Roland MC-505 Tutorial Part 4 - The Sequencer
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- čas přidán 4. 05. 2018
- In this video I'm explaining the sequencer functions of the MC-505, the recording setup menu, time signatures, scales and the three different recording types - realtime, TR and step recording. This video does not cover MIDI control functions for external gear, that's a topic for another tutorial. Have fun with your MC-505 and thanks for watching!
- Hudba
You have cracked the 505 wide open for everyone great vid
MC 505 was my first synth. The sequencer is super complex and I never was able to use it. It is a lovely machine full of good quality pcm sounds and analogue style tweaking customization
Thank you so much for making this video. Just picked up an mc 505 yesterday. The information you provided on the sequencer is enough to dive in and enjoy some rompler good times. Thanks man!
Another kudos to you. after studying all the current "canned" beatboxes and PCM machines-I am going more and more back to my old MC-505. I have used this for creating backing tracks for music lessons for years-throwing together 3-4 part accompaniments is as you show, no too difficult and amazingly flexible for realtime editing/recording and of course-playing!
What a nice feedback, thanks a lot! Yes, the MC-505 is not easy to use but it all makes sense and learning it is extremely rewarding. I wish you lots of fun with it!
Finally useful MC505 tutorials with good quality! Subbed!
Mike Kraze Thanks a lot man! 😃👍
Thank you for the tutorials. I would really like to see a video of you building a track from scratch. No planning, just go with it. It wouldn't matter if the track wasn't good, but just watching your general workflow. 👍
Thanks for the suggestion, I don't want to make promises but I'll see what I can do. I wanted to make a video for the Jomox XBase-09 first though.
Terrible Beat I too would love this!
Me too 👍
I'm so happy I chose the 505 I'm just waiting on it being delivered
Hugely useful tutorial. I have owned a 505 on and off for a number of years, yet I have still learnt some new stuff here. The step recording mode 3 for instance. That will be very useful for me and the way I compose sequences, so many thanks. Always better when someone shows you :)
Gary Wright That's a great comment thanks a lot! Yes, the machine has its weirdness but is also so much fun. There is still a lot to discover and talk about. :)
I use the 505 in my band Axxent Opaque (video of our debut performance is on my page) doing strictly live electronic music in the style of Tangerine Dream and share the sequencing duties with my band mate who uses a Doepfer Modular. Still scratching the surface as far as realizing it's full potential especially now that I am diving into using the 505 to sequence external midi synths. Exciting times ahead. The 505 is a classic and powerful machine. I'm loving it more second time round. I had one 7 years ago, I even replaced the LCD, sold it 2 years later and instantly started to miss it so I decided to try and get another last year. Found one on ebay and realized it was the very same one I had sold 5 years earlier. It has come home and is staying this time :)
Gary Wright Great video of you guys! Amazing sound, especially around 18:00 mins, very relaxed, dreamy ambient style. Great story with your 505, thanks for the comment! :)
Thank you so much for this video! Excelent! i own this machine for some years now and finally i learned how to use it!
Billy D 😃Hahaha... thanks a lot man!
I am coming a bit late to this but want to thank you either way! Very very useful ! Really appreciate the work you did here and the large amount of time you put into this!!
Thank you so much for the nice words! What a great start into a new day!😊
@@LousyFacelift absolutely but also cant stress how useful this video series here is has really breathed new life into the mc for me! Using it in conjunction with an esq 1 as the main midi sequencer has been a lot of fun!
Keep these vids coming man :) Made me chuckle a few times when you referred to that awful tb patch :)
This box is complex. does a lot for its age. They rammed it full of features. The sound has a retro dated character and if you like classic 70s to 90s sounds it worth checking out. All sounds are raw and come to life with external modern FX . My go to box for sketching music ideas out. and doing happy random sound accidents. Still can compete with the modern boxes. Lots of fun to use
I fully agree and also the step sequencer is one of the most flexible. You can start out programming four fourths and throw in triplets any time you want which is something missing from so many other concepts. It's not easy to operate but it gives you all the options, that's what makes it such an amazing machine, even today. The MC-303 too by the way, even if it's just for the sequencer which is almost the same. Thanks for watching and leaving such a nice response!
The video sound is pretty good, beyond my imagination
It's certainly better than in my dnb demo of the unit where I ended up with a very low level. There I used too much bass boost which swallowed much of the mids and highs unfortunately. Thanks for watching!
This should be video number 1
Congratulations!! Great explanation and it is easy to follow you, I put your teachings on my 505 just now!!
Great, thank you! I also made a step sequencing video three weeks ago, just in case you didn't know. Have fun with the MC-505!
@@LousyFacelift yes I will watch it! I have one question for you, I did a synth pattern writing with the step seq, but though I put a gate of 100% or indeed 200% it does not sound with the desire length, I mean, like a long key press. What do you recomend for this case?
