MC707 First Thoughts And A Goodbye To My MC505
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
- This is just my first thoughts on the new Roland MC707, there are no sound previews or in-depth guides to using it. Yet! Stay tuned for more info shortly on Roland’s latest Groovebox.
EDIT: A couple of corrections to things I mistaken said in the video:
- There's actually 128 voice polyphony, not 64 voices.
- Previous Roland synth engines did allow for some interaction between partials.
- It gives you up to 8 measures per clip, and the measure button cycles through the 4 measures shown with LEDs twice to access them.
- There is also an insert effect per track, as well as a global EQ and compressor.
- Samples can also be loaded on the Tone (Synth) tracks. - Hudba
Groovebox addict here- I’ve had almost all of em!
The new update made the 707 wayyy more jammable. It was good before but now it’s digitakt levels of fun destroying and restoring sounds and sequencing on the fly.
The random and reverse shortcuts, step loops, mute flips, knob resets and scatters make it much more of a live instrument and it was already a really good ones. Super impressed with this thing one week in!!
To have two-four separate drum grooves going, two tone tracks and two loopers is just mind meltingly coo
Doron Diamond I’m loving it too
In defence of my MC-505, the sound engine does have FM and Ring Mod. (Pretty rubbish FM, but hey.) As a synth sound module, it is FANTASTIC! Why? With X4 partials, you can do LA style synthesis, using drum and percussion as transients. It has LOTS of aliasing too, which to my taste is wonderful. Add X3 of those multi-stage envelopes (per partial) and wicked effects, especailly chorus. Wow!!!!
OK, after spending most of today playing with the 707 with the manual next to me, it's all starting to 'click'. This little box is amazing, I'm getting some really nice sounding grooves out of it and finding all sorts of nice touches. Such as:
- I love the fact that the Mute button is momentary, and that you can use it and the track select bottons to mute things without having to actually be in Mute mode. Easy enough to mute individual drum sounds too, as long as your drum track is selected when you press and hold mute.
- The synth engine is getting a lot more intuitive to edit quickly. Using the arrow keys to jump around to the various sections is actually not too bad once you know where things are and use the Func button. Still a display heavy process and not something I'm likely to do much live, but for creating sounds I think it's pretty well laid out.
- Clips can be 8 measures long, the measure button just cycles through the first 4 then the second 4. On that note, I like that the progress leds at the top of each track each progrssively slowly get brighter as your clip progresses, making it easy to see which tracks have long and short clips at a glance.
- A lot of the effects like the multi-mode filter or delay feedback use bi-polar knob movements, giving you basically two effects on one knob. Think Pioneer DJ filters.
- You can change the colors of the Note pads on all the tracks, including the color of the octave shift buttons. This makes it easy to know exactly which track you're on at a glance.
- You can reload a saved clip if you mess something up while tweaking it, though it's not really a real-time process.
- All this time I thought it had 64 voice poly, when in fact the max is 128. Woo hoo.
There's still a few things I can't figure out or am not fond of though:
- How do you copy say measure 1 in an 8 measure clip to measure 4?
- Why do we only have access to 8 scenes from the Scene buttons when the 707 has 16 scenes? Granted scenes here are not always strictly horizontally aligned like Live, but still...
- Saving a project can only happen with the sequencer stopped (SOAB), and there's one too many confirmation dialogues as part of the process. Grrr.
- I wish there was a way to reload scenes/all clips from the front panel instantly. Tweak away and go crazy to create a build up, then BAM back to your saved clips and it all kicks back in on time. Basically Kit Reload on the Elektron boxes, the lack of this was a major complaint of mine on the TR-8S too.
- Still trying to figure out an easy way to convert a project set to be track based Sounds to one that is clip based. I keep starting new projects and want to use the next scene to make a new "song" and lose all my settings as soon as I do this. I know, I know, make a default project with this already....
- I wish there was a way to easily shift the keyboard scale so you're not always starting with mainly "C" laid out. Also, pre-built major and minor chords for the Chord pad mode would be great.
