Roland EF-303 Groove Effects

So easy a caveman can use it. Just read the manual and your on your way.

This is the big question. Since I got this use for about $175, it's well worth the sound. It's not Studio quality, but fun and good enough for live use. Easy to control. I mostly use the filter and delay, and they're both pretty good. Filter does a good job. The "303" type sound drums are nifty, but not very realistic, but it has slide and accent which is always fun. Two type of 303 sound, lead and base, so basicaly Square wave and Saw Tooth. It's fine though, you can pick one of these up cheap and have a blast. I also use KP3 with it, they work well together. The step sequencer is nifty, but the Total control of KP3 is more fun. There are MUCH better sounding effects out there, by Lexicon, TC, Moog, countless others, it's the real time minipulation that kicks. For live use, it sounds just as good as any synth effect or mangler. The reverb isn't that great, but I use VSTs for Studio use, live use stuff is great and rare. LIVE USE... not pro-studio. Orignal price of $560 was a bit high a few years ago, but used for under $200, it's a bargain and it lasts for ever. Run Ableton live through it for some extra sound minipulation. oh yeah, running it with your drum machine is great. I run my very expensive Xbase 999 throug to shadow the beats and it's adds a nice bit of flavor. By shadowing I mean, I run the original sound clean along side the processed sound.

Roland/Boss stuff lasts for ever. My Boss guitar effects from Jr. High still work great. Digital delay, EQ, SE-70, Metal Zone (lol), etc.

Never used it.

People who don't like it A) aren't using it right, you can easily smooth out the stepping by using the "smoooth" function, B) Are trying to use it for Studio work. It's a ideal tool for a DJ. I mean it really kick's for that type of work. I run my synths and drum machine through via effects loop on my Mixer, and had to buy 1/4 to RCA cables, that's all. It's not a Lexicon Reverb, or MoogerFrooger Delay or a Sherman Filter... it's just a little fun little effect seqeuncer. If you want those types of effects, well you'll need to spend a lot more $$. I just prefere to use VST effects for Studio work and since I'm not cutting any Platinum Records, who cares anway. 99% of us are just doing this for fun or live use. Which are two areas the product excels.

7 - Easy to use once you get the hang of it.
BUT there is only a 3 digit 7 SEG LED display and you really just have to remember how to navigate to things like midi sync etc. because each menu item has to be shrunk to fit on the led display.
However, it all works pretty logically, and most of the time things make sense. Also, you have to remember that for (say) the lo-fi effect the rate/low knob corresponds to drive, the cuttoff/mid knob changes the sample rate, and the RESO/HIGH knob changes the bit resolution, again the byproduct of a very small screen.

I rate the sound quality quite high, despite the pretty poor noise floor of the device.
I am using the thing in a live sort of way, and mostly for effecting the output from a drum machine. I have found it quite useful. Filter, Flange, LO-FI, phaser all are good for this, especially when using the step sequencer. I sync that up through midi, and it works very well. I have also used the SynRhythm patch to make drum patterns on the fly using the step modulator. Great fun.
Also the vocoder (VO MOD) effect is fun to muck around with especially when using in the L-R mode, where you use left for the synth, and right for the voice works very well, but i don't think that it would be that easy to setup for a live situation, as the levels for each side have to be quite carefully set to make a nice vocodery sound to come out.
Reverb is pretty average though, and there are better slice effects in other live effect boxes (I prefer the efx-500's slicer).
One dumb thing about the filter is that the freq range simply isolates a single range - I would have MUCH preffered that this change the filter between LP/BP/HP instead.

I have found the thing to be pretty reliable, however I have also found that if you leave it on for a long time (say 4 hours or more) without touching it, when you get back to it, it will not respond to any inputs until you press the MANUAL button. (i.e. the realtime controller reading code has crashed.) I therefore normally reboot before I start a playing session, and it is annoying when I forget, as I have to normally reboot.

Never dealt with em. Must say though that Roland gear is pretty solid, and I havent really had much trouble with it.

Overall, this box does things that other boxes can't do - I think that the step sequencer can make some wonderful effects that are really amazing.
I guess that there is also a bit of a shame that they didn't add a bit more. A multitap delay would have been awesome, A slicer that cycled through the whole 16 sliders in 1 beat would have been great, a filter that did BP HP and Notch would have been even better.
A straight up distortion would have been good also, and let's be honest here the SYN-Bass and SYn-DLY effects are totally useless compared to a real sequencing synth (The mc-303 does a much better job, even).
All in all, though, this sort of box is something that fits in very well with my kit, and adds a dimension to certain sounds that are not very easy to achieve with other devices, and the realtime control of most of the most important parts is right there in front of you. I think that this machine is best suited to electronic performance based people, not really for the studio. mabye some djs would find it useful as well.

