ROLAND TB 303 BASS LINE profile picture

ROLAND TB 303 BASS LINE

ACEEEEEEEEEEID

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A PROFILE DEDICATED TO THE LEGENDARY ROLAND GREY BOX THAT INSPIRED A GENERATION. AUDIO CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE MEDIA PLAYER ARE WELCOMED.. The Roland TB-303 Bass Line is a synthesizer with built-in sequencer manufactured by the Roland corporation in 1982 and 1983 that had a defining role in the development of contemporary electronic music. The TB-303 (named for "Transistor Bass") was originally marketed to guitarists for bass accompaniment while practicing alone. Production lasted approximately 18 months, resulting in only 10,000 units. The TB-303 is considered a collector's item today, often valued at US$800 to 1000. It was not until the mid- to late-1980s that DJs and electronic musicians in Chicago found a use for the machine in the context of the newly developing house music genre. Phuture's "Acid Trax" is widely acknowledged to have been the first Acid House recording to incorporate prototypical TB-303 sounds. Earlier recordings featuring the TB-303 can be traced back as far as the early Electro scene, including artists such as Ice T, Newcleus, and Mantronix, as well as pop musicians such as Heaven 17 and Section 25. In the early 90's, as new Acid styles emerged, the 303 was often overdriven, producing a harsher sound. Examples of this technique include Hardfloor's 1992 EP "Acperience", and Interlect 3000's 1993 EP "Volcano". The well-known "acid" sound is typically produced by playing a repeating note pattern on the TB-303, while altering the filter's cutoff frequency, resonance, and envelope modulation. The TB-303's accent control modifies a note's volume, filter resonance, and envelope modulation, allowing further variations in timbre. A distortion effect, either by using a guitar effects pedal or overdriving the input of an audio mixer, is commonly used to give the TB-303 a denser, noisier timbre--as the resulting sound is much more rich in harmonics. The head designer of the TB-303, Tadao Kikumoto, was also responsible for leading design of the TR-909 drum machine.The TB-303 has a single audio oscillator, which may be configured to produce either a sawtooth wave or a square wave. It also includes a simple envelope generator, with a decay control only. A lowpass filter is also included, with -18 dB per octave attenuation, and controls for cutoff frequency, resonance, and envelope modulation parameters. The TB-303 has some unique features that contribute to its characteristic sound. During the programming of a sequence, the user can determine whether a note should be accented, and whether it should employ portamento, a smooth transition to the following note. The accent circuitry, as well as increasing the amplitude of a note, also emphasises the filter's cutoff and resonance, resulting in a distinctive, hollow "wow" sound at higher resonance settings. Roland referred to this as "gimmick" circuitry. The portamento circuitry employs a fixed slide time, meaning that whatever the interval between notes, the time taken to reach the correct pitch is always the same. The instrument also features a 'simple' step-time method for entering note data into the 16-step programmable sequencer. This was notoriously difficult to use, and would often result in entering a different sequence than the one that had been intended. Some users also take advantage of a failure in the unit, wherein patterns that are programmed in memory begin to vary in random ways if the batteries are removed for a time. There have been many modifications designed for the TB-303 such as the "Devilfish", "Acidlab" and "Borg" modifications. These generally provide additional parameters to the player, or offer alterations to the overall timbre. [edit]ClonesAround the middle of the 1990s, demand for the TB-303 surged within the electronic dance music scene. As there were never many TB-303s to begin with, many small synthesizer companies cropped up and started to develop their own TB-303 hardware clones. This new wave of TB-303 clones began with a company called Novation Electronic Music Systems, who released their portable Bass Station keyboard in 1994. Many other TB-303 "clones" followed, including Future Retro's 777, Syntecno's TeeBee, Doepfer's MS-404, and MAM's Freebass FB-383. As the popularity of these new TB-303 clones grew, Roland, the original TB-303 manufacturer, finally took notice and released their own TB-303 clone in 1996, the MC-303 Groovebox. Despite Roland's efforts, their new "303 clone" was an entirely new product that had almost nothing to do with the original TB-303, with the exception of a few bass samples and the familiar interface design. The most obvious difference was the inclusion of an inexpensive digital synthesizer, rather than the analog circuitry of the TB-303. By 1997, software synthesizers were beginning to take hold among electronic musicians. One notable package was made by Propellerhead Software's emulator package entitled ReBirth. The software became very popular, providing a cheap and easy way for musicians to reproduce the classic 303, 808, and later 909 sounds, without the need for any synthesis hardware. Although