MC-505

[SNFool]

Holy shitttt... this is the EMXs daddy. Why couldnt the emx contain the amount of patches the MC has? You have to admit it is impressive. I just got one today and I have to say this is going to be the focus of most of my four on the floor b/s while the electribes remain the dub mastahs. Oh and the delay and fx kind of suck on the MC. Anyone else own one of these?

[TrondC]

same experience with the MC-808. could easily be THE groovebox (128 voice polyphony over 16 parts? hell yes!) sounds were excellent, the sheer polyphony and parts abundance coupled with being able to save 800 patterns internally (and 2000 more on CF card..)

made some tracks (Seizenheim and Tropical Nightmare are both 100% mc808, Norwegian November is 50/50 mc and esx on my Myspace) using only the MC808, and while they came out nice, it was a freaking nightmare to edit anything, so I ended up recording patterns even tho there were obvious quantization-mistakes (hats in Tropical Nightmare..) just because editing was hell and totally un-intuitive. A cross between the ESX and MC808 would be the ultimate groovebox (althoug the Spectralis may be just that?). I ended up selling the 808 because powerful as it may have been, it took out all the fun in making music. I won't be able to make the same detailed travks with the gear I have now, but atleast I have fun doing it :p

anyway, the 505 may be different, I've heard it's not that hard to use, and the sounds are very dance-ish. always wanted to pick one up, as they are insanely cheap for what they do (as is the 808)

post some tracks when you're ready

[o0FancyPants0o]

Well shucks, my first post to this lovely forum and it's hardly about the Electribe

I have a 505 and even after getting more and more into software, nothing really compares to all those knobs. I use it as the brain of my setup when I want to play with sounds live. Recording on just 8 separate channels might seem limiting to todays standards, but if you're triggering and editing more than 8 different gadgets at the same time you probably have more than two hands.

Fun 505 Nuggets:
1.) I use the ESX1 for percussion so the rhythm track on the 505 isn't to useful as is. HOWEVER, the eight buttons normally assigned to different drum hits are now used as toggle/mute buttons for when I record steps from my sp404. Each octave is a separate bank. Holy wow!

2.)The arpegiated notes are recorded as individual notes so the arped notes trigger the arp in my xstation and microKorg for double arp madness. Hotttttt!

3.)The cheesy and gimmicky d-beam makes you look like a douche live, but those wild sweeps can be recorded in the sequencer and/or trigger any other parameter you assign it to. In my case sometimes I just want to scramble noise in various Reaktor patches I'm fond of. Sometimes multiple parameters at once! Keen!

3.) 6 audio outs, 7 including the headphones. MAIN will utilize internal efx, 1-2 and 3-4 are stereo pairs but hard panning... timbres (?) left or right on a patch assigned to either of those will act as separate mono sounds into your mixer. Real talk!

4.) Any patterns can be cut, copy and combined with anothers fairly easily, stock or user. Even better, a patterns data can be doubled or halved in time. Turn that 4measure 180bpm "gabba" into an 8measure 90bpm march, record more notes and layer it twice onto a 16 measure pattern. That whole process takes about 12 button pushes. You can waste months just mangling and repurposing the stock patterns and reassigning stock patches. Delightful!

How I use the setup:

MC505:
Rhy > SP404 (using the method mentioned above I can record trigger and mute data into 505 with out even touching the 404s ugly mug)
01 > ESX1 (slaved to start/stop and tempo)*
02 > microKorg (I rarely record the knob data, just triggered notes. I prefer twisting the knobs on the korg in real time. *
03 > novation Xstation (used the same was as the micro)*
04 > custom 505 STEREO MAIN (any patch I play on this channel utilizes any of the onboard efx. Like a third synth with plenty of knobs to tweak live.)
05 > custom 505 STEREO 1-2 stereo sent to dedicated effects unit (In most cases to a Lexicon VorTex. Awesome piece of gear!)
06 > custom 505 3-4 (split bass or lead sound. Usually a dry mono (L) into mixer channel with 100% wet effected version (R) in the mixer channel next to it.)
07 > custom 505 3-4 Miscellaneous. Sometime send it to another mixer channel as a pair, sometimes as two separate sounds, plugged into micros vocoder and/or into ESX-1)
08 > This is a work in progress, and mostly pain in the ass. * (see 08 Addendum)

Channels with an * are disconnected from the 505s sound module and deliver midi only in order to conserve polyphony for channels 4-7

505 Channels 1-8 transmit and receive from midi channels 1-8. 505s Arp default is 16, if I remember correctly and the RHY is 10 at default.