@@guillermorayabatanero6623 You have two options - you can change the note type to something longer or you can tie short notes together by pressing the double arrow key in the transport section, for example if you want to stay in the sixteenths notes scale.
@@LousyFacelift Finally I've discovered how to tie notes like you said with the recording "step by step". My mistake was not to get into this mode, I was recording like it works a drum machine, note on/off at the desired step
Thank you, just thank you!
Very useful tut. A little disorganized on the recording methods (1-3) but you got to the point. At the very end Is the key to how to make those TB03 baselines. Thanks
Thanks for the nice words and yes, I don't do much preparation for these videos, so sometimes I get a little confused. Glad you liked it though!
so helpful Thank you!!!
Synth In Acoustic Thanks for the nice comment! 😊👍
Ich danke dir für die Tutorials 👍
Das freut mich, viele Grüße!
@@LousyFacelift Muss noch ne menge lernen über das Gerät...ist sehr Umfangreich...👍
Gruß
Ja, in der Tat! Habe auch wieder Videos geplant, da gibt es noch viel zu sagen...
@@LousyFacelift Ich will meine MC-505 mit Reason 5.0 betreiben aber hatte bis jetzt kein glück...
@@gamer111176 Oh sorry, da bin ich raus! 😬 Habe viel gutes über Reason gehört aber selber noch nie benutzt, bin eigentlich ausschließlich mit Hardware am Werkeln...
I tried to switch the patch priority from LAST to LOUDEST, but it did nothing. Even voices per part are high, so i don't think this is polyphony related at all.
Thanks! 😎
Thanks for watching! 😊
thank you! helps a lot! ..nevertheless the recording method (pressing rec twice) does not get me into the drum pat mode, neither do i find the notes i set (red keys) to later cancel again..., this is really strange
solved it
Mate we need a step sequencer (tb 303 style) tutorial
Yeah, well I don't do much step recording with the 505 but I'm explaining the basic concept of this recording method near the end, starting at 22:30. Not very detailed but I hope it helps a little bit...
Hi again @LousyFacelift, is there any way to listen and edit a part/phrase, like a loop on the same phrase of a pattern of (for example) 4 part/phrases? My point is not having to wait the main loop to play the part I would like to edit
Unfortunately you cannot set a loop within a pattern and edit just this region.
@@LousyFacelift Oh! So I guess that to do it I have to point the phrase with the BWD/FWD buttons and press play. Currently I am dealing with the way to record a long pattern and make a song
Yes, either that or you'd need to program a new pattern just for this short phrase but editing inside a longer pattern is usually the more efficient way. Good luck with that!
Hi there great videos! I am very new to producing and this is my first peace of hardware.
I followed all your steps and as soon as went into recording mode when I press play stop or rec. nothing happens. it's like somewhat "stuck". Any advice or help? thanks!
Sounds like you're in MIDI slave mode. In the display section there is this little led that has SLAVE written next to it. If this light is on this means your 505 is waiting for an external MIDI clock signal its sequencer can be synched to. To get out MIDI slave mode hold down shift and press pad key 11 (SEQUENCER), then access the sync mode page that looks like this:
SYS: Sequencer
Sync Mode= SLAVE
Turn the value dial to change the setting from slave to INT. press EXIT and wait for the 505 to store this setting and voilà. Now I really hope my guess with slave mode was right... please let me know!
LousyFacelift hey thanks for the quick and prompt reply! Yes you were in deed correct!
LJ Avr Good to hear, thanks for watching!
Are you able to get some 303 acid style sounds using the sequencer? I was reading the manual and had a hard time understanding how to use slide notes or accents.
From what I've tried I didn't really get a convincing 303 sound yet but to get as close as possible there are some interesting things to be aware of. First of all forget about the presets - Most of them are quite useless for creating flexible basslines because most of them were recorded including filter tweaks or rather extreme envelope settings that cannot be eliminated and recreated in any other way which is something you will always want to do when making 303 basslines. They only (kind of) make sense when used as short little one shot samples without a lot of tweaking. So it makes a lot more sense to write a patch using only a single 303 waveform - saw or pulse, send it through the low pass filter, which sounds a lot different from the 303, so tweaking only works within a rather limited range, and create slides by setting polyphony to mono and portamento to auto. This way you can decide on where you want to have slides by programming overlapping notes. Accent is the biggest problem because in a 303 it affects the filter envelope and as far as I know there is no way to link the amp level to the filter in the 505 but that's where most synthesizers fail.
LousyFacelift thanks!
Robert Ordonez Oh and by the way - I made a video for the Korg EMX on how to write sequences in a 303 kind of way which can also be applied to the 505. It could be helpful to watch.
Hi I've just ordered a 505 what else will I need apart from pa speakers
Tony Davidson If you're using active speakers you don't really need anything else to write full songs. Maybe at some point you might want to add a sampler but that depends on the sound you're looking for.
Can l use the sequencer to just keep repeating a keyboard part l play? and is it also possible to manipulate the sound in real time?
