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Can you assign a pad sound (kick) to an individual out (L) then say the snare to R?
So far I can’t find how it seems I have to use and assign a whole kit to an individual out, am I doing something wrong?
Initial feeling on the synth engine is that it has good depth, but the Zen core definitely doesn’t sound as analog as the ACB in the boutique range, but that’s ok by me. So far I have not found the analog emulations to be much different from previous Roland grooveboxes, the 303 sounds are not very convincing to me, maybe I need to dig in more.
Also the drum kits are ok, but again not as good as ACB, understandable since they are sample based, Roland still can’t get a 606 kit right though, I’ll be loading in a lot of my own drum samples I think. Most of the other kits are ok, but some have strange choices for settings, like filtering on claps and rimshots, maybe they are not all like this. There are a shit ton of kits and synth sounds to go through, a blessing for some but I think I’d prefer less and better, personally, for example there are at least 4 808 kits.
That said I did not buy it for the synth engine so much as the sampling side.
Workflow hasn’t stuck yet, but this is probably just a case of me getting used to it, there is some redundancy and some inconsistencies which have caught me out. I’ll write more about this once I have more hours working with it.
Usually within an hour of getting a new machine I have some track idea up and running, for various reasons I have not done that with the 707 yet, this might mean that it isn’t for me, but I will of course give it a fair chance. I don’t like to skim the surface so I have just been trying stuff out like loading midi files and samples, figuring out how to use the various sequencing modes, a lot of which is very straightforward, but a lot of it is a bit tucked away.
One major gripe is the text below the buttons on the left is a very feint grey, so not easily viewed under certain lighting conditions.
Overall so far I think I’m a little underwhelmed but definitely not had enough time to make a proper assessment, so this is subject to change, especially once I get into the sampling side and the operations become second nature.
So those are my very first impressions, more tomorrow.
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Personally for the drum sounds I prefer the TR8s, the MC707 drums. The sound design on the 707 is pretty good, plenty to resample etc
Yeah I’m looking forward to trying the sampling, I think each drum can have 4 layers? Not sure if there is velocity switching or round robin though, manual doesn’t seem to cover much in depth stuff.
Just trying stuff like that out now 
This MPCX update is great tons of midi now have mc707 plugged into Overhub then direct to MPCX probably control 5/6 synths this way… now for more exploring what I can’t find in the 707 manual
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Hmm, seems that there is only 62 seconds total sampling time per project shared between all tracks - yet the specs say 12min mono/6min stereo, my sample memory is 1% full, and I have a couple of loops, but only 17 seconds available sampling time, after optimizing loop memory.
What am I missing here, manual is no help.
As for the 303 sounds: I also thought the presets didn’t sound any good. I did make a few 303 style patches myself though, which sound a lot better imo. Especially with some distortion and delay/reverb.
I also used the Sys Ctrl 1 to 3 to control a certain range of the Cutoff, Resonance and Filter Env depth, so you can tweak the most important knobs of a 303 and since you can set the depth, you can match the range of the knobs to a a real 303. Works great!
I also love you can import any sound of another project into your project, so you don’t have to recreate the same sound over and over again. Just import it and tweak to taste. I now made a few variations of a 303 on different tracks this way.
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I don’t own an MC (yet), but I remeber reading that there is separate memory allocations for looper tracks and for user samples used in drum/tone tracks, might that be the discrepancy you are seeing?
You’re missing nothing. That’s the way it is on the MC-707. 63 seconds of sampling time in a project. That’s exactly why I returned my MC-707 and bought a Octatrack. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great device with great sounds but the sampling time was too limited for me.
So even though there are upto 8 tracks of looper possible, each with 16 clips, it would be impossible to fill even a quarter of them with 1 bar loops before running out of memory. Stuff like this should be mentioned when these apparently surface scratching synth youtubers do their “reviews”. 
So basically it is a groovebox with sample import upto 6/12minutes, but total sampling time of 62 seconds shared between all tracks. I think the Roland official specs are a bit misleading.
It should say total time shared between all looper samples approx 60 sec.
I think it is faulty, getting some tracks turning to cracks like vinyl static, requiring a reboot, also had a couple of really loud noises on outputs like a dsp is faulty. Proper disappointed overall.
Man Iv’e had to re box my Mackie 1642VLZ4 just now I’m sick as a dog… Faulty phones knob… slightest touch I lose the left ear and it’s crackling… nightmare weekend now I’m rigging up my Behringer 1820 just to make some music.
Good luck with your MC707 mate
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Sorry to hear the mixer woes you are having mate.
I contacted the seller (I bought it used) I have no reason to suspect he sold it knowing it had a fault as it wasn’t immediately apparent, and is very intermittent, but those couple of really loud blasts of dsp noise almost deafened me, fortunately I had the headphone level quite low but it was approx 3-4 times louder than the audio.
Hopefully I’ll get the refund without having to open a case with PayPal, I definitely won’t be getting another MC-707 though.
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Good luck I still haven’t heard back from Juno uk I filled a form in last night online, give it till Monday I’ve already boxed it back up ready to go.
All I’m doing with my MC707 is sampling it into the Akai MPCX making kits etc I much preferred the TR8s for drums tho
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so, you can use not only looper tracks, but also drum tracks for your samples/loops as a workaround.
Yeah, I guess so, the dsp clicking was a dealbreaker though, out of interest have you experienced that on your 707, I suspect it is faulty but it would do my head in if it just an unresolved firmware issue. The seller has accepted the return though so at least I can draw a line under it, a shame though as there were some things I really liked about it, but I won’t get another now.
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MC-707
UPDATE HISTORY
[ Ver.1.50 ] JUN 2020
Support for Sound Content Distributed Via Roland Cloud
Installation of Sound Pack distributed through Roland Cloud is supported.
- Sound Pack is sound content usable on products equipped with the ZEN-Core Synthesis System.
- Some Sound Packs include Drum Kit, but Drum Kit cannot be imported into the MC-707.
Additional Functions
Please refer to the “MC-707 Update” for detailed information in the [ Owner’s Manuals ].
- Sound Pack / SVZ File Import Functions Added
- Added Number of Scenes
- Parameter Added to MIDI Input/Output Function
- Added Shortcuts
Bug Fixes
The following bugs were fixed.
Please refer to the “MC-707 Update” for detailed information in the [ Owner’s Manuals ].
MC-101
UPDATE HISTORY
[ Ver.1.50 ] JUN 2020
Support for Sound Content Distributed Via Roland Cloud
Installation of Sound Pack distributed through Roland Cloud is supported.
- Sound Pack is sound content usable on products equipped with the ZEN-Core Synthesis System.
- Some Sound Packs include Drum Kit, but Drum Kit cannot be imported into the MC-101.
Additional Functions
Please refer to the “MC-101 Update” for detailed information in the [ Owner’s Manuals ].
- Sound Pack / SVZ File Import Functions Added
- Added Number of Scenes
- Parameter Added to MIDI Input/Output Function
- PAD MODE CHORD Added
- Parameters Added
- NOTE UTILITY Function Added
- User Sample Edit Function Added
- Added Shortcuts
Bug Fixes
The following bugs were fixed.
Please refer to the “MC-101 Update” for detailed information in the [ Owner’s Manuals ].
4 Likes
wow!! lots of scenes!!
Heck yeah!
They added drum kit pad copy and paste thankfully.
1 Like