Roland MC-303

I like this thing alot....many features packed into a little metal box.

Price paid

250

UTILIZATION

Easy. Simple as that. Short on memory though.

Typical roland quality....which is very good.

SOUNDS

Sounds are OK. Work at them and you can get some cool things going. Effects arent that good but for a all in one box...the price and features can't be beat.

OVERALL OPINION

I dig it and have made some excellent tracks on this unit alone...Just use you imagination.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: Unknown (January 0-, 2002)

Well, for the price paid, it doesn't have everything for sure. But for the task as a groovebox, it's awesome. Only problem, too little memory and no memory card. It can't be used alone for sure. I luv the realtime features, can manipulate easily to get what i want. The arpeggio naming is confusing with digits and numbers. However, the arpeggio manipulation is unlimited, and that's good!

Price paid

$850

UTILIZATION

Very easy to manipulate, takes awhile to read the manual, but once understand, it is so easy to control that my hands can flicker between the controls as fast as a DJ scratching the decks.

Very small, buttons are easy to press and actually fun. email roland for queries about battery life, quick reply and detailed.

SOUNDS

Awesome fat sounds! Good drum sounds and bass sounds. Sound for acid, d'n'b, hip hop, techno, psi/goa, breaks. The synth sounds are bad, unclear, muffled. But well, it's a groovebox not a synth. FX sounds ok only, sadly, not much fx appliable. Filters are pretty good!

OVERALL OPINION

I luv this model becos it sounds good, easy to carry around and very easy to manipulate. Normally, i filter the sounds a lot and get a lot of combinations. The ability to manipulate arpeggio patterns are fantastic, making it a very artistic tool. I think it has a lot of potential if Roland can add in good storage, parametric eq, more room for loops and better fx, it could very well set in as a DAW directly without a pc.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: Unknown (January 1-, 2003)

I paid alot because I bought it back when it first came out. Now I see it on ebay for a little over $100 and I might buy another one. It does it all, it just doesnt have the clarity of the big boys. The arpeggiator rules. So easy and alot of different presets. Great for snare fills in trance or fast moving hi-hats in hip-hop.

Price paid

$800

UTILIZATION

This is a true story. It was like 1996 and I went to a house party years ago and there was this dude that had cerebal palsey tearin sh*t up with this machine. He just had it plugged into a dj mixer then into an amp and like 5 house speakers. He tore the shit up for like 3 hours straight. I never even heard of the machine at the time. About a month later I got mine. Read the quick start and you are a producer. Everything is easy.

Strong lil box I must say. One key stuck then broke. One button stuck then broke. I actually took it apart with like 5 screws and repaired it myself. But Roland usually makes good stuff.

SOUNDS

Sound quality is just okay. Great for dance genres but hell, nowadays they are pullin dance synths into hip-hop. The lead synths just arent good enough to make a professional trance/house track alone. But the basses are primo and I miss having them. Since the sounds arent huge on polyphony, the ones that purposely sound rough, are awesome.

OVERALL OPINION

I want another one for a couple sounds you cant get anywhere else. I miss its appreggiator and basses. Imma get another one. I shouldna sold mine. My advice to everybody. If you can....NEVER SELL YOUR EQUIPMENT!!!!. Youll miss it later and it makes for a bigger versatile studio.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: Unknown (January 2-, 2003)

Has a 16 note keyboard- limited but with the octave range button will provide every sound that would be wanted from any of the instruments. I maily use the arpeggio which has a number of settings, and I like the real time modifiers- cutoff and resonance. It would be great if it had sampling capacity. Another dissapointment is the MIDI only has basic output with the realtime modifiers not able to be outputed.

Price paid

$350 in 1998 second hand

UTILIZATION

Fairly easy, but you need the manuals to work off initially. MIDI is a bit tricky the outputs have to be set.

I got it second hand and it has had no problems so far. I noticed there is a little play in one of the outputs, but it still works fine and its most likely over 10 years old

SOUNDS

The quality is great, but of course limited to its presets (although it has many and these can all be messed up with its cutoff and resonance knobs) There is a bass boost at the rear for beefing up drums/bass. The percussion sounds are a little limited for certain styles of music- you couldnt get an amen break directly. Good for other styles- house, trance and hiphop I guess.

OVERALL OPINION

My knowledge of other equipment is very limited so its rated compared to nothing else! I got it with out knowing what I was in for and I have no regrets, although it would be so much better with a small sampling application. I wouldnt sell it!

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: Unknown (January 0-, 2004)