Pretty darned easy, once you get the jist. RTFM. I love how tactile it is, that's the primary reason I got it, it's such a visual and pleasing thing to experiment with. It only gets confusing when you're doing things like holding shift and the function keys for working with the step sequencer, midi settings, and other things. Once you do this a few times though, you get to where you understand the alphanumeric readout. The manual is pretty decent, but I haven't had to consult it too much, it's so easy to use and delve into. Once thing I don't like is that the dry signal and grab/effect are often different in level, and the grab also sometimes clicks...this can be very annoying and embarrassing when attempting to use this machine in a live capacity. Really tricky. Some sort of normalization circuit in there would've been nice. This is my biggest gripe with the EF303 probably.

It's a mixed bag. It's not near the quality of studio grade effects processors like my Ensoniq DP/2 or Boss VF1, but that's not what it was really made for. You have to tweak certain effects to get the best sound, and certain effects are better than others. There is a certain lofi element to this, which is fine for the harsh type of cyberpunk music I make. The filter is pretty good...I don't understand why some complained of stepping, maybe lower cutoff settings are more noticeable...my theory is they either had a bum unit or were using it wrong IE: they must've had the bpm sync on while twisting the cutoff. Every digital filter I've used steps, this one's no different, but it's no worse than you'd expect. It does step noticably when you try to tweak the filter while the synth is running...this is most likely due to Roland skimping on the DSP power, the processor chip just can't cope. Manufacturers need to start using better DSP, in this day and age, there's no excuse for that kind of cost cutting. If Alesis can do it with the ION, anybody should be able to.

Anyways, throwing the filter into sequence mode is where it gets really fun, instant drum damage....you can even select SMOOTHING so that your sequence steps aren't so "steppy". Certain effects work better with the step sequencing than others...for some reason, I can't get the reverb to do anything with the stepper, but it's a pretty decent sounding reverb. Isolator does what it's supposed to, but this one I also can't get to do much with the seq. Flanger is okay, better when sequenced, the Phaser is better. Delay/Pan and Pitch/Delay are excellent, the delays are one of the best things about it. Slicer/Pan is good for those rhythmic gating effects without having to go to the trouble of setting up a gate with a sidechain. Compression is pretty good, I've gotten strangely dynamic, pumping phrases by using the seq with it. Flanger is kinda weak, better when sequenced. Phaser is decent. Lofi is good in small amounts, a very digital sounding bitcrusher/distortion. Ring Mod is so-so, keep the wetness down. Voice is really good, not the VT1, but as close as you can get without buying one. Vocoder I haven't explored fully, but using the internal synth, it's good for drum destruction. Syn+Delay is ho-hum, a little too FruityLoops Synth sounding for me. Syn Bass is much better, as the dsp has less to do...it's as good as most software emulators like Rebirth, BETTER because you have the real 303 interface, no mouse clicking. Syn Rhythym is fun, but more of a bonus. Sounds like a cross between a TR606 and CR76 or something...won't replace a drum machine, but it's fun and somewhat useful.

You can select eq ranges to effect, which is very cool especially with delay settings, but unfortunately you can't isolate 2 bands at once, it's either hi, mid, lo, or all.

According to the manual, you can use the EF303 as a CC Box to control external gear, but I haven't tried this yet, it's easier to use my midi controller.

I'd depend on it. It's really solid, sturdy sliders/knobs, steel chassis. I've had it about 3 years so far, bought it used.

Like most megaconglomerates, Roland sucks. Customer who? At least recently they've started putting up manuals for their products. Seeing as how with this product, I've never needed them, I'll leave this one blank.

There's a few flaws with the EF303...the aforementioned grab switch quirk, the RCA ins/outs instead of 1/4 TRS, Tap Tempo is kinda sketchy and slow (don't believe the hype, Roland still can't get this one right on their current gear like the 909...the cheapo Zoom ST224 did tap tempo way better). There is no SPDIF no digital in/out...perhaps the biggest "GOTCHA" is that the 303 sequencer doesn't transmit midi...that's right, you can't use the sequencer on your external synths, no glides, no accents, nada....obviously Roland wanted you to go out and buy the real thing, I don't know. There's no way I would've paid what these things cost new, but at the use prices now, it's hard to complain about it. If I lost mine, I would definitely try to find another one, or something similar, like the Adrenalinn.

