Roland MC-101 Advanced Tutorial: 1) Sound Design

This is the first of some advanced MC-101 tutorials I have planned. I really think the MC-101 is a much more powerful device than it gets credit for and I’m excited to share some advanced techniques. Still more beginner lessons coming, I’m thankful for all the positive responsive I’ve gotten and glad I can help everyone on their musical journeys!
I’ve got a new studio set up for recording and I’m hoping to get on a once-a-week upload schedule with tutorials, so stay tuned!
As always comments and questions are very much appreciated!
0:00 Intro
1:50 Track Overview
3:00 Sound Design Overview
9:30 Multi Effects (MFX)
13:30 Arp / Lead Sound
15:00 Chord / Motion Sequence
18:15 Bass / Humanizer Effect
24:45 Drums
30:00 Summary

[@LimeEye13]

This a lot deeper of a device than most reviews touch on. Great video!

[@danielprins7959]

thank you. This is exactly what I wanted to know about this machine.

[@jedinyMartusak]

Amazing man, you tought me so much in these 30 mins! I did not like your beginner tut tbh, but this just opened my mind! And in a lot of unexpected ways too!

[@GhislainLeveque]

Awesome video, great content and really good explanations!

[@dadomat1979]

Thx for sharing your knowledge. Tons of useful informations. 👍

[@riobit]

Thanks Ben. Very neat and useful. Regards from Buenos Aires

[@skarcreative]

Thank you for this. Your videos are very helpful. Cheers!

[@minisynthcollective7822]

Loving your tutorials Ben. Done albums on Volcas , Electron Model Samples and Cycles, ableton etc. Working on a MC 101 album so this is really helping. Thanks

[@mwnable]

Ben, you're the absolute mc-101 magician!

[@iblamesummers]

Still learning this machine but these effects with some of those presets is why sound design-wise this could be a great machine

[@FilippaArendt]

Thank you for your tutorials :)

[@BenCoeMusic]

Thank you for your support!

[@martinrosbier]

23:10 same, me pasó lo mismo. gracias por la serie de videos, muy instructivos para empezar.

[@andyvanderford6083]

THANK YOU

[@stevewoywitka3258]

Great post. I would like to see you do a wish list for the next update👍

[@BenCoeMusic]

Thanks! I could maybe do a feature request, I know there’s things that could be added but honestly for me it’s already pretty perfect haha. Thanks for the idea though and I’ll definitely put together a thoughts and feelings about features/missing features in the future!

[@BeatMax2023]

Cool you could do the MultiFx for each sound different! Very inspiring tutorial again :)

[@AcidAlex]

Very good

[@BenCoeMusic]

Thank you!

[@shmish]

Thanks for the tutorials. Have you figured out how to use the pad chord mode from v1.50 ?

[@adrianaelliott5620]

Hi Ben, what type of DAW will be better to use with MC-101? I'd really appreciate your advice. Keep your videos coming!

[@ndguardian]

Hey, glad to see another video from you. Came out well, as always! Might I recommend mentioning your tutorials on the /r/Mc707_Mc101 subreddit (assuming you're on reddit)? Could help out a ton of people there!

[@BenCoeMusic]

Thanks for the kind words! I haven't been on reddit in a long time, I didn't know there was an MC subreddit. I'll have to check it out, thanks for the tip!

[@franciscoramoncleriguesrov7187]

Xapooo explicación, pain i’m not speak inglés. Bat looking you vídeos repetidamente. Thank you ,you explicación is very good especificatet.

[@videobrownsville]

Thank you Ben. I've looked at your other beginner video and it helped me out. Question. What is the best way to enter chords into the 101? Is it possible to change my scales?

[@matthewelder4000]

I also plan on just using this just for synths by just hooking it up to a midi controller since it has so many sounds

[@BenCoeMusic]

I think it’s great for that! I started with the 101 playing keys in a band and used it for my main sound module. Another neat thing you can do if you use it that way is to have more than one track respond to the same midi channel, and if you do that you can layer more sounds together. That way it’s sort of like a multi-part synth, and you can use a master MFX like a filter to effect the whole thing at once.

