Acid Bass 101: How To Program A Roland TB-303

David Haberfeld – Interactive Composition lecturer at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, delivers a little Acid Bass 101.

In the video, Haberfeld demonstrates how to program the Roland TB-303 Computer Controlled Bass Line synthesizer and goes on to discuss some of the trademark elements of acid style bass.

In addition to his duties as lecturer at the Conservatorium, Haberfeld is a dance music producer and performer (Honeysmack / Acid Jacks).

7 thoughts on “Acid Bass 101: How To Program A Roland TB-303

    1. Just accept the fact that Acid will never, ever die. And nor should it. There’s loads of other music out there and no doubt you might enjoy listening to some of that instead. Peace be with you x

    2. True, some people think that novelty of acid house has worn out, & as such 303 doesn’t belong in modern music.

      I disagree with that statement, because 303 is a music instrument that can be put to use in context of more than one genre.

      Personally, I think 303 has been underexplored in the following genres:

      K-pop, bebop, oi-punk, nintendocore, gospel.
      Funeral death metal, dancehall reggae.
      Glam rock, musique concrete.

  1. If only someone could come up with the brilliant idea of making an iPad or VST version of this largely unknown and forgotten instrument – it would probably sound better than the original too, because of the higher dynamic range and lower noise floor of digital. Maybe if enough people on Synthtopia write in to Roland, we might be able to convince them to make a modern digital version of it too – that would be so great! Well, if it looked modern and edgy at least, maybe green LEDs or something. 😀

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