Drum machines — Patchscore

What this page is for

A guide will sometimes ask you for a dry kick with a defined attack, or a struck metal one-shot. In case you need more help, this page explains those sounds one machine at a time.

These are families of sound, and the names outlived the boxes. Producers have said “an 808 kick” for forty years about sounds that never came near a real 808. You do not need the hardware to use any of this, only an idea of what you are listening for.

TR-808

The long kick

Sounds like: The kick is a low tone that rings on after the hit, with almost no click at the front. It is closer to a bass note than to a drum. The clap has a smeared tail on it, like a room. Hats are thin and ticky, and the cowbell is unmistakable.
Good for: Hip-hop, trap, electro, and anything where the kick carries the low end on its own. Give the kick a long decay and tune it, and it plays a bass line for you.
Where it came from: Roland built it in 1980 out of analogue circuits rather than recordings, so every sound is synthesised. That is why the kick is a tuned tone that rings on instead of a recorded thump: it is closer to a bass note because it is one.
If unsure: Start here for a modern beat. A long kick and a clap is a track most of the way to finished.

TR-909

The one that punches

Sounds like: The kick has a click at the front and drops in pitch fast, so you hear the hit before you hear the tone. Shorter and harder than an 808. The snare is mostly noise, and the hats and cymbals are bright and splashy.
Good for: House, techno and trance. It holds up loud and on a big system.
Where it came from: Roland’s 1983 follow-up, and a hybrid — the kick, snare and toms are analogue circuits, the hats and cymbals are short digital recordings. The split is audible: the low end is synthetic and punchy, the metal is grainy and fixed.
If unsure: If your kick keeps disappearing under everything else, swap it for this one and it will come back.

TR-707

The flat one

Sounds like: Short, dry and even. Recorded drums played back briefly, with no ring on them. Nothing sticks out and nothing hangs around.
Good for: Parts that should stay out of the way. Electro, synth-pop, freestyle, and anything where a big kick would crowd the bass.
Where it came from: A 1985 machine built entirely from short digital recordings of a kit, with no synthesis and almost no processing. It sounds flat because nothing was done to it, which is exactly what makes it useful under a busy arrangement.
If unsure: Put it under something rather than in front of it. A 707 kick layered beneath an 808 gives you the attack without losing the low tone.

TR-606

Small and ticky

Sounds like: Thin and light throughout. The kick is small, the snare is papery, and the hats and cymbal are the reason anyone reaches for it. It sounds cheap on purpose.
Good for: Fast patterns, acid, and scrappy electronic music. It sits well under a squelchy bass.
Where it came from: The drum half of a pair sold with the TB-303 bassline in 1982, and built small and cheap to match it. Everything is analogue and thin because it was never meant to fill a room on its own.
If unsure: Take the hats and leave the rest. A 606 hat over an 808 kick is a common and easy pairing.

CR-78

Soft and papery

Sounds like: Quiet, woody and light. The hats sound brushed, the snare is a soft tap, and nothing hits hard. It was built to play preset patterns behind a song.
Good for: Ballads, gentle pop and ambient. Drums that hold the song up without taking the front.
Where it came from: A 1978 preset machine from before you could program your own patterns — you chose a rhythm and it played it. The sounds are soft and papery because they were made to sit politely under an organ or a guitar, not to lead a track.
If unsure: Reach for it when a 909 feels too loud for what you are writing.

LinnDrum

A real kit, cut short

Sounds like: Recordings of a real kit, cut off before they finish. The snare cracks and then stops dead, taking the room with it, which is why eighties records snap the way they do. Toms have real pitch and drop away just as abruptly. Nothing rings on into the next beat.
Good for: Eighties pop, R&B and soul. Anything wanting a drummer while staying on the grid.
Where it came from: One of the first machines to play digital recordings of a real kit, in 1982, and expensive enough that hearing one meant hearing a record. It sounds like a kit because it is one, cut short by the memory of the day.
If unsure: Use it when the song wants a player rather than a machine.

DX7

Not a drum machine

Sounds like: An FM synthesizer, so it has no kit and no patterns. One wave shapes another, which gives you bells, glassy electric pianos, hard plucked basses and metallic clanks. It is one way to make a struck bell or a clanging metal hit. A recording of a real bell is another, and a guide only means this one where it says FM.
Good for: Bells, mallets, electric piano and the bass sound that sits somewhere between a pluck and a thump. Also every percussive noise that has no acoustic original.
Where it came from: A 1983 Yamaha keyboard using FM synthesis, and not a drum machine at all. FM is good at metal and glass, so its bells and struck tones ended up doing percussion work nobody designed them for.
If unsure: If you came here for a kick or a snare, this is not the entry you want. If your guide named FM, or your box offers it and you would rather dial a bell than hunt for one, it is.

Finding one, or making one

If your sampler came with a sample library, some of it may already answer to these names. We cannot tell you whether it does, because Patchscore is never told what is in your library. Once you open the folder, listen for this: an 808-style kick is the low one that rings on with no click at the front, and a 909-style kick is the short one that clicks and drops.

If your rig can synthesise a drum sound, that is usually the easier route for a beginner. Searching a card for “a dry kick with a defined attack” has no finish line. You audition, you reject, you audition again, and nothing tells you when to stop. Dialling a kick is finished when the numbers are dialled. The guide gives you the values and this page tells you what they are aiming at.