Roland TR-808 Cowbell Rebuild
It's difficult to overstate how pervasive the 808 cowbell was in early hip-hop, funk, and R&B music during the 80's. To this day it's a sound that pleasantly nostalgic and takes me right back to my younger days.<p>Something I always wondered about: it seemed like not all 808 cowbells were exactly the same. Some seemed to nail a very in-tune perfect fifth. While others were just shy of a perfect fifth, giving more of a sour sound which I think was more common.<p>In Bar-Kays' "Sexomatic," the 808 cowbell's pitch raised up a whole step to match the song's key, but it also sounds like a very in-tune perfect fifth: (3:55)
<a href="https://youtu.be/rqWfERqQlk4?t=235" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/rqWfERqQlk4?t=235</a><p>In 2 Live Crew's "Mr. Mixx On The Mix!!" the 808 cowbell has the more sour sound: (3:19)
<a href="https://youtu.be/yNiAYpd1f84?t=199" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/yNiAYpd1f84?t=199</a><p>The bread board project was producing an interval that was just shy of a perfect fifth, making it closer to 2 Live Crew's 808 in my ears.<p>I always wondered if slight variations and and manufacturing anomalies in the analog components accounted for this difference or if something else going on. If OP is in this thread, I'd love to hear your opinion and conjecture on this. (And I'd also like to thank you for the GREAT write-up and YouTube clip. LOVED this.)