Roland TB-303 Bass Line

The Roland TB-303 Bass Line is a machine that failed at its job and changed music anyway. Released in 1981 for $395 to replace a bass player, it sounded nothing like a bass guitar, flopped and was discontinued in 1984. Cheap used units found their way to young producers, and its squelch became acid house.

How it works

It’s a single-oscillator monosynth with a resonant filter and a small step sequencer. Accent boosts a note’s volume and filter, and slide glides into the next note. Twisting the cutoff and resonance while a pattern plays gives the famous acid sound, first heard on Phuture’s “Acid Tracks” (1987).

The hip hop connection

The 303 is mainly a dance-music instrument, but it has a documented hip hop moment: Afrika Islam’s own TB-303, sold at Sotheby’s in 2022, was described as the unit he used to produce Ice-T’s “Colors” and “Squeeze the Trigger,” with the basslines still programmed in.

Buying one today

Originals are expensive. Don’t confuse them with Roland’s MC-303 groovebox, the TB-3 and TB-03, Behringer’s TD-3 or modified Devil Fish units. Test the sequencer buttons, the tempo knob and the battery compartment.