- Programming the Scatter functions is still totally baffling to me.
All in all I'm liking the 707 more than I expected, and I hope Roland continues to refine it a bit more.
tarekith I’m struggling to change a clip type once you have removed the clip from a track - there must be a quick way
CMW CMW you have to delete the track by selecting the track header, then choose delete from the right side menu.
I have a question about samples and looper memory.
MC-707 in specification has listed two memory types: User Samples (max. 12 minutes in mono) and Looper (1 minute per track). Do these memories share the same space?
I mean, is it possible to record more than 12 minutes in mono but on 13 (and more) fully filled Looper tracks (up to 60 seconds each)?
Can I use the Looper if I have used the full User Sample memory?
Cezary Pietrzak no they are totally separate.
@@tarekith Thanks!
Great video mate - looking forward to more in-depth stuff
Thanks for this. Really looking forward to your thoughts after you’ve had more time and perhaps some live performances. Cheers.
Some people say the 505 is the best groovebox ever made. Thoughts?
Levi Jesse I think for me it was out of the initial Roland groove boxes, but I’ll take the 707 over it any day of the week.
@@tarekith is there anything the 505 can do that the 707 can't? Would you say you warmed up to the 707 more now than when making this video?
@@levijessegonzalez3629 The only thing the 505 can do that the 707 can't as far as I remember is the whole D-Beam thing. Otherwise the 707 should have everything and more covered. I just posted a full review of the 707 last week on CZcams where I go over my current thoughts on it (hint: I love it). czcams.com/video/egqRXXYrhp0/video.html
@@tarekith thanks bro
Love my Mc 505
great review and thoughts! thanks
Nicely done!
good mc 505 that was my first machine i ever had. bought it in 1998 as i remeber right. since then a lot of machines and a lot more money flown in making music. it closes a circle in some way not that i am finaly back on an mc groovebox and i am sure 2020 will be a good year :D
Nice review. Hope you wont regret getting rid of the mc 505.Good luck !
Love your honest breakdowns! Sounds like it has a ton of potential... but needs major updates and is overpriced.
Please allow me to copy and paste this answer I've written in the comments for anyone who is interested to find out more about the differences between the MC-505 and the MC-707. I own and like them both for their individual strengths:
Yes, there is a lot the MC-505 can do that the 707 can't but also the other way around and none of the two is perfect. Arguibly the biggest problem of the 707 is its limitation to eight bars per pattern (or clip). After these eight bars maximum the sound will be cut shortly before reaching the loop point of the pattern. This leads to something referred to as the "sustain bug". This is also present in the MC-505 with the difference that the 505 allows you to record up to 32 bars per pattern. All MC-boxes have this problem but the one that does this best is the 909 where a pattern can be up to 98 bars long. The sequencer in the 505 has a good selection of different time signatures and allows you to insert triplets into a straight sixteenth beat for example. Doing the same in the 707 requires moving individual notes around which is far less convenient. In the 707 you do get last step settings per track and can even (re-)loop short phrases within a sequence which is not possible in the 505. The arpeggiator in the 707 is very basic whereas the one in the 505 is crazy complex and fun. All in all the 505 to me is the more hands on concept with more dedicated controls for better workflow. The sound of the 707 is great though, a lot different from the 505, more versatile but also less character.
I made a whole series of videos on the MC-505 which could be helpful to you.
Does the 707 arpeggiate like my mc303? I could arp drums and stuff which was sweet
Thanks-
All cool info, tnx! What are the drivers? does it have ASIO? you also mentioned no-class compliant. May be you know, does it mean it will never be class complaint? I am trying to understand if Roland can ever make it to connect to iPad? all 8 channels to DAW s great, but also like it to connect to iOS eventually.
Hi there. This was an interesting clip. Thank you.Since you know your 505 can I ask you a question please. When I make a pattern and assign patches to it and save it to a user location and turn off, when I go to load the pattern data from the user location instead of the TR909 patch coming up 'Rock' comes up. Yet I specified TR909 in the patch and saved that to a user location. The note data saves and the beats but not the extra stuff like which drum kits and sounds one has selected. That is not expected. Is there something wrong here?
