The Roland TB-03 is a remake of the famous TB-303 bass synthesizer which defined acid techno since the late 1980s. The TB-03 recreates the squeaks and high pitches of original. The button and knob layout is mostly the same as the original, but with a few extra features: A four digit LCD display is added, which makes it easer to keep track of programmed patterns and tempo. Another modern feature is the micro USB port, which exposes a 24-bit/96kHz audio interface and MIDI. It can be powered by USB or 4 AA batteries.

I was lucky to be gifted one for Christmas, so have had only little time to try things out. So far I've gone through the brief but instructive videos from Roland's own Youtube channel listed below; plugged it in over USB and seen the MIDI messages in midisnoop (packaged in both Debian and Ubuntu); and programmed a snippet inspired by Josh Wink's "Higher State Of Consciousness".

TB-03 Quick Start video

  1. Installation
  2. Using the Knobs to Adjust the Sound
  3. Pattern Playback
  4. Pattern Write (TB-303 Original Mode)
  5. Pattern Write (Step Recording Mode)
  6. Playing/Editing a Track

Also useful, this trick to copy patterns, using the Original 303 Mode.