If you're sick of clicking around on a computer screen or paging around rack effects, pick one of these units up for $150 or less. If it doesn't make your music-making process fun again, I'll buy it from you. Then I can have step effects into more step effects! Moihahaha! I wish they had digital connections, so I could have several of them in a big circle, Max Rebo style. Tell me that wouldn't own. In my opinion, the EF303 was a brilliant concept that wasn't as sucessful as it should've been...much like the Alesis MODFX line, another brilliant product that should've been a hit. For people who work like I do, these are great hardware units to have around.

Well it's very hard at first but if you get to know the 303 EF its not that hard.
Its a little bit noisy like the other said but nice for live performes.
The edithing patches are very handy and it gifs you the possibillity to change your set when ever you like to spice things up in your set.
The manual is a little bit hard to understand if your from the dutch but practise is the key to succes like everything.
No I don't have a upgrade.
I think that the machine is good at it self
no use for a upgrade.

I use the 303 EF for Live performes and Mixing sets.
It's very easy to hook up and you always have good sound for the money you got it.
Its very noisy at first you think that it will blow up your speakers but its the same as the manual practise is the key.
The noisyest setting is the flanger/phase
The sound are not always great and thats because you have to get the settings right and that take's time.
I'm using a Rodec mx 180 mk111 mixer and it works great.
My speakers are active and that means that i don't need a Amp.
The amp is Build into the subwoofer.
My favorite artist who use the 303 roland EF are The Wyghnomy brothers from jena germany the use the echo and the flanger the most.
Yes i can get the sounds right now the timing and pricision i need to work on.
Yes there 8 programs with 8 different effects which you can use with the program you installed.
Like the chorus ore distortion.
But no that you have to try it first before you jump into a live performes a specially with this great machine.

Yes you can depend on your machine it never fails.
I use it on almost every set i play and it never broke.
But like all machine's there's a limited.
Yes i would trust my machine and thats not what i can see from others machine's.
Its very easy to hook up and it has never failed me yet.

I play Minimal techno and Elektro and its a great match.
Specially the patches.
I play dance music for four years now.
My gear is:

Hardware

1 Technics 1200sl
1 Technics 1210sl
1 Roland 303 Groove-Effect with tab sampler
1 Rodec MX 180 MK 111 mixer
1 Skytec 1200 cd player (pitch +8 & -8)
1 Vobis laptop (pentium 4/3,2 ghz)
1 Interface Recording (usb)
1 Sound mate 1 (1 Subwoofer 300 rms actief & 2 Tops 150 rms actief)
2 Jamo D 1225 / 120 watt
2 Magnat 120 rms (zuilen)
1 Sennheiser/Beyer microfoon E865
1 Technics dj 1200 koptelefoon (closed headphone)
1 Midi compossor (Quick Shot, Midi-keyboard)

Software

1 Protools 6.7
1 Cubase SX
1 Reason 3.0
1 Cool Edit pro 2
1 Wavelab 5 Steinberg
1 Fruitty loops studio xxl v 5.2
1 Ableton Live 5

Ableton 5 & Reason 3 are hooked to Cubase sx for a complete homestudio

Very easy to get tweaky sounds out of immediately. Editing patches is fairly easy and intuitive thanx to the 16 sliders. The changing functions of the main knobs can be confusing, but after using it for a while u get used to what parameter each changes for each effect. Manual is fairly good, with quick setup ideas and more comprehensive stuff up the back. Would have been good if we could have had a few facts and figures on signal to noise ratio, frequency cutoffs etc. WOuld be cool if the sliders could be automated, but I think I am dreaming.

