Roland TB-303

The TB-303 Bass Line is a small analog synthesizer with a built-in sequencer, made by Roland from 1981 to 1984. It was meant to play bass lines for guitarists practising alone. It sold poorly, but its squelching filter became the defining sound of acid house.

The acid sound comes from moving the filter cutoff and resonance while a pattern plays. High resonance makes the filter whistle, the envelope mod makes each note sweep, accent makes chosen steps hit the filter and volume harder, and slide glides the pitch between notes.

Yes. This page has a playable TB-303 that runs in your browser, free and with nothing to install. Turn the sound on, let the pattern run and turn the knobs. You can also click each part on the circuit board to see what it does.

Phuture's Acid Tracks (released 1987) is widely cited as the defining acid house record. Other landmark 303 tracks include Hardfloor's Acperience 1 (1992), Josh Wink's Higher State of Consciousness (1995) and Fatboy Slim's Everybody Needs a 303 (1996). An early example is Charanjit Singh's 1982 album Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat, which went unnoticed until its reissue decades later and is now seen as a precursor to acid house.

Chicago producers in the mid-1980s used the 303's resonant filter sweeps to create acid house. The sound spread to the UK rave scene and into acid techno, acid trance and big beat. The 303 was a commercial failure when new, yet its sound is now so recognisable that the word acid alone describes it.

No. Roland ended production in 1984. Roland and other companies have since released recreations, such as the Roland TB-03 and the Behringer TD-3, and many software versions exist.

Record what you play here with Tape Sampler in Vibseek Studio. It captures the audio so you can trim it and use it as a sample in your own tracks.