1/11/2010

Roland TR-808 Sample Pack



Justin graciously let me borrow his Roland TR-808 and when trying to program some patterns I noticed a few problems. A) I'm clearly too stupid to work this machine - I eventually figured it out but off the bat, both the Pattern knob the Auto Fill In knob were double teaming my brain and left me staring at shifting patterns that mocked me with changing tempos. B) The sequencing buttons themselves have been accumulating grime over the years which makes it difficult to activate a note. I would gladly take this thing apart and clean it but it's not mine. C) It's outdated. While the interface is preferred for many people, I'd rather do this on a computer or something more flexible like a Machinedrum. Long story short, I decided to sample it and save people the hassle of finding/buying one. Oh yeah and it's free.

The Process
All the audio came out of the Hi Level Master Output of the TR-808 into a Focusrite Platinum Voicemaster Preamp then hit a RME Fireface UC and was recorded at 24 bit 48 kHz in Logic and saved as AIFF files. I used AudioFinder to create fade in and outs manually on every sample, batch normalize and rename. I tried to keep the signal chain as short as possible as I've heard TR-808 sample banks that sound like processed garbage. I have two versions of this sample pack - the first one being a dynamic version that includes one shots of the samples as they hit my interface, with the different parameters on the Bass Drum, Snare Drum, Cymbals, etc. the volume changes dramatically. Additionally there is an alternate version where all the samples are normalized to 0 dB. I see reasons to have both as an option but if you're in doubt, grab the normalized version. I made this for myself and was going to share it with a few close friends but figured the world might find some use for it.

- Roland TR-808


Also, I made a modular synth sample pack back in 2008. It's 10 bucks cause I spent a good amount of time compiling it but there are some freebies to download. *01-18-10 note: I'm noticing a pump in sales of this kit and I thank you all!

- Surachai Modular Sample Kit

23 comments:

Brian Biggs said...

Hey Surachai, the link to the normalized ZIP is broke. It's missing something or something.

Nice that you put this together though. Looking forward to sequencing it with Tattoo...

surachai said...

Brian,
Thanks! I fixed the link, enjoy!

Anonymous said...

no bass drop samples from the 808? why?!?!

Justin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Justin said...

The normalized link is still broken. You'll have to add .zip to the end of the URL.

That and the files are .AIFF. I wasn't able to open any of the files. Just a heads up to everyone else out there.

surachai said...

Should be working now. Sorry about the AIF files... but not really.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for taking the time to create and post these. It`s amazing to see cunts complain about free stuff.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for taking the time to do this! :)

Unknown said...

Your the man! Thanks, as soon as I get my QY70 back from my boy I think ill give every one some free sound from it. Its small, but packs a punch believe me!

Sirmalikcobra

helloliamdaly@gmail.com said...

woah this sample set is way more comprehensive than i expected. thanks Surachai! you're the best ^_^

Anonymous said...

Nice, thank you! These will go well with my goldbaby.co.nz sample packs :)

Justin McGrath said...

Awesome, I needed these. I owe someone an TR-808 Ringtone....seriously.

Anonymous said...

Pretty good. I would donate of you had as many closed high hats and bass kicks as you did snares. There are soooo many bass drum kicks you can get out of that machine. You could do a whole sample CD of just bass kicks. Same with high hat articulations. What about claps? Only one? Nice try though

surachai said...

Dad? Don't you have some rice to harvest?

Mojo said...

Awesome! I will definitely put this to good use. Many thanks.

vingt centimes said...

Thx !!

Jonathan Adams Leonard said...

Hi, how come there are fades applied to the samples?

surachai said...

Hey Jonathan,
Because of the high noisefloor of vintage equipment, if I didn't apply a fade you would hear a clicking sound at the beginning and end of every sample. The fades ease the files in and out of the noisefloor. I kept the fades as short as possible - down to the sample rate in most cases.

Jonathan Adams Leonard said...

Its cool man thanks for the samples and the explanation!

nate said...

Thank you for your time and effort

Street Spirit said...

thanks man, yet another great find of loops thanks to you.

Anonymous said...

diggin the snare - nyce werk -

Peter Walker said...

Just came across this. Many thank's! It is very much appreciated.