Am running guitars, drum machines, cds, vocals and all sorts of things through it. I also use the synth. Overall, comparing the sound quality to professional units is unfair. That is not what this unit is about. Sure, one wants high quality effects, but u pays for what u get. This is a step modulated effects unit, not an effects unit. If you want a dedicated effects unit, get something else. If you want a fun, inspiring, hands on, dynamically changing live effects box, this is for u.
Is a little bit noisey. There is noticable stepping on some effects. But use these to your advantage and creativity!
FILTER: Rocks, tweaks, hurts your ears.
FLANGER: I do not use.
DELAY: Great when used through the hi/mid/low cut filter.
PITCH SHIFT: Trippy
COMPRESSOR: Alright. Can get some cool pumping effects out of it. Too noisey for studio use though.
LOFI: Unweilding, crazy and a bit to hairy.
VOCODER: Great on drums and rhythms.
PHASER: Nice and swirly. Could go a little deeper.
SYNTH: FAT. Very fat. Don't try and get TB303 sounds out of it, couse it has it's own unique sound. FOr a huge sound, turn Distortion all the way up. And then the next two knobs at 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock.
SYNTH+DELAY: Not as fat, but still much fun.
DRUMS: Bit boomy, don't use a lot, but not too bad.

Super reliable. Only stuffs up if u pull out the MIDI cable. Fairly rock solid design. One of my note tempo buttons is now a bit dodgey, but overall pretty good.

No idea. Never tried.

Ever since using the Pattern Controlled Filter in Rebirth, this is the machine I was looking for. I love it. My sound quality and ease of use scores do not convey this but, it is a lot of fun. Most people do not 'get it'. The box was aimed at the DJ market (as if they could get their head around it) and failed dismally. Cool I say. Great for live electronic music. Great fat bass synth, even if it is a one trick pony. FIlter is my favorite effect, cause you can program your onw pattern filters. Great for guitars. Great for synced delays and anything else synced up to a sequencer.

An alternative effects unit of a similar nature would be the AdrenaLin. Cannot wait to buy one as I think the effect quality may be a lot better than the EF303. But it does not have all the knobs and sliders of the EF303.
They seem to be selling quite cheap 2nd hand, so I cannot wait to buy another one and have them synced together with alternate instruments running through them.

pretty straightforward. Manual is nice, short and to the point. Editing is simple.

For the money it doesn't get much better, I actually use this effect on everything BUT turntables (mostly my bass guitar). The step sequencer is kind of a joke but I think they just put that in there "on the fly", this is a great effects unit for vocals as well.

haven't had a problem yet. I dropped it and popped out a button but that was the worst of it. Roland seems to make pretty sturdy machines

n/a

This is good for somebody willing to 'expand' their horizons so to speak or somebody who doesn't know which effect to use. If you're bent set on buying a phaser or a delay then go for one of the dedicated units. If you're a real spontaneous composer/musician then this is for you. You can get so much out of this unit!

The knob setup is intuitive, I'll give it that. But why the preset banks when there's only 16 effects anyway? Seems like Roland is trying to make up for lack of functionality. I picked one up used as a midi controller, I figured 4 knobs + 16 sliders at 200 bucks, can't go wrong. Guess again, the 16 sliders only transmit midi in step mode, sequencer style. Useless useless useless.

Worst purchase ever. Other than every effect being useless other than maybe the phaser and the flanger, the machine is so poorly shielded that I couldn't keep it near my other gear without picking up dc hum.

It's built fairly well, 1/4" ins/outs would have been nice in addition to RCAs.

Roland sells products, it doesn't support them. Their website is a joke.

If you're looking for a multieffects box, look elsewhere.
If you're looking for a midi controller, there are better ones out there.

If U don't understand this, you probably don't know how to make a sound on a grand piano.
No, the interface is really intuitive

I bought the machine for live use. I'm a saxophone player. I put a preamplified mic-signal through a boss loopstation and then in the ef303. The quality of the majority of the effects is great. It sounds the same as the boss 'stompbox'pedals to me.

However the filter really sucks. Unless U R 1 of the guys that actually like a digital sounding filter, it's crap and in extreme settings, it clicks (U BET!).
Another bad thing for live use is the LO FI. It is almost impossible 2 tweak it live. U'll hear nothing but clicks... Once tweaked, it does what it's supposed to do.
The drumkits? forget about it. It's an effect unit, not a beatbox. Though I must admit that the hats are Phat.
The synth is NOT a TB303, but it sounds good and is very usable.
Another thing I dont like is the little click U hear when changing from effect.

So that are the things I don't like on the thing. The rest is really cool. But thats just what 2 expect from a 500? Roland piece of gear.

I have only 2 days

never used

For live use:
Versatile box. Many possibilities! A keeper for sure. Whats a bit of a bummer is the fact that you cant hear 2 or more effects simultaniously and the stupid littke cracks while switching from effect.
Easy to use.

