Taking apart a Roland TR 808

Roland TR 808 teardown video

Check out what a Roland TR 808 looks like...from the inside.

Everyone longs to look inside a Roland 808 drum machine. Well, maybe not everyone. Actually, maybe it's just me. But stay with me on this: it's really great to see how these classic machines were made and how they used a combination of off-the-shelf and custom-made chips.

The extraordinary thing about the Roland was that it wasn't even a sample-based machine like the Linn Drum. All the sounds were synthesised in the analogue domain. But despite this (and probably because of it), the 808 remains the archetypal drum machine for electronic music. It introduced a drum sound that became a standard for electronic dance music.

Anyway, feel free to geek out to this video of a "Roland TR-808 rhythm composer drum machine teardown" from YouTube user markusfuller.