Roland MC-909 Groovebox

I got this about a year ago and it took me about 4 months of messing around to get a good feel for this thing. Sometimes figuring stuff out can be tricky, but then once you get it down it will be second nature. I started off with only my MC-307, which is like one third as good as the 909, and a major pain in the *** to use. Going from the MC-307 to the MC-909 was a quantum leap for me, because the interface on the 307 is shot, and the interface on the 909 is totally great. I love how the front panel incorporates a nice variety of features at hands reach before having to navigate menus.

Software version: 1.23 - I wonder why Roland hasn't taken the effort to update more. ugh. Recording into the sequencer can be cumbersome but you can always get the job done if you just have patience. Sometimes the quantize function can be a pain in the butt but it's actually a handy thing to use, again if you are patient. I've read alot of complaints about the sampling, but this was my very first sampling machine so I've grown fond of it.

The presets range from sounds that you would probably never care for and some meidocre ones and then a few that you can actually work with. I'd say that out of all preset sounds, about one third of them are actually worth while. I have not ventured onto patch editing really, beyond using the real time modify section on the panel. Originally I didn't think that the sound quality was full and satisfactory, but after I set it up and realized that you have to use the mastering section to adjust the levels so you don't clip the output stage, and then adjust the eq and gain on the mixer, I've realized that this thing really can be a sonic battle axe.

The manual is a beast, and when you try and impliment some of the stuff you read, it doesn't make sense, but overall with some trial and error, and guidance from the manual, you can get stuff done.

First and foremost, the MC-909 manages to incorporate alot of useable features into one box, albeit some of these features may be mediocre at best, it's still pretty handy when you look at the whole package. This leads me to conclude that this is a pretty versatile unit, even if it's dated and most of the sounds are just eh. I have the ram maxed out, the SRX supreme dance card, and the smartmedia - xd card adapter (so I can use 256mb xd cards instead of being limited to the 128mb smart media card). Overall, the extra ram is definitely worth it, the SRX expansion depends on the user. I personally like the SRX expansion, and seeing as though I bought my MC-909 used for just under $700 US,and it came with the ram maxed and the SRX expansion, so for me the SRX is worth it. I've heard that some of the SRX expansion boards are not so integrateable, which is dissapointing because I would like to try more. The fact that there is only 1 SRX expansion slot is kind of annoying too.

64 note polyphony. Like everyone else says you can get around that with the use of resampling, but at times that can be a huge waste of time when you get on a creative roll. Personally, I don't think i've ever maxed that out though so I really have no issues with that. Additionally, I also run my MC-307 as slave, so I'm able to utilize some of the 307's 64 note polyphony, when layering up on synth sounds, or ep and patches.

While you could get away with relying on the 909's keypad alone for input, I highly reccomend an external midi keyboard controller. Get a good one like me; The Edirol PCR-300 is absolutely perfect. Not only is the key action great, but I've programmed several control maps to operate the 909 from the 300. Example- one control map links all of the fancy knobs and sliders on the pcr-300 to the 909's realtime modify section. Another control map uses the 8 control knobs and 8 sliders on the pcr 300 as individual part mixer level adjustment, so now when recording I have 16 seperate levels I can articulate as opposed to using the 8 sliders on the 909 and having to switch back and forth between 1-8 and 9-16.

The Multi - effects are easy enough to use, I just hate how it's set up- there are 2 effects which you can route signal through, with what I like to consider a good range of effects (wish there were more) but for each pattern of 16 parts, you can only select 2 effects for the entire pattern. Originally I thought this was going to be set up so you could select 2 effects for each individual part. That means that even though the effects are useful, you are limited. Aside from the Multi - FX, there is also the realtime modify section, which is great in my opinion. For example, I sample my bass guitar, save it as a patch, record it into the sequencer, and then use slicing with the m-fx and then the realtime modify section to turn the bass guitar sound into some of the sickest, modulated basslines i've ever heard. Also, with the use of my korg Kp3 run off of my mixer through both aux 1 and 2, and some resampling back into the 909, I can work around this fairly quickly, without the KP3 I would hate to have to sit there and resample stuff back into the 909 using only the 909's cumbersome interface. Another note on the KP3- the kp3 is the perfect compliment to the mc-909 because of the interface and the effects. What the 909 lacks effects wise, I've managed to make up for with the korg kp3. I suggest anyone thinking of getting an mc-909 also consider a decent external sampler and or effects processor, because you're going to eventually be limited by these features.