Studio use:
Forget the effects. Maybe 4 a PA it's good, but I dont want to waste my handcrafted 96/32bit beatz thru a 'groove-oriented' roland device :)

If you haven't got a midi-controller, this is heaven! 16faders and 3 knobs. Not a bad extra I think.

Very easy to use. I got mine with no manual, and after one night plus-a-little, I've got it figured out, except for the cryptic "Common" functions, which seem to be useless with the functions for which I'm using this little beast anyway. Anybody got a manual or tips to share? Hook a brotha up!

The sound quality overall is pretty decent. Some of the algorithms DO stair-step, noticeably the Synth+Delay (I just turn the Resonance to max and let the filter pick out stepped sets of harmonics rather than trying to get wa-wa sweeps) and the LoFi (which is _supposed_ to sound bad, right?)
The much-vaunted ability to effect hi, mid, or lo, is kinda misunderstood. You can bandpass hi, mid, or lo frequencies, and then effect the narrower signal. You can't really effect, say, just the mids (though you could bandpass the mids and mix the effected signal with the original, but it's not the same thing.)
The Filter sounds good to me. Not quite as cozy-uppy as the one in my Yamsha CS-15, but good-sounding. The Flanger is quite usable. The Phaser is ear-twistingly great in headphones. Lo-fi is pretty useless to me, though it does get nice and ugly. The reverb is a throwaway: karaoke 'verb gone bad. The compressor is completely unusable: Not only is it a crappy-sounding compressor, but it's got that slight DSP delay on it, making one of my favorite compressor tricks impossible (send a mono submix of the drums to the comp, squish the shiz out of it, then blend with original for punch and focus.) without comb-filtering. Crap. The Voice Transformer emu is as picky (if not more) than the original orange-and-blue box, though I must admit that I've only used line in sources with it. The vocoder sounds surprisingly good, though you'll need to set up a custom mix to feed it with Carrier and Modulator hard-panned left and right. Not so great for live use. The drum machines are utter crap. Cheesy in a bad way. And this is coming from a guy who's used Casio SK-1 drums, UP Ultimate Percussion triggered disco-drums, and Sears-bought Yamaha cheese profitably. The hats are okay, and the kick in one kit is pretty happenin', but you're not going to make a beat with this.
The Synth (ah, the controversial Synth)... Well, it's not a 303. Good deal. The 303 is _tired_, people. It's Played Out. My buddy who worked at a used-gear store had a 303 for a while, but sold it, 'cos that lump o' circuitry was bo-o-oring. Good riddance. That said, the synf in the EF303 squelches like a good TB should, and actually sounds really really good. Eminently usable, but programming it via sliders is weird. It's pretty hard to differentiate between half-step increments on those little bitty sliding controls. Satisfying results, though. Much better than a Predictable-Piece-O'-Crap keyboard controller. Too bad no D-Beam for more sonic lysol, rubber punching bag weirdness and fuzzy control.
Negatives: just a global "Smooth on-off" control, rather than a choice of transition times. This'll make the steps sound late when you're sync'ed to external MIDI clock. No accent/envelope controls for the synth, and you can't use slide and rest simultaneously to do note fade-ins or -outs.
The FX that are good are quite good. The bad ones aren't even bad in a likable lofi kinda way. The coolness of the good 'uns outweighs the suck factor of the lamers, though.

Seems solid enough. I've got heavy hands (no DJ fingaz here), and it seems to be able to take it. I'd use it on a gig with no backup, though its usefulness for me is fully realized when looping and relooping nightmare glitch-mod sequences and resample-fests.

Basically, this is an effects box with 3 parameter knobs per effects program, any of which can be (one at a time) controlled by the step-sequencer.
The cool thing about it for me, though, is the fact that all of those 16 sliders transmit MIDI, making it a kick-ass controller for Ableton Live, my main composing environment.
The sounds are cool for weirdo glitchy progfreak stuff. I'm not so sure it'd be good with 4-on-the-boring-floor house music, though.

Just writing to follow up on my previous review, where I said the filter did not step. NO I do not work for Roland. The filter steps when you use the synth function, the machine must be spliting it's available DSP to synth and filter functions. However, when playing an external source through the machine, I hear no stepping, unless I want to using the step sequencer. And just to let you know I had the 303 plugged into a Mackie SR24-4 mixer, and monitored through Event 20/20 BAS monitors, no the most pristine setup, but perfectly adequate for most bedroom producers. I still think the ef-303 is a fun device although now that I look back on the review I realize I sounded a lot like a cheerleader. But basically I was just excited about my new toy.

