16 Legendary Beats - A short history of the 808 🟥🟧🟨⬜ | Drum Patterns Explained
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- Опубликовано: 29 май 2024
- ► / captainpikant Support us on Patreon and get access to lots of drum patterns, cheat sheets and more!
The Roland TR-808 is the most famous and influential drum machine ever created. Today we're looking at its history - and we'll do so by showing you 16 of our favourite 808 patterns, spanning across four decades and beginning with its birth in 1980. We'll be using the OXI One as a sequencer so you can see all the different instruments and you can try the patterns on your drum machine or in your DAW.
Extra special thanks to / @jaelights for your valuable feedback, it really improved the episode :)
Featured drum patterns (transcriptions available on Patreon):
Yellow Magic Orchestra - 1000 Knives
Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock
Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing
T La Rock & Jazzy Jay - It's Yours
Beastie Boys - Paul Revere
Skinny Puppy - Dig It
LL Cool J - Going Back to Cali
Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody
A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray
Aphex Twin - XTAL
Drexciya - Andreaen Sand Dunes
Missy Elliott - Lose Control / Cybotron - Clear
Daft Punk - Technologic
Kimbra - Cameo Lover
Childish Gambino - Sweatpants
M.I.A. - Borders
Gear used:
8raw8
OXI One
DJ TechTools Midi Fighter 3D
Arturia CMI V
Beatbunny Cabasa
Neural DSP Archetype Gojira
Arturia Keystep
Arturia MicroFreak
Arturia Pigments
Arturia OP-Xa V
► Instagram / captainpikant
#808 #drummachine #drumpattern #beatmaker #beatmaking #electronicmusic #musicanalysis #synthesizer #musicproduction #roland #history #drums #80s #80smusic
Image credits:
Bryan Pocius - Roland TR-808 from the Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, AZ
0:00 Introduction
0:56 Yellow Magic Orchestra - 1000 Knives
1:40 Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock
3:03 Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing
4:54 T La Rock & Jazzy Jay - It's Yours
5:56 Beastie Boys - Paul Revere
6:41 Skinny Puppy - Dig It
7:51 LL Cool J - Going Back to Cali
9:02 Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody
9:53 A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray
10:43 Aphex Twin - XTAL
11:44 Drexciya - Andreaen Sand Dunes
12:35 Missy Elliott - Lose Control / Cybotron - Clear
13:29 Daft Punk - Technologic
14:20 Kimbra - Cameo Lover
15:11 Childish Gambino - Sweatpants
16:22 M.I.A. - Borders
17:14 End Jam
Produced by Jean-Claude Dirckx and Sophie Hoppstädter 
Видеоклипы
Yes, you are the David Attenborough of drum patterns. Thanks!
You honor me :) Did you know he actually made a documentery about a sampler? ruclips.net/video/VjE0Kdfos4Y/видео.html
Accurate
Never thought about that, now its obvious!
And the 808 is the Silverback of drum machines.
Better
To quote the Beastie Boys
"Cause nuttin' quite sounds like an Eight oh Eight"
replying to myself but i think the 808 referred to for the rick rubin t la rock track was actually owned by ADRock of the beastie boys.
The fact that you included Skinny Puppy (normally forgotten) made me super happy. Thank you.
Their influence on electronic music and production cannot be understated. Which is why it's so weird they're almost always left out the conversation.
you're right, it is weird that nobody talks about them.
No yap skinny puppy🔥🔥🔥
Lovely YMO at the end. :) And of course we lost both Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto this year too. :(
The Egyptian Lover deserves a mention! He championed the 808 throughout his whole career and taught Luke Skyywalker to program the machine, who went on to form 2 Live Crew and pioneer miami bass
Btw didn’t know that A Guy Called Gerald was part of 808 State! Thanks for the great video and history lesson 👏
That's true, we also had him on our list of candidates for this video! We've played "Egypt, Egypt" a few times already in our videos :)
Egypt is THE King and Ambassador of the 808. Playing it live is even an integral part of his live show. Of course the "Planet Rock/Numbers" groove is the basic, yes, but Egypt takes that to levels far beyond that.
Egypt did a gig with "A guy called Gerald" in england a few weeks ago.
@@zarcon85 yes Egypt the 808 king 👑 His live performance blew my head off ‘8-0 mother fuckin 8’
Yeah Gerald contributed to the 808 state album new build and he programmed the drums for Pacific , his song voodoo Ray was originally called voodoo rage but he didn't have enough memory so it became Ray, he made the song originally for a Manchester dance crew called foot patrol
The way the Marvin Gaye segment hit me...at 4:37am...had me saying "oooh wee"!
