Roland MC-707 & 101 Grooveboxes

[shubidoobi]

Thanks so much for all the feedback and opinions on these two gadgets. I didn't know that timestretching isn't actually a thing for the Digitakt, a lot of small little things coming out here that I haven't considered at all, so definitely was already worth your help, thank you so much for that.

I also didn't know about the limitations in regards to actually sampling stuff. It seems there is only mono-sampling happening with the Digitakt?

The more I try to figure this out, the more it puts me back to the idea of the notion that an all in one machine isn't always the solution. The 707 seems to deliver more solidly in that regard.

I ultimately might need to go back to the drawing board and see if I need to wait and then get a proper machine for each job and do it this way. There is definitely a lot more to figure out than I initially thought about my one stop Digi solution.

I'm sure with enough finesse it would still fit perfectly into my flow, but I also need to look for a sophisticated live appliance, which might not necessarily give me what I want from the Takt alone.

You've been super helpful with this. Do you actually own a 707 or what is your approach with all of this if I may ask?

Have a great Thursday!

[Stefken]

Hey, you're welcome.

No, I don't own a 707. I have a Model:samples that I bought to accompany my TD-3.
A nice machine but I did stumble on limitations like tracks that are eaten up quite fast, everything being mono, etc. You can resolve that a bit with (drum) loops and such but there being no timestretching very much locks you in in the sample loop.

Don't get me wrong: use a nice drum loop, add some sampled house chords and you can certainly get something going.
But I always liked complexer systems that give you an open system with more options.

So I will return the model:samples and am looking for a box with more options. I looked at several boxes until I stumbled on the MC 707.
I'm quite impressed with the sounds and the options to build a complete track. Also, the idea of doing everything in one box is interesting. I have a lot of vst's and having THAT many options makes it difficult to commit to something. (Yeah, First world problems and all that. )

But I'm not an impulsive person. I do my homework before buying, so I don't own a 707 (yet?).
Here are some video's I found really interesting.
As for a live setup. You could ask some musicians who do live work (Sven Godly from Gent is on this forum for example).

[alsastar]

I've got the 101 and I'm going crazy looking for info regarding per track reverb.
Is there only the global reverb and every track uses the same one with only the ability to adjust send amount?
I would really like to be able to use different reverb on my drums and synths.

[acid alex]

I've got the 101 and I'm going crazy looking for info regarding per track reverb.
Is there only the global reverb and every track uses the same one with only the ability to adjust send amount?
I would really like to be able to use different reverb on my drums and synths.

There is one reverb on the master MFX, each track has a Reverb Send.

[acid alex]

I would opt for the Elektron route personally

On the mc 707 one! drumtrack can actually sequence 16 sounds. It's also not limited to drums so if you want to use vocal or fx samples to spice up your song you can also use 1 track to sequence 16 of those.
And instrument tracks (tone tracks as they are called) are polyphonic up to 4 voices.
Also each clip on a track can yet again have different sounds assigned to it.

Actually the ZEN-Core engine has 128 voices spread over all of your Tone tracks. So you can program 16-note chords if you wanted

The only thing to note is that using the VCF filter (and certain effects) will eat up more voices. I've yet to hit the 128-voice limit in an 8-track project though.

Here's a song I made on the MC-707 when I first got it. Do Computer or VSTs used, just jammed the song out live and recorded the output straight into my iPhone.

[Stefken]

I would opt for the Elektron route personally

On the mc 707 one! drumtrack can actually sequence 16 sounds. It's also not limited to drums so if you want to use vocal or fx samples to spice up your song you can also use 1 track to sequence 16 of those.
And instrument tracks (tone tracks as they are called) are polyphonic up to 4 voices.
Also each clip on a track can yet again have different sounds assigned to it.

Actually the ZEN-Core engine has 128 voices spread over all of your Tone tracks. So you can program 16-note chords if you wanted

The only thing to note is that using the VCF filter (and certain effects) will eat up more voices. I've yet to hit the 128-voice limit in an 8-track project though.

Here's a song I made on the MC-707 when I first got it. Do Computer or VSTs used, just jammed the song out live and recorded the output straight into my iPhone.

Hello Alex, thanks for clearing that up.

Like your song. I've played it several times before already. It's a nice demonstration of what the MC-707 can do on itself and in combination with other synths.
Those 2 midi outs and the mixer function really come in handy I guess?

Do you have any insights whether patches could be shared between the fantoms, the MC's and the Jupiters X(m)s ?

[eidetic]

Resurrecting an old thread, but the MC-101 and MC-707 recently got a significant update.

Notably, the MC-101 can now edit and create tones/synth sounds. It’s now like having a fully capable 4 x multitimbral Zen-core synth. Of course you have to do it on a 16x2 screen, but hey…

I’m floored that they added this functionality. Really cool.

