Roland TR-808

The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer was a programmable drum machine released in 1980 by Roland.

It was one of the array of Roland drum machines Phil Collins owned, and ended up being his preferred drum machine. He had two of them, one with MIDI - which, according to Hugh Padgham was for MIDI synchronising with the Roland SBX-80 Sync Box.

The TR-808’s first use was on Abacab album in 1981. Although for the most part the drum machine was involved in writing and most parts tended to be replaced (like with other subsequent albums), the 808 was used and featured quite heavily on "Man On The Corner". Plus, some of the clap & percussion sounds were left on "No Reply At All".

The drum machine was also used by Phil to write and record songs on the Hello, I Must Be Going, No Jacket Required and But Seriously albums. Except on Hello, I Must Be Going there are hardly any TR-808 parts. The drum machine is at the forefront of hits such as "One More Night" and "Another Day In Paradise".

Sounds from the TR-808 were sampled into an E-mu SP-12 - most likely around the time of Invisible Touch rather than We Can’t Dance (which used the SP-1200, its update). Hence the 808 appears on both albums, but often in sampled form - with the SP-12 and 1200 offering more flexibility.

Both Sides had TR-808 sounds throughout; Collins felt the 808 was getting "tired" by that point, so he used both that and the SP-1200 808 samples.