it is still in use, ReBirth has been criticised as an inferior copy of the genuine sound [citation needed]. As of September 2005, support for ReBirth has been discontinued by Propellerhead software, and the software is now available online as a free download. Another notable clone is the "Bass Line" plugin from AudioRealism. It supports both the VST and AU standards. A "pro" version adds a number of features that go beyond those of the original TB-303. The most recent clone is a do-it-yourself hardware solution called the x0xb0x, using most of the original components in the synthesizer section for a very authentic sound. The sequencer section differs from the original 303, adding support for MIDI and USB interfaces as well as an alternate event entry interface.Probably THE defining trademark sound of 'Aceeeed', the TB303 became a highly sought after icon in certain dance music genres. But it didn't start off like that!It was originally intended as a perfectly synchronised bass accompaniment to the (identically styled) TR606 drum machine. Roland's idea was to provide the solo guitarist with a compact and portable rhythm and bass backing.How wrong could they have been?With all due respect to guitarists of the time, most of them weren't up to the programming complexities of a drum machine AND a quirky bass synth/sequencer. As a result, many that were bought quickly ended up in second hand stores. It was impoverished 'electro-wannabees' that elevated the TB303 to the status it now enjoys.Strapped for cash, these aspiring musos were after anything that made a sound and they found it in the used TB303s that were going for silly money in second-hand stores... so they bought them - what originally sold new for $200 was now on the streets for $25 or less. They took these machines (no doubt blissfully unaware of the manufacturer's original intentions) and used (and abused) them to create a whole new musical style. Suddenly, the music of the late '80s and the '90s was alive with squealing TB303s underpinning the dance music of the time.Surprisingly, the TB303 was not some short-lived gimmick as is so often the case. In fact, it grew and grew in popularity to the point where, once again, the TB303 was selling second-hand for silly prices - this time, however, upwards of $1,500!! For the same kind of money, you could have bought yourself a decent workstation at the time but instead, people were spending it on a simple 1-oscillator monosynth! Madness!In an attempt to make the sound more affordable, there were several TB303 clones made that emulated the synth section exactly - there was also Propellerhead's excellent ReBirth software clone that provided not only two TB303s but also an emulated TR808 and TR909 which all worked in perfect sync and which could be synced up to software sequencers (ReBirth is still available at the Propellerheads website). But, despite these products, the actual TB303 still continued to command high prices.So what was it about the TB303 that made it so popular?First and foremost, fashion - it was such a prominent component of the emerging and evolving dance music genres of the time that anyone who wanted to get into that style of music just had to have one. The synth section of the TB303 itself was totally unremarkable - a single oscillator with square or sawtooth waves, a very simple 18dB/Octave, resonant filter and a single AR envelope which were set using the row of six small knobs across the top of the unit! But whilst the 303 was obviously limited in the sounds it could make, it was maybe the simplicity of the thing that appealled to novices in this emerging, electronic musical style plus, of course, those knobs made it easy to manipulate the sound in real-time.But as well as the sound of the instrument and its real-time tweakability, what probably defined the TB303 more than anything was its sequencer.It was possible to program patterns using the small on-board mini-keyboard and these patterns could be chained together exactly like a drum machine to create more sophisticated songs (although it must be said that the typical use of the 303 in dance music was to have one sequence pounding away relentlessly for the duration of the 'song'). However, despite the one octave limitation of the 'keyboard' itself, transpose keys allowed you to program sequences that spanned several octaves and, despite its name, the TB303 could do much more than just basslines. It was also possible to program in accents which opened the filter for some dramatic tonal punctuation. It was also possible to program slides and slurs into any sequence and it was these unique performance features that became so characteristic of a TB303 in full swing and you either loved it or hated it! Furthermore, the fact that, in these pre-MIDI days, the sequencer was driven by good old fashioned clock pulses also gave the TB303 a rock-solid, metronomic feel that was ideal for a musical style which was fusing the influences of Kraftwerk with other musical genres. With all these factors combined, the TB303 became a phenomenon and I imagine no-one was more surprised at the 303's second-coming than the team at Roland who, ten years earlier, simply envisaged guitarists strumming away to a polite bass accompaniment!

