1980: Roland releases the TR-808 at $1,195 - a drum machine with analog sound synthesis, without a single sample. In the same year, Oberheim releases the DMX at $2,895 - the second digital drum machine with samples of real drums, recorded into 8-bit EPROM chips. These two machines pose a fundamental question that has not lost its relevance: are drum machine samples from the 80s a sound you can freely use, or a recording protected by copyright? The answer depends on which drum machine sits on the table.
Two types of sound: synthesis vs. samples
Roland TR-808 (1980-1983) generates sounds through analog synthesis: the bass drum is a sine-wave oscillator with a low-pass filter, the snare is white noise with an envelope, the hi-hats are filtered noise with a short attack. Inside the 808 there is not a single recorded sample. The sound is born from electricity, not a microphone. Roland deliberately purchased faulty transistors to create the 808's signature “sizzling” character.
The Linn LM-1 (1980, $4,995), the LinnDrum (1982, $2,995, about 5,000 sold), and Oberheim DMX (1980, $2,895) work differently: they play back digital recordings of real drums. The LinnDrum stores 8-bit samples at 28-35 kHz. The DMX uses 8-bit PCM with μ-law companding - approximately 12 bits in the analog domain - on removable voice cards with EPROM chips. 24 sounds from 11 original samples, 8-voice polyphony, eight separate outputs.
The difference is fundamental. The 808 sound is a circuit: if you build the same circuit, you get the same sound, and no one can stop you from reproducing the circuit. The DMX sound is a recording: if you copy an EPROM with a drum sample, you are copying someone's recording of a snare drum hit. The first is engineering, the second is copyright.
808 and 909: synthesized sounds
The Roland TR-808 produces sounds through analog means, which is why 808 “samples” in the modern sense are not “samples” in the meaning of “copies of recordings” but recordings of the hardware machine's output. When you sample an 808, you are recording a synthesizer, much like recording a guitar amplifier. Roland produced about 12,000 units of the 808 and discontinued it in 1983, when the semiconductors for the circuit became impossible to source.
The 808 sound became ubiquitous: Marvin Gaye on “Sexual Healing” (1982, the first US hit with the 808), Afrika Bambaataa “Planet Rock” (1982), Whitney Houston “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” (1987). By 2015, The New Yorker wrote that the 808 was the foundation of the modern “urban-youth-culture soundtrack,” particularly in trap music. Kanye West used the 808 on every track of “808s & Heartbreak” (2008). The TR-909 (1983) is a hybrid: the bass drum and snare are analog synthesis, the hi-hats and cymbals are 6-bit samples. The 909 complicates the picture: some sounds are synthesized, some are recorded. This makes the 909 the only machine whose sounds fall into both legal categories simultaneously.
Legal status of 808/909 samples
Roland does not pursue sample pack manufacturers for 808 sounds. By the 2020s, hundreds of free and paid 808 sample kits exist, and none has been removed at Roland's request. However, in 2017, Propellerhead Software shut down ReBirth RB-338 - a software emulator of the 808/909/TB-303 - after Roland claimed intellectual property infringement. ReBirth was distributed as a full emulator program, not a sample pack: a distinction Roland considered significant.
In 2018, Roland released the first official software emulations of the 808 and 909 as part of Roland Cloud. These are not sample packs but virtual instruments with circuit modeling. In 2017, Roland released the TR-08 - a miniaturized reissue of the 808 with MIDI and USB. In 2019, Behringer released the RD-8 - an 808 clone using analog circuitry, not samples.
Roland's position is dual: the company does not chase sample pack makers, but it protects the right to software emulation of the interface and circuit design. Roland Cloud sells a subscription to virtual 808/909 units - a business model based on the exclusivity of official emulation. Third-party sample packs are a competitor, but not an infringer: they sell recordings, not software copies of the machine. This distinction is drawn not by law but by market practice.
Linn and Oberheim: samples of real drums
The Linn LM-1 (1980) is the first digital drum machine with samples. Roger Linn recorded live drums in a studio and stored them in the machine's EPROM chips. The LinnDrum (1982-1985) is the successor - cheaper and more widely produced than the LM-1: $2,995 versus $4,995, about 5,000 units sold. It was used by Trevor Horn, Stock Aitken Waterman, Michael Jackson, Mark Knopfler. Linn Electronics closed in 1986; Forat Music and Electronics bought the assets and continued service, sound sales, and modifications.
