Justin OBrien-Manley. The History of the Drum Machine.

You may not have noticed them, but Drum Machines have been used extensively in music throughout the last half of the twentieth century. Pop, Rock, Dance, all have used drum machines to help shape and progress their sound. One of the most recognisable drum machine sounds is of Rolands 1980 product, the TR-808. Although at the time, it was not seen as anything so special, a cheaper alternative to other machines on the market, its sounds have become legendary, being used by many famous artists, from the Beastie Boys (Link 1) Afrika Bambaataa, (Link 2), it provides the cowbell on the Whitney Houston track (Link 3) and Marvin Gaye (Link 4). It was cheap so was bought by many up and coming artists and became a staple of 80s Hip Hop and early House and Techno. Its sounds are still being used today by artists in modern dance music, some examples being Boddika (Link 5), Julio Bashmore (Link 6) and Addison Groove (Link 7). Sounds based on those of the the 808 can even be heard in Heavy Metal (The second Hi Hat in Rammsteins Kuss Mich (Fellfrosch) Link 8). The sounds of the TR-808, can be heard on most electronic tracks since its release in 1980. But this was not the first drum machine, so what came before to help create this icon of late 20th century music? The very first drum machine was created in 1931, by the same man who created the Theremin, Leon Theremin. It was called the Rhythmicon. He was commissioned to build it by the very forward thinking composer Henry Cowell. He believed that the overtone series was important, not only in harmony, but in rhythm. When you play a fundamental note, other higher pitched notes can be heard. These are called harmonics. The first harmonic beats twice as fast as the fundamental, the second three times as fast, the third four times and so on. Cowell wanted to be able to play these rhythms, but due to their complexity as you got higher and higher, he couldnt play them. He asked Theremin to build him a machine which could, so the Rhythmicon, the first ever drum machine was made. A light was shone at a series of rotating discs. The discs had small holes cut in them allowing the light to shine through and once the light had passed through the discs it was picked up by photoreceptors on the other side which produced percussion like sounds. The holes were cut in relation to the overtone series. It allowed Cowell to generate complex rhythms in real time. You can see a demonstration of a Rhythmicon copy being played in link 9. However innovative, the Rhythmicon was soon ditched due to how awkward and unreliable it was. The next significant development was the invention of the Chamberlin Rhythmate in 1956, by Harry Chamberlin. It was totally different to the Rhythmicon, which had 17 piano like notes and produced synthetic sounds. The Chamberlin had a simple layout of knobs and worked with recordings on tape. It was essentially playing taped samples. The knobs and tabs controlled what beat was being played and at what speed. This meant that it was a very effective accompanying instrument, as for instance, a pianist, guitarist or other musician could quickly and easily change it. It was part of a series of Chamberlin instruments which included flutes and strings. It caused some controversy when it was first brought out commercially, as musicians felt that they were being replaced by a machine and made redundant. The loops it played were recorded onto 14-1/4 tape. They had no compression or other effects on them, just the raw recordings. This made them incredibly popular as it sounded like the real thing, not a clean, polished version of it. This theme ran throughout the Chamberlin instruments and they have been and are still used by artists such as The Beach Boys, The Beatles, David Bowie, Tom Waits (the albums Franks Wild Years and Bone Machine) and Kanye West. They are still used today but sadly the Rhythmate, along with the Rhythmicon faded into obscurity. You can see a demonstration of the Rhythmate being used in link 10. But that was by no means the end of the road for drum machines. By the 1960s drum machines were breaking through in the commercial market. On the more obscure end, there was Raymond

