{"id":1143,"date":"2008-12-03T10:12:28","date_gmt":"2008-12-03T17:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2008\/12\/to-the-brothers-wit-the-808\/"},"modified":"2008-12-03T10:15:12","modified_gmt":"2008-12-03T17:15:12","slug":"to-the-brothers-wit-the-808","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/2008\/12\/03\/to-the-brothers-wit-the-808\/","title":{"rendered":"“To The Brothers Wit’ The 808”"},"content":{"rendered":"

from CBC News<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Slaves to the rhythm<\/h1>\n

Kanye West is the latest to pay tribute to a classic drum machine<\/h3>\n

Last Updated: Friday, November 28, 2008 | 10:57 AM ET\u00a0<\/em>Comments21<\/em><\/a>Recommend20<\/em><\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n
By Jason Anderson,\u00a0CBC News<\/a><\/h5>\n

\"TheThe Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, a programmable drum machine introduced in 1980. The machine has been used by musicians from Marvin Gaye to the Beastie Boys to Beyonce to Kanye West.\u00a0<\/em>(Roland\/Drum Machine Museum)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It helped Marvin Gaye get some sexual healing. Beyonce and the Beastie Boys have sung (and rapped) its praises. The most revered makers of hip hop, techno and industrial rock couldn\u2019t live without it. And now the most popular MC of our day pays tribute to it in the name of his new album.<\/p>\n

Some may see the title of Kanye West\u2019s\u00a0808s and Heartbreak<\/em>\u00a0(out this week) and assume those digits are just another of those cryptic numbers that musicians like to throw around (see also: Prince\u2019s\u00a03121<\/em>, Nena\u2019s\u00a099 Luftballoons<\/em>, Rush\u2019s\u00a02112<\/em>). But the reference couldn\u2019t be more specific \u2014 West has taken this opportunity to declare his loyalty to the Roland TR-808.<\/p>\n

\"SoulSoul singer Marvin Gaye used the Roland TR-808 for his 1982 hit Sexual Healing.<\/em>(Pictorial Parade\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Introduced in the early \u201980s as one of the first programmable drum machines, the 808 was surpassed long ago by more high-tech musical tools. And yet musicians of all stripes and styles have deemed it indispensable for its stark percussion sound. With its metronomic precision, it may have none of the swing of a human drummer, but the 808 can still provide a futuristic kind of funkiness, especially when it\u2019s in the right hands. This special timeline reveals how this once-lowly machine attained its iconic status.<\/p>\n

1932:<\/strong>\u00a0Developed by\u00a0Leon Theremin<\/a>\u00a0at the behest of composer Henry Cowell, the Rhythmicon makes its public debut. The most sophisticated of the early electronic drum machines, it can play 16 different rhythms with no need for hands or sticks. Despite its enormous promise, it is soon sidelined by Cowell; Theremin\u2019s innovations are ignored for decades.<\/p>\n

1959:<\/strong>\u00a0Wurlitzer introduces the first commercially available drum machine, the Sideman. The company builds it into many of their organs. Manufacturers like the Italian company Bontempi gradually follow suit with their own versions, thereby ensuring that future generations of kids fooling around with dusty organs in their grandparents\u2019 homes will have formative encounters with the bossa nova beat.<\/p>\n

1967:<\/strong>\u00a0Use of the drum machine begins to proliferate after the Hammond Organ Company incorporates a fully transistored rhythm machine by the Ace Tone company (later renamed Roland) into its products. Sly Stone is an early adopter of the technology in the rock world, using a drum machine on the loping hit\u00a0Family Affair<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and throughout his 1971 album\u00a0There\u2019s a Riot Goin\u2019 On<\/em>. Jimi Hendrix can also be heard using a drum machine on a demo version of the posthumously released\u00a0Angel<\/em>. Luckily, the Beatles\u2019 breakup spares Ringo Starr the indignity of being replaced by a mechanical model.<\/p>\n

1980:<\/strong>\u00a0The Roland Corporation<\/a>\u00a0introduces the Roland TR-808, a programmable drum machine. According to Greg Rule\u2019s book\u00a0Future Shock<\/em>, five percussion sounds characterize the 808: \u201cthe hum kick, the ticky snare, the tishy hi-hats (open and closed) and the spacey cowbell.\u201d A Roland representative later credits the machine\u2019s design to a Mr. Nakamura (responsible for the analog voice circuits) and a Mr. Matsuoka (who developed the software).<\/p>\n

\"A<\/center><\/p>\n

A 1980s advertisement for the 808.\u00a0(Roland\/Drum Machine Museum)<\/span><\/p>\n

The 808 receives many poor reviews in the gearhead press of the day, generally being deemed inferior to the Linn LM-1, the first drum machine to use digital samples (i.e., prerecorded rather than machine-generated sounds). Nevertheless, it gains some popularity due to its relatively low cost of $1,195 US.\u00a0Yellow Magic Orchestra<\/a>, the pioneering Japanese synth-pop band, is the first band to put the 808 to use.<\/p>\n

[ click to continue reading at CBCNews.ca<\/a> ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from CBC News Slaves to the rhythm Kanye West is the latest to pay tribute to a classic drum machine Last Updated: Friday, November 28, 2008 | 10:57 AM ET\u00a0Comments21Recommend20 By Jason Anderson,\u00a0CBC News The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, a programmable drum machine introduced in 1980. The machine has been used by musicians from Marvin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}