Something else I've learned, is that using the MC-909 editor is a big bonus. This streamlines my mixing, making everything alot smoother and giving me a better handle on creative expression. Well worth it to try out if you haven't already.

For expressiveness / sounds, what can I say? like I said before, some patches sound good, others eh, then others you'd just rather have more user space instead of the factory preset. I already mentioned that I use the MC-307, and the sounds on that are also just meh... but, layering up can help. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't always on the lookout for a decent synth module like the SC-8850 (if that is in fact decent at all)to run externally as a slave

I think that you could pretty much achieve any style of music that your creativity wills with this thing, given that you can sample and resample. Without the sampling feature, this thing would pretty much be not worth it at all.

I'm a home studio musician and for this the 909 is good. I have never gigged with this thing but I could see where it has it's limits. I wouldn't want to be live and have to do the work around rigamarole to record into this thing live and still sound good doing it. In fact, you really couldn't record into the sequencer live at all due to the start / stop structure of recording on the MC-909. I could see myself getting away with playing back pre recorded sequences live, using part mixing to create the flow, but I don't know... If I had 2 909's I could see myself having no problem whatsoever. Long story short, I would at least want another 909 as backup.

I have called Roland customer support, and they were very helpful 2 out of 3 times. I needed help understanding how to use midi implimentation to set up my PCR-300 keyboard controller control maps for the 909, and after talking to the guy for 5 minutes I knew what I was doing. Then I needed more midi Implimentation advice for recording with Sonar LE, and the tech actually knew how to talk me through that too!! I was impressed. When I called and asked about midi implimentation in regards to the Korg KP3 run as slave off of the MC-909, it was a different story. It was like "oh well we have no clue about what to do with the KP3."
Coincidentally, I called Korg customer support, and they were absolutely useless.

I could never lose my 909. That's just impossible. It's a brick ****house, how could you lose something that's 2' x 2'? If it were stolen, I would probably just get it back after breaking someone's neck. If it broke or died on me, I would get another 909, seeing as though they're pretty cheap on ebay used.

I have had this 909 for little over a year. For 18 years or so I've been playing several instruments, such as sax, brass, and bass guitar. My 909 was my second keyboard instrument, the mc-307 being my first. My other gear includes the Edirol M-16 dx mixer, the Edirol PCR-300, the Roland MC-307, the Korg KP3, the MOTU Micro Express MIDI router, the Boss ME 50 guitar effects pedal, and finally my Warwick Streamer 5 string bass.

Overall I love the 909. Even though it's not entirely perfect, it brings alot to the table and once you get a feel for how to work with it the 909 can be excellent.

I did compare it to other stuff, I liked the idea of the 909 because of the intensive user interface and I just love how it's bristling with knobs and sliders. I hate that I didn't get one of these when it first came out. I got mine in 2008.

I wish this thing had more polyphony I guess, and a streamlined sampling function.

I guess overall I love the MC-909. I am hoping that Roland will launch a new series of table top workstations, beyond the MV series, and bring back some sort of 3rd 909 with all kinds of bad *** features... Perhaps something with the operating system prowess of the mv series with the a massively hands on front panel user interface like the MC-909. I've never touched the MV series but I hear they do pretty good stuff. The 909 does help me creatively, but like I said, I'm always going to want more.

I'm thinking about getting an MC-808 to run as slave from the 909, and phasing out my MC-307 just to add more sound and layering ability, not to mention it would be handy to have another sampling groovebox. Using the MC-909 and Mc-808 in tandem could be a fun idea...

Just got a 2nd hand MC-909 and after reading some mixed reviews I am pleased to say that so far I have nothing but praise for this amazing piece of gear. Of course the machine has a fairly steep learning curve but this can be said about most other hardware. Over the years I have had to get my head around AW16G, Korg EMX, MicroX, Korg Tr, Novation Nova to name but a few, the MC909 is no different. Once you get to know the machine everything becomes second nature.

