The Roland MC-303 is the first of a series of musical instruments known as a

Groovebox A groovebox is a self-contained electronic or digital musical instrument for the production of live, loop-based electronic music with a high degree of user control facilitating improvisation. The term "Groovebox" was originally used by Roland Co ...

. It combines a simple sound module with a

sequencer Sequencer may refer to: Technology * Drum sequencer (controller), an electromechanical system for controlling a sequence of events automatically * DNA sequencer, a machine used to automatically produce a sequence readout from a biological DNA sam ...

to record and store notation, along with controls aimed at encouraging the musician to improvise the music while it is playing. Despite the number in its name and the attention it received at its launch, the MC-303 has more in common with other MC prefixed synthesizers (such as the

Roland MC-202 The Roland MC-202 (MicroComposer) is a monophonic analog synthesizer and music sequencer released by Roland in 1983. It was the first groovebox.

), which contain built-in sequencers, than it does with the famous

Roland TB-303 The Roland TB-303 Bass Line (also known as the 303) is a bass synthesizer released by Roland Corporation in 1981. Designed to simulate bass guitars, it was a commercial failure and was discontinued in 1984. However, cheap second-hand units were ...

. As the first Groovebox, the MC-303 was the first in a line of inexpensive products specifically targeted towards

house DJs A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condit ...

and amateur home musicians rather than professional producers. It was superseded by the

Roland MC-505 The Roland MC-505 is a groovebox conceived in 1998 as a combination of a MIDI controller, a music sequencer, a drum machine, and a desktop synthesizer with many synthesis features: arpeggiator, oscillators, and voltage-controlled filter, contro ...

. It is the predecessor to the

Roland JX-305 The Roland JX-305 Groovesynth synthesizer was produced in 1998 by Roland. It is very similar to a Roland MC-505 with an additional set of 61 keys. The keyboard is sensitive to velocity and has channel aftertouch. This keyboard was aimed at pr ...

, Roland D2,

Roland MC-307 The Roland MC-307 is a combination of MIDI music sequencer, synthesizer, drum machine and control surface produced by the Roland Corporation. This combination is commonly referred to by Roland as a 'Groovebox'. It is a scaled-down version of the ...

, Roland EG-101, Roland MC-09,

Roland MC-909 The discontinued Roland MC-909 Sampling Groovebox combines the features of a synthesizer, Music sequencer, sequencer, and Sampler (musical instrument), sampler, with extensive hands-on control of both the sound engine and the sequencing flow. It ...

Roland MC-808 The Roland MC-808 was a groovebox, announced at the Winter NAMM in 2006. It is the successor to the late Roland MC-303, Roland MC-307, Roland MC-505 and Roland MC-909. Background Though cheaper than the Roland MC-909, it has a number of feature ...

, and most recently the Roland MC-707 in 2019, along with its more portable sibling, the Roland MC-101.

Features

The key features of the MC-303 are: * Sound generator with 28

note Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened version ...

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

based on the structure model of

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

JV-80 synthesizer * 8-track

containing multiple quantize functions: Grid, Shuffle, and Groove. (7 pitched instruments and 1 drum kit) * 16-part

multitimbral Monotimbral (from the root prefix ''mono'' meaning one, and ''timbre'' meaning a specific tone of a sound independent of its pitch) is usually used in reference to electronic synthesizers which can produce a single timbre at a given pitch when pre ...

* 448 preset sounds and 12 drum kits (includes the

Roland CR-78 The Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 is a drum machine launched in 1978. Although primitive by later standards, the CR-78 represented an important advance in drum machine technology at the time, in particular by allowing users to program and store thei ...

, TR-808,

TR-606 The Roland TR-606 Drumatix is a drum machine built by the Roland Corporation from 1981 to 1984. It was originally designed to be used with the Roland TB-303, a monophonic analog bass synthesizer, to provide a simple drum and bass accompaniment ...

TR-909 The Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer is a drum machine introduced by Roland Corporation in 1983, succeeding the TR-808. It was the first Roland drum machine to use samples for some sounds, and the first with MIDI functionality, allowing it to syn ...

