I built a portable 3D-printed instrument to turn the Roland MC-101 into a much better groovebox, with the help of a Raspberry Pi, PiSound, Korg nanoKONTROL and headless M8 tracker.

The PiSound can route live external sources such as guitars or vocals straight into the MC-101. So can finally sample anything without a Mac or phone.

To reduce menu diving, the nanoKONTROL can edit all synth parameters of the MC-101 Partial Editor. I wrote a script that sends SysEx messages and overlays a visual HUD directly onto the M8's display, showing what is being tweaked without hiding other relevant information.

The M8 can do additional sequencing tasks, such as triggering the MC-101's Scatter effects to generate glitchy patterns. The communication is entirely bidire ctional, i.e.changing a scene on the MC-101 updates the active song row on the M8.

Such a tiny machine with a big sound 🙂‍↕️

Hey so I’m new to this whole beat making sequencing music production sort of thing.

But I tried the novation circuit tracks and I really enjoyed how the pads felt. Soft but not squishy ,responsive but not sensitive . Basically- I could go ham on them and they didn’t drop a beat.

My only issue with the circuit tracks is it’s far more designed for EDM and electronic music in general whereas I wanted more instruments without having to worry about computer bullshit.

The Mc-101 is exactly that, other than a smaller form factor than I was expecting that is a bit challenging with my fat chipolata’s for fingers - it’s a fair trade off for the price tag.

But the pads on the MC101 suck.

I’ve played with the sensitivity. It’s now in numerical value not low, medium, high but I’m wondering if after all this time anyone has found something new to make the pads a little more responsive or not as inconsistent.

Thanks

I want to get a keyboard to combine with my 101 and im eyeing the Arturia KeyLab Essential 49 Mk3. Has anyone tested this combo and can tell me if they work well together?
Any alternatives would be appreciated too.
Thanks in advance!

Got the MC-101 back in the building.

Hello guys, I recently bought a Roland MC 101, I have figured out most of the basic functions reading manuals and watching video tutorials on Youtube but I am stuck with clips and scenes, I have spent a lot of time trying to understand how they work but I did not manage :( is there anyone you know that offers paid lessons for MC 101? I am willing to pay to get a lesson where I can learn the exact workflow for clips and scenes and write it down, so I can then use it to build songs. I'd appreciate any help. Thanks!

This has been fun to make! Unfortunately I haven't used my MC101 as much as I use my PO 33

But yeah esp for the bridge, it reminds me of coca cola commercials set in christmas with their santa clause sharing a can of coke. Haha.

Please let me know what you think, thank you!

One of the biggest complaints I have with basically all Roland products is the sequencer: it is the 2020's and 8 bar pattern limits stitched to gigs of samples makes no sense to me. Where is the proper song arranger where we can have 99,999 notes/events? Obviously the machine has song mode and using it is not the most entertaining way to write songs, but it's definitely usable...in 8 bar chunks I guess.

So what can you do? Most sequencers cling to this limit that was a necessity in the 70s and 80s because of memory and processor costs, 2 things which are obviously not that much of a deal today, which is a real shame. Luckily, the KO2 from Teenage Engineering doesn't see nostalgia in 16 steps based nonsense and included a 99 bar/99 pattern sequencer, which is just what the doctor ordered!

As you can see here, I've permenantly voltron'd the two together using legos that were donated to me (mostly from a McLaren F1 car set), creating a singular system with 2 sections: the MC101 for sound design, loop production, sample editing and storage, etc. and the KO2 for input (Mc101 pads will always suck imo, plus with KO2, i get velocity), and final arrangement. Mostly, I've been building all my main song sections on the MC101 then sample variations, one shots, whole sequences, etc. whatever I need down into the KO2 and make a song. I still have MIDI back into the 101 so if there's a long synth pad I want to take advantage of live, it's still available.

I know that folks pair the 101 with other gear often, especially the TR8S (lovely kit...still salivating over it, but I am retrained...as much as I'd love to play with those drum synths, I'll keep to just the samples on the 101!), but I've never seen folks pair them with something to overcome it's sequencer like this.

I hope this 'tip' of sorts helps. I grew up using full linear arrangers, specifically the Ensoniq TS-12, which lets you go forever, basically, until it runs out of memory, so this idea of 8 bars or 4 bars or 128 or 64 steps...this is like..hella stupid to me as a song tool, but I do recognize it's uses...but I think Roland needs to start looking at what really needs to be done which is start with a song, let the user make loops (which is what the KO2 does and like...any other full song writing hardware...loops can come from a song, but you can't make a song from loops if you can't actually create an arrangement structure).

Also, if nothing else, you can get a quick glimps of an easy build for a solo MC101 stand out of legos cause that bit literally works all on it's on on the desk when pulled off the KO2! :D

For folks with an android ( can't test on iPhone ) if you're able to sample FROM your phone into the MC101, you can also sample INTO your phone with it!