Synth, Sampler, Sequencer, FX, Mixer and Mastering, all in one box. Large LCD and SRX expansion. Best used with an external midi controller. Obviously suited to Hip Hop / RnB / Dance type genres.

The sound of this thing is excellent. None of the preset patches jump out and grab your throat but they actually sit in the mix beautifully, you are able to hear each patch crystal clear. The ability to add SRX expansion allows you to personalise the machine to your own liking. Sounds are editable so if you don't like them then make your own or load in some samples.

Built like a tank and hasn't crashed once. Using OS 1.23 I haven't noticed any problems so far.

I haven't had to deal with Customer Support.

Can't recommend this highly enough. This machine has taken a bit of flak over the years but as far as I'm concerned it's probably one of the best pieces of equipment I've ever owned. Considering it does what it does I'd say it it's a lot more intuitive than most other gear I've had. Wish it had a more modern storage format and one more SRX expansion port but hey, can't have everything.

The MC 909 is basically built upon the 'Part-Pattern-Song' sequencing paradigm of drum machines, MPC series and Rolands flagship MV 8800. You basically have 16 sounds or 'patches' within a 'Pattern'. A 'Pattern' contains 1-16 sequences, each sequence having its own 'Part'. Each Part contains a Patch(sounds)'. Each Patch/Part corresponds to MIDI channels 1-16, which can be played using the TR 808 style pads or and external midi controller. Using the MC 909 sequencer, you build your 'pattern' with each Patch/Part and chain them together into 'Songs'. It is a great concept that has stood the test of time over the 'linear' left to right sequencing found in most DAW's because it is easier to build bridges, intros, chourses, etc. I began writing music this way and continue to do so, today, after 20 years of sequencing.

software ver 1.23

Editing sounds. Kind of a nightmare, really. I gave up on trying to get anything good out of it, but then again, I own a Virus and JP8000 so I am spoiled by easy program ability in quality products. Mind you, not everything Roland has made is as bad as this unit, so we have to cut them some slack as a company.
editing is not easy, even for a seasoned pro like myself.
The manual is in depth. The 'Getting started' is easy to read-good.
File saving protocol is convoluted, confusing and you could easily lose your work if you don't follow the correct sequence of saving sounds, patterns, etc etc. There is no *APS, where everything is saved together, like an MPC, which makes this box tedious and cumbersome and it hampers creativity and flat out pisses you off.

This is the all-in-one box that almost could...but not quite. Kudos for trying, though, Roland. Too bad it was at the expense of the pocketbooks of unsuspecting guinea pigs like myself.
Built in effects are pretty decent. certainly not Lexicon or Eventide, but usable and the verbs much cleaner than most any plugin verb I have heard and still much better than alot of low end units out there. Effects are limited to one insert effect and two aux effects that route through the one insert, so you can combine some effects and wet/dry the amount of effect per 'part' (Part=sound-16 total parts per 'Pattern') within that sequence, so all 16 parts have to share that effect within that sequence. This limits composing entire tracks without overdubbing into your DAW via MIDI clock. You can get around it by resampling the sounds but the effect trail endd when the sample switches to another pattern and of course, you eat alot of RAM which in turn makes load times even longer than they already are. This is NOT a serious proffessional's box by any means. It was a good idea taken higher with the MV 8800, which is a great unit.
The sequencer is good.

THIS UNIT HAS FILE SAVING AND TEMPO GLITCHES THAT MAKE IT VIRTUALLY USELESS for archiving and recall. ROLAND MESSED UP badly WITH THIS MACHINE, AND HENCE, THE REASON THEY MOVED TO THE MC808 AFTER, THEN ONTO AND FINALLY THE MV8800, WHICH WORKS AND I OWN AND APPLAUD. Their bad habit of moving onto the next thing while leaving existing products in the dust has become increasingly annoying and if it had not been for great reviews of the MZV8800, I would have not bought another roland product and stuck with Akai, whose MPC series may be long in the tooth but by golly, at least it works consistently!
The bottom line is to make music and keep our songs safe, right?

