Roland TR-08

Lesson 9: Classic beat recipes

Goal: build a vocabulary of grooves. Write each one in PATTERN WRITE, keep it in its own pattern, then tweak the sounds to suit. Tempos are typical starting points.

Two things the TR-08 has that plain step machines don’t: an accent row and shuffle. Where a recipe has an Accent row, select AC and write those steps too.

Boom bap hip hop (about 90 BPM)

Long, low kick (DECAY up, TONE down) and a snare with SNAPPY around halfway. Add a little shuffle (BANK + FINE) to loosen the hats.

Hear it in 90s New York hip hop, such as Nas’s Illmatic (1994) and A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders (1993).

Electro (about 120 BPM)

This is home ground for the 808. Syncopated kick, clap on 2 and 4, busy hats, cowbell for colour. Bring in the toms for fills.

Hear it in early 80s electro, such as Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force’s “Planet Rock” (1982), which was built on a TR-808, and Cybotron’s “Clear” (1983).

Techno (about 130 BPM)

Short, punchy kick (TONE up, DECAY down), open hat on the offbeat, rim shot for a percussive tick.

Hear it in 90s Detroit techno, such as Jeff Mills’s “The Bells” and releases from Underground Resistance.

Rock or pop backing (about 110 BPM)

Useful for jamming along on guitar or keys. Keep the cymbal DECAY long so it rings like a crash.

Write the cymbal in variation B only and set the variation switch to AB, so it crashes every second bar instead of every bar.

This is the straight-ahead feel of Aussie pub rock from bands like AC/DC and Cold Chisel. Put on “Back in Black” (1980), match the tempo, and play along. The 808 will never sound like a real kit, but it keeps very good time.

Making your own

• Start with kick and snare or clap only. If it grooves with two instruments, it will groove with eleven.
• Leave space. Most good patterns use far fewer than 16 hits per instrument.
• Move a single kick or hat one step earlier or later and listen to how the feel changes.
• Use accent and shuffle. A few accents on the hats and a touch of shuffle do more for feel than extra notes.
• Use A and B. Write the beat in A, copy it to B, change one or two things, and play AB.

Exercise 9

Write all four recipes into patterns 1 to 4 of a spare bank, then write one original pattern of your own into pattern 5.