909 what do they mean?

[FLAOFEI]

Simple question.
Both samples and synths are often labeled with names like "808 kick drum" "707 snare" "555 synth"

What do these numbers mean, what are they used for, are they important?

(allso, what would 666 mean? that would be fun to know)

[Captain Ironhelm]

Model names for drum machines, for example the Roland TR-909

[Nine Volt]

EDIT: Cap beat me to it :3

They are named after the Roland TR 808/707/909 drum machines that were used in more popular tracks than any other drum machine ever. The 555 I would assume would be a Roland synth. There are also ones like the 303, 505, 606, and 626, which I have kits from. I'd guess there'd be a 404, 202, and 101 as well.

[the4thImpulse]

Have some images!

707



808



909



303



505




I obtained all these images from a minute of google searching, I would recomend using this technique

[Lavender_Harmony]

Roland have released a lot of drum machines, the CR-68 and 78 Compurhythm, very popular in 80's disco, their revisions, the CR 1000 and 8000, the D 10, D 70, DDR50, F30. the JD 800 and 900 had competent drum machines built in, the Juno 106, same with the JV 80, 1080, 3P, the MC 09, 303 Groovebox, MT32 is a classic, PB300, R5 amd R8, S50, SC88, SH09 and of course the SH101, the SPD 8, System 100, TD7 and the famous TR range: 33, 55, 66, 77, 505, 606, 626, 707, 727, 808, and the ever popular 909.

Roland were prolific. If you want samples of all of these and more, I made a thread with a link to a huge, huge drum library someone provided free of charge of all of these machines that are a hallmark of 80s, 90s and 00s dance music. Listen to any Daft Punk record, and you're most likely listening to a 909.

[Freewave]

I've got a list of some of the key synths for each time period

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/TheScient ... nstruments

Keep in mind that a lot of musicians in the 90's were using these throwback earlier and out of print machines due to the unique sounds they could make (like the 303 that was in high demand for big beat artists) and that these were before vst's and computers really started both emulating and being able to take physical synths out of the mix.