808 Tom
The 808 has 3 toms sounds (low, mid, high). Each is the same with different tunings and decay times. It is the same patch as the conga, except the tom adds filtered pink noise to create the same fake ‘reverb’ effect as the clap. Read some notes on the 808 tom here.
1: Tune VCO-A according to the tuning guide below. Then turn VCO-A sine up in the mixer.
High Tom Tuning: Low: E3 +2c, Centre: F#3, High: A3
Mid Tom Tuning: Low: B2 -49c, Centre: C#3 -45c, High: D#3 +49c
Low Tom Tuning: Low: D#2 +49c, Centre: F#2 +47c, High: G2 +35c
2: Turn the VCF level up to around 2:00 or 3:00 (65% to 75%). Don’t let the signal go too far into the red.
3: Tune the VCF to the same frequency as VCO-A.
Make the filter self-oscillate by raising Q all the way up. Plug a tuner into the VCF out. Use the frequency dial to tune. Lower Q back down.
4: Switch the VCF to notch (NT2).
5: Raise Q 10 or 15% to brighten up the sound, but don’t let the signal get too saturated.
6: Create a subtle pitch drop by modulating the filter frequency with ENV-B by turning up VCF FM-1. Only raise it by about 10%. The pitch drop shouldn’t be too immediately noticeable. Don’t exaggerate it. Don’t let it boing.
7: Patch ENV-B to VCA-A. Keep rise at 0. Make the envelope very plucky. The sound shouldn’t ring out. Refer to the guide below for target decay times.
High Tom Decay Time: 100 ms
Mid Tom Decay Time: 130 ms
Low Tom Decay Time: 200 ms
8: Turn on soft clipping and add a small amount of overdrive. Set the amount so the initial attack gets boosted and then has less effect on the tail. You don’t want the whole sound to get overdriven. The goal is to have a bright attack, and a duller, less saturated tail. Check that the output light goes red at the attack, then quickly goes darker.
9: Switch noise to ‘pink’.
10: Use the slew limiter as a low pass filter. Patch from noise to the slew limiter. Set the direction to ‘Up & Down.’ Set the shape to linear. Set the amount to around 50%.
11: Patch from the slew limiter to VCA-B audio in. Then patch the VCA-B VCA out to Main-2. Turn the VCA-B CV dial all the way down, and raise it slowly until you just start to hear it. The noise shouldn’t be too prominent. Adjust the slew and VCA-CV amounts together until it has the sound of quiet air.
12: Patch from ENV-A to VCA-B CV in. Set the decay and release time to be 1.5 to 2 x longer than the decay used for the main body of the sound.
13: Optionally: Patch trigger out to VCO-A sync, and set it to hard sync. This can help create a more consistent attack click.
Optional Variations:
Try out some of the alt noise settings and see how they sound.
Instead of using the slew limiter as a filter, use the LPF as a filter, and the wave folder as a VCA.
Try sending velocity to filter resonance so louder notes will be brighter and lower velocity notes will be more clicky.
Control pitch with velocity.
Exaggerate the pitch drop. Increase the filter frequency’s envelope modulation.
Further Reading
A short blog post on how to recreate the 808 Tom.
Pg. 6 has a brief description of the combined tom/conga circuit (LT/LC (MT/MC, HT/HC)).
Pg. 7 has a block diagram (top right, between the SD and BD).
Pg. 9 the circuit (centre).
Pg. 14 has a chart displaying the frequency, and decay times (LC, MC, HC).
Erics Synths EDU DIY Kick Drum user manual.
For a good explanation of how a bridged-T oscillator works, check out Pg 9 through 12 of the user manual for the Erics Synths EDU DIY Kick Drum.