IDM Mailing Archive

quoted 5 lines So is acid something that cannot be done without a 303? Or is the 303

>So is acid something that cannot be done without a 303? Or is the 303 >merely the fave instrument for making acid tracks? I dig a lot of acid >music (mostly UR's acid though), but even assuming they use a 303 the >sound to me was never so much about the -303- as much as that bubbling, >squeaking, etc., sweeping filters, tweaking, and obtuse lines.

uh, well, that's exactly what the 303 does. and UR are the masters of the 303 line. no question.

quoted 4 lines Obviously

>Obviously >the 303 is extremely well-suited to this, but other instruments can >generate this stuff as well, albeit not exactly as the 303 does. Someone >even said the true workhorse of Detriot is the Prophet 5 I think.

well whoever said that is full of crap. the whole thing about techno, the whole reason it sounds the way it does is based on economics, as usual. back in the day when this stuff was starting out, people were giving away 303's and 606's. "real musicians" hated them. they didn't do what they were "supposed" to do - which was to provide bass & drums for guitar players who wanted to be able to practice without a band. of course the 303 sounds like total crap for rock bass and the 606... let's not even get into it. pop superstars could afford linn drums and prophet 5's (both around $1500 i think when they debuted). poor black dance producers could afford 303's and 606's (given away free with cereal boxes (well, comparitively)). put them together and you've got a nice minimal electro acid track. listen to a seminal track like "acid trax" (phuture)... 707 and 303, and that's it. they sync together quite nicely, all you gotta do is hit START on the 707 and the 303 bubbles away in perfect sync quite happily. two pieces of gear, one cable for the sync signal, plus a tiny line mixer and a tape recorder... music on the cheap, the true roots of techno. -- Name: Jon Email: jsd@cyborganic.com Web: http://www.cyborganic.com/~jsd

On Sun, 7 May 1995, Howard Cheng wrote:

quoted 1 line Does anyone know why Roland discontinued the 303, 808, 909, et.al?

> Does anyone know why Roland discontinued the 303, 808, 909, et.al?

There was a gap of about 5 years between when they stopped selling these things and when they started showing up cheaply in pawn shops, and became the basis for so many of the records we listen to. This topic comes up regularly on the Analogue Heaven mailing list, but in a nutshell... 1. Because these instruments use discrete circuits rather than the "synth on a chip" found today in most mass-market electronic instruments, they are considerably more expensive to manufacture. 2. In a business sense, its more lucrative for Roland to focus on the home sample-playback and soundcard market than for them to devote resources to what is, in today's market terms, a "fringe" element of the music-making community -- people who want tweakable knobs and funny sounds from their instruments, rather than a "super accurate piano sample." on now: X-102 ----------------------------------------------------------------- dave walker, detroit art services marmoset@conch.aa.msen.com me & my robots