![]() With enough practice, an expert user can enter just about any monophonic line, style, or rhythm into the MC-202’s sequencer. You can add expression with Portamento and Accent Accent controls the filter cutoff or the amplifier level. You can also enter data in “tap” mode, tapping in the notes first and the rhythm afterward, or use step-time input, complete with dotted rhythms and rests. In real time, you play along with the metronome using the little keyboard pads, but that isn’t as easy as it sounds. Input methods are quirky by modern standards. The MC-202’s sequencer can store 2,600 notes on two tracks. You can store sequences internally if batteries are installed, but for permanent storage, you should offload data to cassette tape a jack is provided for that purpose. From thick, rich pulse-wave spreads to precision sawtooth sounds spiked with resonance, the MC-202 belies its size and price when it comes to low-end power.Įven with the ahead-of-its-time LCD of notes and Gate times, the MC-202 is hardly user-friendly. Understandably, the MC-202 specializes in bass and lead synth sounds. A free-flowing slider controls keyboard tracking. The resonant 24 dB - per - octave lowpass filter can be modulated by the LFO or EG, but it must conform to the amplifier’s EG unless the amp is in its Gate position. The LFO, which generates a sine wave, has simple rate and delay controls. Pulse width can be set manually or modulated by the LFO or the ADSR envelope generator (EG). Like the SH-101, the MC-202’s design features an oscillator and a suboscillator nonetheless, you can build up a fairly substantial sound because the pulse wave, sawtooth wave, and suboscillator have volume-control sliders. Saying that the MC-202 is reminiscent of the SH-101 puts it mildly aside from the absence of a noise generator and a slight reworking of the low-frequency oscillator (LFO fewer waveforms, but with a delay parameter), the sound engine is an SH-101. The MC-202 is small but chunky with a 32-pad keyboard for entering notes rather than playing, an LCD (a rarity at the time), and sliders and buttons for controlling the synth section. If only Roland’s marketing department had thought to call the MC-202 a workstation, or even a “walkstation” (you can run it on six C batteries and monitor it with headphones), its sales might have turned out differently. It was designed to be a host for the SH-101, the TR-606 Drumatix drum machine, and the TB-303 Bassline. As an all-in-one sequencer and sound source, the MC-202 is a direct descendent of the MC-4 and Roland’s SH-101 monophonic synthesizer. The MicroComposer has been a Roland specialty since the MC-8 and MC-4 were unveiled in 1978. The “MC” in MC-202 stands for MicroComposer, which is Roland’s fancy name for a sequencer. That may be an exaggeration now Roland says the fabled TB-303 sold even fewer. Roland Corporation‘s chairman Ikutaro Kakehashi once told me it was the company’s worst-selling keyboard product. Introduced in 1983 - the same year as the first MIDI instruments - the MC-202 lacked MIDI capabilities. Despite being almost 20 years older than the Roland MC-303 and MC-505, the MC-202 fits snugly into the hip, knobby, bass-heavy world of dance music. ![]() “Long before Roland reinvented itself as a purveyor of DJ-friendly groove gear, the MC-202 was the original groove box. Review of MC-202 From Electronic Musician Magazine: I have not tested this but it should work fine.ĭownload the Data Here (122Mb) : MC-202 Data Project Corrected If you own or have access to a Roland MC-202 Synth here is the original data cassette that came with the machine. It also features a 4 tap delay section, a master Vst insert and the possiblity to record audio files of what you are doing.” The Sample Player section is a fairly straight forward 4 voices sample player with a good envelope section and the possiblitly to change the pitch, the length, the start point all on the fly. But the most unique feature is that the 4 sequences can play at 4 different BPMs! “The velocities can be randomized too so the accents will also change during timeĪnd make the loops more interesting. What’s special about it is that you can randomize this modifications and so the pattern will never be constant if you want. Nothing new so far, but what makes the GUIdMachine special are a few unique features.įirst of all you can easily shift any of the sequences up and down by any number of steps and you can decide the length of each raw. The Step sequencer has 4 X 16 steps while the sample player can load 4 samples simultanuously. “The Guid Machine is a Step Sequencer combined with a sample player.
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