As a child of the 80s and a teenager of the 90s I'd like to thank Kikumoto-san for designing a range of instruments which were a commercial failure, and as a result allowed a whole host of producers to develop a sound which was so influential to my younger self. Thanks to you Cap'n and the lady with the beautiful hands for another great showcase recreation of those classic beats!
What is the name of the pattern machine?
Another superb TR-808 based track is The Sisters Of Mercy's "Temple Of Love". Like Skinny Puppy's "Dig It", it's used in an unusual context, but rather than industrial in the case of "Temple Of Love" it's guitar based rock. I think they put the snare through a guitar amp, cranked it up, and then recorded it with a close mic to get a heavier sound. That was a classic trick used by a lot of guitar bands with drum machines - check out The Cure's "One Hundred Years" where they did the same with a Boss DR-55 Dr Rhythm.
I absolutely love the Sisters Of Mercy, every song they made apart from the first single damage done were all different drum machines (doktor avalanche), I've tried my best to recreate floorshow and heartland but they are well beyond my skills 😂😂
Floorshow sounds like the TR-606 that replaced the DR-55 they used on Body Electric. But it sounds like there is also an acoustic floor tom on the studio version of Floorshow providing that "tribal" drum pattern.
@@chriswareham thank you mate
putting random things through amp sims is my recent obsession
So glad you included Drexciya
As somebody who has been both a Hip Hop and a Techno Industrial DJ, I really appreciate you did not skip "Dig It" by Skinny Puppy. Back in the days I used to fake out the Goth kids in the mix by throwing Hip Hop acapellas over this and other Electro Industrial rhythms. Thank You for showing the whole picture!
You can do the funniest stuff as a DJ to troll the shit out of the crowd lol
LOVED your cover of the YMO song in the end! That was a favorite album growing up!😎🤞
Thanks for including YMO! They’re vastly underrated, including their impact on subsequent music genres. Keep up the great work on your channel!
Agreed I had to look up the whole song and WOW
@@_emory Yeah, relistening to the discography now. Check out "Limbo" from the album Service. The bass line in that one was really good. Their last album was actually called City of Light, in the 2010's under HAS/YMO. The main track ruclips.net/video/mnPkiVRbJts/видео.htmlsi=dyWe0qloITfGB3wy is great and available on RUclips.
Loose Ends - Hangin' on a String is the song that instantly springs to mind for me with the 808. Classic Brit soul & an 808, you can't go wrong! And it's a dead easy pattern to program too, even better 😆
Ps, great video as always 👍🏾 Would make a great recurring topic. Thanks Captain & the Intern 👏🏾👏🏾
Excellent track!!
@@RussArteaga 🎶Big choon!!🎶👍🏾
@@Morganicfilms86 my go to is Shannon Let The Music Play! Especially the extended off the album
@@RussArteaga Oooh yeah thats a good one too, popped in to my head the other day actually, I forgot I was gonna download it so thanks for the reminder!
I just *cannot* get over how good that 8raw8 sounds, easily the best 808 there's ever been (yeah, I know what I'm saying. Original 808s had a budget to contend with, this one did not, it's basically taken the brilliant original design and building it to the highest level of quality possible, free of mass market budget constraints. Best 808 out there is the 8raw8 and I will die on that hill). I really want them to make a 9raw9 0_0.
the re-808 is a bit better. i have both. with the re-808, you get the original cpu and workflow which is also nice
'Clear' and 'Voodoo Ray' are up there as my fave tunes of all time. The 808 is truly the beat to my youth. Honourable mention goes to the Egyptian Lover, of course.
Yes Richard Yasushiii3848, Thank you Captain for adding 'Yellow Magic Orchestra' to the list of artists. We lost Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto in 2023. All we have now is dear Haroumi Hosono. I met all three of them in 2008. They were the BEST!
YMO were leased an 808 prototype during their December 1980 live at Budokan. Their album BGM is the first album to ever use the instrument
Yes, apparently even Tadao Kikumoto didn't know that Roland lent one to YMO, he was very surprised when he heard it during the live broadcast :) The first album to feature the TR-808 is a not so clear cut case, however. One of the other records that lay claim to the throne is "The Monitors - Nobody Told Me". According to Dan Leroy's book "Dancing to the Drum Machine" the first person to record with an 808 may have been Suzanne Ciani. She began work on her album "Seven Waves" in 1979, but it was not released until three years later.
