Roland MC-307
Encyclopedia
The Roland MC-307 is a combination of MIDI music sequencer
, synthesizer
, drum machine
and control surface produced by the Roland Corporation
. This combination is commonly referred to by Roland as a 'Groovebox
'
It is a scaled-down version of the Roland MC-505
. It has the same tone generator, but a much smaller control surface. It does, however, have several features that make it an ideal clock source for musicians wanting to do beatmatching
. These include a large, very granular tempo slider similar to the sliders found on a modern phonograph
and 'push' and 'hold' buttons that permit temporarily slowing down or speeding up the beat clock.
It can also transmit MIDI Machine Control
and MIDI beat clock
, and slave to external beat clock sources such as other Roland
grooveboxes. It can be used as a sequencer to drive external synthesizer
units. It is the successor to the Roland MC-303
and Roland MC-505
. The predecessor to the Roland MC-909
and the new Roland MC-808
.
Other Links:
Additional MC-307 Studio Tools:
Music sequencer
The music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
, synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, drum machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
and control surface produced by the Roland Corporation
Roland Corporation
is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
. This combination is commonly referred to by Roland as a 'Groovebox
Groovebox
The term Groovebox was originally used by Roland corporation to refer to its MC-303, but the term has since entered general use. It refers to a self-contained instrument for the production of live, loop-based electronic music with a high degree of user control facilitating improvisation.A groovebox...
'
It is a scaled-down version of the Roland MC-505
Roland MC-505
The Roland MC-505 is a combination of MIDI sequencer/arranger, synthesizer, and drum machine with built-in real-time Arpeggiator, LFO, VCF and Envelope Knobs for tweaking...
. It has the same tone generator, but a much smaller control surface. It does, however, have several features that make it an ideal clock source for musicians wanting to do beatmatching
Beatmatching
Beatmatching is a disc jockey technique of pitch shifting or timestretching a track to match its tempo to that of the currently playing track e.g. the kicks and snares in two house records hit at the same time when both records are played simultaneously...
. These include a large, very granular tempo slider similar to the sliders found on a modern phonograph
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
and 'push' and 'hold' buttons that permit temporarily slowing down or speeding up the beat clock.
It can also transmit MIDI Machine Control
MIDI Machine Control
MIDI Machine Control, or MMC, a subset of the MIDI specification, provides specific commands for controlling recording equipment such as multi-track recorders....
and MIDI beat clock
MIDI beat clock
MIDI beat clock is a clock signal that is broadcast via MIDI to ensure that several MIDI-enabled devices such as a synthesizer or music sequencer stay in synchronization. It is not MIDI timecode....
, and slave to external beat clock sources such as other Roland
Roland Corporation
is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
grooveboxes. It can be used as a sequencer to drive external synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
units. It is the successor to the Roland MC-303
Roland MC-303
The Roland MC-303 is the first of a series of musical instruments known as a Groovebox. It combines a simple sound module with a sequencer to record and store notation, along with controls aimed at encouraging the musician to improvise the music while it is playing...
and Roland MC-505
Roland MC-505
The Roland MC-505 is a combination of MIDI sequencer/arranger, synthesizer, and drum machine with built-in real-time Arpeggiator, LFO, VCF and Envelope Knobs for tweaking...
. The predecessor to the Roland MC-909
Roland MC-909
The Roland MC-909 groovebox combines the features of a synthesizer, sequencer, and sampler. It was released by Roland Corporation on October 8, 2002. This product was announced at the AES Fall Convention in 2002...
and the new Roland MC-808
Roland MC-808
The Roland MC-808 is Roland's latest Groovebox, announced at the Winter NAMM in 2006. It is the successor to the late Roland MC-303, Roland MC-307, Roland MC-505 and Roland MC-909. Though cheaper than the Roland MC-909, it has a number of features the Roland MC-909 lacked including double the...
.
Features
The key features of the MC-307 are:- Sound generator with 64 noteNoteIn music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself....
- voiceSpeech synthesisSpeech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
polyphonyPolyphonyIn music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords .... - 8-track sequencer+Tempo/Mute Ctrl Track
- 4 assignable CV controllers
- 240 onboard dance music patterns
- MIDI
External links
MC-307 PDF Manual Links:- Online Roland MC-307 PDF Owners Manual Location
- Online Roland MC-307 PDF Quick Start Manual Location
- Online Roland MC-307 PDF Addendum Manual Location
Other Links:
- Roland UK Corporation, MC-307 site and files.
- Roland US Corporation, MC-307 site and files.
- Harmony Central - 'Leading Internet resource for musicians, supplying valuable information from news and product reviews' - Roland MC-307
- Harmony Central - 'Winter NAMM 2000' - Roland MC-307: Feb 4, 1999
- Sound On Sound Magazine Articles - Roland MC307 : June 2001
Additional MC-307 Studio Tools:
- Sony Acid Pro Sony Acid ProACID ProSony ACID Pro is a professional digital audio workstation software program. It was originally called "ACID pH1" and published by Sonic Foundry, but is now developed and sold by Sony Creative Software....
- Sony Media Software website. - Sony Sound Forge Sony Sound ForgeSound ForgeSony Sound Forge is a digital audio editing suite by Sony Creative Software which is aimed at the professional and semi-professional markets....
- Sony Media Software website. - Ableton Live Ableton LiveAbleton LiveAbleton Live is a loop-based software music sequencer and DAW for Mac OS and Windows by Ableton. The latest major release of Live, Version 8, was released in April 2009. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool for...
- Ableton Software website. - Rebirth Museum - Dedicated to all things Propellerhead ReBirth RB-338ReBirth RB-338ReBirth RB-338 is a software synthesizer for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS 8-9 and iOS for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. It was developed by Propellerhead Software, and its first alpha version was publicly released in December 1996. Propellerhead Software ceased developing the original program in...
- Software website.