Roland TR-8
Rhythm Performer
(AIRA) Drum Machine

The Roland TR-8 Rhythm Performer was one of the first four instruments launched by Roland in 2014 as part of the AIRA instrument range.​

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The selling point of this Drum Machine was that Roland had developed a technology that they referred to as ACB.  Active Circuit Behaviour Modelling for those not into anachronism!  This technology allows them to model the circuitry of the legacy drum machines (namely the Roland TR-808 and Roland TR-909 although this instrument can also reproduce the TR-606, TR-707 and TR-727).

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This technology is not sampling.  The tones are generated by the instrument.  This is achieved by modelling the way the original circuitry of the original instrument generated the tones.  A few YouTubers have put the Roland TR-8 on an oscilloscope side by side with the instrument that it is modelling.  The traces, while not identical are so close that you can't distinguish the difference.

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In essence using this technology means that you can alter the tones using the same control as the original, something you can't do with a sample.

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Roland have pursued a policy of not revisiting previously released instruments.  There has been a market for many legacy Roland instruments for many years with the Roland TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines probably being the most famous examples.  A over the years a number of clones of these various instruments have been released by a number of niche manufactures trying to fill this space in the market to a greater or lesser extent!  But with this instrument, while not the original, Roland gave the musician a modern versions of the instruments it it re-imagining.

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The Roland TR-8 also provides a full MIDI implementation, mechanism for backing up and saving patterns, a computer interface plus a number of other features that weren't thought of when the original was released.

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Unfortunately, Roland have all but admitted that the ACB modelling process that they used is dead. When they tried to extend this to the synths like the Roland Juno-60 running on the Roland System-8 they found many limitations that hadn't been foreseen e.g. lack of polyphony. However, newer techniques have been developed to take this forward that do not suffer the limitations of ACB (I cite Behringer in this statement.)

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I acquired my Roland TR-8 in 2014 following its release along with the Roland System-1 and Roland TB-3 (Roland TB-303 clone).  I never acquired the Roland VT-3 (vocoder).  These were stables in my music making until my studio was packed up in 2020.  I am sure that they will re-appear as the new studio is build out during 2024.

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