Engineering:Roland TB-303

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Short description: Bass synthesizer


Roland TB-303 Bass Line
TB-303 front panel
ManufacturerRoland
Dates1981–1984
PriceUK £238 (£919 in 2023), US $395 ($1366 in 2024)
Technical specifications
Polyphonymonophonic
Timbralitymonotimbral
OscillatorSawtooth and square wave
LFOnone
Synthesis typeAnalog subtractive
Filter24 dB/oct low-pass resonant filter, non-self-oscillating
Aftertouch expressionNo
Velocity expressionNo
Storage memory64 patterns, 7 songs, 1 track
EffectsNo internal effects.
Input/output
Keyboard16 pattern keys

The Roland TB-303 Bass Line (also known as the 303) is a bass synthesizer released by Roland Corporation in 1981. Designed to simulate bass guitars, it was a commercial failure and was discontinued in 1984. However, cheap second-hand units were adopted by electronic musicians, and its "squelching" or "chirping" sound became a foundation of electronic dance music genres such as acid house, Chicago house and techno. It has inspired numerous clones.

Design and features

File:The Sound of Roland TB-303 for Wikipedia.ogg The TB-303 was manufactured by the Japanese company Roland. It was designed by Tadao Kikumoto, who also designed the Roland TR-909 drum machine.[1] It was marketed as a "computerised bass machine" to replace the bass guitar.[2] However, according to Forbes, it instead produces a "squelchy tone more reminiscent of a psychedelic mouth harp than a stringed instrument".[3]

The TB-303 has a single oscillator, which produces either a "buzzy" sawtooth wave or a "hollow-sounding" square wave.[3] This is fed into a 24 dB/octave[4] low-pass filter, which is manipulated by an envelope generator.[2] Users program notes and slides using the internal sequencer.[3]

Legacy

The TB-303's unrealistic sound made it unpopular with its target audience, musicians who wanted to replace bass guitars. It was discontinued in 1984,[5] and Roland sold off remaining units cheaply. 10,000 units were manufactured.[3]

Indian musician Charanjit Singh's 1982 album Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat featured an early use of a TB-303, alongside the TR-808. The album remained obscure until the early 21st century, when it was reissued and recognized as a precursor to acid house.[6] Singh had an influence on Bollywood music producer Bappi Lahiri, who experimented with tweaked TB-303 basslines for several Indian disco film songs released in 1983: "Koi Lutera" in Wanted: Dead or Alive, "Aah Ha Oonh Hun" in Do Gulaab, and "Tum Tum Tumba" in Karate.[7] The first song using the TB-303 to enter the top ten of the UK Singles Chart was "Rip It Up" (1983) by Scottish band Orange Juice.[8] The same year, Japanese musician Ryo Kawasaki used the TB-303 with a TR-808 and synth guitar in his electronic jazz album Lucky Lady (1983).[9][10]

The Chicago group Phuture bought a cheap TB-303 and began experimenting. By manipulating the synthesizer as it played, they created a unique "squelching, resonant and liquid sound". This became the foundation of the single "Acid Tracks" (1987), often credited as the first acid house track. With the TB-303 as a staple sound, acid house became popular worldwide, particularly as part of the UK's emerging rave culture known as the second summer of love.[3]

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, as new acid styles emerged, the TB-303 was often overdriven, producing a harsher sound, such as on Hardfloor's 1992 EP "Acperience" and Interlect 3000's 1993 EP "Volcano".[11] In 1995, the TB-303 was distorted and processed on Josh Wink's hit "Higher State of Consciousness"[4][12] and on Daft Punk's "Da Funk".[13] The English producer Fatboy Slim admired the simplicity of the controls, and named his first single "Everybody Needs a 303" (1996).[14]

In 2011, the Guardian named the release of the TB-303 one of the 50 key events in the history of dance music.[5] The popularity of acid caused a dramatic increase in the price of used 303 units.[3] As of 2014, units sold for over £1,000.[15]

Successors

The TB-303 has inspired numerous software emulations and clones,[16] such as the TD-3 by Behringer, released in 2019.[17] In 2014, Roland released the TB-3 Touch Bassline, with a touchpad interface and MIDI and USB connections.[18] In 2017, Roland released the TB-03, a miniaturized model featuring an LED display and delay and overdrive effects.[19]