The Oberheim DMX stores samples on removable EPROM boards - “voice cards.” The user could pull out a board, insert another, and get a new set of drums. The culture of swappable EPROM boards spawned a secondary market: third-party manufacturers recorded their own drum sets and sold them on chips compatible with the DMX. This is an early analog of modern sample packs - only in physical format. The DMX was used by New Order on “Blue Monday” (1983) and The Police on “Every Breath You Take” (kick drum only). The Oberheim DX (1983, $1,395) is a stripped-down version: 18 sounds instead of 24, 6-voice polyphony instead of 8, plastic paneling instead of walnut. The DXa model added factory MIDI. Both machines - the DMX and DX - were extensively used in early hip-hop and dancehall reggae.
Detail: the DMX's EPROM chips are 8-bit recordings at about 28 kHz. The quality is lower than audio CD (16-bit, 44.1 kHz), but μ-law companding expands the dynamic range to approximately 12 bits. This “dirty” sound is part of the DMX's character, which collectors value more than clean modern samples.
What you can use legally: a practical guide
Let us divide 80s drum machines into three categories by the legal status of their sound:
- Analog synthesis (TR-808, TR-909 kick/snare, CR-78): sounds are generated by a circuit, not a recording. Sampling an 808's output is legal: you are recording your synthesizer. Using ready-made 808 sample packs is legal: most are created by recording a real 808, not copying its ROM. Recreating the 808 sound in a synthesizer is legal: it is engineering, not copying a recording.
- Digital samples (Linn LM-1, LinnDrum, Oberheim DMX/DX): sounds are recordings. Copying EPROM chips and distributing them is a gray area. Using commercial sample packs licensed by the rights holder is legal. Recording a DMX's output yourself and using it in a track is legal: you are recording an instrument you own.
- Hybrid (TR-909, Linn 9000): some sounds are synthesized, some are sampled. Analog sounds follow the first category's rules. Hi-hat and cymbal samples follow the second category's.
The principle: a drum machine is an instrument. Recording an instrument's output and using the recording in your track is the same as recording a guitar. But copying internal ROM chips and distributing them as a sample pack is distributing someone else's recording, and that is where copyright territory begins. One more case: software emulations. D16 Group releases Drumazon (a 909 emulator) and Nepheton (an 808 emulator) - synthesizing plugins, not sample-based. They reproduce the sound algorithmically, not through playback of recordings. From a legal standpoint, this is closer to creating a new synthesizer than copying an old one. Roland does not pursue D16, though it does not license them its name.
Sample packs and Italo Disco
For producers working in the Italo Disco style, the question of drum machine samples is particularly relevant. The classic Italo Disco sound is built on the TR-808 (bass drum, handclap) and the LinnDrum (snare, hi-hat). If you use a ready-made 808 sample pack, you are safe. If you use a LinnDrum sample pack from an official manufacturer (such as Forat Electronics or Roger Linn Design), you are safe. If you digitized an EPROM chip from someone else's DMX and distributed it as a sample pack, you are in a gray area.
The market for 808 sample packs is enormous: Splice, Loopmasters, Goldbaby Samples - all offer kits. Goldbaby, for example, records real 808s and 909s on high-quality equipment and sells the samples as licensed recordings of their instrument. This is fully legal: Goldbaby owns the recording, not the circuit design. The distinction between “recording the output” and “copying the ROM” has a practical consequence for the producer. If you bought a used DMX for $800 on eBay and digitized its output into your track - that is your recording of your instrument. If you downloaded a dump of DMX EPROM chips from the internet and use them as a sample pack - technically you are using someone else's recording without permission. In practice, Oberheim does not pursue such users, but the legal difference exists. The analogy: you can photograph a painting in a museum (if photography is allowed), but you cannot copy a high-resolution file from the museum's website without a license.
Where the line is drawn
Roland has never sued an 808 sample pack manufacturer. Linn Electronics (now Roger Linn Design) does not pursue LinnDrum sample distributors. Oberheim - as a brand - has changed hands several times and shows no activity in defending EPROM samples. In practice: using 80s drum machine samples in your own production is safe if you take them from a legal source or record them yourself.
The line is drawn not between “old” and “new” sound, but between “recording an instrument” and “copying its internals.” The 808, which generates sound with a circuit, has no “internals” to copy in the sample sense. The DMX, which stores drums in EPROM, does. And it is precisely this distinction - synthesis versus recording - that determines what you can use without looking over your shoulder at lawyers. For Italo Disco producers, the practical conclusion: 808 samples - take from anywhere, legally. LinnDrum and DMX samples - take from licensed packs or record them yourself from hardware. EPROM dumps from the internet are a gray area: use at your own risk, but know that theoretically this is someone else's recording. A simple test: if this sound could have existed before the drum machine appeared - it is synthesis. If it could not have - it is a recording.