You mentioned being able to cue a sequence and hearing it before you send out to the crowd, something I too wished the TR-8s had. How is this implemented in the mc 707? Is there a cueing level of some sort to the headphones, please explain, thanks for the video.
if only the 707 had the same layout as 505 with the drum mutes and decicated drum channel. the adsr is good to use while jamming
The Fishdog I could see that, I kind of like being able to lay things out the way I want. And you can still mute individual drums in the 707 too.
@@tarekith i i guess its what your workflow is like. i like knob per function and tweking on the fly run in pattern mode record myself playing it tmore than programming . I like the new 707 and 101. thinking of getting the 101 and hooking it up to the 505 for additional channels and modern sounds. I own a few roland groove boxes and glad they revived the series.
Hi. That's very very good review. First so interesting without even powering machine. I'm also owner of MC505 which is also my first groovebox. I'm very interested in MC-707 but looks bit overpriced to me. So having MC505, TB-03 and Digitakt now I'm considering Analog Four or Digitone. But still when first dust fall down i expect price for MC-707 will fall down too. I will appreciate if you could making another 707 video scale/judge how good 707 sound engine is comparing to 505 and also to real synth like analog four or something similar. Thank you very much Seb
Did you ever switch to the 707? I am curious myself about the sound quality character/ difference between the 707 & 505
@@PRODUCEDBYLILDOUG hi. Finally not. Since I have digitakt + digitone + tb03 + td-3 I play mostly with that especially after latest digitakt firmware update this combo rocks. So atm 505 unfortunately collect dust :(
Is not due 505 itself - it's just because lack of time and space in let's call it "home studio". So currently I'm not interesting in and new hardware purchase and instead trying to build nice workflow which will help to produce tracks faster. But I would not have any gear and have to startuje with new interment i would strongly consider one of MPC standalone boxes - they look more mature than mc707. At the end I think I will never sell my 505 because I love it and be cause of that probably i will never get mc707. I do not know if my answer is helpful but it is how it is ;) Cheers seb
Hi Tarekith, aside from the 707s features, does the 707 sound modernized and completely different than the 505s sound quality? I dig the 90s quality of the 303-307 boxes. What's your thoughts on the sound comparisons?
Looking forward to a more in depth review.
I would like to know if the MC707 (or for that matter all the newer Roland MC's) has the same sounds as the 505, 307, ect? Do the new MC's have those 90's rave noises? the old boxes had that 90's cheese that i'm looking for for DnB and Trance, hardcore etc..
These New MC 707 & 101 remind me more of the Roland MV Series’s than the original MC boxes
I'm controlling my 505 with an MPC One. You can even qlink mpc knobs to control 505s knobs. It's a lot faster to use now 🎉
Thanks for sharing your first impressions. When using an audiosample and looping it does it sometimes click like the octatrack when the sample is cutting itself off because on the OT the tracks are monophonic? Or is using a looptrack on the MC-707 just using 1 voice out of 128 and therefore not clicking or does it microfades on the start and endpoints like Ableton Live? Thanks for checking and much fun enjoying your first batch.
Sorry, I never really ran into that issues on my OT. Based on my quick try here the looping on the 707 is click free, but I have no idea if they are doing micro fades or something.
@@tarekith thanks, that is good to know.
Great info thanks. I had a 505 and it would let you play pattern after pattern, with the tempo locked on, and even the part mutes would carry over to the next pattern...does this 707 do that, or does each project/pattern have to be loaded up seperately like a computer? The 505 had like 300 patterns to step through, numbered 1-300, without it ever stopping. Does it do that? How many patterns are there?
The 707 will do that as well and much more!
@@tarekith but it doesn't come WITH 100s of beats/patterns i it, right? I can only find like 6 or 7 patterns, and you can't go from one to the other without stopping to load.
The 505 could go from one pattern to the next without stopping, 300 times!