[@matthewelder4000]

@@BenCoeMusic yes that's what I'm planning on doing with it i play the electronic drums so i going to use the synths and bass synths off of it to add after i put my drum track down i will still use the drums in the mc-101 as well for Acid Techno and Psytrance when I'm making that kinda music 👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽👽 Long lives Alien3000

[@lwpweb]

i hope the value knob is sturdy enough to bear this heavy duty turning back and forth you demonstrated. With my TR6s i press the shift button while turning much bigger increments delivered, which minimizes intensive turning. I bet the mc101 has this feature as well, Test it.

[@YourFreeBeats]

Agreed about sound design. I am Hardware only (DAWless) and people don’t seem to appreciate the time it takes to crease different voices. When I play a beat, it’s almost always live...but a 5 minute beat might really take me four hours to set up all the voices.

[@YourFreeBeats]

And i grew up on Subtractive synthesis (Im in my 50s) but on my SC I do a lot of beats where I am creating using wavetables (which I LOVE).

[@BeatMax2023]

Inspired by your tutorial I tried to recreate some 303 like acid lines and the related sounds using only the init sound. The MC101 I controlled with my TD-3 bassline (for the generation of the needed notes): MIDI-OUT (TD-3) -> MIDI IN (MC101). I used track 01 as tone track. Both were directly in sync. Perfect. I then assigned a controller (FILTER) for cutoff and one for resonance (MOD). Then I applied a distortion using the MULTI-FX (Shift+Sound). And voila "acid-like" knob feeling. The drums I put on track 04. Very nice. One question it would be even more neat if the cutoff knob of the TD-3 could affect the MC101-Cutoff too. Is that possible?`Maybe something like this: TD-3 -> Controller for cutoff (CC??) -> MC101 assign "Filter" to incoming controller (CC??). As far as I can see it is only possible for ControllerSettings 01 to 04. But maybe I am missing something. Anyway: Thanks a lot for this inspiring tutorial.

[@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene]

There is usually a shift option for resolution of that value knob....have you attempted holding down the shift button while you rotate the value knob to get 10x faster movement?

[@NeoLudditevisons]

Hey!! Just ordered my mc101 🤟 quick question whats the deal with installing a new larger SD card? Do i need to copy over whats on preinstalled SD??

[@alexc.2076]

Great video again! Thank you. A bit off topic but I have a question on using samples on a drum path. When I import a longer sample on a drum path the sample fades out in volume. I tried everything on [the kit edit menu] but so far no luck . Any tips?

[@BenCoeMusic]

Great question! I think the 101 isn’t made for this but I was trying (so far unsuccessfully) to force it to be a stand-alone DJ media player the other day so I have some ideas. You can set the envelope to sustain, so it will play as long as you hold the button. That way it shouldn’t fade out as long as you hold it. I’ve tried this with full songs (up to about 2:30) and it’s worked fine. If you want to not have to hold the pad down, you can record a clip where the button is held down longer than the length of the clip. The easiest way I found to do this was to set the clip length to 32, start record, hold the button down on step 1, then hold it down until after step 16 then release it whenever. Then shorten the clip to 16 steps. At this point, you should have a clip that as soon as you press play on the clip it should play the whole sample all the way through. If you want the sample to start again just restart the clip. You can also have drums or whatever else you want going on the clip, although if you change clips the long sample will stop playing. I think with some work though this is the best method to play long samples. If you come up with anything better let me know. Or if I come back to this problem and find anything more useful I’ll try to remember to make a video and/or reply back to you.

[@alexc.2076]

@@BenCoeMusic Thanks for your detailed reply. I will see if I can manage your solution. I still have a lot to learn on this small beast.

[@tavinhogomes]

U can choose the waveforms? Such as VA, super saw or pcm?

