From haines@news.cloverleaf.comThu Apr 27 11:26:22 1995 Date: Thu, 27 Apr 1995 10:08:19 -0800 From: Matt Haines To: MOOGMAN@aol.com Cc: analogue@hyperreal.com Subject: Re: Hunting the TB-303 >Ok, I am ready, I expect flames so high, I might not survive, I have been >poking my nose into so many analog synths over the years that I never paid >any attention to TB-303's. I honestly would like to know about these things >(feeling really stupid now). What are they ? should I buy one, could someone >please post some low-level info for me. > >Ouch... Ouch.... > >Ohhhhh that hurts.. > > > >Larry The TB-303 is a dedicated sequencer/bass-machine. It was originally released by Roland to be paired with the TR-606 drum machine. The idea was to provide an inexpensive substitute for a live drummer and bass player. The TR-606 outsold its bass counterpart considerably, and ironically the 303 is worth considerably more now. It does a pretty poor imitation of a bass guitar. The unit is drum-machine-sized (if you've seen a 606, it's the same case pretty much). It has buttons arranged in a keyboard configuration for entering pitches, plus various other buttons for editing sequences. There are knobs controlling the tuning, freq cutoff, resonance, envelope amt and decay, plus volume and tempo. There is a DIN sync jack on the back for synchronization with the outside world (found on the 606, 808, 202, etc.). This is a 1-oscillator beastie, with essentially a single EG. You can select either square or saw waveforms. Programming sequences into it is extremely bizarre, and almost impossible to figure out if you don't have a manual (or someone to tell you how). You enter the pitches first, and then enter the durations in a second pass. You also go back and enter accents and slides later. Not exactly user-friendly. Prices in the US run about $700-1000 unless you find someone who has been hiding their head in the sand for years. So do you want one? Well, do you do techno? If not, keep moving. There's not much use for them outside the dance market. But if you *do* do techno, especially any acid-sounding stuff, it's almost a required thing. I personally had one, sold it because I didn't want to be conformist, then found I wanted it so I've been renting (until the 303's were stolen from the rental company...so now I've got to get one it seems, as I do this stuff called techno). What is it about the 303 that gives it that mystical sound? Ask 6 people and you'll get 7 opinions. Reasons I've heard or proposed (although I don't agree with all of them): - the filter is a 3-pole filter, which has a unique sound - there's something screwy going on with the resonance in there - the accent alters the resonance amt and envelope too, not just the volume. - the slide feature is totally unlike regular portamento and can't be emulated. - the sequencer's screwy interface makes you accidentally bizarre lines. I personally think the sequencer is key, especially the slide. YES, the synth has a unique sound, but it's not much by itself. I had cv/gate inputs on the unit I owned so that I could trigger notes directly from my sequencer (rather than syncing a 303 sequence to the computer) and it sounded pretty lame. Like a cheap 1-oscilaltor synth. Whereas I can run my Odyssey with the 303's cv/gate output (thus getting the benefit of the sequencer and cool slides) and get a sound that fools most people. But of course my opinions are exactly that. Others will have different things to say. The sound has been overused in techno, and you'll hear people complain alot on this list. And it's true, but it's like a drug or something. I don't *want* to use, but sometimes I have to..... Matt Haines haines@cloverleaf.com \co/ntrol-X \to /\abort / \transmission. From haines@news.cloverleaf.comFri Apr 28 10:46:56 1995 Date: Fri, 28 Apr 1995 10:34:24 -0800 From: Matt Haines To: Eric Moon Cc: analogue@hyperreal.com Subject: Re: almost a 303, again the heretic [ya da ya da] > all you need is something with brittle resonant filters and >adjustable portamento time. The auto-glide on the 303 just adjusts the >portamento rate so that it'll always glide in the same amount of time. I >think.) > That's a big if. I hear tell the Matrix6 can have constant-rate-of-pitch-change portamento, but I sold my Matrix6 long before I was aware of techno. But even then there's a bit of a problem. The 303's portamento starts sliding during the end of the first note - I think - and completes its bend just when the second note is due to sound i.e. the slide anticipates the next beat, rather than starting on the beat. All portamento starts after the second note is triggered, whether it be constant-rate or constant-whatever. The reason is: the synth has no idea wht you're going to play next, so it doesn't know where to start sliding and how fast until you've hit another note. Whereas the 303 KNOWS which note is coming next, and can slide to it. Like a bass-player would. At least, that's a theory. > Anyway, I wish there were more synths out there like this -- with >performance characteristics hopelessly entangled with the "synth" part. >It's my dream to build things like that someday... > It's quite ironic, really. The old pieces of gear that were a bear to work with any everyone complained about, turn out to offer new musical ideas simply because they *are* so strange to work with. Viva la difference! :) Matt Haines haines@cloverleaf.com \co/ntrol-X \to /\abort / \transmission.