But perhaps this 707 is more geared towards producing/creating original patterns?
@@jaypeter666 I have no idea how many patterns it came with to be honest, the first thing I did was delete all the factory content to create my own. You could try asking on the 707 thread on gearspace: gearspace.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-and-electronic-music-production/1277988-roland-mc-707-amp-mc-101-grooveboxes-308.html
Have you used MPC Live? What do you see yourself using this in coordination with ? AUDIO and MIDI 8 or is it possible to do audio and midi per channel?
I haven't used the MPC, not really a fan of Akai's GUIs on their newer gear to be honest. I don't really plan on using the 707 with much else gear, grooveboxes to me are self-contained tools so I won't be controlling anything with it. You can use audio or midi on the 8 tracks it has, but it doesn't have separate midi tracks or anything like that. It's basically one or the other, unless you want to double up your audio tracks with midi data going external.
did you find an indicator to show you how much of available sampling time you have left after importing/recording some?
frumious bandersnatch I have not seen one of those, no.
@@tarekith Thanks for the reply - i guess its a case of keep importing until an error signal shows... - sigh-
Scatter Mode makes this a keeper. Agreed with manual and I am still trying to figure out much of this. Big Fan of MC 909 I wish this had more of that in it truly. Sorry to say Rolands lack of support on the phone or in the manual is the same old song of not taking care o the people who actually keep them in business. Called last two days left my phone number still no call back. Akai has live people ready to help you without a call back. IF Roland cant afford enough reps to handle phone calls, maybe they should move out of California too ! The Sounds and per clip independence of this unit is amazing I just wish there was more help on the most basic questions as : Is There a count in for real time recording and why wouldnt there be ? Thanks for the video
I also have MC909 and I still like it madly
What brand of loudspeakers are those? Interesting style.
Custom Tyler Acoustic D2x's. That style of speaker arrangement is called a d'appolito configuration. You see it more often on mastering (like mine) and hifi speakers.
I’m struggling with taking a sample directly into the unit to use as a one shot rather than a loop
Could you upload a sound and play it chromatically with pitch shift?
I'll do sound demos when I do the full review.
Yeah you can
Hope to see some tutorials vids from you on this!
I'll get there!
@@tarekith awesome can't wait, MC707 looks a bit complex, what i cant understand is how you jump from project to project if you're doing a full on live set. Or do you just have everything in one project. Im still using both latest electribes so i was gonna change it would be for something like this but i aint in a rush to jump.
Neo Luddite I'd just try and do as much as possible from one project. Loading projects takes 10-20 seconds, so it's not something you can quickly do live.
@@tarekith hmmmm...interesting. I wonder how much you can pack into one project then or as far you can push it!? As I said looking forward to in-depth reviews and feedback on this unit.
I’ve read that you’re able to load stuff from other projects, on the fly
can the assignable out be two separate mono outs as opposed to one stereo out?
I would have to look in the manual to find out, so I would recommend you look in the manual to find out ;)
Do you have experience with the MC202? The og?
No, unfortunately not.
Oh wow. The 505 was my first piece of gear almost twenty years ago. I keep thinking about getting another one as I remember the synth engine being deep and clean. I think you've talked me out of my nostalgia!
I have a question for you since you seem to have pretty in depth knowledge with these Roland machines.
As far as creativity and inpiration and simply the joy of playing...whivh machine is best at jotting down drum / beat loop ideas and creating them?
This or another standalone drum machine? Or another groovebox type?
I tried doing stuff inside DAWs on the computer and I honestly can't. It doesn't inspire
If you're just after drums and simple but powerful beats, I really like the TR-8S which I find really quick to use. The OP-Z is also pretty sweet for all the weird controlled randomizations and variations you can do to sequences. Those are the two I'm using the most at the moment, at least for drum stuff.
I guess what I'm getting at is how good is this thing as a Songwriting INSTRUMENT (mainly for drums) compared to other options out there?
@@tarekith even if price wasn't a concern you wouldn't recommend the 707 for beats?
