Roland TR-08

Lesson 8: Longer arrangements, sync and MIDI

Goal: get past the single looping pattern, build whole songs, and play in time with other gear.

Chain patterns

In MANUAL PLAY, press two BASIC RHYTHM buttons at the same time, for example steps 1 and 4. The TR-08 plays patterns 1, 2, 3 and 4 in order, then loops. The playing pattern blinks. Combine this with the variation switch on AB and four patterns become an eight-bar phrase.

Rhythm tracks: whole songs

A rhythm track is a list of which pattern plays in each bar, up to 1000 bars long. There are 12 tracks, chosen with the select switch (its 12 positions double as track numbers in PLAY and COMPOSE). A track stores pattern numbers only, not the patterns themselves, so if you change a pattern, every track that uses it changes too.

The menu setting PrG.N (Lesson 2) picks between two ways of writing a track.

OrG (808 style): play it in live.

1. With the TR-08 stopped, turn the mode switch to COMPOSE.
2. Turn the select switch to the track number, and press CLEAR to empty it.
3. Press START/STOP. Bar 1 starts.
4. As it plays, press the BASIC RHYTHM buttons (and INTRO/FILL IN buttons with TAP) to choose what plays in each bar.
5. During the last bar you want, press START/STOP. That bar becomes the end of the track.

SteP (909 style): enter it bar by bar.

1. Select and clear the track as above, then press START/STOP.
2. Choose a pattern with steps 1 to 12 (or a fill with 13 to 16), then press TAP to write it into this bar and move to the next.
3. Repeat, then press START/STOP after the last bar.

Play it: mode switch to PLAY, set the BASIC-VARIATION switch to where it was when you wrote the track (the track remembers patterns, not the switch), and press START/STOP. The track loops until you stop it. Turning the select switch during playback finishes the current bar and then jumps to the start of the new track.

Tempo and shuffle with the track: in COMPOSE, hold BANK and hold TAP down for a moment to store the current tempo and shuffle. BANK + TAP in PLAY or COMPOSE recalls them. Set the menu item t.PrN to AUtO and they come back whenever you choose the track.

You can also copy, insert and delete bars in a track by holding TAP and using FINE and START/STOP; the owner’s manual has the exact steps. To change a track’s length you have to write it again.

MIDI and USB

The TR-08 has MIDI IN and OUT sockets plus USB, which carries both MIDI and audio. On a computer, install Roland’s TR-08 USB driver first (from the Roland support site).

• Channel: menu item CH, 1 to 16 (shown as 1 to 1b), or Off. Match it to whatever is sending or receiving.
• Clock: menu item SynC. AutO follows incoming MIDI clock on MIDI IN or USB; Int ignores it and uses the TR-08’s own tempo.
• Notes: each sound responds to one note number, so a DAW or keyboard can play it.

These numbers come from tinyloops’ TR-08 MIDI reference rather than Roland’s short manual. They follow the General MIDI drum map, so most DAW drum editors line up with them. The same reference lists the control change (CC) numbers for each knob.

Recording each sound separately

Over USB, the TR-08 is also an audio interface. Roland’s product information lists ten separate outputs over USB audio, so you can record kick, snare, hats and so on onto their own tracks in a DAW and mix them there. The menu item USB.O chooses which instruments go to the USB mix.

Without a computer, the menu item OUt (parallel out) splits the OUTPUT jack: the instruments you choose come out of the right channel and the rest out of the left. Use a 3.5 mm to two-jack lead to send, say, the kick to its own mixer channel. Leave every instrument lit for normal stereo.

Trigger out

The TRIGGER OUT jack sends a short pulse that can play or clock other gear: a synth’s trigger input, a modular, or a TB-03 or SH-01A from the Boutique range. Use a mono mini-plug cable; a stereo one won’t work.

Write trigger steps like an instrument: the TRIGGER OUT button enters trigger steps in step write and taps them in tap write. Check the other device’s manual for how many pulses per step it expects.

The TR-08 has no analogue SYNC IN, so to follow a Korg Volca or similar, use MIDI clock instead.

Exercise 8

Write a rhythm track: four bars of an intro pattern, eight bars of your main beat with a fill every fourth bar, four bars of a breakdown, eight bars of the main beat again. Store the tempo with it. If you have a computer, record it over USB with the kick and snare on their own tracks.