Louis' "French Kiss"
Great vid. I’ve always loved the 808 pattern on Sarah Mclachlan’s ‘Mary’ from Fumbling toward ecstasy. Producer Pierre Marchand loves the 808. Turns our Sarah doesn’t.
Although this is a great video about the history of the 808 and some of the most famous patterns created on it, this is also a wonderful demo of the 8raw8. I now wish I had bought an 8raw8 instead of an Aciddlab Miami. The 8raw8 sounds so much more authentic to the original 808 in tone, plus the mods that make it even better, like the bassdrum tuning. I also have the Behringer RD-8, which sounds very good, but the 8raw8 sounds even better than that!!! I want an 8raw8 now!!! It is by far the best sounding 808 clone I've heard. So yeah, you did right to buy "this thing." Thanks for making this wonderful video!!
Glad you liked it! I'm really happy with the 8raw8. But don't dismiss the Miami, it just does its own thing. I have an Acidlab Drumatix which I like very much :)
@CaptainPikant Yes. I do like the Miami. The bassdrum has a nice long decay, which is what drew me to it. The snare and hats are nice too. The main thing that disappoints me with the Miami is the clap. Now, the clap on the Behringer is okay (just okay), but the clap on the 8raw8 just nails it!!!! I also own two original TR808s so I know what it's supposed to sound like. The 8raw8 is the closest I've heard.