Hi Captain, another great album recorded with an 808 is "Clics Modernos" by Charly García, one of the best musicians from Argentina (and maybe spanish rock in general) of all times. Songs like "Nos siguen pegando abajo" or "No soy un extraño" were really memorable for an entire generation of young people, who were living in a dictatorial government by the time. Greatings from Argentina, y aguante Charly loco
Awesome, haven't head of him before! It's so great to hear how the TR-808 was used in Argentina :)
Banger album! Aguanteee!!
Okay then, surprise twist for the evening - playing now! The first track sounds really 80's! Cool.
My Favorite is Alura by Sweet Trip ! Gotta love those raw 808 techno tones..
Didn't know that one yet, thanks for the recommendation :)
Just recovered from 909 day...
You can never have enough Mid-O days 😅
@@CaptainPikant Looking forward to SH-101 day. But only the Keytar version counts...😀
I'm not knowledgeable enough to get a single one of these jokes 😂 🔥
@@RandoManFPVyou’re not alone in this man 😂 I’m a total newb 🤝
The subject matter is fascinating, and I foresee a massive rabbit hole in my very near future 🔮
Maybe by this time you’ll have fallen into that same rabbit hole and you’ll have learned so much that these jokes totally make sense to you!!! 😊
What a pleasant surprise when you finished with YMO. Great arrangement too
Thanks, we're really glad you like it :)
I love this music!
Love seeing XTAL in there. Gonna have to steal that pitch tuning the kick for my own stuff. Much love to you Captain Pikant.
That's literally THE song I think of when I think of the 808
"Love You Down" and "Time After Time" by INOJ are two of my favorites. "My Boo" by Ghost Town DJs also!
Those are the ones that I also think of when it comes to the 808... Also Lil Suzy "take me in your arms" and Jocelyn Enríquez "Do you miss me"... And Planet Soul "Set you free"..... This was also considered as latin hip hop/freestyle/ heartthrob and when it came to Ghost Town Djs, that style was considered Miami Bass...
My god I love Kimbra. I’m so glad you involved her in this!!!
Clicked because I saw Kimbra in the thumbnail - loved learning about the history of the machine behind some of the modern classics!
Curious by Midnight Star is probably one of my 808 favorites!
I love Midnight Star, cant believe I didnt think of Curious!
That & Marvin gaye sexual healing are two of mine
I really like your use of the 808's buttons to represent the number of patterns. A high-quality and inspiring video like all your works.
This is a great walkthrough! I would like to mention one italo-disco track which made use of an 808: "Dirty Talk" by Klein & MBO
A song I’m convinced was conceived from goofing around with the 808 is “Now This is Fun” by Depeche Mode. It was incidentally also the first song of theirs that I really truly loved due to its quirky rhythm changes in the bridge.
Do you remember “Rebirth” from Steinberg, with one 808, two 303’s and a 909, could play weeks on end with that. Early nineties a genre was born called Gabber, with heavily distorted 808 base drums and annoying screaming Juno 60 sweeps. Still love that!
That was the first "DAW" I used lol. I guess it was more like a digital groovebox? Anyway, yes! You could make a beat with the 808 and the 909 simultaneously, really pretty versatile right there. And then then like you said the two baselines. I still have a small handful of terrible but dear and precious songs I created way back when...1998 or 1999 maybe.
Hell yeah, dude...
🫡
Your production value is amazing! Great selection :)
I found a Roland 808 at a garage sale a few years back. Purchased it for $20 and sold it on ebay for $4200.
yeah right
@@frederikhusegaard yeah i did. I've found a few valuable things at garage sales over the years. This wasn't even the most expensive thing I've found.
I'd have kept it
@@ncapone87 Im not a big collector of instruments. The money went towards my actual hobby.
@@freeforall825 what's your hobby?
Killer production as always. Informative and entertaining as always. Thanks for breaking down those beats for us ❤
Ultra huge mad props 👌 for mentioning skinny puppy in the video🙏 one of my favorite bands of all time! They're actually on their farewell tour right now. I have tickets to see them in San Francisco in November. I can't wait to see them. if there's one artist I would love you to do a video on with his drum programming skills is cEvin Key of said band. His ability to make abstract beets and the level of detail he gives to the sound sculpting and sound design of his drum sounds (along with everything else in his music) is on another level in his own time 🎹🎛️🎚️🎧👌🙏🙏🙏
Glad you liked it! "Smothered Hope" was another one I transcribed by Skinny Puppy. I'm always amazed how different their beats sound compared to everything else out there. Have fun at the concert :)
@@CaptainPikant thank you I heard that smothered Hope was actually done on a tr-909 if you want to hear some crazy rhythms that cEvin Key has done check out his project "download" in particular the first two albums furnis, and the eyes of Stanley pain
my biggest learning from this was, that after being an Aphex Twin fan for almost 25 years I realized that "Xtal" is pronounced "Crystal"..
