Grade 3 and a Drum Machine from Selwyn House School on Vimeo.

This is how it all begins with a little honest playtime. One of these kids will go home and dream of drum patterns. They will hear 808s on records and know where the sounds came from. They will realize how special that machine they played with was. One may become the next Hawtin. I started young obsessing over a TRS-80 Color Computer. When I hit my teenage years, fell in love and heard Depeche Mode it was all over. I knew my calling.

“During computer class some of the grade 3s decided to teach themselves how to program a 30-year-old Roland TR-808 drum machine.” – Selwyn House School

photo credit: fr4dd

808 Drum programming (by Eekkoo) from Eekkoo on Vimeo.

Roland TR-727 from Clocklife on Vimeo.

I start my songwriting with the drums. Touching actual buttons and watching flashing lights go left to right as the sequencer plays is more fun than pushing around a mouse. My iPad is getting a lot of attention these days for the fun factor too but the sound is not exactly the same.

“The famous Roland TR-808 was also launched in 1980. At the time it was received with little fanfare, as it did not have digitally sampled sounds; drum machines using digital samples were much more popular. In time, though, the TR-808, along with its successor, the TR-909 (released in 1984), would become a fixture of the burgeoning underground dance, techno, and hip-hop genres, mainly because of its low cost (relative to that of the Linn machines), and the unique character of its analogue-generated sounds.” – Wikipedia

For more info: wikipedia.org/Drum_machine

photo credit: Ethan Hein

2 Korg iElectribe Loops by thingstocome

Funkbox iPad -TR-808 Loop by thingstocome

So I’ve had my iPad for about a week and I can say it actually is a very different experience than the iPhone. Case in point the are drum machine Apps above. Funkbox on the iPhone is ok but I never really used it past a novelty show off item. On the iPad I can sit comfortably and knock out loops with pleasure. The iElectribe really knocks you out. It feels like hardware. Fanboyism aside if you have not had a chance to play with these and you make electronic music go do so.

Is it real or Memorex?

For more info: Funkbox and iElectribe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmt0ru2Y7wQ

FunkBox looks like it will be the most fun drum machine emulation on the iPhone yet. Coming soon for $1.99.

“Demo of the FunkBox Drum Machine iphone app from Synthetic Bits. FunkBox is a pocket-sized emulation of a classic vintage beatboxes, along with all their dirt and quirks.” – syntheticbits.com

For more info: syntheticbits.com

UPDATE… Available now: click here (iTunes link) Definitely fun!

I’ve said many times the Roland TR-808 is the king of all drum machines. It has the sharpest deepest kick with the most attack, snares and hats that sound like lighting and a sequencer that makes any beat sound incredible. I love this machine so much I think I subconsciously liked songs because they had an 808 on them (all before I even knew what a Roland TR-808 was!). I love this video above where a bunch of classics with 808 drums were recreated on an Korg Electribe SX. I own everyone one of these songs on 12″.

Here’s a few ways into 808 land: AcidLab Miami (German recreation) $1399, GoldBaby The Tape808 (samples) $24, D16 Nepheton (virtual plug-in recreation) 139 EUR

“Recreations, again by ear, of some classic early 80s beats that were originally made on a Roland TR-808 drummachine. This became the signature sound for freestyle music and later for house. Mantronix – 808 Beats, Shannon – Let the Music Play, Freeez – IOU, Man Parrish – Hip Hop Bebop, GLOBE & Whiz Kid -. Play that Beat Mr. DJ, Nineteen – Paul Hardcastle (iTunes link), C.O.D. – In the Bottle, Marvin Gaye – Sexual Healing” – Harlem Nights Music

For more info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_TR-808

My studio in the early 90s was full of hardware mixers and long patch cable strung all over the place. Before computers with fast CPUs the way to get an original sound was simply plugging hardware boxes into each other. Electrocomp-101 synthesizer into a Boss Pedal into a Korg Digital Delay and so forth. I always felt like a pioneer pushing the equipment to unintended limits.

My favorite trick that I never actually heard anyone else do was something I called the “Wicked 106″. I created 16 slightly different patches on a Roland Juno-106. Next, I would create a 16th note pattern in Dr. Ts KCS. Here’s the trick: I would then put a different Program Change (number) on each of the steps. You never heard a Juno-106 sound so interesting. It really made the 106 sound like a modular going through a step sequencer.

