Share your knowledge on these two classic MPCs
By madcherokee Wed May 16, 2007 5:25 pm
Does anyone have a link to where I can find 808 kicks with very long decays? The longest TR-808 decay is not as long as some of the "ghetto bass" / "crunk" / "miami bass" samples being used in some stuff today. Thanks.

Mad Cherokee

By MPZ60 Wed May 16, 2007 6:05 pm
You are typically not hearing an 808 in those songs. They usually use a sample of a sine wave and it sounds like a real long 808 when filtered properly...
By madcherokee Wed May 16, 2007 6:51 pm
I read something to that effect when looking on Google. How is it done? Yet, when I did own a Dr. Groove DR-202, I was able to get a long decay. From what I understand, Roland was using their 808kick in that machine through some sort of digalog sampling. Granted they did create the TR808. Yet, can you give me some pointers on how to do so with a sine wave? I still have a sine wave sample from my original Akai S-2000 system disk. Can I use this to manipulate? Or is it best to try to find a sine wave on the net and manipulate it within my laptop, with the help of your suggestions, so I can get that "longer decay"? I already have the long 808kick from Music Machines. Yet, not quite what I expected. However, if I ever wanted to re-do Biz Markie's "Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz", I think it should be no problem with that sample set. Thanks again!!


PS - I have an iBook G4 1.33mhz

Mad Cherokee

By dutch Wed May 16, 2007 7:02 pm
from what I've learned most are getting that sine wave from planet phatt and roland products the ocarina is one of them
By madcherokee Wed May 16, 2007 7:02 pm
... this is the actual explanation for what is going on inside of the 909...

Bass Drum:* Aaah, this is perhaps the noise that the 909 is most famous for, and with good reason. Its sound has two parts, sine wave and noise, which are mixed together before amplification. The sine wave's frequency is controlled by the tone knob, and is generated by clipping a triangle wave, giving one factor of its unique sound. This wave is passed through an envelope generator with a knob-defined sharp attack, then a flat mesa top where a gradual peak would be expected, and a knob-defined slower decay. It is this envelope, which looks essentially like an extremely compressed bass drum, which really gives the BD its whomp after amplification. Noise is taken from the instrument's common noise generator, and is mixed in at a fairly low overall level -- still, it is this noise which is amplified or distorted to get an early 90's hardcore rave sound.


Can any one create a tutorial on how to do this? I've worked with sound before. Yet, not at this level. I've yet to work with the LFO's on my Akai S-2000 because I could find no one to walk me through what they are and how to use them. Thanks again!!


Mad Cherokee
By madcherokee Wed May 16, 2007 7:09 pm
Sine wave

As all sounds are made up of sine waves, it makes sense that one sine wave in isolation doesn't give you much to play with. You need to play it pretty loudly to hear it, but it will sound powerful if played loud enough and at a low enough frequency (which is the basis for the Roland TR-808's ubiquitous kick drum). Filtering a sine wave is pointless, as the whole purpose of a filter is to boost or quieten certain frequencies - certain sine waves present in the original waveform - so all a filter can do to a single sine wave is make it louder or quieter, which is no better than running it through an attenuator or amplifier instead.

By Emilie Thu May 17, 2007 4:52 pm
Hey man. Here is the full 808 kit at different settings:

http://www.eimer.dk/tr-808.zip

Enjoy!

By sunahura Thu May 17, 2007 11:14 pm
Those samples were nice and clear(but I got kicks that drag forever), if you really want the real deal you have to go get a Dr 660 and link it to your akai, nothing on the planet can touch it's decay processor, you can get one for about 80 - 90 bucks on ebay, it is the best way to compete with that 808 drag you hear on records,

but if you can't do that experiment with some compressors, software or hardware, and learn how to use the threshold and release this can make a hell of a drag and turn a 808 kick into a dragging beast.