August 8th (8/08) the global music community comes together to celebrate the iconic Roland TR-808 drum machine in what is officially known as “808 Day”. To celebrate today Roland has announced a major partnership with renowned DJ Val Kolton and his headphone company V-Moda. According to billboard.com:
“The Roland Corporation, a company best known for creating the iconic synthesizers, drum machines, and midi languages that have formed the backbone of everything from house music to techno, hip-hop and more, just acquired 70 percent of and became the majority stakeholder in Kolton’s idealistic headphone brand. It’s Roland’s belief that V-Moda is the best headphone on the market for the sounds they’ve created, and they want Kolton on board to help direct the next evolution of Roland products.”
The TR 808 is one of the most influential pieces of equipment in electronic music history. It has singlehandedly shaped the sound of techno, house music, hip hop and EDM. In addition to the major news by Roland, many people have been celebrating this electronic music holiday with this vintage ad for the product from the 80’s that resurfaced on youtube. As reported by thump.com:
“In lieu of today’s holiday (um, why do we not have off work again?), we’ve come across an alleged Roland advert from 1980 that explains some of once-revolutionary features from the drum machine—the spot highlights features like built in memory and “realistic sounds”—as well as some synths sounds reminiscent of recent smash hit TV series Stranger Things, as well as 80s motion picture Tron.”
Check the video above and have an amazing 808 day!
