5 ms·

I’ve owned a few 808s and sampled all of them. They were indeed all different sounding. The cowbells are one exception and sounded more like the 2 Live Crew exa

by S_A_P 4y ago

I’ve owned a few 808s and sampled all of them. They were indeed all different sounding. The cowbells are one exception and sounded more like the 2 Live Crew example. Most of the variation was in the hi hat and cymbals. Which IIRC is 6 square waves and a noise source.

chriscjcj 4y ago
Very interesting! Thank you! I did a little looking and found this FWIW... I noticed in OP's post that the two frequencies for the cowbell are 540hz and 800hz (although I don't see where this is denoted on the original schematics.) But we'll assume they're accurate numbers. While a perfect fifth is a difference of 7 semitones, this produces a difference of only 6.804 semitones. It would seem that its designers didn't have a perfect fifth in mind. Also, 540Hz is C#5 -45 cents and 800Hz is G5 +35 cents. So neither note seems intended to correspond to any natural key.
- max-m 4y ago
  One of the diagrams shows the frequencies as 1.85ms and 1.25ms, 540.5 and 800 Hz respectively.
- smoyer 4y ago
  In the original circuit,the same RC network is used for both the attack and decay so that circuit will indeed produce a 1:1 mark:space ratio.
  - JKCalhoun 4y ago
    Curious about the term "1:1 mark:space ratio" since it was also in the article. I would have used the term "50% duty cycle".
    - smoyer 4y ago
      I purposely repeated the OP's wording but since we're talking about an astable multivibrator,frequency and duty cycle (in percent) makes sense. I did a lot of circuit design for communications systems and I associate the words mark and space with ones and zeroes in a frame/word.
      - JKCalhoun 4y ago
        I wondered if it was an English (not American) phrasing.
        greenyoda 4y ago
        More on the origins of the terminology here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_and_space https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_and_space
- dahart 4y ago
  > While a perfect fifth is a difference of 7 semitones, this produces a difference of only 6.804 semitones. It would seem that its designers didn't have a perfect fifth in mind. Remember that 7 semitones is not a perfect fifth. (Note this depends on your definition of perfect fifth, some people allow for being close, since equal temperament is so common.) While a perfect fifth is a 3:2 ratio of frequency, seven semitones isn’t exactly 1.5, it’s more like 1.498. 800/540 is ~ 1.48, so I definitely agree the designers weren’t going for a fifth, very likely they wanted some beat interference to give it a nice metallic warble.
  - chriscjcj 4y ago
    You are correct sir. I was speaking (a bit erroneously) in the context of an equal tempered scale. (I think.) Indeed, the natural overtone series is the proper context for a true perfect fifth.

by S_A_P 4y ago

chriscjcj 4y ago

Very interesting! Thank you! I did a little looking and found this FWIW... I noticed in OP's post that the two frequencies for the cowbell are 540hz and 800hz (although I don't see where this is denoted on the original schematics.) But we'll assume they're accurate numbers. While a perfect fifth is a difference of 7 semitones, this produces a difference of only 6.804 semitones. It would seem that its designers didn't have a perfect fifth in mind. Also, 540Hz is C#5 -45 cents and 800Hz is G5 +35 cents. So neither note seems intended to correspond to any natural key.

max-m 4y ago
One of the diagrams shows the frequencies as 1.85ms and 1.25ms, 540.5 and 800 Hz respectively.
smoyer 4y ago
In the original circuit,the same RC network is used for both the attack and decay so that circuit will indeed produce a 1:1 mark:space ratio.
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  Curious about the term "1:1 mark:space ratio" since it was also in the article. I would have used the term "50% duty cycle".
  - smoyer 4y ago
    I purposely repeated the OP's wording but since we're talking about an astable multivibrator,frequency and duty cycle (in percent) makes sense. I did a lot of circuit design for communications systems and I associate the words mark and space with ones and zeroes in a frame/word.
    - JKCalhoun 4y ago
      I wondered if it was an English (not American) phrasing.
      - greenyoda 4y ago
        More on the origins of the terminology here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_and_space https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_and_space
dahart 4y ago
> While a perfect fifth is a difference of 7 semitones, this produces a difference of only 6.804 semitones. It would seem that its designers didn't have a perfect fifth in mind. Remember that 7 semitones is not a perfect fifth. (Note this depends on your definition of perfect fifth, some people allow for being close, since equal temperament is so common.) While a perfect fifth is a 3:2 ratio of frequency, seven semitones isn’t exactly 1.5, it’s more like 1.498. 800/540 is ~ 1.48, so I definitely agree the designers weren’t going for a fifth, very likely they wanted some beat interference to give it a nice metallic warble.
- chriscjcj 4y ago
  You are correct sir. I was speaking (a bit erroneously) in the context of an equal tempered scale. (I think.) Indeed, the natural overtone series is the proper context for a true perfect fifth.