Addendum: I have a Roland TR-626 that I use as a midi bridge to the arp of my classy Juno-06. (midi to CV) The 626 isn't the most intuitive device when it comes to programming. In theory, I could have the 505s channel 08 trigger the rim shots (either step programmed or with the 505s arp in real time) of the 626, thus triggering arp data of the juno. The Juno won't receive note data, i'm well aware, but would keep the junos arp in time with the rest of my rig. For now the 626 just receives tempo data and it's internal patterns trigger the Junos arp. Every rim is a note message (more like a note trigger) that corresponds with whatever keys you hold down or latch on the juno. This is frustrating because, in theory, I can hold down and latch an Aminor chord on the juno and trigger the notes in that chord from the 505. No such luck as of yet.

All audio sent to a Mackie vlz3 2404

midi chain is:

Axiom 25 [OUT] > [IN] 505 [OUT] > [IN] microKorg [OUT] > [IN] ESX1 [OUT] > [IN] Kaoss pad 3 [OUT] > [IN] Roland EF-303
microKorg [THRU] > [IN] Xstation [THRU1] > [IN] sp404
Xstation [THRU2] >[IN] TR-626

Changes occasionally when I want to experiment with something.

[o0FancyPants0o]

Reading that I might have to be clearer about the 505s arp. It can be used on any track/channel (RHY-08) freely when that channel is the one you selected for live editing. But the arp itself also has its own midi channel. I THINK if you have a separate sound module set to midi channel 10 and an external keyboard plugged into the 505 and also sent to 10 you can use the 505 to arp that module.

[Klenderfender]

I bought one of these bad boys banged up. The MC-505 is known for their LCD displays to slowly dying out. Too remedy this there are a few options. 1) buy a new one which requires you to use a nibbler http://mc505display.com/

2) the old fashioned way by using an clothes iron!


Teardown instructions for the MC-505 are found on the mc505 display site. They are youtube vids.

Pretty easy repair for cheap for one of my favorite grooveboxes!

[o0FancyPants0o]

I never thought of using an iron, well played.

[sauce]

The Roland D2 has the same synth engine as the MC-505, but with the strangest sequencer features.

[Klenderfender]

The Roland D2 has the same synth engine as the MC-505, but with the strangest sequencer features.

These go for quite cheap. I'm very curious about the programming on this one and folks have made some interesting Acid lines on it. If I had to do it all over again I would probably get the D2 for sake of space and since its less repair prone than the MC-505.

[sauce]

The Roland D2 has the same synth engine as the MC-505, but with the strangest sequencer features.

These go for quite cheap. I'm very curious about the programming on this one and folks have made some interesting Acid lines on it. If I had to do it all over again I would probably get the D2 for sake of space and since its less repair prone than the MC-505.

I have owned a couple of these. I personally don't care for the sound of the synth engine (or on the MC-505), but the sequencer has some amazingly innovative features. One that I recall is that if you had, say, 3 of the 8 tracks muted, you could fade the muted tracks in while, simultaneously fading the active tracks out. I would like to try one out again sometime, but I would try to find the blue one, as I don't like the typical orange color.

[Klenderfender]

The Roland D2 has the same synth engine as the MC-505, but with the strangest sequencer features.

These go for quite cheap. I'm very curious about the programming on this one and folks have made some interesting Acid lines on it. If I had to do it all over again I would probably get the D2 for sake of space and since its less repair prone than the MC-505.

I have owned a couple of these. I personally don't care for the sound of the synth engine (or on the MC-505), but the sequencer has some amazingly innovative features. One that I recall is that if you had, say, 3 of the 8 tracks muted, you could fade the muted tracks in while, simultaneously fading the active tracks out. I would like to try one out again sometime, but I would try to find the blue one, as I don't like the typical orange color.

There's a few different color D2s out there. I've seen a DIY black unit not too long ago. That sequencer sounds amazing. Seems as if they were trying to outdo the onboard mixer of the MC-505.