[@NeoLudditevisons]

Great videos!! Do you have any vids on exploring the clip and scene aspect on this? Im interested to know how you build a full set of patterns and various tones/sounds into one project or do you have to load diff projects to do this?

[@BenCoeMusic]

I have this video about clips if you haven’t seen it kzbin.info/www/bejne/bWKaqKJqh7inrMU . It covers general use for how I make songs on it. If you’re looking to make full length (1-2 hour) continuous dance/rave sets I think it’s doable within one project but you’d have to be real creative. You have 16 clips x 4 tracks for 64 clips total. With drum track mutes, performative MFX, live playing with midi controllers, I think it’s doable. I have a small demo for that sort of thing here, that uses 4 clips and goes for 6 minutes, but I think in a party/club sort of situation I could make something last an hour across 16, clips kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6qXq4KOh6ejjJY. Unfortunately loading new projects takes a few seconds of out-of-time silence, so you wouldn’t probably want to do that. There’s another potential way to accomplish this that I’ve been working on that I know some other people are working on too. You can actually load clips from other projects while your track is playing, glitch free. So you could let drums play out on one track and load a whole new song clip-by-clip without ever stopping the sequencer. I’ve tried this a few times for practice and it works alright, takes a little planning but definitely possible. I’ll probably make a video about that soon, but in the meantime I hope this response helps, thanks for checking out the videos, let me know if you’ve got any more questions!

[@NeoLudditevisons]

@@BenCoeMusic hmmm interesting. I will check out the video you suggested. So in short tho is it possible to have different synth, patterns and tones per track in one project?? Im thinking of having a new set up with just trs6 and mc101...currently using 2 electribes atm which i love. I am a hardcore menu diving survivor so mc101 does not scare me

[@NeoLudditevisons]

@@BenCoeMusic ahhhhh this is what im talking about on this video at 45mins: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eH6snKuuZch_hc0 ooohhh man. So one project can be a full set

[@BenCoeMusic]

Ah yes indeed, you can have a different sound on each clip, super useful and fun for doing sets that way.

[@NeoLudditevisons]

@@BenCoeMusic yes exactly my creative brain is on fire with this revelation. What a super powerful machine this is. Total underdog. Game changer for sure the anti-menu diving crew wont like it but sod them!

[@disabledartistsofnorthamer7001]

Hey man. I am using a different account but we spoke before about the MC-101. I just wanted to tell you, I owned an advertising and design firm and we produced short films, commercials and web content and your intro and production quality have greatly increased since the first video I watched. I probably need to re-watch as I am struggling to maximize what I can get out of the Groovebox and just downloaded a bunch of Noize samples. I am not even sure how to use them once I get them, but I am hoping your videos help. Thanks and nice work!

[@BenCoeMusic]

Hi, thanks a lot! This series is really my first attempt at video anything and I’ve spent some time working on production and editing while I’ve been locked inside over the last year. I’m really glad it’s translating to the videos, thank you for the words of support! I hope the videos help you with what you need!

[@necronomicron5367]

This is awesome when you consider you can apply this to any preset. Is it correct that all of this applies equally to the MV-1?

[@GeorgeL909]

This is a fantastic tutorial. Just wondering, can you resample internally then play the sample chromatically. For example, taking 3 presets, sequencing a c note on each of them, then recording or resampling them all at the same time to the 4th track then playing that track like it's own synth with the layered sounds? Like a pcm synth or something. That would unlock huge sound design potentials.

[@BenCoeMusic]

Excellent idea! Right now you can’t do that, but I believe on the MC-707 you can resample then load onto a drum pad which can be tuned chromatically for something similar to what you’re describing, so maybe in the future? In the mean time, if you use an external keyboard or sequencer and the Mc-101 as a sound module, you can set each track to receive midi on the same channel, so with a keyboard you can play it live like a pcm synth just like you’re describing. I’m planning a sound design part 2 video to go into depth on this and some other stuff.

