Roland TB-303

The Roland TB-303 Bass Line is a synthesizer released by the Roland Corporation in 1982. 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 house and techno. It has inspired numerous clones.

Roland TB-303 Bass Line
TB-303 front panel
Manufacturer	Roland
Dates	1982-1984
Price	£238 UK, $395 US
Technical specifications
Polyphony	monophonic
Timbrality	monotimbral
Oscillator	Sawtooth and square wave
LFO	none
Synthesis type	Analog Subtractive
Filter	24dB low pass resonant filter, non self oscillating
Aftertouch expression	No
Velocity expression	No
Storage memory	64 patterns, 7 songs, 1 track
Effects	No internal effects.
Input/output
Keyboard	No

Features

The TB-303 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 24dB[4] low-pass filter, which is manipulated by an envelope generator.[2] Users program notes and slides using a built-in sequencer.[3]

Impact and legacy

The 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.[3]

The Chicago group Phuture bought a cheap 303 and began experimenting.[3][4] By manipulating the synthesizer as it played, they created a unique "squelching, resonant and liquid sound".[3] This became the foundation of "Acid Tracks", which was released in 1987 and created the acid genre.[3] Acid, with the 303 as a staple sound, became popular worldwide, particularly as part of the UK's emerging rave culture known as the second summer of love.[3][4]

"Rip It Up", by the Scottish post-punk band Orange Juice, which reached #8 in the UK singles chart in February 1983, was the first UK top 10 hit to feature the 303.[6] Another early use of a TB-303 (in conjunction with a TR-808 drum machine) is Indian musician Charanjit Singh's 1982 album Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat. It remained obscure until the early 21st century, and is now recognized as a kind of proto-acid, though the originators of acid-house had never heard it..[7]

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".[8] In other instances the TB-303 was distorted and processed, such as on Josh Wink's 1995 hit "Higher State of Consciousness".[4][9]

As only 10,000 303 units were manufactured, the popularity of acid caused a dramatic increase in the price of used units.[3] According to the Guardian, as of 2014, units sold for over £1,000.[10] In 2011, the Guardian listed the release of the TB-303 as one of the 50 key events in the history of dance music.[5] It has inspired numerous clones.[11] In 2014, Roland released the TB-3, a synthesizer emulating TB-303 circuitry.[12]

References

1. Hsieh, Christine. "Electronic Musician: Tadao Kikumoto". Retrieved 2010-10-02.
2. "The History Of Roland: Part 2 |". www.soundonsound.com. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
3. Hamill, Jasper. "The world's most famous electronic instrument is back. Will anyone buy the reissued TB-303?". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
4. "The Fall and Rise of the TB-303". Roland US.
5. Vine, Richard (2011-06-14). "Tadao Kikumoto invents the Roland TB-303". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
6. "Buzzcocks: Boredom / Orange Juice: Rip It Up - Seconds - Stylus Magazine". 2015-06-10. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2018-03-26.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
7. Stuart Aitken (10 May 2011). "Charanjit Singh on how he invented acid house ... by mistake". The Guardian.
8. Church, Terry (Feb 9, 2010). "Black History Month: Jesse Saunders and house music". beat portal. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
9. "30 Years of Acid". Attack Magazine.
10. Reidy, Tess (2014-02-15). "Retro electronics still popular – but why not just use modern software?". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
11. Warwick, Oli (8 April 2017). "Attack of the clones: Is Behringer's Minimoog a synth replica too far?". Fact. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
12. "Roland Aira TB-3 review". 14 February 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2019.

Further reading

• "Roland TB-303 Bass Line". Electronics & Music Maker. April 1982. p. 20. OCLC 317187644.
• "Knowledge Base: The History of the Roland TB-303". Future Music. No. 262. February 2013. pp. 52–3. ISSN 0967-0378. OCLC 1032779031.