As somebody has said below- initially difficult but easy once mastered (probably 2hrs should do)

Now this is where I must settle a score. Luckily I managed to borrow this from a friend before I parted with the cash. There are many conflicting opinions here about the quality of the effects. Let me *assure* you, the low pass filter MOST CERTAINLY *DOES* STEP and HORRIBLY. Some of the (bull from associates of ROLAND) reviews here nearly had me convinced that this box had a nice filter. After all it is primarily an FX box and one with a name-tie to a nice quality and distinctive filter (ef-303 <> tb-303.) Sounds resonable that I might exspect a good filter doesn't it? Well it is nasty, rubbish, harsh, digital stepping rubbish, rubbish. The earlier (probably Rolands ef-303 project manager) reviewer who didn't hear the ugly digital artifacts in a filter more steppy than a centipede climbing a stair case in a high rise building with a broken lift, must be ignorant, deaf or monitoring through a pair of yogurt pots connected by string with phono leads glued on.

btw as for the other effects, personally I consider them to be equally as bad as the filter.

The 303 'emulation' is about on a par with what I might do with a Casio SK-1 toy keyboard for a joke. Okay maybe not that bad but definitely more lo-fi sampled than analogue modelled to my ear. Think Rebirth output through an 8-bit mono soundblaster.

Too soon to comment

Never tried.

I've probably got carried away slating this machine. It's best feature appears to be its ability to function as a useful 16 step old skool sequencer for notes or controllers over midi. I am not sure whether the gate time / velocity part will transmit via midi- i doubt it. Another cool thing is the built in scales- program a pattern in using the sliders then change between the many and varied scales and audition the changes.

Probably best not to buy one.

Final comment: 1 part useful midi step sequencer to 1 part useful bpm detector/syncer to 4 parts wasted potential to 4 parts crap sounding toy = ef-303 crap dj toy rubbish, rubbish.

Ease of use, well read the instructions while you play with it. You might not even get a sound out of it at first but the instructions are clear and once you get it down its cakewalk to make cool sounds. It is a quirky machine i.e. if you want to use it in real time you should practice with it a little bit before taking it to the show. This is not a machine that you can master in five minutes.

I am currently using this as my master fx for laptops and turn tabels and even when it is in bypass mode there is a little bit of loss of sound however I am running a crud load of stuff through it. The lo-fi and ring modulator setting create a little bit of distortion when the wetness is turned all the way down but if you really want to pixilate your sound and push it twist it and possibly blow a P.A. these settings will do it. I mean this is the real deal Roland did not hold back with these two fx they are nasty and I like them that way. The low pass filter is one of the best I have ever heard. The cut is super deer and the res is sharp as a knife. The isolator makes up for sound loss if you really just want to bost a track I have used it alot when I felt that the p.a. was e.q. poorly. The flange is ok i would like a little bit more control over it and the same goes for the phaser however I have came up with some really cool loops using the sequencer with these functions. The reverb is has two redeaming qualites it has a long decay time and you can make cool industrial sounds but as far as sound the fruity reverb is ten times better. The internal vocodor kinda stinks (you can get a early kraft work sound out of it) but if you use the vocodor to mix to external sounds its awsome in fact unbelievable. With the voice, pitch delay, and ring modulator you can mimic any skinny puppy, or afx twin type vocals. As far as cliks and pops if you use the slide function they will go away. I like them however you can get some great rythms. Overall I would not say this is for the faint of heart. Alot of the fx can really grab the sound and twist it however if you have a light touch you can keep that from happening and still have the fire power for when you need it. This is a box so I am giving it a nine I am sure that if you spent 2000 for an fx unit that only did one effect it would sound better but it would not be nearly as fun.

It always turns on for me (knock on wood) I use it every day for about two too eight hours never gets hot and always does what its told. I did buy it used and I have to tap the power supply (the guy on ebay didnt say anything about that) its been that way sence I got it I think it was a factory reject because it was still wraped up. So I would think no else would have that problem.