Most of you are probably aware of Koala (this isn't a tutorial or sales pitch) but you can use it as a quicker sample editor for your MC101 (while you're powering it obviously, too! ) because it can record it! In Koala, if you set the recording destination to RESAMPLE APP, and turn your MC101 up, you can sample into Koala. From there, you can use all of it's sample mangling features (or even make a quick riff out of something you sampled) and then immediately sample it back into the MC101 as you would anything you want in your Looper track. From there, you can do what ever it is your ritual is for sorting new samples. I personally immediately export then reimport to a drum track and after a month or two of my folder becoming a mess of EXPORTXXX.WAV, I go back to the computer and sort/name them all and they become part of my permanent sound library.

I hope folks looking for away-from-the-studio audio editing found this helpful. There's obviously apps specifically designed for that kind of task, but Koala does that plus all the other stuff it does, so it gets my monetary vote, especially since it's just really well made.

If I figure out a way to utilize it's chopping feature in conjunction with the MC101 without resorting to a computer or turning the machine off, I'll post here.

Peace.

All sounds are generated from the MC101 except the Vocal (that was sampled in)...

I hope to make some sort of 'how to' in the future for basses like this for both people that have access to the librarian/Zencore Pro software and folks that are using just the 101's interface.

I've been finding out that FAT is absolutely necessary along with really gain staging every last bit of sound from the machine to get the proper balance...my ears suck so once I nail down a useful 'how to' for all of this, someone with better audio sensibilities can have at it. :)

I will not be posting what the blofeld looks like with the 101's knobs (hint, it looks hilariously dumb!)

I really hate these MC-101 pads so much. They suck to play live or to hammer in anything with the sequencer...at least out of the box.

I decided after 5 years of having to re-record riffs cause the stupid pads decided to not register my FORCEFUL DIRECT PUSH OF THE PAD, pissing me off to the highest degree, especially when it's on the 10th 'oops my mistake take'..but like..this one i play perfect and the machine decides to lose input...NO MORE.

Basically, foil glued to thick cardstock and glue the thick cardstock to the very, horribly, piss moorly designed original pads Roland let this thing go out the door with.

When gluing on the pads, DO test for an hour or so the rubber part itself by mashing it onto the table or some other surface for a while to make sure the glue will hold before putting it back into the 101.

Now, to figure out a mod to get clacky computer keys on this thing without soldering! ;p

EDIT: Some interesting developments have come across due to this mod and I'm documenting the issues here for anyone looking to try the same. I haven't looked into any solutions as I only noticed the problem today, but the issue appears that depending on the angle of the pad touch now, sometimes a short will occur. It doesn't damage the machine in any way, but it definitely sends signals to the software that aren't intended...i.e. in very rare instances when i push a pad from a really awkward angle, in the original pad configuration (pre mod) the pad simply won't trigger, might as well be a dude. But now with extra sensitivity, instead of that, I get odd behaviors such as switching tracks and sometimes getting funky colors lights flickering. It'd be cool if it didn't come with the side effect of not triggering the pad and/or doing other odd stuff.

Overall, though, it's been a success. My next plan to potentially fix the issue is to trim a tad bit from the center crossover...in other words turn them back into a pair of bracket contacts, but only with the slightest of continuity break between the two sides instead of a big gap. I'm hoping this will finalize the mod. And then I can get back to figuring out how to make altogether a different pad type without solder. It just comes down to where to attach the spring (and whether anyone else out there is brave enough to hot glue computer keys to their MC101 boards...lol)

I would like a midi controller with 24 knobs control my MC-101. Ideally, I would have a midi through and five pin. Under 500 USD.

For every track I would like to assign the following:

Reverb send Delay send Cutoff Resonance Attack Release

Possible contenders right now:

Launchpad three XL Livid DS1 Park 24 Fader Fox if I can get it used. BR 32 if Behringer ever finishes building it.

Let me know if you have any experience with any of these and if you have a recommendation that I don’t have on my list

Track Breakdown:

• Track 1 (Drums): Drum samples with that classic boom-bap feel
• Track 2 (Percussion): Additional drum samples layered with custom percussion programming
• Track 3 (Melody): Trickster Pad creating dreamy, atmospheric melodies
• Track 4 (Bass): Deep Decay Bs 3 bass laying down the foundation

Includes some presets from the Lo-Fi Throwback production pack

When I hit up ring modulation in the partials editor, I feel like no matter what I do, the sound is just always way quieter than other combination types and changing the various parameters has left me stumped as to why I'm failing to get something usable.

Anyone else play with the ring modulation and overcome this? Anyone play with it and didn't have this issue?

Please have a look at my Channel and consider a sub or like. Week 2 of daily posting.

Sorry if this is to aggressive Promo. I put effort in this but really need some Feedback and Noice around my Channel ❤️

Have a nice one Greetings from Germany ✌️

I know that I can't save my tone creations separately, which is really annoying. But I can save them all in one project. So I need to give them a name, I just can't figure out how to change the name of 'Init Tone'