One of the most important musical instruments in recent music history, The Roland TB-303 was a failure at it's intended purpose. The 303 was designed to be an “automatic Bass machine”. It was introduced in the early 80’s along with the TR-606 Drumatix drum machine. The two were relatively inexpensive, and were intended to provide a rhythm section backup. Meant to be a backup machine for practicing or for demos, the TB could be programmed with 16-step patterns that could then be arranged into songs. Unfortunately, it was difficult to program and more trouble than it was worth for most musicians. Roland stopped producing them after only 18 months!

In the late 80’s, they could be bought for almost nothing in pawn shops. Around ‘87, DJ’s in Detroit began tweaking the knobs of a TB-303 while the bass-line played a sequence. Paired with a TR-909 drum machine, it created a unique danceable sound. The rest is history. The TB-303 became a part of most of the electronica styles since then, including acid, house and trance