No way!
@@dbag57 "X" is often shorthand for "Christ" (as in Xmas), so I guess it makes sense by Aphex standards
Love these - there's just something well-crafted and absorbing about them!
This was an absolute delight to watch.
Congrats on all videos you make, it's really informative content and fun to watch, love it!
Thank you so much :)
This was absolutely fantastic. Loved it. My kids have seen a poster of the 808 on my wall for years and are just learning what it actually is…even though they already know the sound so well from many of the songs they’ve grown up with (ie the songs I’ve brainwashed them into liking!)
Thank you so much! And great to hear you're raising the next generation of 808 fans ;)
Amazing video, well done!
You’re amazing , I just found you and I’m so excited. I have a 303,606,808&909 waiting for me to learn for two years and I’m finally out of the hospital and I’m so excited . I love acid house and the classic 303 acid house sound so much. 808 hip hop beats are my fuckin shit . I can’t wait ! I have so much gear to learn now that I’m using it to host shows. I suddenly have an excessive amount of kontrollers drum machines , synths , CDJ2000s/DGM900. I never had a chance as it was always being used as I rented mine out (as long as I could be there making sure some trap DJ doesn’t spill beer on them.)
Thanks for igniting that excitement again :) RUclips did the algorithm right for once
Please never stop making videos
This was so sick and inspiring
You’re brilliant !
Whenever someone brings out a synth /drum machine beside the CDJs I know some real shitnis about to play lol.
I really appreciate the way you’ve added sort of visual timestamps in the video. Great content too - feel like I’ve learned something
This is amazing. ❤❤❤
Love you guys and your videos
Thanks so much! :)
fantastic video as always ❤
great video! a nice stroll through the history
Thank you for such amazing music! And the production of this video is on par with everything you were showcasing.
Outstanding. Perfectly done.
Thanks so much Alex! :) :)
Great video as always, and legendary sounds for sure
That 1000 knives at the end was so good!
One of my fav music theory RUclipsrs.
Your videos are so nicely researched, produced and presented. Thank you.
I REALLY enjoyed that! Thanks for making this! Long time Roland fan! I didn't know the R8 had an 808 expansion! That's wild! I got to program an 808 back in day for someone I was working with who owned one. It was a real joy!
Being born in 74, I can remember when these boxes started taking over radio& video, I wasn't making music back then, so I didn't know exactly what was going on but they swooped in & took over like a theif in the night
You CAN do the rapid fire trap hats on an 808. It has the ability to alternate between two 16 step patterns. So instead of treating those as two 16 step patterns, just treat it as one 32 step pattern. So instead of the beats being 1, 5, 9, and 13 they are 1 and 9 on both patterns. So now adjacent steps in a pattern are 32nd notes rater than 16th notes. You just have to boost the tempo to compensate for the longer pattern. I just did this with my Key Step Pro and the Electronic (808) sound card for my Roland R-8M. On the KSP you can set the time division to 32nds. So I didn't have to double the tempo. It works great. It gets me the machine gun style trap hats. One nice thing about the R-8M (and presumably the R8) is that it responds to MIDI pitch. So I can live tweak the pitch of the sounds. The R-8M is a fantastic drum sound unit. I HIGHLY recommend it.
In case you're referring to 15:43 (Sweatpants): Yes, with a 32 step pattern (A+B) and a 2x tempo multiplier/scale you can get double rolls. But for quintuplet rolls like in Sweatpants you'd need 5 x 16 = 80 steps and more importantly 5 x 80 = 400 BPM. As far as I've read the 808 only went to 300 BPM. Granted, you could switch to a 32nd note scale for double speed and just set it to 200 BPM. But come on, that pattern would look like a swiss cheese with mostly holes. Who would do that? Okay, says the guy who obsessed over programming "Hunter" on a 909. I stand corrected :) ❤
Excellent version of "1000 knives" ! My compliments!
