By David Voss
Digital sampling is the backbone of many hip hop and techno songs, but another essential ingredient in the mix is the distinctive sound of vintage analog synths and drum boxes. Unlike digital musical instruments, which either play back digitally sampled sounds from their memories or generate analog signals constructed from a series of ones and zeros, analog synths use oscillators and filters to kick out their jams.
The Roland TR-808 is the beat box that launched a thousand hip hop albums; it is known for its deep sustained kick drum, oinky cowbell, and white-noise snare. Problem: the 808 is out of production, so you'll have to bid against all the other acid house and techno artists to get one. Right now, the street price in the US is more than US$500.
Even crazier bidding occurs when a Roland TB-303 goes on the auction block. The 303 "Bass Line" is a simple synthesizer that can play bass tracks. This discontinued unit has controllable filters: all manner of bizarre noises can be coaxed from it. The percolating squeaks and bleeps from the TB-303 are the foundation for much acid house and techno, so every bedroom DIY rave producer on the planet wants one. Going price: $500 and beyond, and this for a tiny battery-powered monosynth whose "blue book" value is around $35.
Don't have the bucks for a genuine Roland techno toy? Not a problem, since there are CDs available with samples of just about every old synth known to science. Load the sounds into your own sampler, and you have instant faux analog. Purists will grumble that it's not the same, because you don't have the little filter parameter knobs to twiddle. Then go buy a knock-off TB-303 from Novation or Control Synthesis, or build your own from scratch. The March 1994 issue of Electronic Musician magazine published plans for a bass sequencer kit that seems to do what the 303 does, but includes MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface, which enables it to communicate with computers).
Occasionally rumors float around the Net that Roland will reissue the hot TB-303 in response to popular demand, but the company denies it. Hang onto your late model synths, though. You never know when the compass will come full circle and we'll dump the analog for that great old digital sound.
Novation: +1 (516) 352 4110, fax +1 (516) 352 0754. Control Synthesis: +44 (27) 088 3779, fax +44 (27) 088 3847. The analog bass kit described in Electronic Musician (March 1994, page 65): US$149. PAiA Electronics: +1 (405) 340 6300, fax +1 (405) 340 6378.
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