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Member Since: 11/3/2006
Band Website: gayebykersonacid.com
Band Members:The history Transistor Bass The TB303 (Transistor Bass) was introduced in the early 1982's together with the TR606 Drumatix (Transistor Rythm) by Roland. It was invented by Tadao Kikumoto. At that time the 303 was not an expensive piece, only about £215. The two small plastic-pieces were intended to emulate a real bass player and a real drummer. Obviously only very few musicians used the TB303 and TR606 for that purpose because the machines just could not replace the real thing. Their sounds didn't anywhere come near a real bass or drumset, and the musicians didn't want to go through the time-consuming task of programming the machines. Since nobody wanted the TB303 anymore, Roland stopped producing them 18 months after releasing it. At that time they'd produced about 20.000 copies alltogether. It was not until 1987 when a DJ (rumors has it that it was DJ Pierre) came up with the idea to turn the knobs while playing the TB303 that acid house was born. After that the machine suddently became more and more wanted and soaked for. Today's acid music is very different from the acid house of the 80's/early 90's. Now acid music is typically produced using the TB303 and a TR909. The TR909 drum machine produces a much more hard, much more dancable beat. The bassdrum really kicks and it has got a very famous clap! As if that wasn't enough, apply a guitar-distortion pedal and the sound is now much more harsher and emphasizes the resonance into agony screams. BIG fat sounds from small machines!! The unique sound I've listened a lot to the TB303 through the years. It's obvious that the sound is not heard alike on any other synth. Some people may claim, that there is no difference from the sound of the TB303 and Deep Bass Nine. Some may think they're able to make an acid track using a clone. I'd say they're truly wrong. A true 303-freak will be able to hear the difference, and they won't settle for less than the real thing/sound! The reason for the TB303's unique sound is in my opinion:Accent: The accent is in my opinion the most important feature on the TB-303. This is what makes the basslines slam! It's not emulated properly in any emulator I've heard. Why? Because it's a complex thing: The accent does not shape or alter the sound itself. What it does is it simply tweaks the vcf and the vca in a special way. First of all, accented notes are louder than normal ones. About twice as loud. Therefore it's a fact that the accent knob controls the VCA. Also, accented notes decay faster than normal ones. If an accented note is being played and the accent knob is fully anti-clockwise, you would not hear it saying "WAOuw", but more like "UW". This decay time is fixed and cannot be controlled. If the accent-know is fully clockwise the sound will sound more like "WAOuw". The accent knob controls to what extend the filter should open. The accent knob, in other words, forces the cutoff frequency to rise to a certain level (determined by how much the accent knob is turned clockwise) and then fall back to a normal level. -Actually it will fall back to a level slightly lower than a normal note because of the fixed additional decay! If several accented notes are beeing played in quick succession it really starts to get fun. What happens is the cutoff-frequency doesn't fall back to it's normal level before the next accent will start, thereby causing the next accent to start at a slightly higher cutoff. This effect increases the faster (BPM) you play. The accent sweep is not linear. First, the cutoff raises quickly. Towards it's peak it rounds off a bit and then it starts dropping. Fast at first towards a smooth soft curve. Accented notes also seems to be more resonant than normal ones. I think that's the reason why it'll scream or whistle instead of just saying "waow". The resonance slam contributes into making the accent the powerful hammer it is! The sweep time is approx 200ms.Slide: The TB-303 slide is also unique. It uses what one could call constant time slide. This means, that the time it takes to slide from a "C-1" to a "C-3" is the same time it would take to slide from a "C-1" to a "C1"! This gives some bouncy basslines not heard on many other synths. If a note is told to slide to another note, the actual slide starts on the succeding note, and finishes just before the gate turns the note off!. -Actually some people claim that it starts just before the succeding note, just as a real bassplayer would. I don't know if this is true or not, but with all theese screwy things going on inside this little box, why not!Clipping: The 303 seems to clip off amplitudes above 85%. Furthermore, where the clipping occurs, very high-frequency sine-peaks shows, just as if the sounds are sligthly highpass-filtered just before it's being played. I