Roland TR-808 noise transistor update

Roland TR-808 noise transistor update

Analysing the sound of the mystery transistor An update on our previous post on the mysterious 2SC828 R-NZ “noise selected” transistor that was used as the noise source for the Roland TR-808 drum machine. The observations and conclusions here are...
The mysterious heart of the Roland TR-808 drum machine

The mysterious heart of the Roland TR-808 drum machine

The story of the special transistor at the heart of the world’s most iconic drum machine Throughout the 1970’s and 80’s, the golden age of synthesizer design, a few manufacturers stood out for their consistently high quality builds and their circuit...
The VCO

The VCO

The oscillator is the beating heart of a synthesizer, it is the humming bird that generates the raw musical tone that then leaves on a journey through the rest of the synthesizer‘s circuits and modules to create the final sound. It’s job is not inconsiderable, it...
The Korg 35 filter

The Korg 35 filter

The Korg 35 filter Back in the 1970’s when Korg, Roland and Yamaha were bringing out their now classic synths and drum machines one of the hallmarks of their design was the supremely clever little circuits that the Japanese engineers came up with to fulfill the...