How I Process my TR-808 Drum Machine with OTO EFX Pedals

In this video Anthony shares how he likes to process his Roland TR-808 drum machine through some of his favorite OTO Pedals (OTO Biscuit, OTO Bim, OTO Bam & OTO Boum.)
Anthony's musical touch as both composer and performer is connected with some of the most influential creative minds over the last 40 years. He’s composed and conducted original orchestral scores for over 80 feature films including Young Guns, Internal Affairs, The Man From Elysian Fields, 15 Minutes and Planes, Trains & Automobiles, been commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for his symphonic work "In the Family Way", written over one thousand TV commercials in a myriad of musical styles, co-founded Levels Audio Post (LA's premiere post production facility) and performed and arranged on big-box-office films and influential hit records such as Michael Jackson's Thriller.
His extensive work as a young arranger, orchestrator and performer for Quincy Jones, Jack Nitzsche, Lamont Dozier, Arthur Rubenstein and Giorgio Moroder was vital in launching his own career. His early years pioneering modular analog synthesizers along with his wide-ranging music scholarship positioned Anthony at the center of the music technology revolution. He attended the University of Southern California School of Music as a piano and composition major.
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[@Fantishow-is-a-butt]

The beautiful thing about Roland’s x0x instruments is that they usually produce simple signals that take very well to processing. This is the sickest drum machine rig I’ve ever heard

[@PostingCringeOnMain]

This is fast becoming my favourite synth channel! Always so many inspiring ideas to share!

[@Bata9999]

Man you guys are killing it with these videos. I've been waiting for some synth pros to pick up this type of video format for years! Keep up the good work!

[@PK-ct1bm]

Man, I wish I could spent a week in the US drinking some coffee and just literally listen to what you got to say. Meanwhile: Great times we live in, your experience recorded for YT to watch. BIM, BAM, BOUM.

[@patkelly8309]

I really admire your collection of old skool tracky tops!

[@sirioth]

Damn son, fugging killed another tutorial. Love your channel man.

[@intheblink]

Anthony, your videos are so incredible. Just watching them makes me want to spend a day together in the studio with you experimenting with sound. It’s rare to find someone with such musicality and a love for music technology and you’re so generous to share your knowledge.

[@eddievanheinous666]

While I don't have the OTO pedals, this inspired me to do the next best thing I could, and run my TR-8 through my MPC Live II and set up a sub mix with the same effects in series. It worked out surprisingly well - thanks for the inspiration.

[@epigon1]

Did it worked well? I am trying the same, but the automations in the submix of mpc are not recordable

[@eddievanheinous666]

@@epigon1 I mean, it's not a replacement of 4 OTO pedals. It works alright as a performance tool, and you can record live into your daw. If you have something like a Midi Fighter (I do not), you could hypothetically assign all 16 knobs to various parameters and go to town. You can also put 808 or 909 drum samples on the MPC pads, and then assign more effects to those.

[@epigon1]

@@eddievanheinous666 i do the same with a nanokontrol 😊

[@NexxuSix]

I like the fact that you not only explain the pedals, but call them out while using them, tying the sound to the effect. Nice work, and as always another awesome video!

[@QuaA]

Really cool to hear you talk through as you're performing -- can pick up little nuances from your thought process & creativity. Thank you!

[@GrandmastaPheezy]

We need more videos of these old school dudes just rocking out. Try this with your Linn Drum, I bet that would sound great.

[@DavidsStockMusics]

You created a great performance with a few simple tools. Thank you for your video!

[@basmatine]

The funk is strong in this one.

[@SiClopsThe1EyedMan]

Thanks for putting the time in to make these videos, they're super interesting! 😎 🎹 🎵

[@KingMJForeverAndEver]

Congratulations on 2,000 more subscribers 🎉🎉🎉

[@gaslightwilbur]

This is a super cool channel Anthony! And you look like you're having a blast showing off these musical tools! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.....

[@KingMJForeverAndEver]

Wow amazing sounds as always 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

[@Andronicus2007]

Oh, this is gonna be another great episode, can't wait!

[@mkkrt]

Analog gear is so much fun,

[@Gerald_Daniel]

Nice jacket & sounds (of course)!

[@Miicrowahvei]

Pleas make a video on Linn processing.

[@RobTube1963]

Fantastic Anthony, that immidiatelly inspired me to make the output of my rythm machine much more interesting, more of these tips of a professional musician please, highly appreciated ! 😉

[@chycor]

Congrats on the chanel, supurb content :D Thank you, thank you, thank you. Took me exactly 0.02 seconds to start throwing shapes. Been looking for this vid for so long (vid, yes I am 50 yrs old). Have recently become an 808 dad for the second time. It's true, 'If it really was true love, it will find a way back to you'.

