Roland MC-8 Microcomposer

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The Roland MC-8 MicroComposer was introduced in 1977 at a price of around US$8,000 as the world's first digital microprocessor-driven CV/Gate music sequencer.

The MicroComposer could precisely adjust multiple sound producing and effects elements of a synthesizer, such as the VCO, VCF, and other voltage-controlled components very rapidly, which is nearly impossible to do manually by a performer. The MC-8 was designed to work with large complex modular synthesizers such as the Roland System 100 and Roland System 700. It could also be used during a live performance to control lighting by using pre-programmed, timed pulses, and pre-programmed timed voltage levels.

Richard James Burgess and John L. Walters from the band Landscape were the first major commercial users of the MC-8. They began experimenting with computer-programmed music and Burgess's co-designed SDS5 electronic drums in the late 1970s making records in the emerging New Romantic, electronic dance music and synthpop genres. They triggered various synths such as the Roland System 100 and Moogs which also used CV/Gate. Burgess created the drum parts by using the multiplex outputs of the MC8 to trigger the prototype, breadboard version of the SDS5 drum synthesizer. Most of the From the Tea-rooms of Mars... album was made this way and Burgess produced many other tracks this way including the European club hit Angel Face for the controversial group Shock. Burgess and Walters demonstrated the MC-8 on BBC TV's Tomorrow's World.

The MC-8 was based on a prototype developed by Canadian Ralph Dyck, a composer and technologist who did research and development for Roland. Roland switched to the brand new Intel 8080 8-bit microprocessor and added 4 KB of RAM for a capacity of 8 ‘tracks’ or 1,100 notes, which could be entered via the calculator keyboard (the preferred method) or recorded in real-time (not so easy). Backup was via cassette and could take 45 minutes to an hour for a three or four minute piece of music to backup and verify. The memory was dynamic, so a loss of power meant complete loss of data. All parameters were variable so the scale and time-base could be assigned number values to suit the needs of the piece being programmed. This made the machine extremely versatile but somewhat unfriendly to approach for the first time.

Reputedly less than 200 units were sold worldwide but there is no doubt that the MC-8 was a watershed product. It provided storage for variables in analogue sound production, synchronization capability for multi-channel recording (the time-code could be recorded on to a spare track), sufficient capacity for recording full compositions, editing capabilities and rapid access time.

The MC-8 provided eight control voltage outputs and eight gate outputs, as well as a six bit multiplex output with a special seventh bit set aside for portamento control.