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The TR-909 was a partially analog, partially sample-based drum machine built by Roland Corporation in 1984. Being the brainchild of Tadao Kikumoto, the engineer behind the TB-303, it features a 16-step music sequencer and a drum kit that, at that time, aimed for as much realism as was possible. Roland TR 909 picture This work is copyrighted. ...
Roland TR 909 picture This work is copyrighted. ...
An analog or analogue signal is any continuously variable signal. ...
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or element of a new recording. ...
A Boss DR-202 Drum Machine A drum machine is a device designed to imitate drums and/or other percussion instruments. ...
Roland Corporation is a manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. ...
Tadao Kikumoto is the designer of the Roland TB-303 and Roland TR-909. ...
An engineer may be someone who practices the engineering profession, or the driver of a rail locomotive. ...
Roland TB-303 The TB-303 was a synthesizer/sequencer produced by the Roland corporation in 1982 and 1983 that had a crucial role in the development of contemporary electronic music. ...
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. ...
A drum kit (or drum set or trap set - the latter an old-fashioned term) is a collection of drums, cymbals and other percussion instruments arranged for convenient playing by a sole percussionist (drummer), usually for jazz, rock, or other types of contemporary music. ...
Like the TB-303, the mark of realism was missed by a few miles due to technical constraints, and this showed when the machines were blown out for low prices before the hype of techno and acid began; sample-based drum computers were better at faithfully reproducing real drum sounds, whilst the TR-909 sounded synthetic. Roland TB-303 The TB-303 was a synthesizer/sequencer produced by the Roland corporation in 1982 and 1983 that had a crucial role in the development of contemporary electronic music. ...
Techno is a form of electronic music that emerged in the mid-1980s and primarily refers to a particular style developed in and around Detroit and subsequently adopted by European producers. ...
Acid house is a variant of house music characterized by the use of simple tone generators with tempo-controlled resonant filters. ...
The drum kit contains the following sounds:
All drums except for the hihats and cymbals are synthetically generated; there is an oscillator circuit with a dedicated filter and envelope curve. The hihats and cymbals are 6-bit samples, compressed and combined with a volume envelope curve to allow slight modification. Thanks to the analog circuitry, various aspects of the drum sound can be modified (pitch, attack, decay). A bass drum is a large, heavy drum that produces a thump of low but indefinite pitch. ...
The snare drum or side drum is a tubular drum made of wood or metal with skins, or heads, stretched over the top and bottom openings. ...
A tom-tom (not to be confused with a tamtam) is a cylindrical drum with no snare. ...
A rimshot is the sound produced by hitting the rim of a snare drum with a drum stick. ...
A clap is the sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. ...
The hi-hat stand has changed little since its invention. ...
This article is about the percussion instruments made of metal disks, for the string instrument played with beaters see cymbalum. ...
A 20 inch Sabian AAX Metal Ride A ride cymbal is a type of cymbal that is a standard part of most drum kits. ...
A crash cymbal is a type of cymbal that produces a loud, sharp, but comparatively short-duration crash used mainly as an occasional accent effect. ...
There is also a feature called "accent"—a primitive means of humanizing the drumbeat. In a simplified model of a drummer and a kit, the loudness of the sound created would basically depend on the velocity at which the drummer hits a given part of the kit. A human drummer can emphasize certain notes by playing them louder, and the accent parameter provides a means to boost a particular step. A more complex model would also include timbral change, but reproducing this effect using the TR-909's analogue electronics wasn't feasible. It took the industry a while to even offer this effect in sample based drum machines, due to the price of sample memory and the number of samples one would have to take to faithfully reproduce it.
Part of the charm of the TR-909 comes from its 16-step sequencer—today it might look primitive, not allowing subtle grooves and being limited in variety with only 16 steps, while a more lively, complicated drum pattern might need much more than that. On the other hand, punch the buttons 1, 5, 9 and 13 on the bassdrum part, and you have just programmed a 4-to-the-floor beat. While the sequencer is running, a light runs from step 1 to step 16. 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. ...
The time signature (also known as meter signature) is a notational device used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each bar and which note value (minim, crotchet, quaver, and so on) constitutes one beat. ...
The TR-909 has several editing modes: pattern editing where one focuses solely on the 16 steps, and track editing, which allows for chaining various patterns in a row. Because it has MIDI, it's also possible to control other instruments with the sequencer. Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a system designed to transmit information between electronic musical instruments. ...
This machine and its unique sequencer (both Roland and other manufacturers used either a grid-based sequencer, showing the dots on an LCD, or another method that did not display the pattern at all) were the basis for so-called grooveboxes—self-contained compact synthesizer workstations with rudimentary keyboards and pattern-based sequencers, aimed at creators of electronic music, using sample-based sound generation and a number of realtime controls. LCD redirects here. ...
A classic FM synthesizer, the Yamaha DX7. ...
Other manufacturers have made similar devices. These are:
- Jomox XBase 09
- Korg Electribe R (mk I and II)
Not everyone needs the sequencer, so the sounds are also available in convenient 1U high rack units: Equipment mounted in several 19-inch racks A row of 19-inch racks in a modern server farm A 19-inch rack is a standardized (EIA 310-D, IEC 60297 DIN 41494 SC48D) system for mounting various electronic modules in a stack, or rack, 19 inches (480 mm) wide. ...
- Jomox AirBase 99
- Novation Drumstation
(Grooveboxes are not included in this list as they contain more than just drums, though they may have copied the principle of the 16-step sequencer.)
External links
- Samples of the TR-909 are available at Hyperreal.org.
- Vintage Synth Explorer: Roland TR-909
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