[acid alex]

Roland recently updated the MC-101 and MC-707 with the ability to save and load “clips” containing both sound and sequencer data.

This is my first pack of free clips for the MC-101 / MC-707. It includes 32 basses and leads inspired by the Roland SH-101.

Here’s the link to the download page:
https://synthgroups.com/members/alex/activity/1001/

Enjoy!

[benedettodue]

I have created two editors for MC-707 and MC-101 for MAC and PC that are completely new because they use MIDI SysEx that Roland has included in the groovebox but never documented.
As is known, the two Roland grooveboxes do not officially support MIDI SysEX messages and there is no documentation relating to their implementation which is hidden
In reality, the MC-101/707 are able to receive and send such messages: they respond with a completely wrong addressing, with duplicate and incorrect data which however can be corrected and used by the software.

The editor-librarian, like the analogous versions for Fantom/0, AX-Edge and Jupiter-X/Xm, communicates in real-time and bidirectionally with the groovebox, using MIDI SysEx messages.
Specs:
Stand-alone application for Windows and MAC
- Windows 10/11
- Mac CPU Intel x86-64 - Sierra (MacOS 10.12), High Sierra (MacOS 10.13), Mojave (MacOS 10.14), Catalina (MacOS 10.13), Big Sur (MacOS 11.x)
- Mac CPU Intel x64/ARM64: Big Sur (MacOS 11.x), Monterey (MacOS 12.x), Ventura (MacOS 13.x), Sonoma (MacOS 14.x)

ZEN-CORE SECTION
-Editing of ZEN-Core tones structured in 6 subsections where you can modify all the synthesis parameters and those relating to the 93 effects provided by the standard.
- Possibility to manage the transmission of sounds (library/presets-->Groovebox) and ZEN-Core editing in each of the locations (Clip/Trak) present in a project: max 136 ZEN-Core tones in MC-707 and max 68 ZEN-Core tones in MC-101
- Vector and resizable graphic interface.
- Real-time graphic display of the envelopes (Filter, AMP and Pitch) and of the keyboard and velocity range sections
- Copy and paste of partials via clipboard.
- Macro to speed up editing by controlling in parallel the same parameter of any combination of the 4 partials.
- Editing of "hidden" ZEN-Core synthesis parameters not directly accessible in the synths: VCF Gain Correction, Partial LFO Phase Lock, Pitch Down Depth, Pitch Drift, Pitch Drift Cycle Number - Condition and VA Init Phase
- 4-track step sequencer. With a new template it is possible to obtain with a single Zen-Core tone melodic and rhythmic sequences with 4 voices, synchronized with the scene BPM
24 ZEN-Core presets, divided into:
INI: simple sounds to use as templates for editing.
PR1: some of the most significant sounds of the optional library that can be purchased separately
PR2: ZEN-Core tones of rhythmic and melodic sequences (8 STEP LFO and related template)
- Complete editing of the 93 effects from the ZEN-Core standard and 25 presets for the most used effects
LIBRARY SECTION
- Library with the management of 16384 ZEN-Core tones: 8 libraries each composed of 2048 tones (16 banks of 128 tones each)
- organization of the library tones with variable clipboard (1-48 tones), bank clipboard and separate management of lib and banks (load/save on file)
- Import of ZEN-Core tones and conversion of sounds generated with the Model Expansions into "Equivalent ZEN-Core tones" via a proprietary conversion algorithm. Supported Model Expansions: JUNO-106 -JX-8P -JUPITER-8 -SH-101 - Juno-60 - JUNO-X engine - JUPITER-X/XM engine

PROJECT SECTION
- edit of the offsets of the parameters of the 4/8 tracks (MC–101/707): Volume, Pan, Cutoff, Res, Attack, Decay, Release, Vibrato, Portamento, SYS Ctrl and send to Delay and Reverb.
- edit of all the parameters related to the Chorus/Delay and Reverb effects with the possibility of using 40 reverb presets.
- edit of the 5-band Master EQ, the 4/8 (MC–101/707) EQs of the tracks and the Master Compressor of the project with the possibility of recalling 18 presets

The software is also available bundled with the "ZEN-Core B67 Collection1-2" sound library: 215 ZEN-Core tones + 7 INI tones
The collection contains, among other sounds:
- 53 ZEN-Core Tones containing 4-voice melodic and rhythmic sequences, synchronized with the scene BPM. thanks to the simultaneous use of 8 STEP-LFOs (2 per partial) and 128 total steps
- 32 linear FM tones, partly made with 4 operators (double carrier-modulating pair) and partly composed of a pair of FM partials and PCM partials
-30 Bass Synth tones
- over 50 Pad, PolySynth, Lead and Choir tones


http://www.benis.it/cm/ZC_Editor/ben67_zeneditor.htm
http://www.benis.it/cm/ZC_Editor/ben67_ ... MC_ENG.htm