[@michaelpierce3264]

very nice my favorite fx unit for my drum behringer rd8 and rd9 is my korg ms20 mini

[@lx1138]

I wish I could afford those OTOs ❤

[@ryanamen6397]

Like i always say...cant have newschool without the oldschool...thank you for existing!

[@Luraka1978]

I did that 5 years ago ) exact same machines + mu tron bi phase , fun

[@Sharkpuss]

Fantastic video! It would also be fascinating to see how you processed the raw sound of the 808 to use in the mix back in the 80s i.e. how you would compress/distort the kick/snare etc

[@madgear303]

Love the Biscuit and Bam. I’m fortunate to own both. The Biscuit makes an awesome and interesting guitar distortion pedal too.

[@g3cd]

Nice. I actually returned my Erica Synths Acidbix 3 as it had NO dry mixer. While it had low-pass, high-pass, resonance and a distortion and sounded crazy good, all the drums were "washed out" with no attack. I now use a Electro Harmonix Overlord to distort my Roland TR-09 as it has a wet/dry knob and some EQ for High-, Mid- and Low-Frequencies. Love it!

[@bojangprodoktschns5428]

You could put the Acidbox (or a whole fx chain) in a send/return with the added benefit of being able to decide the exact amount when mixing later. There are also pedals that create parallel fx loops. While this adds clutter it might be worth it if you really like the sound of something without wet/dry.

[@HenritheHorse]

You could have just got a passive splitter to go dry and wet.

[@keyboardkingpin]

This is what im trying to accomplish with my vintage custom roland rack rolanda i made. I have a bunch of dope analog roland racks from that area. But no Tr-808. Great video Anthony!

[@jottazzarango9502]

Groovy baby, groovy

[@fentanyljones6956]

Your groove game is crazy my dude. Genre-less. Just the essence of slap

[@grimmslim]

So awesome! Thanks for this video!

[@acolite2341]

Well that sounds damn cool

[@tomfuturo5692]

Wow!!! Que buen groove, yo aun le estoy sacando "filo" al la roland groovebox MC-505

[@Kettupaini]

Next time I'm jamming I need to remember add some effects for a drums. Sounds so much alive.

[@meilstone]

Cool, I didn't know Anthony also owns (and has mastered) 21st century gear! 😂❤

[@user-kl8bj4kg9k]

Hello Anthony can you please do a vid comparing messages from the stars synth lead to baby be mines. I love the smoothness of the chords.

[@benjaminframe5530]

Amazing sounds!

[@aaronl3460]

Amazing use of pedal fx, giving me some ideas for making loops to affect my drums on the fly! Great vid loving this channel!

[@osco50]

Wow! I’ve been binging your channel lately. Thank you so much for sharing all of your knowledge and amazing stories! Unbelievably inspiring

[@discodave6153]

Awesome!

[@ldmdesign5610]

Great sounds!

[@mdmn8160]

So much fun and learning at the same time. ❤ from Burundi 🇧🇮

[@andystandys]

Awesome sounds.

[@simonirvine1628]

HIP HOP BE BOB do not STOP......................... ... .... ..... .. ... ...... .... ....

[@adamjohanbergren]

Very cool! Thanks for some awesome jams!

[@mwl5]

That beat sounds great 🔥

[@brianphilippoi349]

Playing with the reverb reminded me to go back and enjoy my favorite Boards of Canada track, Nlogax. Keep dropping these gems. I'm a subscriber now!

[@eancurtis9333]

Awesome

[@mymodularjourney]

So much inspiration from your videos. Thank you!

[@FrerkMeyer]

I subscribed. You make so astonishing videos about your synthesizers and production process.

[@DetroitMicroSound]

Your channel's going to be huge! 😎

[@ManteigaCartoonsOficial]

This video was really fun to watch! Would love to see you make more of this just jamming and showing some ideias.

[@jasonlogan5622]

This is freaking awesome!

[@drewamongstus]

Your channel is amazing! Love it

[@ettoremariotti4280]

I was exactly looking for a good design of effects for the drum machine! I'll try to copy that, thanks for sharing!!!

[@mikegeary8056]

Great channel. It’s exciting to to see a synth youtuber you is actually a knowledgeable professional.

[@peew_peew_peew]

Nice!

[@guiom77]

Yhat is exactly what i want..drum machine and effect pedals.... thanks thanks thanks

[@wingoshack]

The rainbow tracksuit jacket is the key to everything

[@FirstSonsMotif]

Man you got all the classic synths!

[@jayadkisson8934]

LOVE THIS!! 🎶😎❤️

[@lukezen81]

Epic!

