Roland TB-303

It's interesting because people say, you know, oh, you know, they used a 909, you know, on Step Forward that was before anybody else had used one, you know, and they're right.

No, but it's like, you know, the TB-303, the Roland bass line? Yes.

I know Orange Juice is the first chart band to have used it, but our record was pre-Orange Juice, I stagger mentally, and every single track has got a TB-303 bass line on it.

So it's the definitive TB3, but, you know, it was before a guy called Gerald or whatever.

Wow, that's amazing.

Like the 303, right?

Yes, the Roland TB-303, which is the defining synthesizer of acid techno.

Producers usually use the 303 to create these aggressive, squelchy, piercing bass lines that just dominate a club.

Right.

It's a massive, chaotic, hybrid ecosystem.

He's using analog gear, the Roland drum machines, the TB-303 synthesizer, which creates those liquid squelchy filter sweeps that define acid house, and the Minimoog for incredibly thick, fat sounds.

Classic analog hardware.

Right.

Nicola Sophie will tell me off [laughs].

But this is Glenn Underground's rework of an original Roland 303 business from the '80s.

Now, is there anyone in the Shoutbox can give you the name of the original producer? AIB, AI beer for me.

Work that motherfucker.

Like the Roland TR-909 drum machine.

Or the TB-303 bass synthesizer.

Yeah.

And for the vast majority of producers back then, getting their hands on a 303 meant the gear essentially became the genre.

And I saw an advert, you know, they were like, oh, we've, you know, music shop in Slough, we've got loads of bits and bobs, you know, phone us if there's anything left.

So I phoned them, I went, oh, I'm after this little box called Roland 303, do you have any? And they went, yeah, we've got a few here, you know, they're just sitting there, nobody's interested in them.

I was like, right, I really need it, don't sell it to anyone, I'm on my way soon, just make sure you don't, and they're like... dude these they've been sitting in this like bargain box for months and nobody's interested in these things you don't worry you know you'll be fine I was like no no no you need to put it by for me because you know I don't want anyone to get it and so anyway so I just got on the bus charged down went there and they're like I was like hi yeah I've uh come about the 303 you still got it haven't you and they went yeah yeah yeah well yeah there's like there's a whole there's a whole bargain box of them there just just grab one out there and I was like I was like, brilliant.

I was like, how much is that? And they went, £25.

I don't know.

For technique, they were leaning on gear like the Roland D-50 synth, Emu samplers, Roland drum machines, and the fun one, the Roland TB-303.

Why is the TB-303 the fun one? Because it has a good backstory.

What is that? It was built in the early 80s essentially as a bass accompaniment box, something that a solo

First, Ware manipulated a Roland Jupiter 8 synth, applying a heavy tape delay to a sweeping, filtering sound that gave the intro its distinctive atmosphere.

Second, Ian Craig Marsh leaned heavily into a brand new quirky silver box from Japan, the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer.

Originally manufactured by Roland in 1981 as a tool to simulate a real bass player for practicing guitarists, the TB-303 was actually a commercial failure.

But to British synth pop musicians like Heaven 17, its synthetic squelchy tone was perfect.

Released in October 1982, Let Me Go was one of the very earliest commercial pop records to prominently feature the TB-303, years before Chicago musicians would use that exact machine to invent acid house music.

The production was notoriously maximalist behind the scenes.

The song was recorded at Air Studios in London, and the opening choral line of Let Me Go is something of a marvel of multi-tracking, consisting of 118 separate vocal takes layered together via a massive physical tape loop running around the studio to generate a 14-part vocal harmony.

Thank you.

The sound of a rolling TB-303 excites me while the drum machine drives me, drives me through the night to reality, reality, reality, reality, reality, reality, reality, reality, reality, reality.

reality reality

I wanna rock that nail, I wanna rock that nail, nail, nail, rock that nail I wanna rock right now Thank you.