The MC-101 is quite a deep and janky (thanks Gabe Miller) unit to master. The documentation is indeed spread out and sometimes difficult to sort in the right order or the descriptions are cryptic. I have had my MC-101 about 1 week and still feel quite lost at times regarding the UI. Its bit like a massive Cloverleaf highway and its all to easy to end up in a place that is not expected. But the unit offers a lot in a very compact and portable size so totally worth it if only used as a Tone Source for a Daw much less all the rest.
I mostly got mine to use as standalone when out of the studio our out and about. Not as my main squeeze. It will take quite awhile to get results that I want as a standalone unit, but it is rather easy to incorporate a tone or so into a DAW. I bought a Mint condition one for cheap so well worth it for me even as a simple tone module as its very easy to use that way in Live 11, with all the midi effects in L11. I just finished the RMR Ableton Live Generative Video and it is wonderful. I have not done any real generative music releases as yet but it just another tool in the tool box.
Have considered relegating my MC-101 to a Tone Module with Live 11 when I want the Roli sound. I have considered a OP-1 field as my main portable unit but have held off purchasing at this point so far. I do have a lot of super great VST’s such as Falcon, Omni, Use, Dune, etc. so I have a lot of variety. But I don’t like to always be tethered to my studio.
I have not used .mid files at this point. I have not use pitch bend unless I drive the unit from the Push 2 as external instrument in Live 11. BTW: I use the Generic Driver. I know some folks love using Roland Vendor Driver but I much prefer my Scarlett 8i6 and the Roland Driver I feel slows down my 2018 Intel 6 core i7 Catalina Mac Mini.
I can’t figure out the scatter sequence on the MC-101 at all. I can hold down the button and it says “SCATTER SEQ ON” but nothing happens and the sound doesn’t change. When I hold the button, the pads are only dimly lit and I don’t seem to be able to add steps. Help!
I have to say, I’ve only had this thing a day and I’m very tempted to send it back and exchange it for an MC-707. I’d like dedicated control knobs for each track and to be able to slice up some drum loops etc. It really sounds great and I think I’d clearly get more than twice the functionality for twice the cost. It does work with the Syntakt (which was my original idea) but I wonder if even two boxes at once is a bit much for my simple brain. I’d also like to tweak the presets a bit more and try some sound design from scratch.
I’d be tempted to keep the Syntakt as well and the just have two different grooveboxes that I can use depending on mood or what I’m trying to achieve. Different workflow, different output etc.
I’m glad you’ve confirmed that, I thought I was the only one that noticed! So basically, the 101 has this minor bug where sometimes the scatter sequence doesn’t work. I’ve been having a hard time even getting Roland to acknowledge it as a bug despite sending them a video of it happening right before your eyes. Reloading the project usually brings it back, or loading a factory project then your own. if you have time, pop Roland a bug report, maybe they’ll pay more attention with another report.
I went with the 101 as it adds to whatever Elektron device it pairs up with, the 707 is overkill for this and wants to be the centrepiece. Also, the polyphony count is exactly the same as the 101.
I’ve been mucking around with the looper on the 101 for the last hour or so and although I’ve just created a bunch of noise I’m really enjoying myself, recording knob movements on the filter on a different track or the master MFX into a loop and then creating variations. I can’t quite get on with the tone track step recording flow with having to switch the 16 pads between steps and notes but I believe the 707 remedies that with separate 16 step buttons and using the 2x8 pads for the notes.
I’m also (already) desperate to have dedicated knobs for each track to assign to different parameters and I want to design my own sounds without getting a subscription or spending £200 on a lifetime key for another soft synth that I don’t want!
i think it’s about your use scenario, i can see merit for both. i’m not the kind of person who puts it in a box and goes to the park with headphones. if that’s you, then the 101 is your ticket, if you want a bigger box with more, maybe don’t care about portability…
In the first couple of jams I was so distracted trying to achieve the best audio routing to extract every drop of possibilities of the 707, and ended up with a bit of frustration and so I started thinking about the 101 again, using it as a pure sound module.
Then I sat down with the thing in front and focused only to play it and had some fun.
And to partially respond to @tallrobphilp, I have got 5 assignable encoders on my Pyramid sequencer, and once I set them to attack/decay/relase and cutoff/reso I achieved some kind of proper synth playing and having also discovered that you can use the 4 encoders under the screen (fixedly assigned to rever/delay/pan/volume) I found myself with the 3 tracks encoders basically free, and so to use them to modulate other parameters. In this scenario the 707 start to resemble almost a proper synth.
Can’t wait to hook it up to the Hapax with its 8 assignable knobs! That will open up the machine even more… And that’s really a shame that Roland was so shy with the CCs.