[@volcomwave]

Could you make a video about reducing noise? I have a Moog Grandmother and an OTO Boum. I’ve tried so many different combinations with signal levels, but no consistent luck. Your signal chain sounds so clean!

[@MikeGomeztheDMG]

Killin!

[@GloveBunniesVideos]

Now THAT'S funky!

[@jennoscura2381]

This is great. I have been playing around with audio input on my Behringer Wasp to take advantage of the filter. Your video popped up and the first couple of minutes inspired me to go into the studio and run my Behringer RD-6 through the Wasp. The kick ended up sounding like a clave. So I cooked up a track where I layered that with some 808 from the Roland R-8M. I also added some FM bass from the Yamaha FB-01 and FM lead from the DX7. It turned out pretty good. Thanks again for giving me some inspiration to try something new. If anyone has a Wasp you need to play around with the audio input to take advantage of the filter.

[@kostraone]

Now that's a lucky guy : )

[@33ordie]

Made my day :)

[@pfmerc10]

You sir, have my Sub,,,great content and well explained,,,greetings from the UK,,cheers Paul..

[@scottkinder4888]

Thanks!

[@andobil]

I did this with substeps on my Roland TR 08 with heaps of decay... Sound awesome... Anthony you can choose long bass drum from the TR 08 menu too... Also sounds Rad thanks Anthony 👍 from Australasian outsider superflat artist BIL NSW Australia...

[@BrokenArrowSchoolofModernMusic]

Just when I thought his videos couldn’t get cooler….

[@spincitynyc809]

Musical mad scientist.

[@KingMJForeverAndEver]

🌷🌷🌷

[@simonirvine1628]

have you got a Mutronics Mutator

[@CJ-gp9yh]

A Marinelli x Egyptian Lover tune would make my head explode

[@angelos808]

thanks!

[@fender97]

Cool I think the 808 has individual outs for each drum channel so can process specific drums instead of everything together.

[@issiewizzie]

school is in session

[@kenzoblytheproducertv4934]

Liking before i even see the video😂🫡

[@MrFree-vj8qj]

For the next vide It would be great if you could show us how you would make modern Trap Snares like the chop snare or lex luger clap using vintage synths

[@wackerburg]

Too bad that the biscuit went through the roof nowadays since it's only available used every now and then. Sounds absolutely fabulous 😊

[@omgnetwork5231]

damn.🤯

[@DJKL]

This is great. I was surprised you weren't using the separate outs but I assume you do sometimes for different fx applications. Also where did you get your supercool jumper jacket?

[@redwalks]

Hi Tony,, the Otos sound fantastic !! But for less cable clagnutt, have you tried an Analog Heat as a master FX, afaik it does most of this in one box in the most flexible routing patterns !

[@Subtronik]

🔥

[@puppetsnob]

Loving your channel! Seeing how you did those synth riffs on Thriller (all etched into my head) is amazing! I'm not sure if you worked on Off The Wall or not? As a kid I wondered what synths were used on Rock With You. (I'm guessing a Minimoog or a Prophet given the time frame, maybe even an ARP 2600?) I know it's a somewhat obscure tune now but I wondered if you knew how Michael Boddicker did the opening and closing synth pad of Olivia Newton-John's & Cliff Richards' song "Suddenly" on the Xanadu soundtrack? I think it's a Roland VP330 vocoder, but that's about all I can deduce, given the time period (1980) Another mystery synth set is in the instrumental bridge part of Air Supply's "Lost In Love". Sadly the keyboardist on that seems to have passed away a while back, and the other one I found, he emailed to say "I can't remember... " :) It was a long time ago. Anyways, I look forward to more of your posts.

[@thedoc1210]

♥

[@falangistavaleroso9689]

I regret selling my mint and Kenton 808, 9 months in Ebay and no one wanted it for 1800 euros 10 years ago

[@GuitarsAndSynths]

I use Elektron Analog Heat with Roland 808 drums to great results. OTO did not work for me with too cryptic interface and need to buy multiple OTO boxes that cost more and take up more space than one Analog Heat box.

[@DuckAlertBeats]

Curious - were you ever involved in any electro style productions using 808s in the early 80's when it was in its heyday?

[@MadACeTeeMack]

What pedals were used in the 80s and 90s on 808s?

[@TwinCitiesOxygen]

Can u reccomend any budget friendly pedals?

[@creamydistortion]

Can you please do a video on the DX-7? I keep telling myself that you probably have a whole wall of them behind you, just out of the camera range and we just can't see them yet, hahaha...

[@romi2910001]

Can you get the same results from a mono pedal ?

[@kennethpearey9822]

When I would hear rappers talk about 808 in 1989ish I thought they were talking about an area code

[@djtomoy]

I like to reduce the bit depth of the reverb