websynths.com is a FREE browser-based synth I wrote in 2014. It works in most tablets, phones, and computers. Features are always being added, but currently include

• Browser-based, mobile-first, responsive interface
• Unique microtonal tuning system
• 2 oscillators with
  • 7 waveforms
  • pitch and amplitude envelopes
  • pitch and amplitude LFOs
  • 3 noise colors with filter to establish pitch
• 5 part super saw available from oscillator 1
• 2 filters, each with 8 filter modes and a dedicated frequency envelope
• Filter matrix with presets
• Complex volume envelope
• Effects: distortion, delay, dual delay, reverb, and compressor
• Visual frequency meter
• Save and load patches locally or to your cloud
• Polyphonic
• Trigger sound via qwerty, mouse clicks, or touch
• Equal-tempered tuning with key selection options, Quarter tone tuning
• Panic button (stops all active oscillators in case something hangs)

I recorded a TR-909 Bass Drum through the following distortion units to compare and contrast the sounds. Above you can see how the waveforms differ. I produced the video with Autodesk Maya.

1. Dunlop Fuzz Face
2. Electro-Harmonix Metal Muff with Top Boost
3. Maxon OD-9
4. Boss OS-2
5. Boss DS-1
6. Boss DS-2
7. Pro Co RAT
8. Tech 21 VT Bass
9. MXR Bass D.I. +
10. Electro-Harmonix English Muff'n
11. Moog Moogerfooger Lowpass Filter
12. Electro-Harmonix Bass Big Muff Pi
13. Elektron SidStation

And now, a quick plug for my history site! Check out the history of drum machines at www.thebriefhistoryof.com/drum-machines.

I modified a Roland TR-808 and uploaded this video of the modification. I have been contacted by various owners of the machine, as it has passed from person to person. As far as I know, it currently resides in a studio in the UK.

Three Kings is a triptych that celebrates the work of three electronic instrument pioneers: Tadao Kikumoto, Robert Moog, and Roger Linn. These inventors are amongst my heroes. Almost every piece of music produced in the last 25 years that includes either a synthesizer, a sample, or a drum machine, owes it's sound in no small way to the work of at least one, if not all three, of these pioneers.