Roland release brand-new 808

Roland’s iconic drum machine the TR-808 is coming to the Boutique range for £339. Announced today on 808 Day, the TR-08 is cut down version of the bass-heavy beast. Following the footprint of the other units in the Boutique range, it’s USB powered and emulates the colour scheme and format of the classic kit.

Features borrowed from the original include auto fills, accent control, pre-scale selector for changing time signatures and of course, the iconic sounds. The unit isn’t analogue but the upside is you can route up to 10 outputs via a single USB cable, similar to the TR-8. Elsewhere, there’s added compression, tune, pan and gain for certain sounds, built in speaker and the unit can be battery powered via four AAs for ultimate portability.

For the price, the TR-08 looks like it could be Roland’s most popular Boutique unit yet. The legendary machine is now attainable for us mere mortals – expect it to show up in DJ booths across the world in no time. Roland have been busy, with the SH-101 clone SH-01A also being announced today, as reported by DJ Mag. With their collaboration with Studio Electronics announced only a few weeks ago, it’s a good time for be a hardware fan. The TR-08 is available 1^st September.

Check out some up-close snaps of the new 808 drum machine from Roland below.