Ikutaro Kakehashi’s Remarkable 808

Date:2020/2/10 20:17:43 Hits:

Sweetwater owes an unpayable debt to innovators like Roland Corporation Founder Ikutaro Kakehashi. With his passing on April 1, 2017, we thought it would be a fitting tribute to give just one small example of the enormous impact this quiet genius had on music as we know it.

In 1958, a young Japanese engineer set out to pursue “the perfect electronic instrument.” His name was Ikutaro Kakehashi. While he never received any formal musical training, Ikutaro was armed with an entrepreneur’s spirit, an engineer’s mind, and a mad scientist’s imagination.

The world got a glimpse of things to come at the 1964 NAMM Summer Show. At this show, Ikutaro premiered his fledgling company Ace Tone’s first original product, a hand-operated electronic drum called the R1 Rhythm Ace. It was just a prototype.

Three years later, Ace Tone rolled out the Rhythm Ace FR-1. This electronic drum featured 16 preset rhythms and four buttons to play instruments manually — cymbal, claves, cowbell, and bass drum. Rhythm patterns could also be combined by pushing two rhythm buttons at the same time, providing hundreds of combinations. The little drum machine was an instant international success, and Hammond even incorporated it into their latest organ models.

In 1972, Ikutaro leveraged the capital he earned through Ace Tone and Hammond to start Roland Corporation. He chose the name for his new company after discovering Sir Roland de Velville, the illegitimate son of Henry VII, in an encyclopedia. Ikutaro felt the name fit the bold vision for his new company, and thought an “R” logo would look pretty boss as well.

The Roland Corporation launched one of music’s most significant musical innovations in 1980 — the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, affectionately known as the “808.” The 808 was a completely analog drum machine, one of the first of its kind. Unfortunately, it made its debut before electronic music’s heyday, being panned as “unrealistic.” At the time, it was declared a commercial failure. Production ended in 1983 with approximately 12,000 machines having been produced. It was quietly replaced by the TR-909 in 1984.

But the 808 didn’t die. Used 808s flooded the market and could be snagged for as little as $100. Brash new genres, including electronic, dance, and hip-hop, fell in love with the 808 for its affordability, mobility, ease of use, but mostly for its distinctive sounds. Performers were drawn to the 808’s truly unique sound — especially the thunderous bass notes.

After gaining steam overseas, the 808’s resurrection continued in America with R&B artist Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing.” Word on the street was that Marvin liked the 808 because he didn’t have to deal with other performers when he used it.

Soon, the 808 was regularly heard performing with hip-hop royalty, including the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, and Public Enemy.

The 808 took a running leap from hip-hop to land on the pop charts in the late ’80s. Genesis drummer Phil Collins liked to use the 808 for looping long rhythm sections, claiming that after awhile, human drummers were too tempted to add their own variations and fills. The 808 reached the peak of pop music in 1987, when it helped sell 4.2 million copies of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

“But that was the ’80s,” you might be thinking. “People liked the keytar then too.” Not so fast. The 808 continued to inspire artists long after Run-DMC became reality TV stars. The 808 has been used by many contemporary artists, including Damon Albarn, Diplo, Fatboy Slim, Talking Heads, David Guetta, and New Order.

In 1994, Nine Inch Nails were searching for a way to bring “doomy menace” to their eerie and erotic “Closer.” The 808 fit the role perfectly.

Rapper/singer/producer/mogul Kanye West created an entire album devoted to the 808, appropriately titled 808s and Heartbreak. Every track of this album features the venerable 808, which has been called Kanye’s “explicit love letter to the device.”

Eventually, Ikutaro’s 808 would appear on more hit records than any other drum machine. It has been said that when it comes to impact on a musical genre, the 808’s influence on hip-hop and electronic music was every bit as powerful as the influence Fender’s Stratocaster had on rock ‘n’ roll. The next time you’re browsing through the liner notes of your favorite album, look for the 808 and other Roland innovations. It won’t take long at all to find one.

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Ikutaro Kakehashi’s Remarkable 808

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