It's certainly not him. It was someone else - these are obviously woman's hands playing at the end! :-)
@@DmitryGorbushin in case you didn't know: We are two people making these videos ;)
@@CaptainPikantI know the fact as this is kind of constant jokes or easter eggs in your videos. Well this comment of mine was joke on your joke :-)
Mad cheers and good to you and yours! Thank you for this🙏
If anyone out there in the Pikant army is wanting that classic Roland sound on a budget, the Roland T-8 is what you need...hoping Cap will profile it one day. A combo of 808 and 909 drums with a 303 style bass thrown in for good measure, and a 32 step sequencer, all for just under 200 bux. My only gripe...no cowbell?!? Maybe in a software update. Oh, also, it has a built-in rechargeable battery, and it's teeny. Again, hoping Cap takes a gander later on. And thanks man, GREAT mini-doc...that aquatic epic band is a joint that missed me completely back in the day!
the attention to detail is phenomenal!
Thank you so much :)
Lovely Thousand Knives cover at the end x Great video, thanks for the patterns x
This is so good and exactly what I need thank you 🙏
Sensational video. I was trying to explain the relevance of the 808 to a young (20s) coworker. This is perfect! It even has the Rick Rubin reference that I was using (it’s yours and Paul Revere)
Sweet! I don’t have one, but I love this machine. Both the sound and the color scheme.
Glad you mentioned trap music!! As a southerner in the US, trap was HUGE. The massive tuned 808 kick, the rapid fire 808 hats. The genere only exists because of this machine.
I think you definitely captured the feel of Skinny Puppy 👌 I'm fairly certain they used samples of the cowbell along with other drum samples. Great video!
I've seen a bunch of your videos and I love that sequencer. I kind of need one
What a great video! Props for not using all the usual examples we see, I learned a lot! One overlooked jam is How We Do by The Game featuring 50 Cent. Classic 808 simplicity resulting in a hit
Looking forward to recreating these on my DX) Many thx for the video, it’s very insightful
This video is awesome. thank you!
Great video of 808 classics 🎶
Wow! Well done!❤
here in brazil, the early stages of brazilian funk really used the 808!! recently, fbc' "baile" brought back that sound that we had in the late 90s and early 2000s!!!!!!
Nice to see Skinny Puppy recognized!
Classic content here. Thank you for making this.
You're very welcome :)
Error 808, drummer not found.
Good work. Great upload thanks.
Very nice, and superbly presented! sold my 808 in the 80's, even after I discovered how good the fully decayed bass drum sounded on a PA speaker system.. Love the rimshot of it, and here's a wonderful piece from 2012 which is 75 percent 808: Romare, Freedom (Aspirations of a Prisoner)
this is a really cool channel, lots of detail and gives the viewers a chance to think beyond the music
Really appreciate the historical breakdown on use of the 808. I was there every step of the way growing up a b boy
Also the band Change during their Jam & Lewis production era. Warm (my favourite track) has some great cowbell! And in a similar vein, The S.O.S Band too.
Oh my gooooosh, this is awesome! :D I really like the structuring of the video and how you alternated between 808 history, introducing a song's drum pattern and explaining it before giving it a play, said pattern selections are nice, the visuals are clean, the bits of humor sprinkled around were funny, and the end jam almost made me want to cry (especially with the spacey chords at 18:03 (and then the further harmonizing at 18:23, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa))~ 💙
Excellent breakdown.
Incredible video, thank you 🤌
Awesome video. Thanks.
My feed announces a video by the Captain, I follow.
Very educational musical history I love ❤️ it.
This is great. Thank you
Wow! Yellow Magic Orchestra is awesome!!! Thanks for the video 🙌
So that's how you pronounce XTAL. Great vid, please do more TR-606 🥰
That's a great idea :) Do you have any 606 pattern recommendations?
@@CaptainPikant Plastikman uses them a whole bunch, but pattern wise, it has to go to "Untitled" from the Polygon Window album by AFX. Oh man!
I might have to check out some of these patterns on my TR8S that I recently got to help me learn how to punch in patterns on it faster. I've literally not even had it a full day yet and I think I found a good afternoon activity.
Nice video. Thanks for sharing! :)
Great video! Just subscribed to your channel. Love it!
You’re hilarious-love the dry humor. Subbed! 👍
Cool to see this all on one video. Sweet.
Excellent video in the history of the 808! And I’m so glad you included Skinny Puppy!
Ive been stuck creativity with my synths for a few months now, but I think jamming on my RD-8 to Dig It is just what I need, thanks~!!!
So that's it! It's the 808 cowbell sound that we heard everywhere in the 80's! I always wondered where the heck that electronic metallic sound came from. And that orchestra blast too! So iconic!
Great video =)
Thanks
808 :-) I love my little Stylo portable fun
Wonderful video thx😊
Love this ❤ wow that Rick Rubin what a champ.great video thanks. 🎉