Roland MC-101 : Gain Staging // How to set faders & velocity for zero db

[@wickeddubz]

Such underestimated video, but one of the most useful videos ever made about 101 settings. Thanks for the research! I’ll raise a cup of tea for your health today

[@JGlassy]

Thanks much for this detailed walk through of gain staging on the 101! I often use mine in a studio context, so this cleared up a lot.

[@BenCoeMusic]

This video is great, super useful explanation for how the volume coming out of the 101 works, full of good tips for mixing it with external gear. I think the mix level option is intentionally redundant, it was added in an update and I think I remember at the time they said it was added so you didn’t have to mix with the faders. That way we can use “level” to do your side chaining trick, “mix level” to actually mix, and the faders to perform fades and stuff. That’s what I do anyway, but it leads to lots of menu options that can be confusing. But now I can send people to this video when they ask about how to get more sound out or into their DAW! So thanks for the clear explanation!

[@teabreakbeats]

Ah - cheers, i see, so Kit Level can be used in the same way I stick a Utility in Ableton to do my volume automation so I can still adjust overall "Mix Level" without redoing all the automation curves! Great trick.

[@droussel7359]

I'll be getting my 101 this week and going through all your videos😅 I hope you'll continue to post these!

[@teabreakbeats]

Nice! Have fun making beats and don't worry I'll keep the videos coming!

[@vertigev]

Very thorough and interesting, thank you!

[@teabreakbeats]

Thanks for watching

[@soma_rc]

I love your analytical approach. Thanks for sharing!

[@teabreakbeats]

I appreciate that! Thanks for watching

[@DennisdeWeerd]

Thanks! Nice video! The MC-101 is a device with quite some complexity, and these kind of video's really help. I LOVE the MC-101! While i'am at it: Is it normal dat decay/release don't work for imported samples on a drum track? Also, i am really trying to find a way to adjust the note length of all the notes in a chord simultaniously. This can be done on the MC-707, but i haven't found a way to do this on the MC-101, which is a bit of a pain.

[@visisydandthevoid]

Awesome work.

[@teabreakbeats]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@giantmecha]

Great video! Do you know if there’s a way to set the faders to control pitch or other parameters, rather than volume? Thanks

[@teabreakbeats]

Hi thanks for watching. Not that I know of, the faders are always set to volume. I think you can use an external midi controller with faders to control some MFX parameters: You can use MIDI messages such as control change messages to control the principal MFX parameters. This capability is called “MFX CONTROL (multi-effects control).” The editable parameters are pre-determined according to the MFX type. You can specify up to four parameters for multi-effect control. To use MFX CONTROL, you’ll need to specify which MIDI message (Source) will affect which parameter (Destination), and how greatly (Sens).

[@x8cookiemonster8x]

Thanks man, that was helpful!

[@teabreakbeats]

Cheers - thanks for the support

[@AleksSHAGI]

Very useful video! Thank you!

[@teabreakbeats]

No worries - thanks for watching!

[@Rialas]

A little ocd-dish, I set it to there or thereabouts 😀. Nice video.

[@teabreakbeats]

thanks for watching through my OCD!

[@ArunKumar-pr5ly]

Thanks for this info! Am facing an odd issue on my device, which is that on my drum track (track 1), the volume never goes to 0 even if the faders are set to the lowest value, I still hear the sounds. Is this normal? or is there any setting to set it to -infinity. It sounds like the drum sounds are bleeding into other tracks as well even when the drum track 1 fader is all the way down. Any fix for this?

[@teabreakbeats]

That is very strange...is there a send effect on track 1 going to a delay or reverb on the master track or something? That is the only thing I can think of

[@ArunKumar-pr5ly]

@@teabreakbeats ​ Thanks for your reply! Even I couldn't figure it out, send effect wasn't the problem, tried resetting even. Strangely, looks like the 1st fader on my device itself has some issues!! :( even when turned down, the drum sounds come from other tracks, but sometimes when I press them hard at certain angles they disappear! some sort of hardware issue I guess. Hope it can be fixed. Never faced these kind of quality issues on Roland products before. But I still love the MC 101 :)

[@teabreakbeats]

@@ArunKumar-pr5ly that is super strange - I hope it is still under warranty?

[@ArunKumar-pr5ly]

@@teabreakbeats Yes, luckily it is still under warranty. Trying to co-ordinate with the seller regarding the issue. Fingers crossed.

[@Chalkiasemail]

But what was the pad volume of your sample;

[@teabreakbeats]

3:31 Pad 1 Level - It was set at 127 (Max)! Thanks for watching

[@KiTnKyra]

Thanks for the video. Super interesting!

[@teabreakbeats]

Thanks for watching!

[@AcidAlex]

You have too much time on your hands ;-)

[@teabreakbeats]

Haha - I probably should spend some more time making music than figuring out db settings!