The Roland TB-303 Bass Line is a synthesizer with built-in sequencer manufactured by the Roland corporation in 1982 and 1983 that had a defining role in the development of contemporary electronic music. A synthesizer (or synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument designed to produce electronically generated sound, using techniques such as additive, subtractive, FM, physical modelling synthesis, or phase distortion. ... In the field of electronic music, a sequencer was originally any device that recorded and played back a sequence of control information for an electronic musical instrument. ... Roland Corporation TYO: 7944 is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Electronic music is a term for music created using electronic devices. ...

The TB-303 (named for "Transistor Bass") was originally marketed to guitarists for bass accompaniment while practicing alone. Production lasted approximately 18 months, resulting in only 10,000 units. The TB-303 is considered a collector's item today, often valued at US$800 to 1000. It was not until the mid- to late-1980s that DJs and electronic musicians in Chicago found a use for the machine in the context of the newly developing house music genre. Assorted transistors A transistor is a semiconductor device that uses a small amount of voltage or electrical current to control a larger change in voltage or current. ... Bass (IPA: [], rhyming with face), when used as an adjective, describes tones of low frequency or range. ... In music accompaniment is the art of playing along with a soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner as well as the music thus played. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ... For other meanings of DJ, see DJ (disambiguation). ... Nickname: The Windy City, The Second City, Chi Town, The City of Big Shoulders The 312 Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in Chicagoland and Illinois Coordinates: Country United States State Illinois County Cook Incorporated March 4, 1837 Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ...

Phuture's "Acid Trax" is widely acknowledged to have been the first Acid House recording to incorporate prototypical TB-303 sounds. Earlier recordings featuring the TB-303 can be traced back as far as the early Electro scene, including artists such as Ice T, Newcleus, and Mantronix, as well as pop musicians such as Heaven 17 and Section 25. Phuture (known as Phuture 303 since 1996) are a musical group. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... A yellow smiley face is considered the emblem of Acid House. ... Electro, short for electro funk (also known as robot hip hop and Electro hop) is an electronic style of hip hop directly influenced by Kraftwerk and funk records (unlike earlier rap records which were closer to disco). ... Tracy Marrow (born February 16, 1958), better known as Ice T or Ice-T, is an American rapper, singer and actor. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Heaven 17 is a British synthpop band originating in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England in the early 1980s. ... Section 25 were an English post-punk band. ...

In the early 90's, as new Acid styles emerged, the 303 was often overdriven, producing a harsher sound. Examples of this technique include Hardfloor's 1992 EP "Acperience", and Interlect 3000's 1993 EP "Volcano". A distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of an object, image, sound, waveform or other form of information or representation. ... Hardfloor is a German techno duo, consisting of Oliver Bondzio and Ramon Zenker. ...

The well-known "acid" sound is typically produced by playing a repeating note pattern on the TB-303, while altering the filter's cutoff frequency, resonance, and envelope modulation. The TB-303's accent control modifies a note's volume, filter resonance, and envelope modulation, allowing further variations in timbre. A distortion effect, either by using a guitar effects pedal or overdriving the input of an audio mixer, is commonly used to give the TB-303 a denser, noisier timbre--as the resulting sound is much more rich in harmonics. A yellow smiley face is considered the emblem of Acid House. ... The Butterworth filters frequency response, with cutoff frequency labeled. ... // In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate with high amplitude when excited by energy at a certain frequency. ... On a subtractive synthesizer, envelope modulation is the amount that a modulation envelope effects a certain parameter (filter cutoff, oscillator pitch etc. ... In music, timbre, also timber (from Fr. ... An effects pedal, or stomp box, is an effects unit housed in a small metal chassis, used by musicians, usually electric guitar players as a guitar effects pedal, but sometimes players of other instruments including keyboards, violin, or cello. ... BBC Local Radio Mark III radio mixing desk In professional audio, a mixing console, mixing desk (Brit. ... In acoustics and telecommunication, the harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is an integral multiple of the fundamental frequency. ...

