TR. 909 or 808?

tweakmm

Lifer
May 28, 2001
18,436
4
0
There is no comparison. The 909 is a synthetic bass machine while the 808 is a synthetic drum machine.
That being said, the Beastie Boys said it best, "Nothing sounds quite like the 808".
 

NikPreviousAcct

No Lifer
Aug 15, 2000
52,763
1
0
Originally posted by: tweakmm
There is no comparison. The 909 is a synthetic bass machine while the 808 is a synthetic drum machine.
That being said, the Beastie Boys said it best, "Nothing sounds quite like the 808".

Maybe he's not comparing them, though. Maybe he's asking which one he should buy for Christmas or something. We need more info. No drum machine ever made can ever truely replace a skilled and tallented flesh and blood drummer at a real drum set. :beer:
 

djheater

Lifer
Mar 19, 2001
14,637
2
0
Originally posted by: Nik
Originally posted by: tweakmm
There is no comparison. The 909 is a synthetic bass machine while the 808 is a synthetic drum machine.
That being said, the Beastie Boys said it best, "Nothing sounds quite like the 808".

Maybe he's not comparing them, though. Maybe he's asking which one he should buy for Christmas or something. We need more info. No drum machine ever made can ever truely replace a skilled and tallented flesh and blood drummer at a real drum set. :beer:

That's not the intention.

I voted 808 cause nothing compares to its kick, and the toms are pretty nice too. But honestly it's been years since I played on anything... :( more's the pity.
 

tweakmm

Lifer
May 28, 2001
18,436
4
0
Originally posted by: Nik
Originally posted by: tweakmm
There is no comparison. The 909 is a synthetic bass machine while the 808 is a synthetic drum machine.
That being said, the Beastie Boys said it best, "Nothing sounds quite like the 808".

Maybe he's not comparing them, though. Maybe he's asking which one he should buy for Christmas or something. We need more info. No drum machine ever made can ever truely replace a skilled and tallented flesh and blood drummer at a real drum set. :beer:
Well, he is asking for a preference so in my mind that warrants a comparison, but a comparison can't be made as they are two different machines that do different things.
In regards to buying them, he would have to be a collector or a producer with a lot of money to spare as the 808 and 909 have been out of production for some time and are vasty overpriced for what they are.
The reason that they are so popular is that Roland produced them when digital sampling was out of the question so they had to use sound modeling, resulting in a very fake sounding sound. Well, as soon as sampled sound machines came out everyone with an 808 and a 909 ditched them in favor of machines with higher quality sounds. When hip-hop and electronica were starting out here obviously the founders were for the most part poor people trying to string together sh!t in their basement so the only thing they could afford were the sound machines that the rock producers and such abandonded and sold to pawn shops.
So now it's cool to have old school sounds in one's songs as all of the pioneers in the field used said equipment.