I skipped on the MC 808 BECAUSE of the trouble I had with the MC 909. I must admit, they finally got it right with the MV 8800 and I advise you to save yourself much headache and hair pulling with either sampling MC series and go for the MV 8800. If money is an issue with you in today's economy, I warn you to tread cautiously with your beloved songs on this machine. Ensure you really, really read the entire manual thoroughly and save each sound as it is sampled, each part as it is played and associate everything together on the same SmartMedia card. Also, use SmartMedia cards rather than the 'adapter' that allows you to use an Xd memory card. I have had 50/50 luck with this in saving my compositions properly and file tree gets strung out as opposed to SmartMedia.

The MC 909 will change tempo suddenly, in song mode, when switching patterns. I have had to go back in and re-record the patterns with the correct tempo to fix this problem. Save it all to Smartmedia, very hard to get now, and start all over. If you use alot of samples, the load times are tremendously long. go sit down and have a cup of coffee and watch TV for awhile, then come back. Again, useless, live. Live, it would be constant work and rework to get your tracks to play correctly and I wouldn't trust it, ever.

It sounds like all Roland 'canned' workstations. Alot of sounds,
but many are useless 'same as everything else' sounds. Presets weak unless effected heavily or additional SRX board installed, which it can handle two of. I installed 'Classic keys' to get those Rhodes, clavs etc.
Most other sounds are A plethora of techno stabs, horn honks, beep beeps, buzz saw leads, you get the picture. Where it shines is in its sounds from Roland drum machines of yesteryear. Tr 808, 909 and DR series are represented well. Still, other internal patches makes the unit sound 'dated'. Luckily, it samples and can 'multi-sample', kind of, but not really. You have to take the samples and turn them into a drum 'kit', which again, is slightly convoluted.

I imagine you will get a disinterested person on the phone, who will be full of 'plausible deniability' in order to save the company from class action lawsuits by admitting the machine is flawed. Still, unlike MOTU, they answer your emails and do tend to the phone but don't expect to get any 'straight' answers from them. they know the deal as well as any of us that have being doing this gig for as long as we have.

The MC909 was a great concept but it fails miserably in user interface ,ease of use, software programming and most importantly File structuring and saving. Roland have a bad habit of starting projects and never finishing them and the MC909 was just that. They half-***ed the software and stopped in the middle and left a potentially great product lie dormant for the next 'greatest' thing. With that, a lot of people were out 2K for a machine that simply did not live up to the advertising hype. Buyer beware on this machine.

If you want a cheap box with alot of sounds already stacked in it, that samples and time compresses in real time, with decent effects, it'll do the trick. Just don't turn it off until you have run your outs into your DAW cause once you save everything, you might not be able to figure out how to get it all back in one piece, once the machine is shut off. If you need a unit you can shut down and bring to the 'big' studio when it is time to make that record, forget it. You'll spend more time in the studio trying to get everything back together and you could have saved that studio hourly rate by just getting yourself an MV8800 to begin with. I gave mine as a donation to the keyboardist in our church.

If you have used grooveboxes before, like Roland's 303 or 505, this machine's not too difficult at its face value, but once you dig deep into sound editing, becomes istantly tiresome. The groove features are all on the display and on the panel; you only need to go inside the menus to assign sounds and effects to tracks. HOWEVER, once you think so much as to change a filter to a sound, you enter TVF-TVA hell: pages over pages of endless, tiresome menus and layers that take all the fun out of editing. Strangely enough, there are not enough realtime controls on the panel for sound editing, because a lot of space is wasted by nearly useless stuff (we'll get to that later).
And where's that fantastic 8 tracks + 8 rhythm subtracks structure they adopted in the older grooveboxes? 16 tracks is NOT necessarily better, when 8+8 was so splendidly organized!
BOTTOM LINE: easy if you want to do play with presets; much worse when you want to go deep.

