TR-808
Rhythm Composer (Analog drum machine)

The Roland TR-808 - one of the most famous drum machines ever made.

It has been used for many genres, notably Hip-Hop, and especially for its thundering, extremely deep and analog, booming kick drum.

It offered professional features such as separate outs for all its percussion sounds.

Here are .wav samples I took of the 808's sounds, directly from the output of my unit (Serial number: 209265).  I am tweaking the control knobs (tone, decay, snappy etc) in real time to achieve the usual variance of sounds.  You can download, edit and sample them in your sampler of choice.

• Bass Drum (BD)

• Snare Drum (SD)

• Low Conga (LC)

• Low Tom Tom (LT)

• Mid Conga (MC)

• Mid Tom Tom (MT)

• High Conga (HC)

• High Tom Tom (HT)

• Claves (CL)

• Rim Shot (RS)

• Maracas (MA)

• Hand Clap (HC)

• Cow Bell (CB)

• Cymbal (CY)

• Open High Hat (OH)

• Closed High Hat (CH)

• (Accent) (AC).

Deep programming capabilities, especially for the time of its release.

Could trigger (and be triggered by) numerous devices, like digital sequencers, synthesizers, and similar.

Stores the on-board patterns via three common AA batteries, on the bottom of the unit.

The quintessential Electronic/Rap/Hip-Hop drum machine.  British band "808-State" notoriously took their name from it.

It was interestingly used in a hit pop song, "Sexual Healing" by Marvin Gaye, and it's in innumerable songs of the 1980s.

Mantronix and other early '80 "Electro" groups used the 808 to create their grooves

A mythical, standard drum machine, we can find millions of samples of its unmistakable sounds all over the place, and in hundreds of sample CDs and offering from sample companies.