I'm doing mostly trip hop, lofi beats, electronic stuff. I don't care about the "realistic" sounds (I play drums).
Who would win in that department? 707 or tr8s?
Levi Jesse the 707 is fine for beats, I just think the TR8s has more drum sounds and is more tailored for that sort of thing. The 707 would definitely work too, the TR just edges it out.
You saved me some money
64 voice total polyphony? This is from Roland: Maximum Polyphony ZEN-Core:128 voices
Ok, that's good to know, I could have sworn I saw that it was 64 before.
Its not the Zencore system its synth engine is from the keytar...check Sonicstate at Roland event where he speaks directly with David Arland.
No mention of the lack of Song Mode or if Roland plans on adding it in an update..
I'll be honest, I never understood the point of a song mode on something like a groovebox. So much of it is oriented towards performing your songs in real time, it's not something I would ever use myself. I hope they add it for all the people who want it, but it's a non-issue for me. I've never used song mode on any of my groove-oriented music tools really.
Hmm.. It just seems strange considering every single classic GB has always had SM. I’m pretty sure the original concept was for artists to create complete songs on one device, later resulting in people performing live with them bringing parts in and out manually.. IMO, this trend of no SM feels like manufacturers are releasing incomplete product. As SM is still in high demand..
even if i have the deluge, octatrack, force and TR-8S and i don't really like rolands UI, i think i have to get a 707, damn! ;)
and you're right: roland has (together with akai) the worst manuals!
very thx for review..also i must say buy buy my mc_505.....! and buy mc_707...Yoouuuhoooo!
Much like you I'm completely in love with grooveboxes. I have a bunch of them, akai force, tr8s, sp16, circuit, digitakt, yamaha rs7000,, and a few drum machines. I got the tr8s because I had a hankering for sliders, but that's the groovebox I'm most disappointed with. The sound fidelity comes across as "toy like" compared to the rest of my gear, especially the akai force. So I was not sure whether the mc707 would be any good, considering that there are Electron boxes and things like the Force out there. I'm looking forward to seeing some videos of you performing with it. Have you considered the Akai Force at all? IMO it's not really a performance tool, unless you restrict yourself to launching clips, but man does it sound darn good.
I have to say I was actually impressed with the TR-8S, it was a lot better sounding than I expected and loads better than say the Analog Rytm MKII I owned briefly. Not really interested in the Akai Force right now to be honest. Akai GUIs are sort of weird to me these days, and if I was to go with that sort of workflow I thik I'd just revert to Push and Live.
Just read the manual , didn’t find it that bad , but may fall apart when it’s infront of me. One thing that did disappoint me, the parameter choice for the assignable knobs isn’t great , some aren’t even that useful. I was hoping the effect parameters would be on the list. It is just basic stuff like amp, filter mod, env, and sends.
Agree though, it could do with being at least £100 cheaper. Feels over priced.
Yes, but you get "sys ctrl" parameters that can be mapped to the knobs, and these can be mapped to pretty much anything in the mod matrix. So it's a little more long winded having to use the mod matrix, but still doable to map the insert effects and other parameters.
thanks for the info.. please consider increasing your voice volume, and reducing headspace in your videos.
Not sure if this is worth $1000.00 plus tax. Another thing needs to be said, equipment needs vast amount of time of investment to learn, then if you leave it for awhile, you are back in the manual. Roland is spread all over the place where as Akia dominates the nitch market by focusing their resources on thier beat/groove machines. This is apparent after a close look at the MC-707.
So, it's a slightly augmented Electribe, for three times the price, with a less immediate workflow; or a diminished MPC, with half the functionality, for almost the same price... That’s Roland in a nutshell for you-always ten years late to the party and blissfully unaware (smirk). Cheers!
Way more augmented than the Electribe, sorry but Idon't agree with that at all.
@@tarekith Well, it may technically have more features than an Electribe, but Roland always lacks perspective when it comes to workflow and overall ideology. You don't have to agree with me, just saying... Cheers!