Comparison between an Original 808 and the Yocto 808

Hello all,

Yesterday i finally compared my yocto to a friend's 808. His machine is one of the best i've heard over the years.

To compare them, we programmed an identical sequence into both, then slaved them to each other via din-sync, and assigned each output to a different channel on a dj console. We were then able to easily switch back and forth using the crossfader.

We carefully listened to each part separately (1 bar machine A, move crossfader, 1 bar machine B, move crossfader, 1 bar machine A etc.... over and over)

Here's what we observed:

The Yocto Bassdrum had more volume, and also the decay pot had more decay - needed to set the pot to 7 to replicate the setting of 10 on the roland 808. The volume on the yocto was also a wee bit louder.
The high frequency (click part) of the yocto BD was more or less identical, the Sinewave part was tuned 2 semitones higher than the Roland 808.

The snare was pretty much identical at all settings - just tuned slightly differently.

The toms / congas all sounded the same (tone and a decay waveform) however the pitch range was slightly different on them) One of my toms had a different 'decay' sound to the original 808.

With careful tuning, the handclap was near identical.

The clave rimshot sounded identical except for a difference in tuning (about a tone)

The cowbell was tuned to be identical (his is tuned a bit higher than standard C/G). Here i noticed a difference - pitch and tone were identical, but the yocto has a much shorter decay.

The cymbals / hats were also identical except for the tuning.

So, OVERALL:

BD - more volume, more decay, tuning different
SD - very similar, tuning different
TOMS/CONGAS - tuning different in parts, one tom had less decay
CL/Shaker - tuning different
Handclap RS - tuning different RS is quieter..
Cowbell - less (no) decay
hats and cymbals - tuning different.

Volume of each channel slightly different between machines.

Vincent should be commended for such an amazing project!!

Btw Vincent, i want to tune all of the parts so that i can match my friends 808. Would you be able to advise what resistors need to be replaced with trimpots in each voice to achieve this?
Also, how can i increase the decay on the cowbell sound.
Finally, how can i de-crease the decay on the BD - the original limit is fine...

Dear discodisco,

Great Job you've done

We noticed this tuning difference between Yocto and the original 808. This is due to the capacitor aging.
So if you want to tune your Yocto as your friend's TR-808 you need to change the following resistor:

BD tuning : R165 (increase or decrease depend your friend's TR-808 BD tuning)
SD tuning : R195 and R196
SD noise filter : R202
Low Tom tuning: R228
Middle Tom tuning : R257
High Tom tuning : R284
Clave/Rim tuning : R315 and R312
Cowbell Decay : R63* and R65*
Cymbal noise filter : R56* and R58*
HH noise filter : R58* common with Cymbal

Finally, how can i de-crease the decay on the BD - the original limit is fine...

Do not turn the decay pot FCW

Best regards,
e-licktronic

discodisco, I would like to know if you remember what frequency/note the 808 BD sine was at. I have some nice 808 samples lying around, and will run them through a scope too, but it would be nice to have a number from an original 808 for reference.

Hi ElSchtroumpf,

I will get a chance to borrow the original 808 again in a couple weeks. I will measure the pitch range of all the parts then and get back to you.
It is a very nice 808.

Hi DiscoDisco,
I would also be interested in the values of the TR of your friend. I borrowed one from a friend but I am not sure if it is well tuned, its tuning differs a bit from what I heard.
It could also be interesting to create a sample bank with a sample of each instrument for each min/mid/max parameter value (total of 30 samples) as reference.

Unless you already know this TR-808 resource site, you might be interested in this complete free sample pack : http://smd-records.com/tr808/?page_id=14
Hope this helps.

Thanks DeepVibes! I did not know that one. Those samples will be quite helpful!

I have also spent some time comparing my original 808 with my Yocto. Kinda same conclusions as the thread starter.
Mainly small differences in pitch/tuning but overall spot on. (This is also true between most real 808's). Also as spoken the Cowbell has less decay.

Here's mine VS my tr-808

Must be logged in to Soundcloud to listen.
https://soundcloud.com/lostyears/yocto- ... 08/s-3M2HW

I've kind of missed out on this thread! Very interesting!
I"d love to change some resistors values!
So did someone try Vincent's advices?
Any resistor values you found?

e-licktronic wrote: Clave/Rim tuning : R315 and R312

It's actually R310 (for OSC1 of RS) and R308 (for OSC2 of RS/CL) that adjust the Clave/Rim Tuning.

And although the Rimshot uses both oscillators, while the Clave uses only oscillator #2, just changing R308 (for OSC2) works great for adjusting the tuning of both sounds.