When it comes to tech gear and pro audio, particularity is an essential tool in deciphering your hit-making electronics to paperweight-worthy hunks of junk.
In your pursuit for perfect sound forever, Roland is rumored to roll out a new addition to the synthetic backlog of electro engineering.
Remember the famous TR-808, the original drum machine?
How about its successor, and possibly the more favored 909 model?
Though these first-ever drum machines are immortalized in both manuals and music now, they failed to garner solid record sales with an otherwise state-of-the-art record-producing machine.
This was mainly due to the advent of Roger Linn's LM1--the first drum machine to capture that "human-feel" with a specialized "swing" mode and real-time drum sounds. The quantization of the "shuffle beat" rendered Linn's product far superior to Roland's.
Yet, it was Afrika Bambaataa who popularized the latter, in his song "Planet Rock."
Sorry, I digress.
Though the 808 drum synth may have hit the foreground with a feature on its respective tracks--aside from Bambaata, Marvin Gaye featured the machine on his legendary "Sexual Healing"--tech reviewers are weary of Roland's full re-issue of the legendary pad.
So, while we wait for the unveiling of Roland's iconic, far from esoteric drum synth, we reflect on the older models and how they inspired a new sonic landscape.
To wit, here is Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing." Listen to the intro, recognize that sound?
