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One of the earliest uses of the TR-808 for a live performance was by Yellow Magic Orchestra in December 1980 in the song “1000 Knives,” composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto in 1978. The “Hand Clap” sound was later publicized by YMO’s innovative album BGM released in March 1981 in Japan, used again on “1000 Knives,” as well as in another of Sakamoto’s songs, “Music Plans”.

The TR-808 was an important step forward from Roland’s previous CR-78 drum machine; although both have developed a dedicated following, the sound of the TR-808 is generally considered to be more powerful and have more “punch.” The TR-808 also featured more sounds (sixteen in total) and better controls to allow the user to control the sounds in real time: volume knobs for the level of each sound, and tone-shaping controls for the more important sounds. The memory capacity for storing patterns was increased substantially: 32 pattern locations were available, and furthermore, these could be “chained” together to produce “songs,” 12 of which could also be stored in memory.

The memory was non-volatile (maintained by three AA batteries). The programming interface was hugely improved: a row of 16 buttons allowed the user to employ a very intuitive “step programming” method—the pattern is divided up into 16 steps, and the buttons and LEDs indicate whether a drum sound plays on each step. The unit also featured Roland’s new “DIN-Sync” clock interface for synchronization with other equipment, plus various analogue clock-outputs for slaving other devices. The TR-808 predated the invention of the MIDI interface; however such is the TR-808’s enduring popularity that several third-party manufacturers provided MIDI-retrofit kits for it over the years.