Roland MC-505 Tutorial Part 3 - Effect Settings

[@feralferret]

My favourite effect on MC505:- Slicer. Such a versatile little effect. Phenomenal for pads, with a little tempo delay and reverb.

[@NunyaB1s]

Mine is the lo-fi effect.

[@TC-fj2bk]

Had a 909 in college, but it was way too crazy for me. I have some great gear now, but I just purchased a one owner 505. Super excited to get into this machine... Love all of your vids.

[@LousyFacelift]

Yeah, great choice! I mentioned it in one of my videos - be prepared for display problems if this hasn't yet been fixed but when you have that sorted out - amazing machine! All in all I prefer it over the MC-909 for its workflow and some of its functions but I own both and they are both great imo... It's a steep learning curve but also tons of fun!

[@TC-fj2bk]

@@LousyFacelift I am prepared for either the hot iron technique or just a new replacement. Thanks for the reply, love the channel...

[@LousyFacelift]

@@TC-fj2bk Alright, thank you! Wishing you great fun with the MC-505! 😊

[@laviejaguardia1900]

This is gold for understand my 307 mate, I think so the option menus are very similar but the access to settings is not as straightforward with fewer buttons on the panel. Thank you so much man

[@LousyFacelift]

Thanks for the positive feedback!

[@NunyaB1s]

This was my first ever piece of music kit.* I thought i knew it forwards and backwards, but I never made the connection between the * on the effects and the mute panel over by the bank section. Maybe because I programmed all my effects changes via sliders? You did an awesome thing here!

[@NunyaB1s]

I remembered now... part of why I never worried about effects mutes was that I always felt that few of the patches were good enough on their own: You need the chorus effect to make just about anything not sound dry and clinical.

[@LousyFacelift]

@@NunyaB1s Hmm... it doesn't sound dry and clinical to me at all and I don't use the chorus effect much. Check out the common function page for complex va synthesis options. It's quite impossible to manage without the manual but sound design can get incredibly deep and even some of its preset pads and strings sound lush and warm imho.

[@NunyaB1s]

@@LousyFacelift I'm not sure how I can describe it, but write a basic drum loop with the 909 or even the 808 kit. Then compare it to any period record and you'll notice that something's not quite popping. It doesn't sound as analog as the originals, which is no surprise. If you want those kicks to punch in a mix, drop the chorus on 'em. Just A/B them on the unit, you'll know instantly what I'm talking about. The chorus makes those sounds live and breathe. The other trick I'd use is to create a kick patch on track 1 to back up or syncopate with the kick on R. That kick patch would have two tones hard panned left and right (or nearly, you need to play with it) and one dead center. soundcloud.com/fallingtoshadowsdimmer/sets/early-demos-and-moods Here, "Track 3 - Desolate" virtually everything is run through the chorus. There was no other post production done to get any of those sounds, but that "analog juiciness" only happened because of the chorus. The Juno Patch at ~49s was soo good I sampled it before I gave the 505 away. Yes, you can get warmth out of it, but I guess I'm talking more about analog "juicyness" than about some of the strings and pads, which are warm, but (try it) sound even better with the chorus.

[@g.r.yroots8060]

Hi first I wanna thank you for the videos, second a have to ask, can you make a video of you playing a entire set? I wanna know how make turn overs, change the songs, and record as one set. Thanks again!

[@LousyFacelift]

Marcos Barreto I wish I could do that but so far I haven't written an entire set for the 505. For the moment I want to explain basic operation of the machine and talk about the confusing things that could throw you off.

[@panzi45]

Thanks for all your vids, i have watched many of them over time, since i have a Electribe EMX, Roland TR 8 and Behringer RD 8 :) One remark: If you could add timecodes for the smaller functions to your videos they could be even more useful, since they are quite long and sometimes cover a lot of stuff.

[@LousyFacelift]

Yes I know but I don't think I want to do that and here's why - My videos are not always so well structured and thought out, I never write a script and I don't cover every aspect I mention in a very detailed way. I'm not loopop who does all this extremely well in his reviews. I would run the risk of raising high expectations and it could backfire in a bad way. My videos are different from loopop's - Someone who's pressed for time SHOULD NOT WATCH! I sometimes babble on about things and repeat myself three times and I realize that can be annoying to some viewers. But I'm also doing this for my own enjoyment in a way and part of that is to simply present myself the way I am and then have a conversation in the comments with those who like to talk to me on specific stuff. I totally appreciate when viewers send in a list of timecodes for the topics and there's a good chance I will pin that comment but then it's a different thing coming from them, you know? Oh yeah and also I'm just too damn lazy... 😉

[@panzi45]

@@LousyFacelift haha thanks for the quick answer, and yeah i understand that its way more work doing it with this kind of structure.

[@TA-kv3nm]

care to share if there any effects that make some of the bass patches for useful? I'm trying to find new inspiration in this machine and I've very much ignored pretty much all the EFX's that are hidden in the menus.