Justin OBrien-Manley. Scotts Rhythm Modulator which was based on synthesis. You can hear examples of what it sounded like in link 11. It sounds nothing like drums, but has a brilliant quality to it. He developed it at the Manhattan Research Inc. It only appeared on his own compositions in the 50s and 60s. The one that really caught peoples attention was Wurlitzers Sideman. It was part of a range of instruments brought out by Wurlitzer in the late 50s. The Sideman was released in 1959 and due to its success continued to be produced produced until 1964. It used synthesis as opposed the Chamberlins tape samples. The sounds were achieved by shaping white noise, sine waves and other basic waveforms into its ten different drum sounds. You can hear them being played in link 12. It was designed to accompany musicians. It came with 12 pre-set rhythms, so it was still not programmable. Machines inspired by the Sideman such as the Rhythm Ace and the Rhythm Prince, were also produced. They used transistors instead of the vacuum tubes of the Sideman. These were the first solid state drum machines i.e. no moving parts. The Sideman cemented the status of the drum machine not as a gimmick, but as something that was here to stay. The 1970s brought a huge leap forward in drum machine technology. Up until then all drum machines could do was play back set rhythms, but the seventies brought with them the first programmable drum machine, the Italian made EKO ComputeRhythm. You can see the ComputeRhythm being operated in link 13. It was a huge step forward but was only made in very limited quantities as it was hugely expensive. It had six rows of buttons which could be pushed in to set the beat pattern. It is laid out like the step sequencers that you find on modern day samplers, programs and machines. Its synthesised sounds were also in my opinion a vast improvement on the older machines. In 1975, two drum machines came along which again drastically improved the quality of the synthesised sound. They were the PAIA Programmable drum set and the Ace Tone Rhythm Producer FR-15. The drum sounds were created using Ringing Oscillators. They work by having a filter that is very close to oscillating and hitting it with a small pulse to make it react. The result being that it produces a ringing sound, like a drum. In 1978 a company called Roland made their first drum machine, the CR-78. It was used by the likes of Phil Collins, Blondie and Ultravox. The CR-78 provided more flexibility than ever, allowing the user to adjust the treble and bass of the sounds, add ring modulation and drum fills. It then allowed you to store four of your own beats and settings. It even had an early Intel Microprocessor for digital control. In the 1980s four main drum machines were released, the Linn LM-1 was at the time the most popular, while hiding more at the back, was the Roland TR-808, which is now probably the most widely used drum machine ever. At the time, the Linn LM-1 like the Chamberlin, used drum samples instead of synthesis, but it was fully programmable. It became one of the iconic sounds of the 80s, being used by artists such as Prince, Michael Jackson, The Human League, Peter Gabriel and Kraftwerk. You can hear a demonstration of this in link 14. The LM-1 used twelve 8-bit samples and played back with a digital to analogue converter. It gave the real sound that a lot of session drummers had dreaded. Many of them learned to use one, so as not to become redundant. It did however lack a crash and a ride cymbal. It was very flexible as each drum sound could be individually tuned and could be linked to outboard effects. You could also save patterns which at the time was amazing. Despite all this though, its sound became dated and it was soon dwarfed by Rolands cheaper TR-808. The 808 helped shape modern music. It was a key sound in Hip Hop, the techno scenes of Berlin and Detroit and early house music. Its sounds are far from realistic, but have become loved for just that reason. The cowbell is a good example of this, being particularly ridiculous when compared to the real thing. The TR-808 is the sound of an entire movement in electronic music. It was equally as

Justin OBrien-Manley. programmable as the Linn, but its sound has stood the test of time. You can see a demonstration of how to build a beat on a TR-808 in link 15. In 1983 the TR-909 was released, becoming the drum sound of choice for most techno producers. It was just as flexible as the 808 but had a much harder sound, which techno producers fell for. It used a mixture of synthetic and sampled sounds. Pretty much all drum machines, hard and soft (soft meaning, a computer version), will have 808 and 909 sounds on them somewhere. You can see a demonstration of how the 909 is used in link 16. But however big they are, the 808 and 909 were not the end of the line. There is one more drum machine to mention and that is Oberheims DMX. This was the first drum machine to work towards using MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). It used samples 8 bit samples like the Linn, but they were processed to achieve the equivilant dynamic range of 12 bit samples. This quality of sound means that they are still sampled today. It has been used by artists such as Eurythmics, Herbie Hancock and New Order. There was a swing setting to add even more realism to beats along with rolls and flams. You can hear it being played in link 17. It had a feature called the Oberheim Parallel Bus, which allowed it to synchronise with other Oberheim instruments. This is far from as universal as MIDI, but it was an important step towards the drum machines that we have today. Any MIDI instrument can connect to any MIDI device. Today, most songs we hear use drum machines and they seem unremarkable, but it took some very forward thinking people to create them and to allow them to progress to what they are today. Without the drum machine, modern music would be very different to what we hear now. What was at first seen as a gimmick, has become a staple of what we listen to every day.

References. http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/808.php http://www.openculture.com/2012/04/iall_hail_the_beati_how_the_1980_roland_tr808_drum_machine_changed_pop_music.html http://www.bketech.com/bkeblog/drum-machine/part-1-history-drum-machine-invention-drummachine/ http://www.factmag.com/ http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2010/08/15/the-rhythmicon/ http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2010/04/05/the-chamberlin-rhythmate-loop-drum-machine/ https://emhistory.wikispaces.com/1959+Wurlitzer+Side+Man http://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jun/22/linn-oberheim-drum-machines http://www.synthmuseum.com/linn/linlm101.html http://www.vintagesynth.com/linn/linn.php http://www.attackmagazine.com/features/top-ten-classic-drum-machines/ http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/909.php

Justin OBrien-Manley. Links. Link 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSQO3EE57AI Link 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lDCYjb8RHk Link 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH3giaIzONA&ob=av3e Link 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjlSiASsUIs Link 5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhVG2mroAaY Link 6 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLqWjUWGYFA Link 7 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaEcmsHRNfY Link 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4myMqXjJKM Link 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkodVcuPVAo Link 10 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmAbtzMChHk Link 11 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6VsZiNjjZE Link 12 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLgyQG8Pu8s Link 13 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSNtRDsTuGw Link 14 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGk3hpJ3eW4 Link 15 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITb_lWlPoos Link 16 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCxiPKrdXkI Link 17 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5kAuUPK2y8