Roland have made a habit of changing the game- they’ve left their mark on the industry with countless pieces of excellent equipment, and their TR-808 and 909 modules are so legendary as to need no introduction. One of their greatest innovations in recent years calls back to these two titans with style and aplomb, making for a “rhythm performer” that does so much more than its tagline might make you think. The Roland TR-8, blending vintage feel and sound with modern power and versatility, is a more than worthy successor to two of the most iconic pieces of music gear ever made.

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Featuring a full reproduction of both the TR-808 and TR-909 modules, the TR-8 does everything those two can and then some. It builds on the original formula by maintaining the tone and behavior of the 80s classics with Analog Circuit Behavior (ACB) technology while adding plenty of new bells and whistles. 16 built-in kits made from 11 different instrument types give you a variety of amazing presets, while the ability to custom-build your own kits from 808 and 909 sounds put near-limitless options in your hands. Tune and decay controls are now present on every instrument available, and the bass and snare drums now let you tweak additional controls such as Attack, Snappy, and Comp.  You can create patterns of up to 32 steps with real-time count adjustment, and the elimination of re/play modes makes for smoother transition between step input and real-time performance and beat-making.

The unique “Scatter” function brings an exciting level of real-time control to help you mix things up, enabling you to reverse, glitch, gate, truncate, stutter, and make a wide range of rhythmic variations in perfect sync. It even lets you adjust the intensity and seamlessly cycle through Scatter patterns, allowing you to shake things up with the simple turn of a dial.

The TR-8 lets you save up to 16 user drum kits and patterns. It comes with dedicated controls for bass and snare drums, toms, rim shot, hand clap, hi-hats, and crash and ride cymbals, as well as accent, reverb, delay, and external effects. It’s a gorgeous black and green unit complete with a 7 segment, 4 character LED display and 16 per-step, full-color LED pads.

Read more about the Roland TR-8 here on the official Roland website, or watch the video below to see it in action!

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