I think everybody are familiar with the groovebox features of this machine, but surprisingly, they are more or less the same as the MC-505, very little (!!!) is improved, either in the sequencer, in the realtime controls or elsewhere, except the sound set which is way larger, better and more detailed. But that's about it: the sampler is a joke as it's a very old fashioned one (think Akai!), rather than a groove-sampler like Roland/Boss' own SP series, which would have made much more sense.
The sequencer does not include audio tracks, NOR you can do that with the sampler, it's not designed for that. Also, the pads cannot be used for sample-playing on the fly. Sad, ain't it?
The "turntable" feature is a waste of panel space - enuff said.
The double D-Beams? Just go ahead and try using only one of them in a really professional way, let alone two.
BOTTOM LINE: little more than the much older MC-505, except in the soundset. Lots of useless gizmos onboard.

The sounds are quite good, I believe they are lifted from the first Fantom series, the S. There's a good serving of everything from electronic to vintage electric to acoustic and even orchestral if you will. The preset patterns are also good for the most part, with at least 2-3 usable ones for each style of music. A friend of mine put it simply: this machine sounds like a commercial cd you just bought in the store. Let's remember theat nobody will buy this unit to play piano on it, so the overall quality of the sounds has to be put into perspective.
However, as usual with Roland, there are A MILLION preset sounds and preset patterns that you cannot overwrite, and just a handful of user locations: this is not only too little, it's also wrong engineering in my opinion.
The machine stores a lot of single instrument patterns, though, that are really useful for building your own sequences from: drum patterns, bass lines, piano phrases, synth riffs, and so on.
BOTTOM LINE: good quality sounds from all sources, good rhythmic patterns, but very few user slots.

The one I got had a very worn-out rotary dial: you had to press it while spinning in order to precisely reach your numeric destination. It was probably 5-6 yrs old when i got it so it's understandable. Other than that, i see no reason why it shouldn't perform less than
perfectly if properly maintained.

no opinion

Well, it lasted a month or so in my hands. I sold it and got me an MC-505 and used the rest of the cash for a LOT of other things. The bottom line is that, apart from the sheer variety of sounds plus the presence of a sampler and a few other gadgets of little use, there really is no much difference between the 505 and the 909 in terms of sequencer, ease of use, groove features, realtime interaction and even sound quality. And, because the 909 does not go cheap even on the second hand circuit, I recommend, before you look for it, that you check the 505 instead, and you might save yourself some 500 euros or dollars.

Using the Os that came out of the box on that day this thing was launched in the UK. Even all the way back then in 2002 the onboard sounds were dated and very generic. I have expanded this machine over time by buying Srx boards which I share between the 909 a Fantom X6 which houses 4 and an XV50-80. I have played about with each one in the 909 and settled on the srx-01 dynamic drums simply beacause they take less progamming than the other cards from the 909.

Editing patches is reletively easy as most of the main perameters have a knob or slider on the facia. For more detailed editing it's merely a few presses away and hey presto! it's a mini XV synth.

The manual is a nightmare to read with a lot of pages and not much to say. Not a begginers manual to be fair.

64 voice polyphony and the 16 key pads are ok to use as sequencer event inputs but nothing more.

The effects are good for the most part. Distortion and overdirve being the worst (roland just cant seem to get it right !!). If you use heavy effects and say 5 or 6 tracks of music the machine really struggles. fortunalty theres the option to sample every sound you make so you can get around this problem.

Midi implimentaion is very good.

The 909 has a 16 track midi sequencer which can be fun if your not overloading it. You can make full songs in the sequencer. You can make an entire song by grouping together patterns which you have created. While at first I thought this was an interesting approach I now find it irritating because you have to find all your user patches for every pattern to make a full song. It takes the playing out of music really for me because even though I use a master keyboard I still feel like I'm manufacturing music.

I give this a 6 because it really did make me play a different way. Like a sequencer I guess, just no real humanism to it.....

90% of the out of box sounds are a disgrace and Roland should be ashmamed.

It's clearly aimed at the dance market but I'm not sure which year, even in 2002 when it came out the sounds seemd old school.

I've only gigged it twice when I needed a second sequencer and it behaved well.

So far no crashes or lock ups. No issues

never needed customer support

If I had to replace it I wouldn't. I really don't think the ??1300 I payed on it's release was worth it then and even less now. Some people love this groovebox and believe it's going to go into cult status. I hope this is true because maybe someone will give me a good price for it and I could buy something a bit more substancial.