[@GeorgeL909]

@@BenCoeMusic thanks a bunch for that info. That's really helpful! I still want this thing badly though :D

[@LukeLine]

Wow this tone setting area looks cool! This looks like a promising device... how is the battery life on batteries w headphones??

[@BenCoeMusic]

Good question! I’ve never checked to be honest. Roland says “about 5 hours” on 4 AA batteries. I actually use it with this 20800 mAh battery and typically get about 12-13 hours when powering the MC-10. For me it’s the most convenient portable solution. www.pishop.us/product/compact-rechargeable-battery-for-raspberry-pi-20800mah/

[@SisterRose]

damn the effect section is making me want to record in guitars into this thing, wish it had an audio in, i guess i'll have to pre-plan my song and load the riffs into the drum track boo

[@BenCoeMusic]

Yeah, I feel you! I’m strongly considering picking up the MV-1 in addition to the 101, to do exactly that. It looks like that will let you record guitar straight into a drum kit or “vocal” track and off you go.

[@valley_robot]

You can audio in through usb

[@kthxbye1132]

hey, nice vid. maybe you can add your sections to the description so that YT can automatically link to them?

[@BenCoeMusic]

Thanks for reminding me! Done!

[@paulbogan3400]

Is there a way to swap out the sawtooth for, say, a square wave? I went through the manual and I don't see anything, but I could be missing something.

[@BenCoeMusic]

Strictly no, not for the init patch, it’s just the oscillator that it is. But you can use any of these techniques on any of the 3,000+ patches available on the Mc-101. There are a number of lead presets that are similar to square waves, so if you load one of them up and start playing around you might find what you’re looking for.

[@felipefs106]

Is it possible to change the oscillator waveform?. I have the 707 and it allows to pick VA/PCM, etc

[@BenCoeMusic]

Nope, sadly you can’t edit those patch parameters on the 101. You can however load in patches you create on the 707, and as far as I know, the plan is once the Zenology Pro editor is released, you’ll be able to create and edit sounds there and load them into the 101.

[@felipefs106]

@@BenCoeMusic that sounds like an interesting workaround, I've only seen Zenology lite tho

[@BenCoeMusic]

Yeah the pro version with the editing capabilities is due out sometime later this year I think.

[@AslakSkarderud]

Shift+value

[@newts-gaming695]

What are you using as an oscilloscope? Are you passing your output through it somehow? I find that feature in your video really helpful for visualizing the sound

[@BenCoeMusic]

Good question! I’m running the audio through a focusrite 2i2 interface into FL studio where I record the audio. The oscilloscope is a plug-in that comes with that (called wave candy). I screen record that while I’m doing the video and then overlay it on top in post. I think if you download the free demo of FL studio you’d be able to use the visualizer. The demo is fully functional you just can’t load things, but I think you could bring audio in from the 101 and look at it without ever buying the software if you wanted. I’d think there’s easier ways to get an oscilloscope readout though, I just used FL since I was in there recording the audio anyway.

[@sullycliftona]

3?! Years later. Do u still own it ,, I love Roland stuff

[@BenCoeMusic]

Yep! It’s still the centerpiece of my music making, and I still use it almost every day! If you look at my most recent shorts you’ll see me playing my live rig which is built around the mc-101.

[@stevewoywitka3258]

Loop track issues? I had a few

[@BenCoeMusic]

Yeah I think I’ve had looper tracks suddenly stop sounding and the unit needing to be reset to fix it. I don’t use them enough to have put them through their paces especially since firmware 1.5, but I’ll hit them in a future video for sure and I’ll try to make note of the potential pitfalls with them.

[@stevewoywitka3258]

@@BenCoeMusic I sure with a few more updates it will get more attention or even just a loop collector folder of a sort like kp3 file with access from drum sample collection. If you know what I'm saying

[@FOREVERLY]

I was wondering, can I make binaural beats with the MC-101?

[@BenCoeMusic]

Good question! I don't know a lot about binaural beats but I can look into them. You can pan different tracks however you want (and in the drum track you can pan each pad separately), so I imagine it's possible if you're used to producing that sort of thing in other ways.