think the clipping adds crispness and shreddyness to the sound of the TB-303. No other synth that I know of has the same nasal sound as the 303! This is because of clipping. It might be an error or bug not taken care of back in the 80's, but never mind, it works in the 90's!The filter: The filter of the TB303 is a resonant lowpass 18db/oct. It will be driven into oscillation by applying resonance, but will never self-oscillate! The filter is, in other words, stable! There is not much else to say about the filter other than 18db/oct is not very used - most other synths tend to be using either 12db/oct or 24db/oct lowpass filters and then the fact that the filter is controlled by cutoff-, resonance-, decay-, envmod- and accent-knobs and that added togetger is in fact what created "the acid machine" back then! SPECIFICATIONSRam chips: Nec's µPD-444C CMOS RAM, 1024 x 4 Bit Static. CPU type: Nec's µPD-650C-133, 4-bit microcomputer. (133=Roland's ID internal firmware Rom code). Dimensions: 300 mm (width)x148 mm (Depth)x55 mm (Height). Weight: 1 Kg Sound range: 3 Octaves (4 octaves in a TRACK). Tone control: Cutoff Frequency, Resonance, Envelope Modulation, Decay, Accent, Waveform (Saw/Square). Tuning control: +- 500 overcents. Tempo control: 40 to 300 BPM. Memory: 64 measures x 7 TRACKS (256 measures maximum). Memory backup. Output: Main (Regular Jack, Impedance 10Kohm) - Headphones (Stereo Jack, Impedance 8ohm-30ohm). CV/GATE Out: Mini-Jacks (CV: [= +1V | - +5V], 1 volt/octave / GATE: [OFF 0V | ON +12V]). Sync24: Din connector. Synchronizable with TR-606, CR-8000, NOVATION DRUMSTATION, ... Mix in: Regular Jack, Impedance 100Kohm. Output level 1:1. Power supply: Battery - 6V (1.5V x 4). AC adaptator 9V. Current drain : min 80mA, max 120mA. Accessories: Soft Case. Tadao Kikumoto (creator of the TB-303 and the TR-909)
Influences: Notable acid house artistsPhuture - Chicago-based group of acid house pioneers, formed in 1985 and best known for their classic 1987 single Acid Trax, which is considered to be the E.P. which gave birth to the Acid House Movement. DJ Pierre, a member of Phuture, released various solo acid house tracks and remixes Armando (Armando Gallop, 1970–1996) - another Chicago acid house musician Mr. Lee - another Chicago house musician who released several acid house tracks in 1988 Fast Eddie - another Chicago house musician, for "Acid Thunder" Adonis - another Chicago house musician, for "We're Rockin Down The House" Lil Louis - another Chicago house musician, for "Frequency" 808 State - Manchester, UK-based group of house/techno musicians, formed in 1989. Their first album, Newbuild, was acid house, and occasional acid house influences appear in later tracks. A Guy Called Gerald - 808 State cofounder, for the single "Voodoo Ray" The KLF - for "What Time Is Love?" and their self-described "stadium house" sound, which mixes acid house with hip-hop, pop, and stadium rock/chant influences The Shamen - Psychedelic techno act formed as a rock band in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1986. One of the first groups to bring acid house and techno into the pop mainstream. Psychic TV S'Express - Brought acid house to no.1 in the United Kingdom Egebamyasi- Scottish acid house pioneer Ceephax Acid Crew Alabama 3 - Mixed acid house with Rock, Gospel, and Country
Sounds Like: ACID HOUSEAcid house may have started in Chicago, but it quickly moved across the Atlantic to the United Kingdom, where it became the foundation for the early rave scene, which adopted the yellow smiley symbol to represent acid house music and rave culture.[1] Acid house began influencing UK pop music, emerging in a somewhat sanitized form in songs like Bananarama's "Tripping on Your Love" and Samantha Fox's "Love House", and appearing as remixes of pop songs on 12" singles by mainstream acts. It also manifested in the number-one hit "Theme from S'Express" by electronic band S'Express. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, however, news media and tabloids devoted an increasing amount of coverage to the hedonistic acid house/rave scene, focusing on its association with psychedelic drugs. The sensationalistic nature of the media coverage and its relentless questioning of the meaning of "acid" in "acid house" makes it impossible to gauge the actual prevalence of drugs at early raves and acid house parties. The coverage is widely believed to have ultimately contributed to the banning of acid house, during its heyday, from radio, television, and retail outlets in the United Kingdom. Musically, acid house eventually moved away from its almost exclusive reliance on the TB-303, but continued to remain true to its roots of repeated sound sequences being shifted and warped by modulation over time. [edit]EtymologyThere are conflicting accounts about how "acid" came to describe this new style of house music. It is a celebratory reference to LSD — some feel that early producers of the new style of house music, as well as people at nightclubs where the music was played, enjoyed the drug and its interaction with the music. No citations are available to confirm or deny this explanation. Genesis P-Orridge, principal member of the experimental music collective Psychic TV, is believed by some to be a primary source of this claim. P-Orridge made various claims of responsibility for inventing the term and the style of music, but at least one former member of Psychic TV disputes all of the claims,[2] and in an interview in the 1999 documentary Better Living Through Circuitry, P-Orridge admitted that it was a clerk in a Chicago record shop who used the word "acid" to describe the most experimental, bizarre house records that were on hand and that P-Orridge asked to be shown. In the interview, P-Orridge reported having an epiphany, while listening to those records, that the music was not very psychedelic, except by virtue of its tempo. Afterward, the music and imagery of Psychic TV records was very deliberately influenced by the acid house style and was quite celebratory of LSD in particular. P-Orridge later claimed to have been the first to introduce psychedelic elements to the music. It is a celebratory reference to psychedelic drugs in general — some feel that Ecstasy (MDMA) was more popular and prevalent than LSD among musicians and nightclub patrons in the mid-1980s. No citations are available to confirm or deny this explanation. There are many citations of Ecstasy being prevalent in post-Chicago U.S. nightclub and UK rave party scenes of the late 1980s, but acid house had already been named by then. It was used in Chicago, at the time, to describe house music in the style of "Ron Hardy's Acid Track". — Before Phuture's "Acid Trax" was given a title for commercial release, it was played at a nightclub by DJ Ron Hardy and was called "Ron Hardy's Acid Track" (or "Ron Hardy's Acid Trax") by some, because it was so "hot" (immediately popular) that it "burned the dance floor like acid". Phuture's title followed, and the term Acid House came into common parlance to describe house music with similar affectations, without regard to possible drug influence. No citations are available to confirm or deny this explanation.[3] It was used in Chicago, at the time, to describe house music that contained many samples of other recordings — the use of such samples was considered unscrupulous by some, so it is believed by some that the term "acid" or "acid burning" was merely meant to have a harsh, unpleasant connotation. This explanation, sometimes including aspects of the others, has been widely repeated in the press[4][5] and even in the British House of Commons.[6] However, there are at least two reasons why it may not be true: 1. Early house music producers did borrow sounds from each other's recordings, but the majority of acid house music tended to consist of fully original compositions. 2. In 1991, UK Libertarian advocate Paul Staines wrote, "I made up this explanation at a press conference held to launch the Freedom to Party Campaign at the Conservative Party conference in October 1989. I was attempting to desperately play down the drug aspect in a forlorn attempt to discourage anti-party legislation, reasoning that the British public might accept massive noisy parties, but thousands of teenagers on drugs were definitely not acceptable. This, incidentally, is the most successful lie I have ever told. Japanese music journalists have solemnly repeated it to me in the course of interviews and from MTV to ITN it has been broadcast as a fact. Only once was I caught out, when at a seminar held at the DMC World Disc Jockey Mixing Championships, a DJ from Chicago stood up and told the 1,000 or so people in the hall that I was talkin' a complete load of fuckin' bullshit —which I was."[7][8] However, some feel that Staines, like Genesis P-Orridge, is not a reliable source of information. It is a colloquialism intended to suggest that the music itself was enhanced and transformed in a manner suggestive of the effects of LSD. Some believe that the addition of the squelch and deep bass of the TB-303 synthesizer to house music makes it sound like the music itself has been subjected to the effects of LSD, or that it induces LSD's effects in those who listen and dance to it. No citations are available to confirm or deny this explanation. Once the term acid house was coined and began to appear alongside these varying explanations, many participants at acid house themed events made the psychedelic drug connotations a reality[9][10].[11] This coincided with an increasing level of scrutiny and sensationalism in the mainstream press[12],[13] although conflicting accounts about the degree of connection between acid house music and drugs continued to surface.
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