1978. Roland releases the CR-78 CompuRhythm - the world's first drum machine with a microprocessor, capable of recording, saving and playing back its own rhythm patterns. Before it, there were only presets: samba, bossa nova, waltz - 34 hardcoded patterns that could not be changed. The CR-78 offered 17 presets and 14 memory slots for user rhythms. A drum machine - what it is, in plain words - became the answer to the question "how do you play drums when there is no drummer." By 1980 the answer split into two approaches: analog synthesis and digital samples.
A drum machine in plain words: how it works
A drum machine is an electronic device that generates or plays back percussion sounds. Inside is a sequencer programmed in steps: 16 buttons in a row, each representing a beat division. Press a button - a kick sounds on that step. Press another - a snare. The pattern loops. Tempo is set in BPM. No sticks, no drumheads, no microphones. The Roland TR-808, released in 1980, had 16 coloured buttons in a row - this grid became a standard unchanged for forty-five years. More on the TR-808 in our deep dive into the Roland TR-808 as the heart of the genre.
Two paths: synthesis vs samples
In 1980 two machines appeared that went in opposite directions. The Roland TR-808 generated sounds by analog synthesis: kick - a sine wave with a fast pitch drop, snare - a mix of white noise and tone, hi-hat - filtered noise. Each sound was synthesised in real time. The machine cost $1,195 but sold poorly - the sound felt "plastic" and "lifeless." Production ended in 1983, with approximately 12,000 units built.
The Linn LM-1 (1980) took the other path: instead of synthesis, samples. Roger Linn recorded real drums and burned them into ROM. The machine cost $4,995 - four times the TR-808. But it sounded "real": Prince, Michael Jackson, the Human League, Herbie Hancock all worked with it. The LM-1 became the first drum machine with samples of real drums in history. More in our Linn LM-1 deep dive.
Oberheim DMX: the third player
The Oberheim DMX (1980, $2,895) - the second digital drum machine after the LM-1. Samples on EPROM chips, swappable sound cards. The DMX sounded on new wave and early hip-hop records: New Order's "Blue Monday," early Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J tracks. The DMX filled the niche between the cheap TR-808 and the expensive LM-1 - and became a standard for studios that needed a "live" drum sound without a live drummer.
How rhythm was programmed in the 80s
The process was linear and non-interactive. A producer sat at the machine, entered a pattern step by step - 16 buttons, two or three instruments (kick, snare, hi-hat), looped it. Then added a second pattern, a third. The machine showed no staff - only buttons and LEDs. Swing - shifting even steps to 50-62% - was set with a single knob. Fine work required patience: one pattern took five minutes, a finished track an hour.
- TR-808: analog synthesis, 16 steps, individual outputs per instrument
- Linn LM-1: samples of real drums, 12 sounds, 100 patterns in memory
- Oberheim DMX: EPROM samples, swappable sound libraries
- Roland CR-78: 17 presets + 14 memory slots, first programmable machine
- Roland TR-909 (1983): hybrid - analog synthesis for kick/snare, samples for hi-hat
Detail: the TR-808 had a separate audio output for each of its 11 instruments - a producer could route the kick to a compressor, the snare to a reverb, the hi-hat to an EQ. This defined the "separated" sound of the 80s: each element of the drum kit was processed individually.
Why the drum machine changed music
Before drum machines, rhythm depended on a person. A drummer gets tired, speeds up, goes on tour, demands a fee. A drum machine does not tire, plays 128 BPM with millisecond precision, loops infinitely. When MIDI arrived in 1983, the drum machine synchronised with sequencers and synthesizers - the entire ensemble ran from one clock. This killed the live rhythm section in pop for a decade, but gave birth to techno, house, hip-hop and eurodance.
The TR-808, unsold in 1980, dropped to $100 on the secondhand market by 1985. DJs in Chicago and Detroit bought them up and built house and techno on them. By 1988 the 808 kick - a sine wave with a pitch drop - had become the sonic signature of the genre. The machine that Roland discontinued as a failure turned out to be the most influential drum machine of the 20th century.