Hacker Cinema
808
2015 · Film · documentary · 94 min
Directed by Alex Dunn
The inspiring story of the Roland TR808, from the creation of Planet Rock which established it as a dynamic modern instrument, to how it defined hip hop and modern dance culture, through to its continued use today.
6 positive3 neutralfrom 9 commenters
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9 comments on Hacker News
808 is a 2015 American documentary film directed by Alexander Dunn, written by Dunn and Luke Bainbridge, and produced by Alex Noyer, Dunn, Craig Kallman and Arthur Baker. It is narrated by Zane Lowe and documents the history and culture of the Roland TR-808, a drum machine that had a significant effect on hip hop and pop music.
808 got an entire movie!
>The Century of the Self: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s
I think all of Adam Curtis' documentaries are worth a watch:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL617BE1DB723DB1D6
Some others favourites off the top of my head:
808 (about the drum machine): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2268622/
Scratch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0143861/
Hoop Dreams: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110057/
Startup.com (a classic!) : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256408/
The Fog of War: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/
It's mentioned in the article.
> How exactly Mr Kakehashi found these specific parts is not known, [...] but you can hear him tell some of the story himself right at the end of the excellent 2015 documentary movie “808”.
There is a fun documentary called "808" (available on Amazon Prime) about the history and impact of the TR-808. It's mostly interviews with musicians and only a little technical information.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/808_(film)
https://amzn.com/B06XT8M3TV
If you're interested in learning more about the history, I'd recommend this documentary about the Roland TR-808 drum machine, which had a huge impact on hip-hop and electronic music. T La Rock and Rick Rubin are both in it. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2268622/
Documentary on the history of the 808, complete with a great soundtrack and interview with the inventor:
808themovie.com/
There's a documentary about the 808 coming out this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIS-o_--wqY
Looks amazing.
I've owned a TR-606/TB-303, 2 TR-808s and currently own a TR-8. I bought my first 808 in college in 1998 for 750 bucks. Being a broke college student I sold it to pay for school. After college I bought another TR-808 for 700 in 2003 and kept it for 2 years. I grew bored of the sound, and had taken a decent enough sample set of it to replace it for most uses. The second 808 I had I modded to extend the decay of the kick drum to the point of self oscillation. I also bought a new row of buttons for it. Lastly I added a midi-DIN sync box. I had considered adding a pitch pot on the kick drum but prices were rising to the point that I thought was an 808 bubble(a princely sum of 1600 dollars). Now I see tr-808s on ebay for 3000+ and kick myself.
For anyone interested, the TR-8 does a good job emulating the TR-808/909 for the most part. I find the 808 cymbal(and to a lesser degree the hi-hat) sound nowhere near as good as the original and far less adjustable. The snares don't quite have the snap I hear in my 808 samples. It should be noted though that there was quite a bit of variation from unit to unit in the TR-808. My first 808 had a nice long 2-3 second kick decay, while the second one I owned was about .5 seconds(which is why I did the mod) the hi hat and cymbals are a slightly different pitch as well.
I bought the 7x7-TR8 expansion and while somewhat useful(I like the 707 snare) the 707/727 sounds rarely get any use. The expansion did include some new takes on the 909 kick, snare and non specific clap and snap sounds. I really like to play with the new snap sounds, as it is a cool noise generator effect. I haven't seen any news around this, but it seems silly for them not to do a TR-606/DR-55 expansion pack for the TR-8. I would have bought that over the 7X7 expansion.
There is a TR-808 documentary coming out soon 808themovie.com that will have tons of artist interviews who made their name with the 808. This article did a decent job of naming music that really used an 808, as there was one a few months ago that suggested mostly 909 tracks or tracks that may have used 808 samples sporadically in them. I get a bit pedantic about that because to me, you aren't using an 808 if you loaded a drum sampler with 808 sounds. Beastie Boys licensed to ill is a great example of an album made mostly with an 808(but synced up with a sequential circuits drumtraks and possibly a linndrum on one or 2 tracks) By the late 80s, most rap was made on sp-12/1200s and akai MPCs.