ACIDAcid house

The kit

Roland TB-303

The squelch: a bass line with its filter cutoff and resonance moving.

Library entry to come

Roland TR-808 / TR-909

The drums under it.

A mixer and a delay

Riding the levels and the echoes live.

Roland launched the TB-303 in 1981 as a bass accompaniment for players without a bassist, and it did not sound like a bass guitar. Roland’s own history says it was discontinued less than two years later, after about 10,000 were made; the Museum of Failure dates its run 1981–1984. In Chicago around 1985, Phuture (DJ Pierre, Spanky and Herb J) found a cheap one and recorded a jam with DJ Pierre turning its knobs; Ron Hardy played the tape at the Music Box, and it came out as “Acid Tracks” on Trax Records in 1987 (Roland’s history again), the record usually credited as the first acid house track. The TR-909 came out in 1983 and was made for only about a year, around 10,000 units (Roland).

Sources, checked 2026-10-08: Roland, The 303 Story · Roland, The TR-909 Story · Museum of Failure, Roland TB-303 · Research Catalogue, the history of the TB-303 (dates the release 1982) · Wikipedia, Roland TB-303. The sources differ on the dates: we give Roland’s wording and note the others.