It is an OSX thing, so probably what Apple expects you to do if you want multiple audio sources in Logic.
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Thanks. I’ll give it a look
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Anyone?
“Good” and “worth it” are pretty subjective. It depends on what you want it to do and how much you need that.
Each knob can each be assigned a CC number to send over MIDI. So if the thing you want to control receives CCs, then yes.
The sliders, on the other hand, seem to be hard-wired audio attenuators. I don’t think they can send or receive MIDI (or any other data).
It depends on what you mean by “good”. Personally, I’d download the free Zenology plugin and hear all the sounds for yourself.
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What kind of sounds do you want to hear?
I‘ve made a couple of youtube demos when I got my 101. Same sound engine. I like how it sounds. But might sound generic to you, everyone likes different sounds
It certainly doesn’t hide that its sounds are digital
I‘m totally impressed by this liveset. Sounds awesome
Or some beautiful acid by @darenager
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It’s a capable TR-style polyphonic sequencer (and of course you can record sequences live). The arranger has some nice features - very easy to get complex setups with different pattern lengths and chains going on.
But if you’ve used an Elektron sequencer you might well be frustrated by all the things it doesn’t do. It doesn’t really try to push the envelope in any way, but it does make for a safe pair of hands.
For external gear the main drawback is you have to sacrifice a track, as opposed to say the Digitakt, where you have additional dedicated MIDI tracks. One nice compensation is that you can easily bring whatever you’re sequencing back into the 707, and the assignable inputs give you a flexibility there comparable to the Octatrack (but once you start making that comparison, you’ll be wishing the 707 had a better sampler).
I wouldn’t buy the 707 to primarily sequencer other gear myself, but it depends what you want from your sequencer. If I wanted hardware sequencing in the same price range, I’d pick the Pyramid (with the understanding that sequencing is all it does).
I think the sounds and the sound engine are excellent, that’s one area I can’t fault the 707 on. It does probably stay very on-message and “Rolandy” (like the sequencer), but what it does, it does well. I expect a hands-on test would demonstrate this much better than videos.
Overall, I think I’d summarise the 707 as dependable. It’s nice to use, it can sound excellent, and it avoids disappointment by not overextending itself - but as a result it’s unlikely to lead you into any strange new territory.
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Yep I agree
It’s sweet spot is that it can sequence external gear and bring it in then apply FX to it while providing a decent set of synths of its own.
I’m planning to get a mono synth to add to mine
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Roland may not be for you.
Even with processing and modulation, you can tell there is a Roland in the mix.
Maybe Serum or Vital? Or even Pigments for a less Roland sound.
Roland excels in its legacy sound design. It leans heavily into it, and it can sound sterile, or too clean. But that also mean quality and consistency.
Even with heavy distortion, you can tell it’s Roland. That’s a good thing, as that’s what people love that are into Roland.
Just like how Moog could design a filter that doesn’t lose bass as resonance is applied, it also doesn’t, as it’s iconic of its design.
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It’s good for some things (especially polyphony), not so good if you want Elektron-style parameter locking or a lot of automation lanes. It has some cool performance features like various play modes (random, reverse…), which you can engage on the fly. It’s also nice that you can route external device into the track of MC-707 and use it as a mixer and effect processor for it.
I think it can sound very good, but I like Roland sound 
This is something I’ve made with it: VIDEO
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So, Spitfire is having a sale, and as I mentioned, I just picked up an SL88 hammer action keyboard, so Im buying up piano vst’s
Here is a direct comparison to Spitfire Wurli, and a couple Roland E pianos on the MC101.
Don’tmind the playing… I am just learning… and honestly, I think I like the Rolands better, but they are so close… plus, ive been A/B’ing them too many times, so they are blending together at this point.
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When I first tried the electric piano presets I thought they were a bit quiet. However, that was before the 101 update which added more access to EQ settings - especially Gain - and other FX settings.
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They are actually good for me… once you start stacking the voices… it gets hot real quick.
I’ve never even connected my MC-707 to a computer.
What are people’s opinions on the Roland Cloud offerings on being able to do sound design and get presets for the 707 etc?
Which level would I need?
The way Zenology works is that you create the sounds on the plug-in then export to your SD card, then load into 707, TBH it is a PITA both in terms of the editor and the hacky way in which you have to import them on the 707. I had a year free trial and would not ever use a paid version because it is IMHO too tedious to use.
There is no direct editing of 707 hardware using the computer, unless Roland come up with a dedicated editor, which I doubt they will at this point.
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Thanks!
That seems like a missed opportunity. That being the case I might not bother.
I was thinking something where I could make a track with a Zencore VST on Bitwig and then drop the synth preset into the MC-707 would be really powerful, but seems like that’s not how they do things.
Roland products are always almost, but not quite amazing. See also the limited looper time.
Probably worth trying it if you can get a free trial, but yeah I think the whole Roland cloud ecosystem is a bit of a convoluted mess.
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This is, depending on what you mean by “drop”, how it works. The catch is it’s a more complicated process than it should be.
First you have to export the patch from Zenology. The patch manager does not make it straight forward to manage user banks much less export them. And you do have to export a whole bank, I think, so you end up with your patch and 127 INIT patches.
Copy this to the Roland/sound folder on your SD card and then move the SD card back over to the MC.
Open up your new project on the MC, create a tone track and go to load a preset. Select “sound file” as the source, select your file, and finally select the preset you want from the bank.
An alternative (which I personally find more convenient, you may not) restart the MC-101 in storage mode and copy direct from computer to MC-101. (Assumes you’re already connected via USB).
I’ve never taken the screws out of the cover plate on the SD card slot.
This is an inconvenience of the design of the 101/707 as much as the software. Any way of managing your own sound designed presets is less convenient than picking a roland-provided firmware preset.
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I’m not sure I get the distinction here, but yeah. Inconvenient for sure.
Yes, it’s worth noting that the Scatter function on the 707 is far more useful than you might expect if you’ve encountered it on some of their other devices. There’s a lot of scope for editing the modes available, and you can then trigger any of 16 effects using the pads - it can be set up to behave in a very similar way to the punch-in effects you get on Pocket Operators or the OP-X, for example (or scenes on the Octatrack, to a degree). Some of the presets are quite obnoxious and might put you off, but if on the fly effects are of interest, it’s definitely a mode worth digging into.