It has all that, as far as I can tell. Even a master compressor.
2 Likes
I pre-ordered yesterday, but hadnāt watched the full Sonicstate video at that point.
Iām now feeling slightly disappointed weāre not getting original filters for the 101 & Juno. Remains to be seen how good & āauthenticā it sounds. The whole thing is digital so they could have put alternative filter modes in, but chose not to, yay Roland.
EDIT: This comes back to my earlier point Roland have painted themselves into a sort of corner, with very limited space to move without cannibalising an existing product, e.g. full 101 and Juno recreations on this, would just kill the SH-01A and JU-06A boutiques.
1 Like
i think that detune on the panel is just detuning one of the 4 main oscillators.
however one supersaw oscillator consists of many many seperate saw-waves which you can detune to one another. and that detune option is in the menu somewhere.
just watched the full loopop video - UI wise, this seems far less annoyingly roland than i was expecting. surely no worse than elektron stuff. and some things are arguably better!
even the mod matrix has autoassign source and destination by moving the parameter knobs you want to link. wow!
looks like you can shift+knob to see value without changing it, but unclear whether knob mode is pickup or immediate takeover. for a multitimbral groovebox it better have a pickup optionā¦
also filter + eq + fx sends PER INDIVIDUAL DRUM INSTRUMENT (of which there are TWENTY SIX!) is insane
3 Likes
Nah, itās just that they consider their zen core stuff good enough for almost all cases. If you really want 100% authenticity, you go for the ACB stuff.
The counter-example here are the ways in which they repackaged their ACB TR-* models. Some people prefer a full recreation of the original interface and workflow (with a few new cherries on too), some people prefer it in a more modern box (TR-8s, TR-6s), some people prefer it as a plugin.
2 Likes
Maybe, but Iāve never gotten the 707/101 to sound anything like a SH-101 when I tried.
The snappiness of the envelope, the filter (of course)
Perhaps Iāll have another look, Iāll admit I didnāt try too hard
Roland products typically have ācatchā (nothing happens until the knob position moves over the set parameter value, at which point it catches and starts to modify the parameter) or ādirectā (the parameter value jumps to the knob position the moment you move it).
They unfortunately all lack a āscaleā mode like the Arturia Minifreak or the Korg Minilogue XD. What this mode does is that, when you move the knob, the parameter value will āslideā from its current value towards the knob position in a smooth way. This is an ideal compromise between endless encoders and a tactile knob interface and it continues to amaze me that not every single company has adopted this mode and made it the standard.
5 Likes
Yes!
Much wisdom here.
When I first got into this I bought into the whole DAWless synthfluencer thing with the potted plant and thought Iāll get the Circuit Tracks and some synths etc, but Iām a dad with a job and if I need to spend half and hour rigging something up and know that I need to spend half an hour at the end of the session clearing everything away again itās most of my creative time gone and if Iām tired I canāt be bothered and probably wonāt start.
If I sort out a dedicated area with a fixed rig then maybe, but then itās a bit like sitting down with a DAW.
For me grooveboxes work when you can make at least a decent sketch on the sofa and thatās why the Polyend Tracker has been my number 1. The 707 is great, but itās just that little bit too big. Iāve been meaning to do a jam with them linked for weeks, but I just never get around to it which tells you all you need to know.
6 Likes
I think you buy the boutiques mainly because of the 1:1 replication of the interface and the small size. Itās great for playing the instrument like you were supposed to. And you get a cute minituare version of a classic synth thatās just really nice to look at. Not sure sound is the deciding factor here, especially since they have now moved away from ACB on the boutiques as well.
@djst: thanks for explaining the different catch functions. Now I want the scale mode on everything as well. On the boutiques, there is no catch function, which makes the multitimbral JX08 and JD08 unusable for live playing. Seems like they have at least a catch mode on their grooveboxes? I now also get why endless encoders are superior on these multitimbral groove boxes. I prefer knobs and sliders with a set range even on a multitimbral device like Rev2. However, with 5 parts it might get to confusing and endless encoders are the best option then.
2 Likes
Thereās no SH-101 model in the MC-101.
I made some 101 patches you might like (available in my synthgroups page). Sounded fairly authentic to me 
4 Likes
Thanks for the share, mate.
If anyone got any specific question, especially coming from the head of an Elektron user, I donāt know every corner of the synth, but Iāll do my best to answer.
All in all I think, especially from my head as an Elektron user, this is by far Rolandās most fun to use synth.
35 Likes
Yeah I know.
Roland have made a total hash of ZenCore IMO, because it means different things depending on the device (e.g 101/707 vs the Xm vs the SH-4D). So rather than one unifying sound architecture theyāve ended up with two or three variants of ZenCore all different
3 Likes
Canāt disagree. Makes sense for them to develop some kind of unified architecture to build stuff on, but they should have kept that internal instead of trying to market is as some kind of weird āIntel Insideā branding thingy.
3 Likes
Youāre telling me! He makes it sound like a Yamaha RM1X and weāve probably all been there 20 years ago.
2 Likes
Iād love to hear more from your perspective! Havenāt watched your video yet but will definitely do. Is the sequencer doable as a standalone groovebox? Or best viewed as a companion sound module type of device to an existing setup with a more competent sequencer (eg Digitakt or Syntakt)? Particularly, can it manage a series of patterns that make up a song to jam out live (I know it doesnāt do pattern chaining or song mode)?
4 Likes
Yeah I owned a JX-08 briefly last year and quickly returned it because its interface was purely made for sound design with no intention of live performance tweakability.
Yes, the MC-101, MC-707 and SP-404 MKII all have both catch and jump modes - but, crucially, no scale mode. 
Yeah, itās really 5 tracks/parts and 4 oscillators sharing the same knobs, so itās a total of 20 elements sharing the same knob in some cases. Based on my experiences with the MC-101 and JX-08, Iām skeptical about how the SH-4d would handle in practice and itās weird that theyāre so stubborn about knobs instead of encoders. Will be interesting to see how it handles in the real world in live performances, hopefully weāll see a bunch of more hands-on reviews in the next few weeks.
2 Likes
Yup, I would also be very interested to see if you can come up with pattern variations and sketch a track this way while having fun like on an Elekron. Maybe you already covered that? I feel like you are the perfect YouTuber to give an honest account on how fun it is to use in that way when youāre used to Elektrons, @cuckoomusic. Your Syntakt video focussed on that aspect and thereby made a really good case why the machine stands apart!
1 Like
Looks a great box, if anything I hope this Roland release promptās Elektron to release another Syntakt firmware update.
Common Elektron where is my Syntakt compressor to get things pumping like I can with my Digitakt.
3 Likes
This is tempting actually. I wonder how it does on trancey pads and arps.