This obviously is the little brother of the mc-909. it combines a synth with a secuencer and a sampler. the addition of the sampler is really nice, and sets it apart from other grooveboxes. the downside is that roland really wants you to buy a mc-909 (at about 1800 euro) so the quality of the sampler is not so good. it sounds like an 8bit sampler. i think this is because the audio looper is not of good quality. whenever you put a loop in the looper, it starts to sound a bit crackily... the other downside is that it only has room for 4 audioloops. this means that you can not play more than 5 loops independently. (you can merge loops, but since this 'groups' the loops, you cannot play those loops indepently of each other anymore) The synth on the other hand does sound very FAT. it's only a monophonic sound, but it's great to make those acid sounds. the sequencer is kinda limited. but it does have tb-recording, wich basicly is the way you'd programe your tb-303 (and up) this is great for recording drum-patterns. from a drum perspective it is a 303! this is good news for all you 303 freaks out there... if you are looking for a 303, i'd say go for this little box!!!! (i probably souldn't say this but i personely think the 303 drum sound are not all that, but because it is so much reverred, i'll just keep thinking i don't know how to get those wicked sounds without any help from a compressor or something) the sequencer is very simple, and does not have a lot of features, it only allows you to programme 2 x16 steps. again, it compares with the tb-303 sequencer. the 09 also has some fx onboard, again, do not think of it as a great multi fx, it has some okay fx, that's it. anyway, a 303 with an sampler and asynth and a sequencer and fx for this price is not bad at all!!!

Price paid

299 euro ($300)

UTILIZATION

It's ok when you get used to it (this is my first groovebox, i have played with a tb-303 in the past) when you are not familiar with the weird 3 digit abbriviations, you'll be condemmed to read the manual. wich is no fun to get throu but gets you there in the end.

this box lookes and feels very solid. apart from the poor'ish sound, this is VERY MUCH groovebox for your money.

SOUNDS

Aside from the synth, wich i really love, the overall sound quality is not overwhelming. like i said, to me it sounds like 8bit (my old amiga500 sampler) exept form the synth, again, this sound FAT!

OVERALL OPINION

This is my first groovebox, and i love the 'hands on' feel, so yes, i love it a lot.

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