, electro, techno, jungle, house, drum & bass, breakbeat), 40 synth basses (TB-303, etc.), 35 synth leads, 33 synth pads * Resonant filter, LFO, envelope control and built-in effects: delay, reverb, flanger and chorus * Realtime Phrase Sequencer (RPS) for instant recall of musical phrases * Low Boost Knob feature (Back panel, Only on the Roland MC-303): allowing you to dial in as much low-end as it takes to create powerful Kick or TR-808 Bass sounds so that anyone can 'feel' the groove. * 300 onboard dance music variation patterns such as drumbeats and basslines * Recording length of up to 32 bars per pattern * Instant storage of up to 50 user patterns, 300 pattern variations and 10 songs * Storage space for up to approximately 14,000 notes *

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

in and out connections (but no MIDI thru)

Synthesizer/Sound Module

The synthesizer built into the Roland MC-303 is a

rompler A rompler is a synthesizer that plays pre-fabricated sounds based on audio samples. The term ''rompler'' is a blend of the terms ''ROM'' and ''sampler.'' In contrast to samplers, romplers do not record audio. Both may have additional sound edit ...

which contains sounds largely drawn from classic Roland synths and drum machines such as the

TB-303 The Roland TB-303 Bass Line (also known as the 303) is a bass synthesizer released by Roland Corporation in 1981. Designed to simulate bass guitars, it was a commercial failure and was discontinued in 1984. However, cheap second-hand units were ...

, TR-808 and

along with the

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series and various other dance themed sounds such as pads, pianos, strings and vinyl scratches. The sounds can be manipulated with a

low-pass filter A low-pass filter is a filter that passes signals with a frequency lower than a selected cutoff frequency and attenuates signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The exact frequency response of the filter depends on the filter des ...

, various modulation capabilities and some simple

DSP DSP may refer to: Computing * Digital signal processing, the mathematical manipulation of an information signal * Digital signal processor, a microprocessor designed for digital signal processing * Yamaha DSP-1, a proprietary digital signal ...

effects. It doesn't have a sampler, although the instruction book contains instructions for getting it to control an external sampler.

Sequencer

The most important part of the MC-303 is its built-in pattern based 8 track

. Each pattern can contain up to 32 bars. It can record and send

data via the MIDI jacks on the rear panel, enabling its internal sequencer to control other sound modules, or its internal sound module to be controlled by an external sequencer. Although communication with other devices is possible, the main advantage to the MC-303 with its small form factor and all-in-one design is the ability to use it as a self-contained studio, albeit an amateur one. Featuring a micro-keyboard that can also be used as a drum sequencer, the MC-303 imitates the handling as well as the look and feel of other famous Roland synthesizers and drum machines such as the MC-202,

, TR-808 and

Criticisms

One criticism made of the machine in various reviews, including the August 1996 issue of

Sound on Sound ''Sound on Sound'' is an independently owned monthly music technology magazine published by SOS Publications Group, based in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The magazine includes product tests of electronic musical performance and recording devices, a ...

magazine, was that the sound module was essentially limited to only playing built-in preset sounds, discouraging innovation. From a more technical perspective, a major concern was that any knob tweaks made during real time recording were not transmitted via MIDI. The number of preset patterns (mostly aimed for Trance and Techno music) outweighed the number of programmable user patterns which also discouraged innovation. Roland responded in part to these criticisms in its later grooveboxes by solving the MIDI problem, increasing the synthesis capabilities and user pattern storage and adding a sampler section.

Software ROM Chip Update (not in Roland information)

Check your MC-303 ROM Chip Update: 'SHIFT'+'SCALE'+'R (BD) Circulated ROM BIOS Versions: V1.00(1996); V1.01; V1.02 and V1.03(1997), where the latest ROM Chip is more stable.

References

External links

MC-303 PDF Manual Links:
Online Roland MC-303 PDF Owners Manual Location

Online Roland MC-303 PDF TurboStart Location

Online Roland MC-303 PDF Brochure Location

Roland MC-303 Service Notes Manual Schematics
Other Links:
Roland UK Limited, MC-303 site and files

Roland US Corporation, MC-303 site and files

FutureProducers.com - 'musicians learning from musicians' - Roland MC-303 Forum.

Harmony Central - 'Leading Internet resource for musicians, supplying valuable information from news and product reviews' - Roland MC-303

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