References

  1. ↑ Hsieh, Christine. "Electronic Musician: Tadao Kikumoto". https://www.emusician.com/gear/tadao-kikumoto. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Reid, Gordon (December 2004). "The History Of Roland: Part 2" (in en-gb). https://www.soundonsound.com/people/history-roland-part-2. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Hamill, Jasper. "The world's most famous electronic instrument is back. Will anyone buy the reissued TB-303?" (in en). Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasperhamill/2014/03/25/one-synth-to-rule-them-all-roland-takes-on-clones-with-reissue-of-legendary-tb-303/#346a468359d5. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "The Fall and Rise of the TB-303". 28 March 2013. http://www.rolandus.com/blog/2013/03/28/tb-303-acid-flashback/. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Vine, Richard (14 Jun 2011). "Tadao Kikumoto invents the Roland TB-303" (in en). https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/15/tadao-kikumoto-roland. 
  6. ↑ Stuart Aitken (10 May 2011). "Charanjit Singh on how he invented acid house ... by mistake". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/may/10/charanjit-singh-acid-house-ten-ragas. 
  7. ↑ Pandey, Himanshu (22 May 2019). "Bollywood synth pioneer Bappi Lahiri’s 303 experiments" (in en-in). Red Bull Music Academy. https://www.redbull.com/in-en/tb-303-synthesizer-bollywood-bappi-lahiri. 
  8. ↑ "Buzzcocks: Boredom / Orange Juice: Rip It Up – Seconds". 10 Jun 2015. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20110604010309/http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/seconds/buzzcocks-boredom-orange-juice-rip-it-up.htm. 
  9. ↑ Thomas, Andy (22 April 2021). "A Look Back at Fusion Legend Ryo Kawasaki, Who Pioneered the Synth Guitar". https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/ryo-kawasaki-critical-discography. 
  10. ↑ "8 Tracks: Of 80s Japanese Funky Synth Fusion W/ Kay Suzuki". 20 August 2021. https://www.theransomnote.com/music/playlists/8-tracks-of-80s-japanese-funky-synth-fusion-w-kay-suzuki/. 
  11. ↑ Church, Terry (9 Feb 2010). "Black History Month: Jesse Saunders and house music". http://www.beatportal.com/feed/item/black-history-jesse-saunders-and-house-music/. 
  12. ↑ "30 Years of Acid". http://www.attackmagazine.com/features/you-just-have-move-your-feet-30-years-acid/2/. 
  13. ↑ Brewster, Will (3 Mar 2021). "The 13 most iconic TB-303 basslines of all time" (in en-AU). https://mixdownmag.com.au/features/the-13-most-iconic-tb-303-basslines-of-all-time/. 
  14. ↑ Doyle, Tom (January 2017). "Classic tracks: Fatboy Slim 'Praise You'". https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-fatboy-slim-praise-you. 
  15. ↑ Reidy, Tess (15 Feb 2014). "Retro electronics still popular – but why not just use modern software?". https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/15/old-electronic-instruments-popular-software. 
  16. ↑ Warwick, Oli (8 April 2017). "Attack of the clones: Is Behringer's Minimoog a synth replica too far?" (in en-US). Fact. https://www.factmag.com/2017/04/08/behringer-minimoog-synth-clones/. 
  17. ↑ "Behringer unveils a Roland TB-303 clone" (in en-US). 8 November 2019. https://www.engadget.com/2019-11-08-behringer-roland-tb-303-clone.html. 
  18. ↑ Nagle, Paul (April 2014). "Roland TB3 Touch Bassline". https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/roland-tb3-touch-bassline. 
  19. ↑ "Roland TB-03 Bass Line review" (in en). 2017-03-14. https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/roland-tb-03-bass-line. 

Further reading

  • "Roland TB-303 Bass Line". Electronics & Music Maker: 20. April 1982. OCLC 317187644. http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/roland-tb-303-bass-line/4250. 
  • "Knowledge Base: The History of the Roland TB-303". Future Music (262): 52–53. February 2013. ISSN 0967-0378. OCLC 1032779031. 
  • A Brief Story of the Roland TB-303 Bassline Synthesizer.

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