I dont like rolands customer suport

I do ambient, drum n bass, experimental, and some chill stuff. I use it for all of them. My sets are more alive now no matter what I am doing because I write alot of loops and sampling on the fly it really comes in handy to blend push or pull the over all sound the way I want it to go. One thing that I really dont like about it is that if your not paying attention the volume will either rise or fall when you turn the fx on or off (this can be avoided by adjusting the input or output. I also do not like how it clicks when you change to effect. It only does that when it is the effect is on so just turn the effect off and switch effects. I compared this product to alot of others and I am glad that I got this one. If I lost it I would get another one it is a very creative machine. Then only other thing that I would suggest over it and this is only if you want a cleaner sound is the pioneer efx 500. If you want versatility get the roland

Pretty darn easy unless its your first piece of gear. I dont read manuals at all, and it works great for me....however you gotta play with it a bit to feel comfortable with how it works.

This thing is amazing!! Im a huge fan of Korg Kaoss, Alesis Air FX, Roland D2 "d-field" and any type of device that lets you control without menus. I hate menus. This baby is a total tweakers delight. Major great sound variations that will blow any experimenter away. I really cant believe the sonic flavors coming out of this thing. Its too cool, but you gotta tweak it and play with it to get it to really purr. When you do get it purring, its really addictively FUN and unique sounding as you can imagine,

Seems solidly built. Well-made steel construction with tight knobs and controls. The outlook is good. No problems so far.
--not built of plastic like so much of the crap out there today.

Roland is pretty cool once you learn how to be put on hold for what seems to be eternity. When you finally get a real person and they stop passing you around like a hot potatoe, you can usually get what you need from them. They are not the friendliest guys around, sometimes downright rude, but then again, what mfr. out there isnt? besides maybe Jomox and FutureRetro.

This pupply is a must have if you are a non-menu type of tweaker. In that sense it is truly innovative and a very cool device. I really cant imagine selling it because its one of those keepers that will provide years and years of great fun. Its unique for sure and will help give my music a unusual touch that I crave. I love it when somebody asks me "how the heck did you do that?" (heheh) Thats what I live for....and the EF-303 definately helps. :}

Difficult at first - Yes,I switched it on and yes I got NO SOUND. Like all good things I suppose there is a steep learning curve with this machine. At first I suspected its critics were right but after a couple of attempts - WOW!! ...and I have'nt read the manual yet.

Like I said, once you have mastered the controls then sound quality is 10/10. This machine is different, it has many uses and for me its fits perfectly with my home setup (RMX1, EA-1, ST-224, Nova, and DR-202). I have effects on all of my gear but the way the Ef-303 works adds a new perspective. I have tacked a few Cd's through AND IT IS BRILL!!

So far so good - but only been two days.

Never needed it.

Thankfully, I have a great set-up and this new addition has centre stage. If I did not have it, I would miss it dearly - I'm just glad I did not listen to the magazine reviews.

My Rating is 1 on Day 1 and 10 on Day 3.
I give this a 5 for ease of use because there is a little Roland-type learing curve. The unit expects you to think Roland a little bit. The first time you pick it up you might not get any sound or at least any usable sound out of it. Do yourself a favor and read pages 57-67 of the manual which are actually REALLY good and explain the algorythms. Once you realize what the multi-function knobs do your realize there is a lot going on in this box, but it is pretty accessible. By day 3 of owner ship you'll know it like the back of your hand.

Contrary to the other review I say sound quality is excellent. First of all despite the name, the built in synth and the step sequencer, this unit is NOT A TB303 CLONE. It is a terrible 303 clone. The only way to program notes is through the sliders. Glide is not adjustables and there is No Decay and no envlope setting. This machine is not a synth, notice the name "Groove EFFECTS'. Now that I got that out of the way, effects is what this machine is all about.

The EF-303 does everything that the VF100 Voice Transformer does. It makes Robot Voices and gender changing effect. however it is also one of the most versatile Vocoders available. You can plug in Microphone and Vocode voice or anything against the internal synthsizer, and that is where the internal synth really shine. Unlike some rack-mount vocoders you can step sequence the synth while vocoding, or you can use the 16 buttons as a keypad, the buttons light up in keypad mode to let you know which ones are black keys. Unfortunately the keypad cannot be used for step note entry. However you can play the internal synth via midi, but itf you have a midi irg you probably will us an external synth and the 303 will happilly mix an mush any two sounds through its input.

Since the Boss Voice Transformer costs about $250 but doesn't have midi or the ability to step sequence parameter changes I thing the EF-303 is worth about $400 right there.