[@LousyFacelift]

There are some great sounding fx in the 505, I just wish there were more of them. I like the Lo-Fi a lot for drums and bass but also the overdrive and distortion or the compressor. The slicer can be a lot of fun, too. Also try making a nice metallic flanger effect with the short delay by using a high level and long feedback rate.

[@tonydavidson968]

Hi I've just paid for a505 love your videos and want to ask if when it arrives would you be up for helping me get to grips with it. I have played keyboards all my life and finally think its time to start making my own music.😃 🎹 🎶

[@LousyFacelift]

Tony Davidson You can always write me a comment with your questions and I'll try to help you.

[@flare242]

So you can save EFX settings with drums, that's great, i was looking for this exact function. The manual says that i can't save effect settings with patterns. Can i save it with tonal patches though? I would love to be able to setup what you're doing in this tutorial for drums, but do it for tonal patches or their individual voice components. Is that possible? Looking through the manual - i can't seem to find it. Also, is there a way to save effect settings as presets? That doesn't seem to be possible either. It would be extremely annoying to have to set-up the effect settings for parts 1-7 from scratch everytime i switch on the unit... Thanks for all your tutorials and feedback again, it's very helpful!

[@LousyFacelift]

There are some things in how the 505 handles effects that still confuse me, too. I think it actually is possible to store effects settings in a pattern but they are not always applied when the pattern is played back in the middle of a pattern chain. So for example when I start pkaying a pattern using the short delay and without pressing stop I switch over to a pattern in which I was using the long delay, it will still play with the short one. If I press stop and then switch to the second pattern though, it will give me the long delay. It males sense in some situations but can be annoying in others. There might be a way to program effects changes with a controller for midi commands but I haven't tested yet.

[@flare242]

@@LousyFacelift And can you save fx settings with a specific patch? Somehow "wire" certain patch to always use distortion for example? They seem to be completely patch independent. There's a way to assign fx to parts, but not to a patch (that i know of). It's odd, knowing that you can do it for individual drum sounds but not for whole patches... smh... For now i set that aside and started discovering the huge mess of four different recording modes. :-D

[@flare242]

@@LousyFacelift I think that 505 is always moving the currently playing pattern to the "temp" section of its memory. That would explain what's happening to you with the long/short delay. The "current" fx setting in the temp memory overrides stored fx setting. At least that would be my guess...

[@LousyFacelift]

No, you cannot save specific fx with a patch. You have only three effects (reverb, delay and mfx) for the whole pattern. You route a part to the effects in the part mixer by defining send levels for reverb and delay and by addressing the mfx unit in the EFX /OUT section. To assign a part for one of the individual outs you need to use the SHIFT button.

[@LousyFacelift]

@@flare242 Yes, I think so, too (about overriding the stored fx settings).

[@madmikedynamite6083]

thanks for these videos they are great. Do the effect parameters save with the patterns. I'm have trouble saving mine. They seem to revert to deafult everytime I write the pattern. All the reverb, Delay & efx setting seems to revert to defualt. The manul seems to indicate they are save per pattern but I can't get it to save them.

[@LousyFacelift]

I just ran into the same issue, funny I haven't noticed earlier. I'm not too sure but please check if these settings get stored in the MUTE CTRL part. Simply select this part after you press REC and then save as a user pattern.

[@madmikedynamite6083]

@@LousyFacelift yeah it seemed like mine wasn't saving any of the effect settings with the pattern, They seemed to be reverting to default once I changed patterens or powered off. I've run factory reset and they seem to be saving now. Maybe I changed a setting somewhere that a reset fixed? Luckily I didn't have a great amount of data I wanted to back up. On a plus side I now know it's relatively easy to sysex dump a pattern and restore it.

[@LousyFacelift]

michael engstrom It's the effect type selections you start out with that seem to be the problem. For example the 505 will pick up on switching from long to short delay while recording the pattern no problem but having the pattern start out with the right effects type can be problematic. It seems like it's always using what has last been selected. So I think your initial settings for each pattern must be saved in the MUTE CTRL part but I don't have the 505 with me at the moment. I will check on this as soon as I get home and let you know.

[@LousyFacelift]

michael engstrom OK, this what I found in the manual and the more I think about it it makes more and more sense...page 79: "If you switch patterns while playback is stopped, all effect settings will be updated. However, if you switch patterns during playback, reverb and delay parameters other than Part Reverb Level and Part Delay Level will maintain the values of the previous patttern." This is exactly what caused a lot of confusion for me but it makes a lot of sense not to get any sudden parameter changes that could ruin the flow when switching from one pattern to the next. So that means I was wrong, the MUTE CTRL part has nothing to do with it. It's all supposed to work the way it does.

[@madmikedynamite6083]

@@LousyFacelift yeah that actually makes sense. Could Have sworn I was stopping play back, but must not have been doing this. Oh well, every day is a day in school :)

[@guillermorayabatanero6623]

Hi friend! I'm facing issues trying to assign individual fx to rhythm parts, instead I got whole drum parts assigned, it takes not effect applyng individual dly, rev, efx though I'm editing i.e snares, why?