[@FOREVERLY]

@@BenCoeMusic THANK YOU for your response! I've been trying to find info. On creating binaural beats with a groovebox, but no luck. Debating if I want to spend $499, just for a hobby. I know theres applications out there, where you click with a mouse. I'm more of a hands on girl. Thank you again ✌🏼

[@BenCoeMusic]

Wow ok, binaural beats are a really cool concept! I just spent the last hour or so watching videos about them and how to make them and playing with the 101 and I have some more thoughts! So the MC-101 has the ability to change the master tune of a project by Hz, which is a pretty cool thing, but you can’t tune individual voices that way. You CAN tune each track to different cents (100ths of semi-tones), which (depending on the octave) gives you decent resolution to tune in Hz, either with a tuner or some math. So my first thought was to tune two tracks on the binaural interval you want, and play what you need. That can work, but it uses 2 tracks on the 101, you could record that to a looper track, but that comes with its own issues. Then I realized that using the 2 voice pitch shifter effect, you can have (up to) 3 voices that can be pitch shifted individually AND panned individually. That way, on one track, you can have two voices, panned in opposite directions, that can be tuned to whatever cent interval you want. That way you can have a simple drone that only uses one track. With the init patch like in the video, filter all the way down gives an alright sine wave, and little filter modulations can sound really nice but retain the binaural stuff. That leaves 3 tracks for percussion, ambient sound stuff, chords, and anything else you want. You could conceivably have different clips on that binaural track with slightly different tuning intervals, so over time you could switch from clip to clip to slowly adjust the interval (I saw this was a desired effect in some videos, I guess the idea being to catch up with your brain and ease it into relaxation, like meditative breathing sort of). I can see a whole world opening up with the 101 for this sort of thing, in terms of performance of these types of binaural pieces (whether for other people or on your own in a meditation sort of session). I can imagine some limitations of the MC-101 though, mainly the 8 bar maximum pattern length. This can be managed with clip chaining moving from one section to the next, and it helps length-wise that you can probably play these sorts of things at low-bpm. Also if you’re performing parts of it live, even just simple drones or chords, it can help minimize these limitations. Sorry that was such a long response, I’m kind of excited about these possibilities now haha. Overall I think you could probably manage decent sounding and fun to play/interact with binaural beats type of soundscapes with the MC-101, and it can be rewarding I think to be able to do that sort of thing in such a small package. I think though it could take a little tinkering to get set up to make the process more enjoyable/simple/meditative, but once you have a decent template project sort of established you could go really far with it. I’m finding more and more that the MC-101 really rewards you if you push its limits, it’s incredible what you can convince it to do. Hope that wasn’t way too much information, if you have any other questions feel free to ask!

[@FOREVERLY]

@@BenCoeMusic You're perfect! Thank you for such a indepth response, it definitely sheds more light on the MC-101! After reading your reply, makes me want it that much more 🤞🏻 Earlier today, I started thinking of other instruments can I use, I thought of a piano. Which I actually have and never used. So, I busted it out of the closet, and its box. Its a Casio CTK 2090. Checked out all the tones. I'm a little bummed, the piano Hz ranges from 415.5-465.9. I dont have a lot to play with when it comes to the frequencies. I can probably combine the two, the piano, and the MC, if I were to get it

[@jlphotographic]

Accidental Psycho Killer intro at 26:00...

[@AppAxis]

You know I love your videos. But always strive for louder videos. This vid is almost 10db lower than others in the space. KZbin can turn down volume, but they will not raise levels for you. Cheers! #StatsForNerds

[@BenCoeMusic]

I actually didn’t know that at all. I somehow thought their normalization would take care of that, so I didn’t pay any attention to overall volume. Thanks for the tip, I’ll work on it in the future!

[@gctechs]

Update 1.60 is out!

[@BenCoeMusic]

Sure is! Just shot a video about it, should be edited and uploaded soon!