Ive had it for near 6 years now and have explored every avenue it can muster.

I have played for 23 years and own a roland MC-909, Fantom X6, V-synth GT,Novation ks rack, novation A-Station, Roland Xv 50-80,Korg R3,Jomox xbase-09 and an emu 6400 ultra sampler.

If i had to compare I really wish I'd bought a Yamaha Rs-7000 instead. It's a shame this machine died so quickly because it could have been much better.

The only purpose it has now it a second sequencer live if needed. For shame.......

1.2
The presets are great but not what i thought would be in a groove box. I had a Roland JUNO-G sold it for i was saving space and wanted a really nice professional groove box to make Ambient, Newage Techno. I went thru patches and they were pretty basic. But the good thing is that you can EDIT the sounds very very easy and create your own sounds. Let me tell you something about this MC-909. You have to make it your own. you can make music right out the box, but it's more something you have to customize to your liking in order for you to benifit fully...

A Patch Editor for this unit is ok. Good thing about the MC-909 is that you can edit EVERYTHING right on the unit without the freakin Editor. No need for computer which i love. I can do everything right on the MC-909 from start to finish. Only thing i would recommend is a 64 or 128 Smartmedia card 3.3v

The Manual is ok. I rarely used it. Only for reference but you will need it.

Maximum Polyphony is 64 which is fine. I am not please with the PADS on the MC-909. I kinda almost wish the put the 303, 307 and 505 type pads. You really have to hit the dam thing pretty hard. But the good thing so far is that it seems to be pretty strong and i get the impression from the time i had it that these pads were meant to be hit hard. the engineers must have put a really strong padding underneath, so even tho you have to hit harder than normal, it may last just as long as the earlier pad type generation....

what i do like is that you can put in an expansion board. ( Only 1 ). I recommend the Dance expremem SRX-05. But after going thru the patches, it's really not that much different than what's already there. Just a few uniuqe sounds. Humm,,800 something patches, justs takes me longer to go thru the sounds and the night is over. Might as well just have stuck with the internal sounds and create my own. So my advice is JUST EDIT YOUR OWN SOUNDS. The internal sounds are not the best but when you create your own sounds, especially when you get really creative, you can make better sounds than what's on those expansion boards...But that's just my opinion. I into editing my own sounds and i'm quite happy from what i come up with, so i'm only speaking from my own opinion...

Full midi capabilities and the pads are pressure sensitive..

I love the on board sequencer. It's very easy to use and u can start making some serious music immed. Roland knew what they were doing when it came to making this groove box. It's by far the best groove box ever made in my opinion. Nothing is perfect. Always going to have some bad feedback, but for the most part, i love this thing.

Again like i said before, you have to hit the pads really hard but they seem to take the abuse. I have hit them really hard at times but they seem to be built like a 57 Chevy. So i try to not let that bother me to much.

In the Pads and Synth section, there are a lot of usable patches which can also be edited to your taste. Since this is sort of a Techno, Dance box, you would think Roland would put more Pulsating, Sliced appreciated patches in there. Most of the patches are just straight Synth leads and pads you would find in a Keyboard. That's the downfall about this box. There are some Techno sounds but not enough.

This groove box can do just about all styles, however, it's really nice to use with Techno, Dance, house and Ambient Newage. Rock and Classic,,,huhh i dono about that..

Onboard effects are Great. No complaints here. Reverb is superb and lot's of digital delays. Like i said. I didn't get an expansion board because once i edit my sounds with the right effects, then i seem to really get the full use out of this box so i encourage you to take 1 day or 2 of just going thru some patches and edit them like crazy and you will see that you have a nice set of sounds that dont even come close to what there internaly. Make sure you save them on a card. that would suck if you spend 8 hours of editing and then loose in because you had to do a factory reset or somethin.

Yes, very dependable. it's a pretty strong durable piece of machine. I say machine because it's pretty big and heavy like a big old science schematic experimental looking board.

I never gig. I make music inside my home so everything is done inside.

I have called Roland a couple of times for questions and everytime i called tech support they are very helpfull. Roland Tech Support is by far the best Techs i have dealt with...

