Roland TR-08

Lesson 10: 80s and 90s grooves you'll recognise

Goal: write the kind of beats behind records you know. These are simplified, genre-style patterns written for a 16-step machine, not transcriptions of specific tracks. Tempos are typical ranges for each style. Listen to the suggested tracks first, then write the grid and play along to them.

The 808 sound is all over this list, so on the TR-08 some of these are the real thing rather than an imitation. Two things to keep in mind. Accent is one row for the whole kit, so the quiet ghost notes that make real breakbeats swing are only partly possible; sub steps (Lesson 7) help. And shuffle (BANK + FINE) gets you much closer to swung styles such as UK garage and boom bap than a straight grid can.

The Amen-style break: early Prodigy rave and Goldie-era jungle

The Amen break, a drum solo from the Winstons’ 1969 B-side “Amen, Brother”, was chopped up and sped up across early 90s hardcore rave and jungle. One pattern works for both styles; only the tempo changes.

• Hardcore rave (about 135 to 145 BPM): listen to The Prodigy’s “Charly” (1991) and “Out of Space” (1992).
• Jungle (about 160 to 170 BPM): listen to Goldie’s Timeless (1995), including “Inner City Life”.

Use the snare with SNAPPY up and TONE high. For a ride-cymbal feel, swap the closed hat for the cymbal with its DECAY turned well down.

Try this: copy A to B (Lesson 6), then rearrange the last eight steps of B. Set the variation switch to AB, or flick between A and B by hand, for instant chopped-break edits, which is exactly what jungle producers did with samplers.

Two-step drum and bass (about 170 BPM)

By the late 90s many drum and bass tracks moved from busy breaks to this sparser beat. Write it in the next pattern and switch to it from the Amen pattern.

Big beat: The Prodigy’s The Fat of the Land era (about 120 to 140 BPM)

Heavy, distorted breakbeats with a huge snare. Listen to The Prodigy’s “Breathe” and “Firestarter” (both 1996), plus The Chemical Brothers’ “Block Rockin’ Beats” (1997).

Push the kick TONE up, turn CONP (compression) up in the menu, and run the TR-08 into something that distorts (a guitar pedal or a driven mixer channel) to get closer to the sound.

Early 90s rave techno: Moby’s “Go” (1991) (about 125 to 135 BPM)

Relentless four-on-the-floor kick with rapid hats. If the 16ths smear together, shorten the closed hat with dECy in the menu (it has no DECAY knob).

The closed hat skips the steps where the open hat plays. That matters more on the TR-08 than most machines, because a closed hat cuts the open hat off (Lesson 3).

Downtempo breakbeat: Moby’s Play (1999) (about 90 to 100 BPM)

Laid-back, hip hop influenced beats under samples. Listen to “Natural Blues” and “Porcelain”. Kick TONE low and DECAY long, snare with SNAPPY turned down for a softer, rounder sound. Flick the RS switch to claves.

Ministry of Sound vocal house (about 120 to 126 BPM)

The 90s club house sound of the Ministry of Sound compilations. Listen to Robin S’s “Show Me Love” and Stardust’s “Music Sounds Better with You” (1998). This is where the 808’s congas earn their place: flick the HT switch to hi conga and the RS switch to claves for the Latin percussion that gives house its bounce.

A little shuffle (BANK + FINE) makes the congas and claves bounce.

Late 90s trance (about 135 to 140 BPM)

The big-room sound that dominated the late 90s Ministry of Sound Annual compilations. Keep the cymbal muted (BANK + TRIGGER OUT, then step 10) and unmute it on the first beat of a new section, because on a one-bar loop it would otherwise crash every bar.

A tidier way on the TR-08: leave the cymbal out of this pattern, write it into an intro/fill-in that’s otherwise the same beat, and use a rhythm track (Lesson 8) to drop it in at the start of each section.

Bristol trip hop: Tricky (about 80 to 100 BPM)

Slow, heavy, dusty breakbeats with lots of space. Listen to Tricky’s Maxinquaye (1995), including “Overcome” and “Hell Is Round the Corner”, and for the wider Bristol sound, Massive Attack and Portishead.

Kick TONE low with a long DECAY, snare SNAPPY down, and the rim shot tuned down with tUnE in the menu so it sounds like a pitched-down sample. Keep the hats quiet with their LEVEL knob.

Try this: add a little shuffle and a couple of sub-step hats (Lesson 7) so the beat drags behind the grid, the way trip hop’s sampled breaks do.

Big-room house: Faithless (about 125 to 135 BPM)

Driving four-on-the-floor house built for huge rooms and long builds. Listen to Faithless’s “Insomnia” (1995) and “God Is a DJ” (1998).

The signature move is the long build and drop. Start with only hats and claves, unmute the clap, then the kick, then press TAP for a snare-roll fill (write one in pattern 13 with sub steps on the snare) before bringing everything back on the 1.

Keep the closed hat LEVEL low so the 16ths drive without getting harsh.

And from the 80s

The electro recipe in Lesson 9 is the style of Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force’s “Planet Rock” (1982), built on a TR-808. On the TR-08 you have the real sound: kick DECAY long, toms tuned low, and the cowbell up.

Slow 808 soul: Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” (1982) (about 90 to 100 BPM)

One of the first big hits built on the 808, and proof it could sound warm rather than robotic. Soft kick, a clap and rim shot conversation, and steady sixteenth hats. Snare SNAPPY low and the closed hat LEVEL down.

Classic 80s rap

Mid-80s rap was built on drum machines such as the Roland TR-808 and Oberheim DMX, which makes it a natural fit for the TR-08. Two styles are worth having.

Hard and sparse (about 95 to 110 BPM). A big kick, a loud snare and almost nothing else, leaving all the space for the rapper. Listen to Run-DMC’s “Sucker M.C.’s” (1983) and “It’s Like That” (1983).

Snare LEVEL high with SNAPPY around halfway, kick TONE up so it punches, and accent on every snare.

808 boom (about 90 to 105 BPM). Long, booming kick with snare and clap layered on 2 and 4, the classic 808-era combination. Listen to LL Cool J’s “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” (1985) and Eric B. & Rakim’s “Eric B. Is President” (1986).

The Beastie Boys took the 808 sound somewhere else again on Licensed to Ill (1986). Listen to “Paul Revere”, whose beat is an 808 pattern famously played backwards, and “Hold It Now, Hit It”. Write the pattern below, then try it with the kick DECAY even longer and the tempo pulled down to about 90 BPM for that lazy, heavy Beastie Boys feel.

Kick DECAY full, and set the menu item bd to L.dCy for the longest boom. This time the cowbell is the genuine 808 cowbell.

Try this: rap or speak along over the sparse beat at about 100 BPM. It’s the quickest way to feel why so much 80s rap left the drums this bare.

Exercise 10

Pick the two styles you like most. Write each into its own pattern, play along with the suggested tracks, and adjust the knobs until your TR-08 sits as close as you can get to the records.