808 Day is celebrated every August 8, or 8/08, in honor of the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer. Roland released the TR-808 in 1980 as a programmable drum machine that allowed musicians to create and sequence their own rhythms. Instead of playing recordings of real drums, the TR-808 generated its percussion sounds using analog synthesis. That distinction became incredibly important. The kick didn't quite sound like a real bass drum. ...