The head designer of the TB-303, Tadao Kikumoto, was also responsible for leading design of the TR-909 drum machine. Tadao Kikumoto is the designer of the Roland TB-303 and Roland TR-909. ... Roland TR-909 The TR-909 was a partially analog, partially sample-based drum machine built by Roland Corporation in 1984. ... A Boss DR-202 Drum Machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums and/or other percussion instruments. ...

Features

The TB-303 has a single audio oscillator, which may be configured to produce either a sawtooth wave or a square wave. It also includes a simple envelope generator, with a decay control only. A lowpass filter is also included, with -18 dB per octave attenuation, and controls for cutoff frequency, resonance, and envelope modulation parameters. Image File history File links TB303-midi-frontview. ... Image File history File links TB303-midi-frontview. ... Oscillation is the periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure as seen, for example, in a swinging pendulum. ... The sawtooth wave (or saw wave) is a kind of basic non-sinusoidal waveform. ... A square wave is a kind of basic waveform. ... An ADSR envelope is a parameter used in synthesizers, including those that produce sound by subtractive synthesis, to control the sound produced. ... A low-pass filter passes low frequencies fairly well, but attenuates high frequencies. ... DB or db or dB may stand for: Database, an organized collection of data David Belle, founder of parkour DB connector, improper term for D-subminiature DB (car), a French automobile maker Dragon Ball, a manga and anime. ... In music, an octave (sometimes abbreviated 8ve or 8va) is the interval between one musical note and another with half or double the frequency. ...

The TB-303 has some unique features that contribute to its characteristic sound. During the programming of a sequence, the user can determine whether a note should be accented, and whether it should employ portamento, a smooth transition to the following note. The accent circuitry, as well as increasing the amplitude of a note, also emphasises the filter's cutoff and resonance, resulting in a distinctive, hollow "wow" sound at higher resonance settings. Roland referred to this as "gimmick" circuitry. The portamento circuitry employs a fixed slide time, meaning that whatever the interval between notes, the time taken to reach the correct pitch is always the same. Portamento is a musical term currently used to mean pitch bending or sliding, and in 16th century polyphonic writing refers to a type of musical ornamentation. ...

The instrument also features a 'simple' step-time method for entering note data into the 16-step programmable sequencer. This was notoriously difficult to use, and would often result in entering a different sequence than the one that had been intended. Some users also take advantage of a failure in the unit, wherein patterns that are programmed in memory begin to vary in random ways if the batteries are removed for a time.

There have been many modifications designed for the TB-303 such as the "Devilfish", "Acidlab" and "Borg" modifications. These generally provide additional parameters to the player, or offer alterations to the overall timbre.

Clones

Around the middle of the 1990s, demand for the TB-303 surged within the electronic dance music scene. As there were never many TB-303s to begin with, many small synthesizer companies cropped up and started to develop their own TB-303 hardware clones. This new wave of TB-303 clones began with a company called Novation Electronic Music Systems, who released their portable Bass Station keyboard in 1994. Many other TB-303 "clones" followed, including Future Retro's 777, Syntecno's TeeBee, Doepfer's MS-404, and MAM's Freebass FB-383. As the popularity of these new TB-303 clones grew, Roland, the original TB-303 manufacturer, finally took notice and released their own TB-303 clone in 1996, the MC-303 Groovebox. Despite Roland's efforts, their new "303 clone" was an entirely new product that had almost nothing to do with the original TB-303, with the exception of a few bass samples and the familiar interface design. The most obvious difference was the inclusion of an inexpensive digital synthesizer, rather than the analog circuitry of the TB-303. Novation (full title: Novation Electronic Music Systems), is an English based company founded in 1992. ... Doepfer Musikelektronik GmbH Doepfer is a manufacturer of audio hardware based in Gräfelfing/Germany, founded in 1992 by Dieter Döpfer. ... The Doepfer MS-404 is a MIDI analog synthesizer. ... Roland Corporation TYO: 7944 is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. ... Roland MC-303 Not to be confused with the MC series of MicroComposers by Roland, the MC-303 is the first of a series of synthesizer/drum machine combo instruments by Roland. ...

