Three bleep production essentials Roland TR-909 drums

1 The mighty 909 casts a huge shadow over bleep, helping to define the sound. Originally released in 1983, the drum machine was a mainstay of early house and techno but the way it was used in bleep was a bit different: rather than sticking to rigid drum patterns or using it as a solid background for other percussion instruments, bleep producers liked to push the machine to create an almost breakbeaty syncopation. Original 909s are expensive now, but there are other options. The digital Roland TR-09 reboot is a cheaper alternative, or you can simply use samples.