Here's the 303 review from the book "The A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers" written by Peter Forrest , a great source of information about all analogues around the world.
TB-303 Bass Line : Micro-processor-controlled bass synth/sequencer.
82 - c.84
Original Price : £215 (82) / £89 (85)
Typical price : £480 - £850 plus
(c. £1800 is the highest price so far advertised by a legitimate shop or
dealer, in Germany.)
Users include : 808 State, A Positive Life, Dace Angel, The Aphex Twin,
Barney Arthur, Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter, Beatmasters, The Beloved, Bizarre Inc.,
Cabaret Voltaire, A Certain Ratio, Coldcut, Dreadzone, Ege Bam Yasi,
Electribe 101, Frontline Assembly, Future Sound of London, Laurent Garnier,
The Grid, A Guy Called Gerald, Groove Corporation, Haircut 100, Simon Harris,
Richie Hawtin, Hia, Hit Squad, Human League, Marshall Jefferson / Dj Pierre
(Phuture 'Acid Tracks'), Michael Law, LFO, Loaded, The Madness, Man Machine,
Moby, Motiv8, Mulligan, Mushroom / Massive Attack, The Orb, Orbital (x2)
('Chime'), The Other Two (Groove's MB303 adaptation), Ozric Tentacles, Planet
4 Records, The Prodigy (Two), Rhythmatic, Tom Robinson, Sabre Of Paradise,
Kevin Saunderson, Shade Of Rhythm, Shamen, Tim Simenon, Switzerland (x2),
Ultramarine, Underground Resistance.
* The prime exemple of hyper-inflation in the analog synth world. Once Jeff
'Skunk' Baxter and Haircut 200 got their hands on one, prices went sky-high.
* Actually it was 'Acid Tracks', a ten-minute-plus Chicago workout from 1987,
which first did the trick.
It apparently came about more by accident than design - which is probably
true of all the best 303 lines. This is not an instrument which benefit you
to sit down and read the manual thoroughly right the way through. For a
start, the manual runs to 90 pages, and weighs almost as much as the 303
itself; and, more important, the more you know about it the more you spend
hours ending up with the sort of thing you could do in two minutes with a
software MIDI sequencer. Far better to jam the programming - entrering
random Accent and Slide hits after finishing the basic notes - and see
what you get. If it works, use it. If it doesn't, just go again.
* Apart from the 'found riff' aspect of the sequencing, what is it that
impels people to pay so much for a Bass Line ?
* The sound is okay as a pure bass synth : if you hook the Bass Line up to a
bass amp and speaker, and treat it like a bass guitar, it can sound fairly
solid. But that's not the story. You could do the same with any synth that
had square-wave or sawtooth and a decay control on the enveloppe filter -
eg pratically any synth, full stop.
* The secret of the sound presumably lies in the design of the filter circuit,
which had the advantage of being a diode ladder, and thus similiar in
principle to a Moog's or a VCS-3's, and, although designed to be 24dB, seems
to nearer 18dB at certain frequencies. Maybe it's because the enveloppe is
so simple; maybe because the unusual filter and resonance circuit just
happen to come together so well; maybe it's because of a special way the
enveloppe is supposed to sweep the filter cut-off. Maybe the makers of the
various 303-inspired rackmounts have the answer, but maybe they're not
telling (or in some cases don't know ?). Roland themselves don't seem too
bothered.
* Robin Whittle, Devil Fish designer, in a post to Analogue Heaven puts it
down to a combination of strange and/or unique design quirks : "Most of the
weirdness is in the way the accented note switches in the shorter time for
the main enveloppe generator, the way the output of this generator then
gets added (only on accented notes) to the VCA current, and especially the
way its output drives the accent sweep circuit for the filter frequency. The
lag circuit in this - wich gives the distinctive 'wow' (smooth, curvaceous
rise and fall) to the filter frequency (when the resonance pot is fully
clockwise) - is electronically totally unique and not found in any other
device I have heard of."
* However it happens, you get a squelchiness with the 303 filter that is very
difficult to equal with other synths. Coupled with the Accent, which does
seems to work indirectly on a lot more facets of the sound than just the VCA,
and Slide, which, because it's programmed separately, can sort of start
mid-air, you end up with a distinctive sound, much more mid-spectrum than
bass.
* Another factor is maybe that all the tweakable controls necessary for that
characteristic sound are right there, on the front panel, next to each other.
Accent level, Decay, Enveloppe modulation of the VCF, Resonance and VCF Cutoff
aren't hidden among twenty other knobs like on most snyths.
One other nice thing : battery back-up of the sequence, unlike on the MC-202.
It's still a pig, though : you can sync it with any Sync 24 machine - a 606,
808 or 909, for instance, or a CSQ-600 or MC-4 sequencer - but you can't
play it from anywhere else except it's own sequencer. (Perhaps if had a
CV/gate outs but not ins because, for Roland, the important (and expensive)
part was the sequencer, while the internal voice was looked on as convenience,
which professionals would then substitute with a real synth for recording or
performing. That might explain the interesting features in the synth voice.
Roland's usual painstaking elimination of as many anomalies as possible may
have been deemed un-necessary, becuase it was only a cheap product, whose
sounds would be replaced in any serious application.)
* There's a Mix In socket, which for a moment give you the impression you could
use the filter in the 303 to effect another instrument. You can't. It's
really there so you can run something like a 606 and the 303 off the same
input on your amp.
* From collector's point of view, you might look out for a 303 in its original
box, still with it's shiny fabric cover, with the little press-stud fastened
strap, the manual, of course, and if you're really into minutiae, the Chord
Shift Scale - a (useless ?) little wheel to help you with transposing
sequences.
* From a player's point of view, if you seriously love your 303, you might be
advestised to check out the Devil Fish mod from down under - see Real World
Enterprises. There's also apparently a Bassface available through Touched
By Sound, Industriestr. 2, D-90765 Fuerth, Germany. (Before they went out of
bussiness, Groove Electronics produced a few M-303 rackmount MIDI TB-303
adaptations.)
* Cast your mind back to late 1985, when Soho Soundhouse were offering some
good little bargains, brand new, for £159, including delivery. No, that was
the MC-202. The TB-303s were £89.
SOUNDS : 8/10
KEYBOARD : 1/10
INTERFACE : 2/10
CONTROLS : 2/10
MEMORIES : 0/10
EASE OF USE : 5/10
CHARACTER : 10/10
POWER - SPACE : 10/10
MAINTENANCE : 5/10
COLLECTABILITY : 10/10
= 53
Copyright (c) Peter Forrest, October
1996 - SUSURREAL Publishing.
ISBN no. : 0 9524377 1 6
Pictures from the book (note that the 303 on the lower-right is moded in the back) :
