In 1959 Wurlitzer Organs released the first commercially available drum machine, The Sideman, an all analog tube powered beast about the size of a dorm room fridge.

Drummers nationwide were outraged as were many involved in The Musicians Association who pressured Wurlitzer to discontinue the instrument claiming it was stealing the jobs of real live drummers (though that was extremely unlikely given its primitive sound quality). The Sideman was responsible the musical equivalent of The Red Scare. Wurlitzer continued with their drum machines despite the TMA’s gripes, building them into many of their home organs. My own personal earliest memory of playing with a drum machine was playing the preset patterns built into the Wurlitzer console organ at my grandmothers house, I recall particularly enjoying playing the Bossa Nova selection and sliding the tempo fad-er to the max. I found it rather comical even at a young age I could easily tell the difference between the Wurly’s drum machine and the sound of a real drum kit.

Speaking purely in terms of public reception, drum machines were generally the black sheep of the music industry all throughout the 1960’s. The fear they instilled in working drummers seemed to fade away almost as quickly as it had appeared and all was right once again, for the time being. Church and social event organists continued to use them for accompaniment but drum machines were quickly becoming a non-issue in the music industry. At some point in the mid-sixties the first successful drum machine was released. “The Rhythm Ace” created by a company called Ace Tone was the choice of organists everywhere. Ace Tone would exist for a few more years before changing their name to Roland.

In the mid 1970’s disco took root, mostly in clubs in Philadelphia and New York. Disco was favored mostly by minorities, the gay community and heterosexuals rebelling against the hateful climate towards any dance oriented music in the era of big loud guitar-driven rock music. It combined many of the instrumental elements of funk and soul music over a steady “Four On The Floor” beat (boom clap boom clap with booms under the claps as well). A large portion of the population felt the same way about disco that drummers did about drum machines, “Disco Sucks” became a rock n roll call to arms. In 1979 a promotional event known as “Disco Demolition Night” took place at a White Sox vs. Tigers double header. A large crate of disco records were blown up on the field and shortly after a large riot ensued. It’s popularity in the beginning of 1980 began to rapidly decline in the United States but grew in many other areas of the world. Drum machines were in minimal use in Disco though often times the sound of the real drums mimicked that of a machine. Also of note around the same time would be their use in the newly burgeoning genre of hip hop, a then underground style of music being cultivated in the South Bronx section of NYC.

The term Disco was deemed rather unfashionable at the start of the 1980’s. Any new music containing a disco influence was known simply as “Dance Music” though many of its defining elements, particularly the “Four On The Floor” beat defined the sound of 80’s popular music. It was in this new decade that the drum machine as well as the synthesizer would have their day in the sun.

1980 was a year for a lot of firsts in the musical equipment universe. The creation of sampling, a new technology which allowed producers capture audio from various sources and manipulate it into new song ideas and structures, arguably one of the most important technological advances and a defining element of hip hop music. 1980 also saw the creation of two of the most important and revered drum machines of all time.

The LM-1 Drum Computer was the first drum machine to use samples of live drums. It was also one of the first programmable drum machines. The LM-1 became readily available to the public in 1980 at a list price of $4995.00. It was well out of the realm of affordability for the common musician. To this day it is highly sought after by many musicians and producers as a collectors item as well as for its characteristic sound. It can be heard on the recordings of such famous artists as  Michael Jackson, Madonna, The Human League, Peter Gabriel, Kraftwerk and many others. Only 525 of these were ever produced, 36 of which were built by Linn in his home, The first of which belongs to Stevie Wonder. The LM-1 surpassed its intended use as demo accompaniment and actually became the full on rhythm section for many prominent synth based acts of the time. Prince is said to have a rather large collection of LM-1’s many of which were customized specifically for him, you can hear them working their magic particularly on tracks like “When Doves Cry” or “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker.” Linn eventually developed the machines successor the LM2, it retailed for about $2500.00 less but was nowhere near as successful or memorable.

The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer was one of the first programmable drum machines. It was originally manufactured for use as a tool for studio musicians to create demos much like the LM-1. Like earlier Roland drum machines, it does not sound very much like a real drum kit. Despite the availability of sampling Roland chose to make the 808 entirely analog using basic wave form shaping and editable white noise bursts. The 808 came out several months after the LM-1. Its sound was considered inferior to sampling drum machines. While technologically it was vastly inferior its price tag kept it alive for the following 3 years. The 808 retailed at $1000.00 ans as many as 12,000 units were produced and sold from 1980-1983. Drum machines in general were becoming an essential part of hip hop music acting as an affordable way of producing a unique drum sound. The Roland TR-808 held specific appeal which can be attributed to the ability of its bass drum sound to produce earth shatteringly low-frequencies. Listen to any track off of “Licensed To Ill” and you’ll see what i’m talking about.

The 808 proved equally successful in dance music as well and still does to this day, an 808 kick is as relevant today as it was 30 years ago, even someone as conceited as Kanye West knows when to pay tribute to a legendary piece of kit. Unlike the DM-1 which is rather tough to come by due to it’s rarity, an 808 can still be acquired though it will now cost you somewhere in the neighborhood of $2000.00. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed our first installment on the history of the drum machine. Part two is on the way! Thanks for reading www.meaningfulthings.org

-Tyler Pursel-