Captain Pikant

A short history of the 808 in 16 patterns (Patreon)

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2023-09-15 15:14:33

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2026-06

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Hello everyone! Here's our love letter to the Roland TR-808 and the songs it has been inspiring for more than four decades now. As you might have guessed from the many new and updated 808 transcriptions we've already been working hard on this since the beginning of August. So, get ready for 16 of our favourite patterns and many little facts surrounding the 808's history :)

I think The Intern again whipped up a fantastic end jam arrangement, but I'm especially fond of the extra ending she created. She finally got to use her MicroFreak while I dusted off my old MIDI Fighter and brought my finger drumming chops up to speed. Truth be told, the Tom fills she wrote were a lot harder to play than the original ones ;)

It would have been awesome to have a vintage TR-808 for the video, but in the end we decided not to part with any of our vital organs to finance it. Instead the episode features the 8raw8, a French hand-built replica of the TR-808's sound circuits I've had my eye on for a few years. We probably won't make a dedicated review video on it, but you'll definitely see and hear it more often from now on. If you have any questions on the machine let me know and I'll try to answer them. If you're interested I could also write up a short written review here on Patreon.

SPOILER ALERT!

For your convenience here's the list of all drum pattern transcriptions featured in the video:

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A short history of the TR-808 in 16 drum patterns 🟥🟧🟨⬜ | Drum Patterns Explained

► Support us and get access to lots of drum patterns, cheat sheets and more! https://www.patreon.com/captainpikant/ 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 https://www.instagram.com/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