Frederic just e-mailed me about Nate Harrison's terrific documentary on the Roland TB-303. The documentary is found here, just click "Bassline Baseline", then start it, free of charge.

In this documentary, Harrison's voice flows smoothly, explaining what the 303 is ((A computerised box that emulates an electric bass.)), how Roland marketed it and how it inadvertently revolutionised the entire electronic music-scene from the 80's onward because of pioneers who didn't use it the way it was intended to be used; it was built to emulate an electric bass, but by programming a few loops, pushing the tone up a few octaves and heavily tweaking the filters - bingo, acid house was born.

The documentary also displays the weird circumstance that today has lead to the Roland TB-303 becoming computer software, and way beyond that; from the documentary:

So, today, we have computer software, consisting of representations of a three-dimensional interface, on a two-dimensional screen, being controlled by third-party hardware, so as to emulate the sound of a machine built twenty years ago, which was itself built to emulate the sound of a machine built thirty years before it.

Quite funny. ((And interesting: today you don't have to spend a lot of money on equipment to make music. Freeware ways are here to stay, e.g. Psycle for Windows, GarageBand for OSX and others for Linux.))

Harrison has also made another documentary, about the "Amen break". This is a drum-loop derived from an old funk-track. The loop has been sampled thousands of times and incorporated into every type of audio, ranging from the most obscure underground hardcore electro-tracks to huge advertisements on international TV. It also questions the very essence of copyright control, as companies such as Zero-G have added the drum-loop to their huge sample-banks and actually copyrighted it in the process, which means they're luring money from the creators of the original track. Not to be underestimated in any way, the Amen break revolutionised hip-hop ((Gangsta rap, anyway.)) much like what the 303 ended up doing to "its" genre.

I hail Harrison for making high-quality documentaries using little money, turning their material to the world for free, ending up teaching and inspiring loads of people in the process. Kudos to you!