Roland MC-707 Closer Look

In this video I cover some of the more obscure features on the Roland MC-707 Groovebox that the reference manual does a less-than-satisfactory job of explaining. Hopefully this will help you realize the vast sound design potential of this nifty machine.
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[@bitmaster2000]

Thanks bro

[@tarekith]

A lot of the same conclusions I came to, this box is a lot deeper than most people give it credit for. The ability to have individual knob assignments per clip is great, not to mention being able to name them all something unique. Sadly, no unique color assignments...yet!

[@444levels9]

could you please do a video on the new update features, and anything else you could add about the sampling features that you've discovered?

[@trevormalcolm4328]

Great video! I’m just getting around my newly bought mc-707 any chance of a update video featuring sampling modes (1.20 firmware)

[@MythMakerMusik]

Yea I've just started figuring out the sampling. I've been using elektron gear for that, so I've been spoiled haha. I'll get to it eventually!

[@weisland2807]

Thanks man, I was about to mine go before realizing the track/clip sound source bit. It was in the manual, but I guess I didn't read it. Do you know if it is possible to lock different pitch to steps on a separate pad on a drum track? Would you have to sacrifice on of the control knobs to do automation? Great tutorial! So hard to find the useful tips for peeps already owning the device, it's usually product presentation type stuff.

[@MythMakerMusik]

You can change the pitch per pad in the sound settings of the track or in the sample settings. But if you want to sequence pitch changes, you do have to sacrifice one of the three knobs by setting it to the fine tune or course tune parameter, then press the record motion button. What you are doing is recording the motion of the knob, not the parameter that it's set to; so if you change the knob assignment to something else, the sequence will now change the values of that parameter according to the motion you recorded into the sequencer. That's how I've done it. I haven't been able to figure out a way to sequence anything other than the knobs.

[@GrootsieTheDog]

128 steps - moving on. Or should I say, Roland should move on from the 80s. Small startups are making groove boxes now as well. Roland needs to...step up their game - no pun intended 😀

[@MythMakerMusik]

Which startups are making grooveboxes? I'd like to check them out.

[@GrootsieTheDog]

Myth Maker So yea, Roland has done much for electronic music but large corps like them and Korg have a business model: Sell lots of synths. And they do that very well because aside from making decent products that are relatively affordable, they also know that to keep up their profits, they have to sell synth to people who have already bought their synths. There are new companies who are making synths for the purpose of giving the tools electronic musicians want to make music - full stop. They would rather have slow growth to cultivate a strong community of users and give them everything they want instead of tempting them with more and more equipment. Here is an excellent article about Synthstrom Audible and their business model and illustrates why they are so completely different than a company like Roland and Korg: thespinoff.co.nz/business/28-12-2019/after-the-deluge-the-wellington-made-synthesiser-storming-the-music-world/ * As a great example, the Roland groovebox series has nothing to do with their users - they’ve changed them drastically over the years with each model, never providing much support as far as updates and definitely no regard for those using them. The 303, 505, 909 - all had great potential, many people bought the m but they had some serious short coming and flaws. The 909 especially - Instead of building on a potentially mind blowing box (the 909 with its flaws is still cooler in some respects than the new 707 - and that was almost 20 years ago!) they just abandoned it. Just as they have abandoned their previous boxes for the new 707.

[@JeromeEugèneMorrow-c1c]

Thanks a lot !!!!

[@housemachine509]

Does it sound flat?

[@djthatguysmitty]

Solid info! I’ll have to play with those features in my next jam session with my 707!

[@jimmymcghee1411]

Can a video be made using mc 707 with ableton 10 suite?

[@MythMakerMusik]

I actually don't use Ableton. Sorry!

[@SyntheticTree]

A whole new world of music production on obsolete cheap micro screen. Jesus, what were they thinking about? This little box without a doubt is decent but for menu navigation I can't really get it. I know people always complain about the computer being main distracting factor and after all the complaints they came up with such a box with such a little screen from where the whole box is controlled... Ok it might be inspiring for someone but for a sane music producer the purchase can hardly be justified.

[@MythMakerMusik]

For sure. The way I see it, it's for live performance. Instead of carrying a bunch of synths, drum machines, mixers and effects, you can just bring this one box in your backpack.

[@groundswells3715]

Great vid. Very usefully info on knob assignment. One thing for new users. When Playing an 8 bar drum clip, then changing the clip. If you want the clip to play to the end of the 8 bars before changing to the next clip the master clock needs to be set to 128 steps. By default it's set to 16 steps. Press shift and tempo to find step len.....