[@LousyFacelift]

OK, just to be clear - you can only run three effects simultaneously in the MC-505 - a reverb a delay and one effect from the multi fx section. Please watch my other video, I'll send you a link, wait for it...

[@LousyFacelift]

Here it is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/inapf2iufraNpqMsi=DDo4PIX0wczP9ZAf

[@guillermorayabatanero6623]

@@LousyFacelift thx I'll check it!! Anyway my problem is that if I put i.e. for snare part, rev=0, the snares sounds anyway like global assigned rev, and the same for other drum parts

[@LousyFacelift]

@guillermorayabatanero6623 Ahh, there is an important setting that I mention in the video but it's easily overlooked. When you have the rhythm part selected you need to set the part mixer to EFX/OUT and press the TEMPO/MIXER button in the display section above the part mixer. Then hold down SHIFT (!) and use the slider of the rhythm part. You'll see the assignement change from DRY to EFX, to DIR1, to DIR2 and lastly RHY in the display moving the slider up. Only when you have the rhythm part set to RHY you can make use of the individual tone settings for the rhythm part when in edit mode. Don't forget to store this setting for the drum kit using the write command and make sure to find a patch slot that doesn't contain a rhythm kit you wish to keep.

[@guillermorayabatanero6623]

@@LousyFacelift you were right, I missed that section, finally I've got it!! Thanks for your detailed explanation :)

[@terrordome426]

Hey man! I’m trying to get reverb on a snare in R part. But I don’t want other drums sounds from the Rhythm part have reverb, just the snare. Is there a way? By the way I saw some nice documentary on the Hansa studios in Berlin, really cool to see, it got some history also for electronic music. Maybe a good watch think it’s on KZbin also. Hope you can help with the reverb on snare thing! Enjoy ur day

[@LousyFacelift]

Terrordome Yes, the confusing part is that these individual effects level settings for the rhythm part will only be applied if you confirm using them in the mixer. Press TEMPO/MIXER in the display section, then select EFX/OUT for the part mixer. Now hold down shift and move the slider for the rhythm part all the way up until you see the letter R in the second row underneath the letter R that represents the rhythm part. If you have D, E, 1 or 2 selected the individual effects level settings will be ignored. Thanks for letting me know about the documentary, sounds very interesting! 😀👍

[@terrordome426]

Ahh thanks so much man for your reply, much appreciated!! Really cool. I’m going to try it tonight! Enjoy ur evening peace ✌🏻

[@terrordome426]

Okay I got that, didn’t know about holding shift and moving the R slider, but now I’m still figuring out how to add reverb to the snare, and no reverb on the drum kick? Thanks for helping

[@LousyFacelift]

Terrordome You do this by assigning different send levels to all the drum instruments. Watch again from 11:00 min... Also make sure that the levels for each effect unit aren't turned down, so press "Function" so that the key starts blinking, then move the knobs for reverb and delay all the way up, then deactivate the function knob again to avoid any confusion.

[@terrordome426]

Oh wow I get it now, this is really cool!! Thanks so much man 🙏🏼 I will definitely be using this, damn this machine got many cool features. Thanks for helping out again, really really appreciated!! Bless you

[@tonydavidson968]

Thanks ma man

[@rabbisnail]

Any chance you have MC 808? and want to do a guide on that as well? :)

[@LousyFacelift]

Sorry man... thanks for watching anyway!

[@rabbisnail]

@@LousyFacelift you've helped me with understanding few things about my 505 so thanks for that!

[@LousyFacelift]

Kamil Bartłomiejak Glad it helped you out, thanks for letting me know! The MC-808 seems cool, I never had the chance to check it out though.

[@rabbisnail]

USB connection is basically useless with modern day pc's at least when it comes to midi. haven't tried the storage mode to transfer samples yet. midi in works well though so you can somehow implement it in to a setup. I just got mine two days ago and still trying to figure out how to make the best use of it.

[@giulia4748]

hi!! I’m trying to effect the instrument channels. i want to effect just one channel with one tipe of effect and the others channels with others tipe of effects but i can not make it!! help! :')

[@LousyFacelift]

OK, first of all, you have three different effects altogether (reverb, delay and one selectable from a number of multi effects). This means not every track can have a dedicated effect. You can send multiple tracks to the same effect (or number of effects) though and use different send levels so that one track might be affected more drastically than another. This is done in the mixer section when you have either REVERB, DELAY or EFX/OUT activated for the mixer. In addition to setting the levels for the signals that get sent to the effects you can also raise or lower the level of the three different effects themselves, when you press [FUNC] so that the light starts blinking red and then use the knobs for each effect to control their output levels. You can also mute effects units by holding down [*] in the effects section and press the keys in the BANK section which are also labelled *Reverb, *Delay and *EFX. When in Patch Mode, press [SHIFT] and one of the keyboard pads 5, 6 or 7 for more detailed settings for each effect. If you make changes you wish to keep, don't forget to save your pattern before switching to the next or turning the machine off.

[@giulia4748]

@@LousyFacelift thanks!!!

[@LousyFacelift]

giulia panchetti You're welcome! :)