Roland TR-08

Classic that causes WOW Effect

The finest piece of a classic sound. All the familiar sounds from 808.

Technically superior it has multichannel separate outputs through USB for all its drums. Also there is an internal speaker but dont expect much of him.

Handling is slightly hard because of quiet little knobs but mostly very intuitive to use even if you did never face a drum machine at all. Full of very needed features, but lacks effects, which you can see on e.g. TR-06.

Metal body and really good moving details makes you confident in its quality.

Overall look is very nice, all the people who see it on your table experiencing a wow effect.

Also can be used as a simple sound card :)

Worth its price - this is a serious piece of gear

Despite its diminutive size, it's a serious piece of gear that I already incorporated into my setup. OK, I have some 808 samples that sound even more genuine, but these are good enough 99% of the time and the joy of using the original workflow of the original 808 is hard to beat. I like the built quality and attention to detail.

Remake van de klassieke drummachine bij uitstek

Het origineel is vandaag onbetaalbaar. De TR-08 is de oplossing voor wie de klassieker toch in huis wil halen. Ongelooflijke klank, intuïtieve bediening en enkele eigenschappen die het origineel niet had, zoals naadloze integratie met een DAW waarbij elk instrument (hi-hat, basdrum, tom enz) een eigen spoor krijgt. Enkel wie zeer dikke vingers heeft zal de knopen wat klein vinden. Een puik instrument, prachtig afgewerkt.

Works like rhythm scetch bloc

It is small, you can take it with you, it is battery powered and relatively simple to use. I use the Roland Tr-08 to plot down rhythm ideas. No need to turn on a computer. Just turn it on and it is ready to drum.

Super cute, but sounds serious

This little boutique version of the TR-808 manages to nail the sound very closely indeed. I didn't have an original to do a side-by-side comparison, but if you're interested by the unit you'll find decent critical reviews from folks like Sound on Sound have done exactly that and found that it's very close indeed. For me, it's certainly close enough to be worth spending a tenth of the price of a used 808 :-D

In terms of handling, you're somewhat at the mercy of the 808's original workflow – which is not entirely intuitive. It's taken me a few hours to get my head around the procedure for mapping out beats and then stringing them together. But the unit has the definite virtue of minimal menu-diving (it's basically only some of the more esoteric settings and effects that are hidden in menus), and the one-control-per-function vibe makes programming pretty easy once you have the hang of things.

The "manual" is an A3 sheet with the basics printed on it, which feels a bit cost-cutting (a little booklet would have been much nicer), and I wish it had a proper PSU rather than just batteries or USB power. But those minigripes aside, I'm really liking it :-)