Snare 808

The classic TR-808 snare. Two detuned resonators ring out the metallic "body" (the 808's twin bridged-T networks, near 180 Hz and 330 Hz), and a burst of highpassed noise adds the "snappy" rattle of the snare wires. Balance the two resonators with Tone, set the wire noise with Snappy — that's the whole 808-snare recipe.

How it works

A trigger strikes both resonators at once (same engine as Kick 808); they ring down as two detuned pitches, and Tone crossfades between them. In parallel, a short envelope shapes white noise, which is highpassed and mixed in as the snap. The upper resonator rings a touch shorter than the lower, like a real drum.

Controls

• Level — base hit strength (the loudness knob).
• Pitch — tuning of the lower resonator, 100–300 Hz; the upper tracks it a

fixed interval above. Lower for a fat body, higher for a tight electro snap.

• Tone — crossfade between the two resonators. Down = the lower, rounder

pitch; up = the higher, tin-ier one. Middle gives the detuned 808 "ping".

• Decay — how long the body rings, 0.03–0.5 s.
• Snappy — level of the highpassed-noise snare wires. Low = a dry, tonal

"tok"; high = a bright, noisy crack.

• Snap — how long that noise sizzles, 0.03–0.5 s. Short is tight and

electro; long is a loose, open snare.

Attenuverters

Each bends its CV input into a param (negative = inverted); at 0 the input does nothing.

• Vel — Velocity/accent CV → Level.
• Tone — CV → Tone (sweep the resonator balance).
• Snappy — CV → Snappy (accent the snare crack per hit).

Inputs & outputs

• Trig — a gate/trigger; each rising edge fires the snare.
• Vel — velocity/accent CV → Level (via the Vel attenuverter).
• Ptch — 1V/oct; shifts both resonators together.
• Tone CV / Snappy CV — modulation inputs, each scaled by its attenuverter.
• Out — the snare, at ±5 V.

Tips

• Classic 808 snare: Tone near the middle, Snappy high, short Snap.
• Rimshot/tom flavors: turn Snappy down and lean on Pitch + Tone.
• Patch an envelope into Snappy CV so harder steps get more crack.