Roland TR-8: A Guide for Live and Studio Use – Basic Operation

Part 3

Rather than jump straight into the deep end with situation specific operation, hidden options menus and rig integration, I prefer to take it step by step so as to lay a foundation on which one could build upon. Without a foundation, one is certain to experience slower progress and heaps of frustration. So this week, let’s take a step deeper by covering basic operation of the Roland TR-8.

Sound Selection

The TR-8 does a brilliant job of reproducing the sounds of Roland’s fabled TR series. The factory version comes with full TR-808 and TR-909 kits, plus a handful of variations (like the “ultra 808” kick, which provides absurdly long decay times). The official 7×7 expansion released by Roland Corporation ($99) provides full TR-606, TR-707, and TR-727 kits, as well as another set of extra sounds.

Each of these sounds is accessible individually or as a kit via the DRUM SELECT subsection. INST allows you to select which instrument you would like to swap by pressing the focus button beneath the appropriate fader. The sequencer will display the available sounds as colored buttons. Each color corresponds to a specific machine. (See chart below)

The kit button allows you to recall a full kit at the press of a button. There are 16 slots – one per step button – into which you may save any combination of instruments as a kit. It is advisable that you keep at least one slot per drum machine, ensuring you can recall each classic machine at any given time.

*A Note on Saving: TR-8 was created to be a tactile live-performance machine. Immediacy is paramount in its design. Consequently, there is no save function. Instead, TR-8 remembers the state of all its patterns, kits, sequences, and settings as they are. You could think of like this: every change is saved AUTOMATICALLY — no take-backsies.

Modes of Operation

Once you have your sounds selected, it’s time to make music with them. There are two ways to program your sounds: step sequencing and live programming.

TR Rec: Step Sequencing

Step sequence mode is the most common one – the ease and speed of programming is a great strength of this machine, as well as its predecessors. It is accessible via the TR Rec button on the Mode Panel.

Select an instrument with the appropriate focus button and the sequencer will display the current programmed sequence, if any. Press a button on the sequencer to trigger the sound on that step. Press again to trigger a ghost note (the selected sound, but softer), and press a third time to erase the note.

*You can change the method of entering ghost notes via the infamous “hidden” settings menu, which we will discuss in the next part of this series.

INST REC: Live Programming

Live recording mode is accessible via the INST REC buttons. INST PLAY mode allows the user to manually trigger the sounds by pressing the appropriate buttons on the Sequencer Panel. INST REC starts recording the manual button presses and quantizes them into the step sequencer. The buttons are not velocity sensitive, so ghost notes are unavailable in this mode – you would have to enter TR Rec mode in order to see your recorded sequence and apply ghost notes.

Special Keys for Live Performance

Roll keys are only available in INST PLAY and INST REC modes. They allow for straight and varied rolls by holding down the appropriate roll and pressing the desired instrument button. Holding the roll button down will keep the roll going, freeing up a hand to tweak instrument settings. This allows for live, improvised buildups.

Mute mode is a useful mode that allows a user to temporarily switch off a sound rather than drop its volume to zero. Muting is useful because, unlike dropping the volume, it disables the selected sequence – freeing up any other sequences that may be affected. A prime example of this is muting the closed hat so the open hat is no longer choked. (On the TR-8, the CH sequence takes priority over the OH)

A Truly Beefy Sequencer

Aside from its instantly recognizable classic sound, the greatest feature of the TR-8 is its outstanding internal sequencer. Not only does each instrument have dedicated sequencer channels, but ACCENT, REVERB, and DELAY effects do as well. Each is accessible by its respective STEP button.

The Accent sequence increases the dynamic range of the TR-8 by adding a third level of intensity. It is important to note that accents cannot be applied on a per-sound basis. The accent will apply to all sounds on the accented step.

Reverb and Delay, however, can be applied on a per-sound basis. Additionally, these effects can be programmed to trigger only on specified steps, leaving the remainder of the sequence unaffected as the effect tail trails off in the background. This makes these effects very useful when programming variations to your sequence in live situations.

“A” and “B” Sections

TR-8 utilizes an internal 16-step sequencer, but each pattern is made up of two sequences – A and B – which may be chained together should you so choose. Each sequence is accessible via the A and B buttons on the Sequencer Panel. To chain the two patterns into one 32-step sequence, simply press hold one down as you press the other. At any given time during a 32-step sequence, the inactive pattern will blink while the active pattern remains solidly lit.

*Neat Trick: TR-8 allows you to edit one sequence while the other plays. Simply hold down the TR Rec button and press the inactive sequence’s button. This is helpful for programming fills and B sections without disturbing playback.

Special Effects

TR-8’s effects section is not to be dismissed. Each effect affords the user with two parameter knobs and a level knob. Although the knobs are clearly labeled Time, Gate and Feedback, I call them parameter knobs because a TR-8 user is not limited to a single type of reverb or delay effect. Depending on which effect is active, the knobs could just as easily be a filter cutoff as the stated Time or Gate.

You can access the various reverb and delay types by focusing on the desired effect via its associated STEP button while in INST SELECT mode – the sequencer buttons then light up, indicating an effect type. Experiment with the various effects types and find the ones that speak to you – it will go a long way in developing your unique sound and style.

Get Picky

Incidentally, you can choose which instruments are to be affected by focusing on the desired effect, holding down the KIT SELECT button and then pressing the desired instruments’ focus buttons.

*While focusing on the specified effect and holding the KIT SELECT button, the currently affected instruments’ focus buttons will light up.

Side Chain

TR-8 accepts external audio via a pair of stereo ¼” jacks. The user then dials in the volume of the external audio to taste. This could be a second drum machine, a synthesizer, or even the output of a media player. The user can then also apply a ducking effect as though the external audio were side chained to a compressor.

But here’s the twist: instead of side chaining to the kick sequence, the side chain function actually has its own sequencer! This frees the user from the kick – or any other instrument, for that matter – and allows him or her to set a custom sequence of audio pumps.

Scatter!

The SCATTER function is probably the most immediately identifiable effect on the TR-8. Often jarring and extreme, SCATTER essentially an audio scrambler; it stutters, repeats, reorders and/or reverses any sounds it catches – including any external audio running through the machine.

It works in two modes – normal and DEPTH. Normal mode provides 10 different glitch settings from which to choose. Press the DEPTH button and TR-8 will provide 10 different intensities of the currently selected effect.

Don’t kid yourself here. The SCATTER function is cool for the momentary glitch-out, but unless you really understand it and get your timing just right, it can easily be detrimental to your music.

My suggestion: find a number that speaks to you and do what we do in the guitar world – practice, practice, practice.

Conclusion

Whew – I believe that may have been the longest Audiomunk post to date. The TR-8 is a very deep machine. Next week, we will dive even deeper into the TR-8 by discussing the “hidden” settings menu. It’s not really hidden, but people seem to think it is. Really, it provides numerous customization options that can optimize this little drum machine to work seamlessly with a variety of rigs in a variety of situations.

Until part 4,

-Audiomunk

See the other articles in this series:
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Layout and Overview