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).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tKJVFOSqY4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRlMx8TGwNw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egqRXXYrhp0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAKtYLv1RkE&t=1s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIpZS61u1e0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya-FwFVnxtM&t=47s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6eMwXsWSK0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpusxDAoyko

[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.

https://youtu.be/2bU8sv-5Sz0

[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.

https://youtu.be/2bU8sv-5Sz0

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yem2RS7Mj-s

[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!

https://youtu.be/SoLg1ZBnwa0