Roland TR-808 Drum Machine at SMEM Playroom 07

2026

An analogue drum machine manufactured from 1980 into 1983. Its significance is that it let users program their own rhythms rather than select presets, and that its sounds are synthesised rather than sampled, so they do not resemble a real kit. It is more central to electro and hip-hop than to techno narrowly, reaching Detroit largely by way of Cybotron and electro.