Roland MC-505

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roland MC-505 groovebox. Date Produced - 1998
Roland MC-505 groovebox.
Date Produced - 1998

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 no Sampler feature built-in.

It is the successor to the Roland MC-303. Released in: 1998

It has a small LCD screen, and two big red LED screen.

It is a bigger and better version of the Roland MC-303, and a predecessor to the Roland MC-307, Roland MC-909 and the new Roland MC-808.

Contents

[edit] Features

The key features of the MC-505 are:

  • Sound generator with 64 note - voice polyphony
  • 8-track sequencer+Mute Ctrl Track
  • 714 onboard dance music patterns
  • 512 built-in sounds and 26 rhythm sets
  • D-Beam Controller
  • MEGAMix - function for intuitive realtime mixing of beats and patterns
  • 5 volt Smartmedia card storage
  • MIDI

[edit] Criticisms

The Roland MC-505 has no Sampler. The size of the LCD screen makes it difficult to read each feature setting, and over time the LCD screen would lose pixels (this does not render the screen unreadable). This issue is due to the heat on the LCD screen-PCB board, the lamination between the crystal and the PCB is opening/splitting up from the little heat inside the Roland MC-505 from over time of usages. Roland has fixed this by making a new updated LCD screen component.

[edit] Unsolved bugs

It has been reported that the Roland MC-505 will lock up during recording operations if the transport (Stop, Play, Rec, Fwd, Rev) buttons are pressed quickly in succession during a recording process. Upgrading to OS v1.07 fixes this to some extent, as will slowing down button presses when changing Recording Modes.

System Version Procedures: While holding TEMPO/MIXER, PTN/SONG, and PATCH, press keyboard pads 12, 14, and 16 in order. Repeatedly press pad 16 to access SYS version, CPU version, and DAT version. The latest OS is ver. 1.07 to this date, no further updates have been reported, or any plans to make another OS update.

The current unsolved problems at the present moment are:

  • If the Roland MC-505 does lock up, there is no solution but to turn it off and start over. For this reason, it makes sense to back up regularly while recording.

[edit] Used By

B.Fleischmann, Duo505, Akaname, M.I.A., Radiohead, Beck, Chicks On Speed, Peaches, Freddy Fresh and Cibo Matto.

[edit] External links

MC-505 PDF Manual Links:

Other Links:

 This article relating to musical instruments is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Languages