Never tried to upgrade. Just start makin music and dont worry about it. It does plenty right out the box. Just get a Memory card....

Never got it repaired..

If it were Stolen or lost. U bet ya. I would get another one.

I have been doing Ambient Techno for 15 years now. Email me if you want a cd...rhampton1914@gmail.com
I had a MC-307, Roland JUNO-G, MicroKorg., QY70, Alesis micron...I can go on and on. All i have now is the MC-909. get the point. For this type of music this is all you need. NOTHING else. I already made like 10 really nice Ambient Spacey songs...

I love the fact that you can make a complete song and perform complete editing to memory card. I LOVE THAT...
I hate the pads and that fact that the unit is so freekin big. DAMMM, with all the Technology, you couldnt get all this in the size of a MC-307? but i still love this. It's like a big toy and at the same time making the music you always wanted to make....I'm very happy and satisfied and probably will never sell it....Dont get the Mc-808. get the 909. Nothing compares........


my email address is rhampton1914@gmail.com --- let's get a discussion going. i love to talk and exchange music with other people. My likes are Ambient Techno. Very nice melody synth leads and Dance music...So love to hear from you soon...

Reggie

I've got 1.1 mc909, paid $635+S/H. Very nice.
Presets sound pretty good to me and the drums are the old 808/909 classics.
Editing patches is like cutting butter.
Manual is pretty good, mine also came on VHS, very helpful.

Polyphony is unlimited imo, with all the editing abilitions. Keyboard action is pretty good, best I've seen on any groovebox.
Effects are great and easy to use.
It's expendable, I might get the drum extension.
Midi is great, great controller, too.
Sequencer is the improved mc505, more flexible and easy to use.

Velocity and aftertouch works pretty good on the pads.
Instruments are the basics, but there's so many of them, some good some bad, depending on the taste, but you can edit.
It's best for any dance music Techno, Trance, DnB, Hip-Hop, RnB, Regge, Rock, maybe even Classical.
Effects are top notch and you can route them endlessly.
Reaction time is very good, everything reacts pretty good.

Had mine for 2 days so far and it's been very dependable.
I would use this in a gig, just like any other drum machine. I would get 128smartmedia card for a gig.

I've had solid support both from Roland and Edirol, you just have to find the right people to email, there's also the yahoo message board and mc909.org.

This is definetly a center of my studio, this my first step.
I've owned mc505, rm1x, RS7000, Electribes, An200, sp808, z1, k1, sp202 and bunch of software and mc505 has all of them and then some.
So far I like everything about it, maybe in few days I will find some issues, but right now, it's the bomb.
I used to own RS7K, before this, sold that and got me this, this is so much superior and much easier to use, thanks to usb.
I wish that the screen was in color, but it's not that bad really.
This definetly helps my music production, I mostly use it as a drum machine/sampler, 1 or 2 internal sounds and then I lay other stuff in Sonar, An1x is coming next week and that will complete my setup.
This is not a groovebox, or is it? It's like 2 mc505s and a great sampler. If you need a drum machine, sampler or a good sound module, this is it, don't be fooled by its silly name, this is a workstation.

version 1.20 - I don??t like the preset sounds- i don??t use them. The patches are very easy to edit - i didn??t read the manual - you can control every aspect of the sound you want to create. It has a very high editability potential - it can make the weirdest sounds on earth.

you can see the features at the Roland site. All i can say is that i still haven??t reached the limits of this machine.

High quality! I never use presets- the 909 allows me to build the sounds exactly as i want, and it allways sounds very crisp and professional. The sampler is more adequate for percusive sounds, like to create your owm drum kits with samples from PC or from resampling; even though i found the sampler memory a little short. I play electronic\industrial music, and it can make some real harsh and thick sounds. It is very suitable for live playing, because of all the knobs it got.

Never failed on me, either on studio or on stage. I own it for 2 years now, I??ve giged and traveled alot with it and i found the 909 very reliable.

Fortunately, never had to deal with them.

If it were lost or stolen, I would definitely buy it again - i wouldn??t get back the sounds and songs i created and love, but i would have the means to make them reborn.

