Make Roland TR-808 Hi Hat samples sound “real”.

Posted December 28th, 2007 by Oliver Chesler
Filed Under: plug-ins, sounds

Ableton Live - Impulse and Filter

The Roland TR-808 is my favorite drum machine. To hear a real one in action check out Cocteau Twins - Garlandssongs like Jam on It by Newcleas, Shallow Then Halo by the Cocteau Twins or Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye.

On eBay they usually go for well over $1000 USD so not everyone can afford one. Even if you do own one sometimes using samples is just more convenient. A big tip off to seasoned listeners that your faking it is the Hi Hat sound of most samples. Here is a trick that John Selway showed me on how to make Roland TR-808 samples sound more real.

Roland TR-808

I’m going to use Ableton Live’s built-in Auto Filter but any filter plug-in should work. This is a very simple trick but once you hear it “fix” the sound you may use it often. I am trying to get rid of it that symbalance, feathery, super high digital sound and replace it with something more metallic and clear. Check out the original untreated samples in action here:

Make sure your Hi Hats are on a separate audio channel and add Auto Filter as an insert. Grab the fluorescent yellow dot inside the automation display and drag it about a centimeter to the left and a half centimeter upwards. The kHz should read about 7.01 and the Q about 1.60. Take a listen to the Hi Hats now:

Now take a listen to what these improved Hi Hats sound like in action. Here they are in a song called Body to Body off my new album Attack Decay: click here

Here are a few places you can find Roland TR-808 samples online. Keep in mind that Roland TR-808’s sound different from each other, have lots of tuning settings and can be recorded many different ways. The kb6 set is free, the Gold Baby set was recorded to tape and my personal favorite is the Wizoo set.

If you know of any good TR-808 sample sets online let me know in the comments.

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6 Responses to “Make Roland TR-808 Hi Hat samples sound “real”.”
  1. Kent Sandvik Says:
    December 28th, 2007 at 12:52 pm

    I like 808, but I must say the times I need the sound, I just use the default 808 drum set inside Logic. RMIV from LinPlug also has nice 808 samples, and Linplug should actually very soon release the new version of their drum plug-in. –Kent

  2. Pete Says:
    December 31st, 2007 at 5:35 am

    http://samples.kb6.de/downloads.php

  3. Pete Says:
    December 31st, 2007 at 5:36 am

    ^^^Eek - sorry you’ve already mentioned that site! Feel free to delete.

  4. Bayan Says:
    May 6th, 2008 at 4:10 am

    Hi Oliver, in the article you say this is a trick to make 808 samples sound more real, I unfortunately never touched one real 808 machine, but aren’t the samples you are processing taken from a REAL machine? could you please clarify the concept behind this trick, namely, why do you need to make the samples sound more real when they are already real enough as it is?
    if there is an aesthetical agenda to it, and you just need to color them into a certain tone then it’s whole ‘nother thing

  5. Oliver Chesler Says:
    May 6th, 2008 at 4:20 am

    Hi Bayan. I find a lot of samples sound feathery with too much high end. I like my 808s to sound slightly chrome or metallic. Most real TR-808s actually sound different from each other. Even emulations like D16s Nepheton have 808 presets each with slightly different tunings/sound. I have a Wizoo set of samples that I dont use a filter on but on some of my other kits in Battery or Impulse I do use it. You know… trust your ears and pick what you like!

  6. Bayan Says:
    May 6th, 2008 at 5:59 am

    Appreciate it, Oliver, thank you ;-)

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