I love the Roland Tr-808.
Who doesn't? The kick, the snare, the clap... even the rimshot. So when I saw a small, D.I.Y. 808 BD Clone circuit, I jumped on it! This was a fairly easy build. I found the perfect case: small and sloped with a 2x9v battery cradle. Once I had all the parts it only took about a day to put them together.
Some might say that this project is not for beginners because the PCB is very small, but I did OK and I am definitely a beginner!
jmej @ Tindie says "This is a near exact clone of the famous kick drum from the classic tr-808 drum machine. The only changes are for facilitating the common mods (extended decay and a pitch pot), and a slightly more flexible trigger input."
I'm a fool for the branding, huh? This case has: the power switch, led indicator, Frequency, Tone, Decay and, the pushbutton, in a nice -008' logo configuration. Custom Kloom. Branded Boom. Yeah, I'm a nerd.
LINKS AND INFO
PCB was $25. Parts were about $15. After that, all you need is a case. This unit also works at +/-12v or +/-15v and most people are building them for their analog modular rack systems. Jesse at Anesthetic Audio:
http://www.anestheticaudio.com/index.php/project/tr-808-bassdrum/
You can buy a PCB at Tindie:
https://tindie.com/shops/jmej/808-kick-drum-clone-pcb/
Build thread @ Muffwigglers:
http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54149
Enough talk, you want to hear it kick, right?
Here is a little snippet of me fooling around with it. I just pulled up some Beat Trigger Rex's and started kickin' and samplin' away...