You may not know the 808 drum machine, but you have definitely heard it: the original Roland TR-808 was the first programmable drum machine and has been a mainstay of electronic music ever since.

A physical drum machine is essentially a box that plays drum sounds. They can either use synthesized sounds or audio samples.

The drum machine was borne of a hack ... But it won’t function the same as the parts found in the original 808. The little dab of paint on the top of the transistor indicates that it was ...