Yes, if the keyboard has a MIDI input you can program the MC;505 to play it via its MIDI out and at the same time tweak the sound with the controls on your keyboard.
@@LousyFacelift very cool thank you
I got another question for you, if you won't mind. This time i got something probably a littlebit trickier than what i asked before. I managed to slog through the manual and with your much appreciated help, i managed to understand patch creation, envelopes, filters, all the good stuff, rhytm kit selection and editing, FX set-up and recording modes. But now i ran into another snag.
I'm recreating one of my old tracker songs which starts with a moll pad. One pattern is just simple C#moll, the next pattern goes E, D, and back to C#. The pads have relatively short attack, but long release so the sound is sustained a littlebit even after next note starts. These two patterns are alternating. C#, EDC#, C#, EDC#, etcetera. The problem i'm running into is at the beggining of each pattern. I obviously want the release of the pad from the previous pattern to continue into the next one, but for some reason this isn't happening. It sounds exactly as i want in the pattern itself, but the sound of the pad is rather abruptly cut when the new pattern starts, and then it starts from scratch, as if it was beginning from complete silence, the new pattern just cuts the "tail" of the sound from previous pattern. I even tried to prolong the gate time of the notes so they last way into the next pattern, but that didn't have any effect. It's like there's some sort of setting that cuts the sound at the end of a pattern. I think it might have something to do with the sound priority settings. I found that most (if not all) of the patches i edited have priority set as LAST, but i'm not sure. Do you understand what i mean? I want the sound of the pad slowly fading out into the next pattern, but it just stops at the pattern border, as if there was some kind of brutal ALL SOUND OFF event at the start of next pattern (but there isn't).
Oh man yes, I think this means bad news... I am quite sure this problem doesn't come from the priority settings because it doesn't seem to have anything to do with running out of voices. I suspect the problem has to do with the start of the new pattern in which I assume the sequencer sends a program change message on every part by default, otherwise how could you switch to a new set of patches automatically when switching to a new pattern? And whenever a program change message is received the sound is cut off even when the exact same patch that is playing is dialed up again. I don't know if there is a way to tell the machine not to do so, I only know this problem shows up in many grooveboxes, sometimes even creating some kind of noticable ugap between patterns. It can even affect the loop point when playing back only one pattern repeatedly which you said is not the problem in this case. If it was though there is a way to get rid of that, read up on the loop hold function in the manual but I don't think it can be used to build seamless transitions between patterns.
@@LousyFacelift Yeah, when i'm playing the pattern in a loop, the cut isn't there. Also, the cut isn't there when switching between preset patterns, so there must be some way to go around it, but i have no clue how at this point. After all, it would be impossible to create a normally sounding song if it cut all the sounds from previous pattern at the beginning of next one... Maybe i need to cram a gate event at the beginning of each pattern... Or it's sequencer or midi setting, buried somewhere deep in the menus. It sounds like something that shouldn't happen in the first place, but since i did hear pattern progression where it doesn't happen, i don't think it's some kind of fault. Just a setting issue. The thing you were talking about - the note off message, there's a setting for that called PATCH REMAIN. I switched that to ON, so that even when the patch is changed, the sound of the previous one stays on, until it runs the envelope or gate time. That didn't help either. And yeah, i agree that this isn't related to polyphony, which is what people usually hint at.
@@LousyFacelift I can't seem to find the loop hold function. Only something called patch remain, which exactly states that's to keep note playing even after patch gets switched. It was OFF, but even switching it to ON didn't change anything.
@@flare242 My bad... it's called loop rest, not loop hold but like I said, I think it only affects the transition when one pattern plays in a loop. Can you point me to preset patterns in which you would expect to hear notes cutting off but it doesn't happen?
@@LousyFacelift Yeah, i got loop rest on, but since i created the patterns in step mode and never actually used any automation yet, i didn't think it's a factor. From what i understand from the manual, the loop rest function is only affecting how knob automation data are written. But i'm gonna try to switch it off. As for the preset patterns in question go - every one of them, really. When you're in pattern mode, play a pattern, and then switch to the next one, the sounds like note release, reverb, delay don't get cut at the start of the next one, they just naturally fade out. But they do get cut when i'm playing my own user patterns. There's no noticeable gap, the tempo is fine, it's just the sound gets cut at the pattern switch, it's not slowly released, it's not fading out as it should. And that includes effects like REV/DLY, i probably should have mentioned that. I just got a new audio interface, when i get to connecting everything, i'm gonna try to record a short demo. Again, thank you for being helpful. I'm troubleshooting this at three different places, and so far no dice. The whole thing is like something that shouldn't happen in the first place. AT ALL.
:-(
Van you re-edit steps after saving?
Yes, but I must admit in my mind I was mixing up the MC-505 with the MC-909 a little bit and in the 909 it's a lot more convenient. But you can also change all kinds of settings in the 505, too. Erase different types of MIDI data, for example clear only control change commands for only one instrument in only one bar in a pattern and things like that.