I have a question on the MFX send tho. I can’t find anywhere in the machine a send value per track to the mfx, it behave the same for every track, following the main parameter assigned in its editor, and that’s a shame because you can’t basically use it properly. I am missing something buried somewhere in a menu?
And also midi CC92 "General Purpose Effect 3 (Chorus Send Level)“ - that could be just the send I’m looking for - doesn’t seem to change anything if assigned outboard (no sign of it inboard)
There are only “dry/wet” or “depth” controls available. It does seems strange sometime when dealing with “global FX” such as a reverb indeed. It does the work though, the FX are excellent regardless.
Hey there ! So, finally I got the “Play 4 life” deal since I need Zenology to edit content for the MC101. I did have a few questions regarding control-automation issues (I’m on Logic Pro X btw):
Are the SYSCTRL controls still available somewhere in Zenology ? It would be awesome to premap controls before exporting the tone to the MC101; (FOUND HOW : the Sysctrl settings are in the “Range control” panel and at the bottom of the “Pro edit” screen).
Regarding automation of parameters in a DAW when using Zenology, has this been implemented for the “Model Expansions” ? The parameters appear to be the same as the ones in the standard Zen-core’ engine.
How do you check the current pad assignment for a drum kit? I can change a pad’s kit piece, but I want to see what kit piece is assigned to a pad, so that I don’t have to write down every change I make. I don’t find this info in the manual.
Same here. I’ve owned the MC-101 for over a year now and I’m still not able to create scatter sequences (or understand the basic principle behind them).
I am one of the few people who read manuals. But with the MC-101, it’s no fun to have to gather the informations from at least three PDFs. I think an updated consolidated manual would be very helpful.
By coincidence, I girded my loins and have been investigating the MC707 in more detail and the scatter function. Here are some thoughts (sorry it is not forensic). Some of it may apply to the 101 too.
Scatter is basically an audio buffer manipulator with 2x unique MFX and is (to my thinking) a separate module which either the mix, individual tracks, external in or USB (PC) in can be routed.
By default, all audio is routed to scatter but scatter is off unless you:
enable the 16 step sequence (using the scatter button in momentary or alternate mode); or
hold one of the PAD buttons in scatter mode which fires the scatter effect assigned to that pad.
In other words there are potentially 32 scatter “slots”-16 steps and 16 pads.
Steps can either have a unique scatter effect or have a pad assigned to them
To edit scatters, you need to enter scatter edit mode (shift+SCATTER button)
a. The pads can be edited to have a unique scatter effect applied to it.
b. The sequence can either have pads assigned to a step (press a pad and the step and the pad number appears against the step in the scatter edit page) or it can have a customised scatter setting used by presing enter. NB you need to clear an assigned pad before you can enter a step specific setting.
c. there are also various global settings
To add to the confusion, there are various settings which change when the scatter is fired so often sequencing the scatter effects gives unexpected results.
I am would love it if people wanted to share some usuable scatter FX settings. The default ones and most of the ones provided with the projects are unusable, at least to my ears.
Thank you for sharing this. I was just trying to understand it and figured out the need to combine holding the scatter button with the scatter sequence.
How to use it in a practical way I still need to develop.
Thank you… It really sucks that Roland can’t be bothered to properly document scatter, I wish they’d spend less time designing bomber jackets and more time supporting users
Couldn’t agree more. Actually the current firmware makes it a really solid machine. And I find it easy to write tracks with…and it sounds good… So just a little bit of work on the documentation and it would help both existing and prospective users.
Quick note-the inhouse videos are excellent and well worth watching if somehow they have passed you by.
I mainly think of / approach Scatter on the 707 as equivalent to the punch-in FX on the Pocket Operator series. Potentially it’s a powerful improv tool, but in practice it can require a lot of setting up, with no guarantee you’re going to particularly like the results at the end (and the default settings aren’t very interesting). As such I never really dug into it very deeply, because the three assignable knobs give me more than enough to tinker with once there are a few tracks running.
I think it’s also at its best when applied to samples / loops, but these are something of a hassle on the 707, especially if you have a better (i.e. another) sampler to hand. I’d say the performance effects on the Tracker are a more successful implementation of the same general idea, or indeed the punch-in FX on the PO-33 - not least because I find both devices more conducive to sampling.
But there’s no denying user-editable Scatter has potential, if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and go looking for it.
Nice summary, it’s not that difficult to grasp once you’ve used it a fair few times
I think there are only 16 scatter positions, the scatter sequence steps are the pads that are already set up (or you can edit them of course). There’s potential for crazy build ups with the sequence button and then you can use the individual pads as punch in effects. I can’t really understand why Roland didn’t include a demo project to showcase it fully, because of that its caused a lot of confusion for users, it took me a while to figure it out with trial and error.
The deep house demo for mc-101 is the best effort I’ve seen at showing it in a useful way (I don’t have 707, maybe there’s better examples).