But it doesn't stop, it's got a Low Pass Filter algorythm that is awesome, AND NO IT DOES NOT STEP. The filter algorythm is smoooooth! and it self-oscillate like a beast master. And of course you can step sequence Cutoff or Resonance. In addition, you can set it to a 3 way band pass, allowing only Hi, Mid , or Low to get through. Once the appropriate frequencies get through you can then low-pass them. This is great for playing a record through it and applying the filter to just the Hi-Hats or just the snares, and leaving the kick untouched with the insane amount of resonance you will surely apply.

Next up Slicer. Step Sequenced gating. As I'm wirting this write now I'm listen to some Internet radio station on Itunes and then running the techno through the Slicer (which can simultaneously Pan) It sounds great. Tap you finger allong to the beat and the EF303 handles all your syncing. You just throw the sliders in any old position, and the 303 loves you back.

Next, the Isolator, this is just a 3 band EQ that can go all the way to kill on each of the three bands. However it is a very nice sounding EQ and ofcourse you can step-sequence all three band or an combination at the same time. You can switch back and forth from one band to the next seemlessly.

Next there's RingMod, Phaser, Flanger, all really good Roland quality, and of course syncable.

The Reverb is a nice Reverb but, lets face it if your into sonic manipulation at the level of which you probably are if your looking at this machine then you probably have a decent Reverb machine. I think I'll stick to my DP/4 and Sony HR-MP5, and TC Native reverbs. However the step modulation might be interesting for drum loops. Not sure yet.

LoFi - I don't understand the concept of the LoFi effect, it's basicaly just bit reduction. I didn't notice any stepping in te LoFi algorythm, but I think I would still do bit reduction on the Mac with any old editor.

Pitch+Delay - Boss sells the Pitch Shifting Delay for 150. This machiine gives is midi control and sequencer while still maintining the intuitive 3 knob interface. This is truly an effect for spacemen.

Syn Rythm - DAMN this thing IS A DRUM MACHINE. Well not exactly. There are 4 kits in the machine with kit, snare, open hi, closed hi. You can use the sliders to create rythms, but only one note polyphony. This is really just usefull for making some quick hi hat patterns, but since you can sequence the volume at each step you can quickly and intuitive come up wilh some great hi hat that

It's metall and the knobs seem pretty decent. But I've only had it a week.

There isn't anything like it, except maybe the korg Kaoss Pad or the Alesis spaceman thing, but there is no other dedicated Step effect processor with LowPass filter, Vocoding, Voice Transforming, and Slicing.

Very easy to use. 3 front panel knobs, 16 sliders, and lots of buttons. 16 user patch memory locations, about 20 different fx to choose from. At first tweak, this box sounds really cool! There are wicked flangers, crazy filters and lo-fi algos. Delay/pitch for those 'tape echo' type effects. There is even a little 303 emulator to use in conjunction with the 16 step sequencer. Overall, there seems(at first glance) to be a vast array of applications inside this little red and silver beast...BUT...buyer beware!!!

Here, my friends, is where the buck comes to a screeching halt on this box! There are some really nice fx sounds here, as well as a somewhat convincing 303 emulation, BUT in no less than 4 of the available algos there are HORRIBLE, LOUDLY AUDIBLE stair-stepping glitches when turning the 'tweak' knobs. For one, the Low pass Filter on the 303 synth step in increments of about 4 or 5 steps, causing that nasty 'jutt-jutt' feel as you sweep through the values. You also can't use the 303 synth with ANY other effects...LAME! The Lo-Fi algo, another important one, at least to me, NEVER STOPS stair-stepping on any of the 'tweak' knobs!!! The Flanger is REALLY cool ounding, but again, when tweaking the DEPTH knob, 'click-click-jutt-jutt'...ARRRGGH!!!!
These glitches, as well as no distortion algo, and no response to midi controller number 7 were enough letdown for me to pack this bitch up, and take it back to the store. I implore you to play with this unit for at least a SOLID half hour, tweaking ALL effects, and trying out the 303 synth before making a purchase. These things are $500 new, and for that kind of money in a limited little box, it damn well better NOT have these kind of glitches, and should also be able to F*CK my wife when I don't feel like it, too!

Very reliable, solid metal chassis, cool paint job, solid knobs and sliders...DOESN'T MAKE UP FOR WHAT A HEAP OF JUNK THIS THING IS!!!

Roland is a great company, but they should have taken the time to fix glitches, and add a few more 'vital' features to the box before shipping them and slapping on a $500 price tag on em'!!! BOOOOOOOOO!!!

Useless to me, and anyone else who expects quality in return for their hard-earned money!