Title: The 909 is a Friend of Mine
Artist: Noggin
Album: As Yet Unknown
Date: 2001
One of my most beloved creations…a true love song to the most badass, speaker destroying, analog/digital hybrid 1980s drum machine house master in your face (did I say drum machine) that has ever existed…the Roland TR-909.
Sure the 808 is trendy as all hell right now (your welcome America, the Dirty Third had plenty of those samples to go around), the 909 is the cream of crop, to me.
While the 808 is purely analog, kind of spaceship sounding, the 909 refined this sound, turned it up, compressed it, kept it analog, and brought in some digital crispness to just completely rip through a mix and/or your mids.
Seriously, my DJ mentor Edgar, in telling a tidbit from his incredible dj-lore, once explained to me that Carl Cox brought a 909 with him to a gig they threw, and literally, blew out all the mid range speakers in the venue.
Now, I’ve heard of subs blowing (I’ve blown my own), I never would have believed it (til I did it), but I’ve seen tweeters blown, but to blow the MIDS?! The snare drum on this piece is a straight killer.
Anyway, early on in my love affair with this device, I got hold of a vocoder plugin for Buzz, and just put down to bits what I was feeling inside.
The sounds this box makes never cease to floor me.
PS. I HAVE NEVER SEEN A REAL LIVE 909. If you would like to send a TR-909 to me, hit that contact button up above and you will have made a lifelong friend – I’ll even take you out for beer to make it a little more awesome.
pps. YES I did my radio show today, but I can’t let 909 pass unacknowledged, so I will upload the radio show, as usual, only tomorrow, instead of today.
Happy 09/09.
Download: The 909 is a Friend of Mine (right click and choose ‘save as’)
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