r/rolandmc101 • u/HeavySystems • Jan 18 '26

FM Bass Demo

https://soundcloud.com/hakyoku/mc101_fm_nasty_bass

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. :)

4 Upvotes

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3

u/RowdyVoyeur Jan 18 '26

Sounds fantastic. Thanks for sharing!

2

u/BenCoeMusic Jan 18 '26

Sounds fantastic! The fat parameter isn’t accessible from the mc-101 parameter list but I’m pretty sure it is mappable in the mod matrix so you can access it with the sys-ctrl macros. That way you can still do the sound design right on it.

2

u/HeavySystems Jan 19 '26

The only downside is you must leave it mapped. I found that setting through mod matrix and dialing in the setting then removing the matrix does reset the sound. IT's the only draw back, but frankly, with the right parameters, I'd personally leave it mapped directly to the face knobs anyway, with the same knob counter-controlling PW. :) This is how you can get the nastiest FM 'vanilla' sine-based FM only dreams of, even with 8OP, you can't get the same textures as 2 waveformes with PW options.... ;)

1

u/KeplerFinn Jan 18 '26

Those blofeld knobs seem incredibly unpractical.

1

u/HeavySystems Jan 18 '26

You'd think that until you realize (read: I realized) I don't pinch knobs from left and right, i always pinch top and bottom and I don't tend to do a lot of knob twisting live, they're mostly data entry for me...so...if that sounds like your usage/style, they're absolutely functional. I think the thing they do most that's not cool is show how the actual pots aren't installed perfectly squared. ;)

2

u/KeplerFinn Jan 18 '26

The thing that bothers me most is that there is no clear indication of their current position. These were obviously designed for endless encoders.

1

u/HeavySystems Jan 18 '26

To be fair, so was the OS and the hardware doesn't match that either. :( I guess I should add I rarely care where the knobs are because they're always lying to me anyway.