By 1997, software synthesizers were beginning to take hold among electronic musicians. One notable package was made by Propellerhead Software's emulator package entitled ReBirth. The software became very popular, providing a cheap and easy way for musicians to reproduce the classic 303, 808, and later 909 sounds, without the need for any synthesis hardware. Although it is still in use, ReBirth has been criticised as an inferior copy of the genuine sound ^{[citation needed]}. As of September 2005, support for ReBirth has been discontinued by Propellerhead software, and the software is now available online as a free download. 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ... Propellerhead Softwares logo. ... Rebirth may refer the following spiritual/religious concepts: Reincarnation Buddhist Rebirth The experience of being born again in Christianity Rebirth may also refer to: Rebirth, an album by Pain Rebirth, an album by Jennifer Lopez Rebirth, an album by Gackt Rebirth, an album by Angra ReBirth RB-338, software synthesizer... The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer was one of the first programmable drum machines (TR serving as an acronym for Transistor Rhythm). Introduced by the Roland Corporation in late 1980, it was originally manufactured for use as a tool for studio musicians to create demos. ... Roland TR-909 The TR-909 was a partially analog, partially sample-based drum machine built by Roland Corporation in 1984. ... 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in September September 28 : Constance Baker Motley September 25 : M. Scott Peck September 25 : Don Adams September 20 : Simon Wiesenthal September 14 : Robert Wise September 10 : Hermann Bondi September 8 : Donald Horne September 7 : Moussa Arafat...

Another notable clone is the "Bass Line" plugin from AudioRealism. It supports both the VST and AU standards. A "pro" version adds a number of features that go beyond those of the original TB-303. Virtual Studio Technology and its acronym VST refer to an interface standard for connecting audio synthesizer and effect plugins to audio editors and hard-disk recording systems. ... Audio Units is a plug-in API developed by Apple Computer to add functionality to audio creation and recording software. ...

The most recent clone is a do-it-yourself hardware solution called the x0xb0x, using most of the original components in the synthesizer section for a very authentic sound. The sequencer section differs from the original 303, adding support for MIDI and USB interfaces as well as an alternate event entry interface. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a system designed to transmit information between electronic musical instruments. ... Note: USB may also mean upper sideband in radio. ...

Media

Image File history File links TB303. ... Software development stages In computer programming, development stage terminology expresses how the development of a piece of software has progressed and how much further development it may require. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Roland TB-303

• Movie of the 303 - TB-303 and TR-606 video
• Acid303.com - Some 303 info and documents, scroll down to bottom of page for service notes and schematic
• TB 303 Resource Index -
• Devilfish Modification - Robin Whittle's aftermarket modification for TB-303
• Binary Bassline - Newstyle & Oldschool Acid Record Label
• Nate Harrison's TB-303 Documentary - A free downladable video documentary about the TB-303 created by Nate Harrison.
• Prelude in C Major by Bach - 303 version by Ceephax Acid Crew
• Acidlab demo - An MP3 demo of an Acidlab modded TB-303 with TR-606
• TB-303 Sample CD - High Quality TB-303 Audio samples

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Wikimedia Commons logo by Reid Beels The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... Ceephax Acid Crew is an acid house and drum and bass electronic musician named Andy Jenkinson. ...

Emulations in Software

• Rebirth - The Original 2 303s/808/909. Now discontinued and free to download.
• AudioRealism Bassline - A TB-303 VST Plug-In complete with sequencer and 303-like sound.
• Muon Tau Bassline - Another well received plug-in emulator minus the built-in sequencer.
• Phoscyon - Recent TB-303 emulator equipped with all original TB-303 features but also expanding it with Devilfish-like modifications, arpeggiator and distortion effect.

Hardware synthesizers inspired by the TB-303

• Acidlab - Makers of the Bassline, similar in look & sound to a tb 303.
• Future Retro - The Revolution synthesizer, a popular acid synth
• Roland Mc09 - rolands mc09 has a 303 emulation mode with 1 to 1 parameter correspondence. Select bass then hold shift & pad 16 to turn vintage mode on.
• x0xb0x - An open source DIY project