I'm using ver1.2. Can't complain, really. The presarent bad with a little tweaking of your own you'll get some really nice sounds.
The manual I have is in PDF form, to quite honest Ive been getting along without it.

The keys are starting to not respond so I hooked up a midi controller to trigger my notes. I'm not mad at all, what customers need to realize is this unit is not for everybody. I believe we (the Public) are looking for an end all. The Ubermachine is and always will be the mind and imagination. I tried the midi not a problem, Although it will not operate as a slave to a MPC2000xl, So its my master and my mp is the slave.

Again you have to tweak the settings. If you want it to sound BIG stretch your mind muscle. Make it do what you want it to do!!!!!!!! This Machine was obviously created for dance music, but Ive done all of the above on it. And I cannot complain. its reaction to velocity depends on your style of play.

You can depend on this machine 100 percent. I would never do any gig without a backup. Case and point I was at a 70's 80's concert and one band member was using an MPC and a stage hand tripped unplugged the unit dude didnt have a backup disk so he had to play his sequences. ALWAYS BRING A BACKUP. AND ALWAYS BACKUP!!!!!!!

in the Process now 4 of the velocity pad arent reponding called ROLAND said they can fix we shall see.

Most definately I'd replace it this time I'd buy it new. Ive been playin for about 9 years, I use in conjunction with 909, the AKAI MPC 2000xl, REASON RECYLE AND AUDACITY Then PROTOOLs 7

It's a good machine. I upgraded (upgraded is not the word, actually i changed) from the mc505.

The good thing: it's a self contained machine. You don't need anything else to make good tunes. It sounds good out of the box. Great effects. I added an SRX card and got hundreds of violins, pianos and other orchestral sounds for it, so it's now the ubermachine itself.


The bad thing: it's a Roland. If you had a Roland before, you'll understand what i'm saying. Roland has a complicated logic, it's not easy to understand at first, but once you learn it, it becomes second nature.

This machine does some amazing things. But then it does other things that are useless.

One thing Roland hasn't learnt from Korg is that users like to edit patterns while the pattern is playing. Electribes are great because you can press Record and keep playing music while editing. Roland demands you to stop playing before making some operations, and that becomes annoying in the long run.

The MC909 has 64 notes of polyphony, but to be honest, i've never used all that polyphony at once. I had an XL7 with 128 voices of polyphony and it was an overkill.

The effects are pretty good, but they are insert effects. Turn them on, or turn them off. The sequencer is pretty good and detailed as a software sequencer, so i can't complain at all.

There are some quirks that i hate:

-You can create your own RPS sets, but you can't save them.
-You can import BMP images for backgrounds, but it doesn't display properly.
-You can create 128 user patterns, but there's no way to name them, so you have to write them in a piece of paper. Stupid roland engineers.

Oh, and there's no midi thru yet.

Very expressive, nice sounding for a Rompler.

It's reliable, and you can gig with it without backup. I've managed to make it crash once by messing with the OS. I corrupted the OS so the machine wouldn't start at all. That problem can be solved by loading the MC909 SYSTEM UPDATE in a smartmedia card (32 Mb or bigger), putting it on the smartmedia slot and then turning the machine on. The OS will load then by itself.

It's worthless. User groups have pointed to Roland the flaws and the defects of the machine, and ideas for upgrades, and Roland won't answer back. Ever.

I think they have answered back once to say that they would eventually work on it.

The problem is that once you have handed the money onto Roland, they forget about everything. It's your problem then, not theirs.

I love my MC909, i really do. But it hurts to find out that what could have been a wonderful machine becomes just "a good machine" due to negligence of the manufacturers.

I don't think i'll buy another Roland product in a long time. Those SH-201 and MC-808 look pretty good, but i wouldn't risk to pay hundreds of dollars for a product that basically is still on its development stage.

I'd certainly buy it again, or replace everything with all the electribe range. The MC-909 is everything in one box, i love that. It's worth the 1000 US$ i paid for it, but it could have been better.

It has a software O.S. It's upgradeable. I hope i'll live to see Roland making a MC909 OS 2.0 that will solve all its flaws. But we depend on Roland's good will. Or consumer class action. Whatever happens first.