808 State drum patterns – any online?

[Chris the Boy]

Hello all,

Haven't posted here for ages, but am glad to see that the forum's still going strong. I'm currently trying to work out the drum pattern from 'In yer face'. There's so much going on in the mix that it's difficult to hear every percussive instrument. Some of the sounds in there are, of course, not conventional drum sounds at all, such as the 'whoop-whoop' sound that falls on every first beat of the bar.

I wonder if anyone else has tried notating/reconstructing any 808 State drum patterns for themselves? Are there any notations of these online somewhere?

Keep the faith, C

[graham]

There is a very detailed analysis of Cubik (Kings County Perspective)in a book called Unlocking The Groove (Rhythm ,Meter,And Musical Design In Electronic Dance Music"by Mark J Butler ,Indiana University Press.Along with many other dance tunes of that era such as Underworld and Reese & Santonio
I should may be do transcribing , It would involve going back onto the Atatri , lost programs on theTR909 and R8 .I saved some old patterns on to these cartridges that the 909 took called M64 c, Ive never re loaded them , The R8 still has some original patterns in and that had aRAM memory card system , again Ive never loaded it .

[Chris the Boy]

Graham, many thanks for this. I hadn't heard of Mark Butler's book, but will seek it out.

If you ever transcribe any 808 patterns, it would make a great set of lessons for those of us trying to learn rhythm programming. Many of 808 State's rhythm patterns are so dense that I'm sure that some details still evade my ears after 20 years.

[SPW]

"In Yer Face" is a break beat track in the style of a live drummer. Focus on the kick, snare, open hi-hat, and cymbal pattern that goes throughout it should be close.

[SPW]

I did a version of "In Yer Face"

https://soundcloud.com/theonewhois/inyerface

Listening to the original on YouTube my version lacks a lot of elements like the stabs and bassline but I didn't spend a lot of time on it.

[Chris the Boy]

Very useful, thanks. There's so much going on in the original, and this helps to deconstruct it a little.