However, in popular vernacular today, nobody refers to the hi-hats and other instruments as 808 snares even if the sound is similar to what the TR-808 used to produce.
![tr 808 drum kit tr 808 drum kit](https://sample4d.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Classic-TR-808-Drum-Kit-logo3.png)
It’s because these are all the instruments that come from the Roland TR-808. This should explain why the word, 808, can also refer to things like the 808 kick, the 808 snare, and the 808 hi-hats. You can set it up so that there is bass in your track, but it doesn’t have to come along with a kick, and you can switch out kicks for other kicks in case you don’t like how it sounds. The 808 Studio II plug-in is a great example of the refinement of the term 808 because you can actually introduce bass sounds with the plug-in but you can choose not to include a kick. It’s worth mentioning that it also works for Garageband. The term is now commonly used in not only hip-hop production but in popular music in general, with even plugin manufacturers using it in the title of their plugins, like Initial Audio’s 808 Studio II plug-in (grab it here from Plugin Boutique), which I think is easily one of the best 808 plug-ins on the market, especially for the price. Take a look at any music production YouTuber and they all use the term “808” to refer to any bass sounds that go along with the kick. To put it simply, the word “808” has evolved to become a term that describes the bass that works in conjunction with the kick drum, even though the 808 at one point was just a kick drum. Nowadays, people use the term, “808,” to describe the bass sound that goes along with the kick, even though the TR-808’s original kick-drum sound WAS, in fact, a kick drum. Fast-forward to today, and the TR-808, or more specifically the 808 sound, is used everywhere in popular music to the point where it’s a cliché and a misnomer.įor instance, people use the term, “808,” to describe the bass in general, even though the sound may not be anything even remotely close to the TR-808 sound from 1980 (until it finally ceased production in 1983). The Roland TR-808 obviously sounded very synthetic and producers wanted something more realistic, kind of like what the Linn LM-1 was producing at the time. Roland released the first TR-808 in 1980 and it went for $1195USD, which is about $3700 now. Producers wanted a simple way of adding drum sounds to their songs but they wanted them to sound like a real drummer, rather than a synthetic or “artificial” sound. The 808 and the Kick Drum – Differences, Similarities, and MoreĪccording to the Wikipedia page, when the Roland TR-808 first came out in the 1980s, it didn’t sell very well because music producers didn’t like the way it sounded. As it was just noted, this all comes from the Roland TR-808 drum machine, which has been a staple since the 1980s although they have been off the market for ages (grab one from eBay here). The kick refers to the kick drum, more specifically, the attack of it when the pad first hits the drum, but not necessarily the bass frequencies that follow.
![tr 808 drum kit tr 808 drum kit](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ACyDtzc3ids/maxresdefault.jpg)
In other words, an 808 is the bass – the sound and frequency – whereas the kick refers to the actual kick drum or VST.Įxplained another way, the 808 is a term that describes a bass or a low-end sound but not necessarily a kick drum. The difference between an 808 and a kick drum is that an 808 refers to just the low-end bass sounds that emanate from the kick, but not the attack of the kick drum.
![tr 808 drum kit tr 808 drum kit](https://rolandcorp.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/TR-808-Layered-No-Stripes.png)
The term 808 – which originates from Roland’s TR-808 machine – produced a kick along with a low-end frequency, however, it has become a cliché in the sense that its original meaning is lost.Ĩ08s, at one point, was actually a kick drum but now the term doesn’t necessarily refer to the same thing. The kick and the 808 are intimately related for a couple of reasons, but mostly due to the popularity of hip-hop music and the way it’s produced in modern popular music.