“What most don’t know about the original TR-808, aside from it’s original voices (sounds) there is a “pulse” sound that you can hear when plugging a cable from the ACcent trigger out, it generates a metallic “zap” sound very similar to a Hi Q (sound from the Roland R-8) This sound was used in “Egypt Egypt” and “Funkbox” from Masterdon. THIS IS HOW THE SOUND IS DONE!!!!” – intromix

Do you remember an old hardware trick you used to do?

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Klaus Suessmuth of Acidlab. He is the man behind some killer Roland hardware clones. Not only does he replicate the sounds of the originals to the extreme detail he also takes the time to extend the feature sets of these ancient machines. To top it off Acidlab hardware looks great!

I think the Roland TR-808 is the king of all drum machines sound wise. How close does the Acidlab Miami sound to a vintage TR-808?

Closer than any other 808 clone. Without a direct comparison not possible. The differences of the sounds are just in the pitch and in the range of the variation of the original. The Bassdrums decay is increased.

Does the Miami have a fully analog signal path?

The Miami has the same analog sound-circuits of the TR-808. The components are replaced with new components. In some sound-circuits, the original parts were used to achieve the same sound.

What features does the Miami have that a vintage TR-808 does not?

• programming on the fly (tap-write)
• all the modes (track write, track play, pattern write and pattern play) can be changed without stopping the sequencer
• two shuffle-modes
• synchronization with midi-clock
• midi mode (instruments can be played with midi notes,
• less noise and less 50Hz, because of newer opamps and no transformer in the housing

Let’s talk about how you make your wonderful toys. Do you manufacture all the Acidlab products by hand in Germany or do you outsource some of the labor to a small factory?

The electronic is assembled from a factory, I do the calibration and the rest of the assembling.

How long does it take to make a Miami?

Too long! Have to do a lot improvements on the production workflow.

Have you ever been to Miami Florida?

Yes, once in the airport on the way to costa-rica, with no money left (all was gone for the fly-ticket) …..

You have created some very nice clone machines. Have you thought about making an all original design? For example, I love my Vermona DRM1 MKIII…

The Bombass is an all original design! I have done a lot of  special moduls for my modular systems as prototyps…

Do you also keep another day job? Exotic dancer? Software developer? Sherpa?

Of course – Design and research as electronic developer in a big German firm. Main topics are powerelectronics and low noise sensor systems with highest resolution.

If you caught someone in your home stealing all your music equipment would you: A) Kill them.  B) Forgive them and give them 20 Euros for food. C) Tie them up and make them watch DJ Scooter videos for 24 hours.

They will get crazy from using my equipment !

Tell us some links where to find your products, websites, videos and anything else!

www.acidlab.de

In the US, contact: analoguehaven.com

MySpace:
myspace.com/acidlab_bassline
myspace.com/acidlab_bombass
myspace.com/acidlab_miami

Here’s a video of what I am working on in the studio today. This time I have not written the lyrics in advance so I have it saved as the generic name “new_neu”. I created a vintage analog TR-808 drum kit by dragging the song “Is There an Exit?” by Absolute Body Control into the arrangement view in Ableton Live. I then isolated drum sounds and dragged them into empty slots of the Impulse drum plug-in. I erased the original song, hit tab to enter session view and created some new drum patterns. I don’t always lift drum samples from finished songs but in this case for this new song I want a truly special vintage sound.

I have several analog synthesizers wired into my audio interface ready to go and today I called upon the Electrocomp-101 and Roland SH3. At first I record some noise, resonances and effects. It’s hard to describe how I choose what I like but I know it when I hear it.

I want to show my friends who do not use Ableton Live how I fire off horizontal rows of clips to test arrangements. In the video you can see on the far right side column numbered scenes. I named two of them verse and chorus. When I click the small triangle next to the scene number or name it fires off any clips on that row. You can have as many scenes as you like.

This is an amazing playground for arrangement ideas. I can test different verses, chorus and bridges all before I move things to the arrangement view. In other DAWs you have to set up a loop at the beginning of your arrangement and basically hope for the best.