Roland MC-202

Some news from Tobi Tubbutec, will be at Superbooth:
“We feel confident enough with the state of the 2oh2 mod to show it and are currently in preparation for production (gathering parts, getting quotes etc…)
However there is still some software work to do, manuals to write, and more. So no release data yet, just showing some progress…
More info in coming days…”

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Seems like he’s really gone all-out on this, with even a waveform graphic:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CdanjBLpVE9/?hl=en

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nice :slight_smile:

Lots more details and a demonstration at Superbooth:

~300€ apparently

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“I’m a big fan of the MC-202”
Also
“Did the original have drums?”
:laughing:

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Quite…

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He’s more a fan of the TB-303, apparently he uses its hats on everything, and it is his goto machine for chords :laughing:

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Does it have song mode?

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Woop woop ! Some more 202 madness on my channel this evening ! Even tho it’s a re-upload of a video I already posted it’s worth a watch again as I added a few things to it.

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Mini 202 into another 202 (Ibanez this one) jam !

My 202 is so fucked up its volume knob has gone and every slider crackles and it’s out of tune and the freq/res sliders do crazy glitches but it still sounds great!

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Ordered the Tubbutec 2oh2 mod today, looking forward to it!

Here is their installation video, some nice music so worth watching :slight_smile:

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please report how it turns out, i’m on the fence for this (doubting between 2oh2 mod and norand mono)

Sure @fish233

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Quite a tough mod to install, been at it 5 hours, removing the old CPU was easy enough and went without incident, installing the new CPU though is very tricky indeed. It is on a small castellated PCB and the contact area is very small, additionally there is no facility to get the alignment correct without just eyeballing it. I ended up removing it twice because I wasn’t convinced of the alignment - not a lot of fun. Everything else about the mod is very simple though, I am normally fine with surface mount soldering but this challenged me more than any other SMT work, the tiny spacing between the castellations meant that solder bridges were difficult to avoid even with a very fine tip and fine solder.

So far I am not finished yet, a few wires to solder then reassemble and test. Here is a pic of the old CPU removed, then showing the new one installed, note that the pin spacing does not properly align with all the traces, so I had to remove it and reposition to get the best compromise.

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Finished installing it, but there are a few issues, probably a intermittent connection or two, display and most buttons working, drums working, midi working, menus working.

Some keys not working, pitch is off, can’t seem to get play or arp modes working so I suspect play button CPU line isn’t connected as arp is shift+play.

Ran out of time today though so back to it tomorrow, bit of a hard slog if I’m honest.

On the bright side the display looks awesome :laughing:

It looks whiter IRL in pic it looks blueish, it is white though.

Edit: Got play and arp working now, rehit the CPU pin, still not getting correct notes though, bottom keys all play same note, sound seems off too, bollocks :laughing:

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Might have to recailbrate the VCO and filter. I seem to recall doing that with the 1 OH 1 mod.

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I ended up having to remove the CPU a 3rd time! There was a tiny solder bridge under the CPU that I could not see until I removed it, I cleaned all the old solder off the PCB and the CPU, noticed a tiny split in one of the traces, fixed that, so then I very carefully repositioned it, checked alignment thrice, then soldered it again, now it works fine. :exploding_head:

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The sequencer is very different from the stock one, lots of pluses but a few minuses (which I already knew about before buying) - namely the step length can’t be changed, so no micro timing/trills, only 4 gate lengths, and no realtime record. Not big issues for me, though I would like a larger number of gate lengths, and some other sequencer improvements like broken chords.

The pluses are numerous though, more like a 303 sequencer now, pattern rotate, extra mod per step and realtime playable, midi etc etc.

It can also function as din sync to midi clock converter or midi clock to din sync converter, a dual channel midi to CV converter.

The drums are very lofi but pretty useful, I hope that a future firmware update will allow them to be played melodically though.

In summary I think it is a great mod and well worth the price (I paid just over £300 inc import duty) the installation of the CPU is fiddly though, so I would not recommend DIY fit to a casual solderer, you need a hot air station, temp controlled soldering station, solder wick, flux, fine leaded solder, fine tip, a video microscope and a steady hand, as well at the usual tools.

I still have a bit of finishing up to do, resolder battery wires, tape down wires, clean sockets and a few pots, clean flux off PCB, calibrate then reassemble. I reckon you’d want to set aside a weekend to do a complete install, but IMHO worth it.

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Thanks a lot for sharing. Mine has a previous mod installed (if recall well, it’s for live cv/gate control) so I need to check that I can actually install this one.

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