It’s almost impossible to imagine the modern musical landscape without the distinctive sounds of the Roland TR-808 drum machine. When the Japanese electronics company Roland started releasing the 808 ...

The sequencer on the 808, a row of 16 color-coded buttons, offered artists a way to store beats they programmed. Courtesy of Roland Even if you don't know the Roland TR-808 drum machine by name, ...

Even if you've never heard of the Roland TR-808 drum machine, you've definitely heard it. Developed in Japan as a user-friendly way to produce an electronic drum beat, the 808 grew into one of the ...

I want to mark the passing of a genius who changed the soundscape of popular music in the 1980’s. Ikutaro Kakehashi (1930-2017) died earlier this month at the age of 87. He founded the Roland ...

We've seen drum machines and synthesizers that are playable in a browser before, but now one of the most iconic instruments has a more detailed web version. The HTML-808 and HTML5 Drum Machine made a ...

If you spent the 1980s hanging out at your local record store, and you don’t have a hankering for spandex and bouffant rock-god hairstyles, the chances are you’ll have more than a few pieces of ...

The Roland TR-808 is the go-to drum machine for hip-hop. Artists like Afrika Bambaataa, the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Kanye West, Outkast and others have used this machine to create some of your ...

Alexander Dunn's documentary "808: The Movie" focusing on the legendary Roland-808 drum machine has been released exclusively on Apple Music, and will be available for download or rent on the iTunes ...

The film features interviews with Pharrell, Phil Collins, the Beastie Boys, Questlove and more. The Roland TR-808 drum machine is responsible for some of the most influential music from the 1980s ...

You may not know the 808 drum machine, but you have definitely heard it: the original Roland TR-808 was the first programmable drum machine and has been a mainstay of ...