[@SyncdAlien]

Bravo! 👍 Very detailed tutorial! 👍

[@nexuzeb79]

Excellent! More on the 707 please! Saves time for loads of people!

[@MythMakerMusik]

I'm workin' on a few more videos for it. They'll be much more musical but hopefully still instructive.

[@nexuzeb79]

More please!!! I'm so in luv with this thing, the options seems endless almost and I love the menu diving no matter what they label each command..... Dude, you nailed the deeper and really interesting details about this fabuloous amazing device... Inspiring and I love my piece even more!!! Thanx!!!

[@2plycollectivearchives354]

Great video! Thanks for this! A newbie question for you if I may. For some reason, I can't get the delay to work on a drum track. Sending to tone tracks works fine. Can anybody help? What am I missing? Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[@MythMakerMusik]

Sorry for the late response. If you highlight the drum clip/track that you want to edit, you can click the "sound" option and scroll to the right where it says MFX and use a master delay effect from there which will effect the entire drum track. However, if you want to just effect one pad, you can click "sound" and select the pad you want to edit, then push "enter" then hit "pad edit" then scroll to "ctrl" and I noticed that "delay send" is set to 0 by default while reverb is set to 60 by default. Perhaps this is your issue.

[@2plycollectivearchives354]

@@MythMakerMusik yes this is probably it. A million thanks for taking the time ro explain this!

[@MythMakerMusik]

@@2plycollectivearchives354 No problem! :)

[@frankjuno8808]

11:56 "I don't know why they are saying COMMON, if it is in fact settings per Pad" - I think that is because the settings are common to all 4 WAVE slots on that Pad.

[@InkyDaCaT]

Thank you....Nice...but I stick to mpc live with launch xl mapped to it...seems easier.

[@FunkyBarberFilms]

Really good informative video. Thanks for taking the time to do that.

[@zhugeliang1000]

Hey thanks for the time you spent on this and the insightful info within. This piece of gear is on my radar.

[@CosmicSynergy]

Awesome video, thanks!

[@necronomicron5367]

Not half as Close as i was expecting. Hoping for demo of swapping out/importing clips while actually playing? The technique of using an entire track for Kicks, Snares, etc..The ESx/ES2 is all over that with sliced samples - and you end up with 16 tracks not 8. That's been going on for decade at least ... having an MC101 this convinced me the 707 is not worth the money as it now stands.

[@MythMakerMusik]

An understandable complaint. This groovebox certainly doesn't have the sample switching speed of an Elektron Digitakt. But I'm not sure I understand your criticism of using an entire track for particular drum sounds. I would still use an entire track for kicks, snares, etc. even if this could swap samples on the fly. If I'm using per track EQ's and effects and using the volume sliders, I don't want to process my snares the same way in which I'd process my bass drums.

[@aloharay]

awesome tips for getting to less than obvious settings

[@oscillated139]

Really helpful. Thanks.

[@luimack6205]

10 minutes in and I haven't heard sh*t 😕

[@solaryzer]

Great tutorial :-)

[@royfulchers]

Great info thank u !

[@liljons6753]

When can i see one with a skin?

[@greyroom6730]

Thank you for putting this out, good job! I'm still in research mode and am thinking I'll go with the 707 or the MPC Live...same price point, but the MPC seems to have more features for the money....the 7" touch screen and editing make me lean towards that...yet, I'm still drawn to the 707...

[@MythMakerMusik]

If you primarily use samples, the MPC is probably better. But if you're into synths, the 707 has two very robust synth engines (Virtual Analog and PCM) and two noise synth engines. I mostly use synths and spend a lot of time designing sounds from scratch. The only samples I really ever use are one-shots for drums. So the 707 suits me perfectly. As far as I know, the MPC doesn't have a synth engine. (But you could always loop a short sample, add an envelope, and you have a sort of PCM synth.) If you're into Akai gear, the main competition with the 707 would be the Akai Force. That has four very nice built in synth engines and is well suited to live, clip-launching performances. However, no micro-tuning scales (which is essential for a nerd like me!). It's also 500 bucks more expensive.

[@gossamyr]

@@MythMakerMusik the mpc live has 3 synth engines(mono bass line, a rhodesy key thing and something called a tube synth, which I assume is some form of subtractive/va). Best 707 vid to date by the way, well done

[@maccagrabme]

@@gossamyr I doubt they sound better than the zencore synth engine in the 707.

[@gossamyr]

@@maccagrabme I seriously can't imagine that they would, the mpc crowd is a whole other thang though :)