Roland MC-909 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Roland MC-909 groovebox

Groovebox

The term Groovebox was originally used by Roland corporation to refer to its MC-303, but the term has since entered general use. It refers to a self-contained instrument for the production of live, loop-based electronic music with a high degree of user control facilitating improvisation.A groovebox...

combines the features of a synthesizer

Synthesizer

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

, sequencer

Music sequencer

The music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...

, and sampler

Sampler (musical instrument)

A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...

. It was released by Roland Corporation

Roland Corporation

is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...

on October 8, 2002. This product was announced at the AES

Audio Engineering Society

Established in 1948, the Audio Engineering Society draws its membership from amongst engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or products for audio, and persons working...

Fall Convention in 2002. It is the successor to the Roland MC-303

Roland MC-303

The Roland MC-303 is the first of a series of musical instruments known as a Groovebox. It combines a simple sound module with a sequencer to record and store notation, along with controls aimed at encouraging the musician to improvise the music while it is playing...

, Roland MC-307

Roland MC-307

The Roland MC-307 is a combination of MIDI music sequencer, synthesizer, drum machine and control surface produced by the Roland Corporation. This combination is commonly referred to by Roland as a 'Groovebox'...

and Roland MC-505

Roland MC-505

The Roland MC-505 is a combination of MIDI sequencer/arranger, synthesizer, and drum machine with built-in real-time Arpeggiator, LFO, VCF and Envelope Knobs for tweaking...

, and is the predecessor to the Roland MC-808

Roland MC-808

The Roland MC-808 is Roland's latest Groovebox, announced at the Winter NAMM in 2006. It is the successor to the late Roland MC-303, Roland MC-307, Roland MC-505 and Roland MC-909. Though cheaper than the Roland MC-909, it has a number of features the Roland MC-909 lacked including double the...

Sound generation

The MC-909 has a ROM

Read-only memory

Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...

-based sound generator (sometimes referred to as a rompler

Rompler

A rompler is an electronic musical instrument that plays back samples stored in ROM chips to generate sound. Romplers lack the ability to record such samples and have limited or no capability for generating original waveforms...

.) Its patches are built from up to four tones

Note

In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself....

. The tones are based on waves stored in the machine. Patches can also utilize user-created samples

Sampling (music)

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

. Roland's literature states that the MC-909 has "new-generation XV synthesis", the synth in the MC-909 is a very similar sound engine to that of the XV-5050 64-Voice

In music, a register is the relative "height" or range of a note, set of pitches or pitch classes, melody, part, instrument or group of instruments...

Synthesizer

Module.

The number of PCM waveforms is 693, ranging from vintage synths

Synthesizer

to strings

Strings (music)

A string is the vibrating element that produces sound in string instruments, such as the guitar, harp, piano, and members of the violin family. Strings are lengths of a flexible material kept under tension so that they may vibrate freely, but controllably. Strings may be "plain"...

, drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

s, guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

s and pianos

Pianos

Pianos is a two-story bar/restaurant/live music venue in the Lower East Side section of Manhattan at 158 Ludlow Street.Its stage attracts local and national alternative rock groups as well as DJs, though a more typical performance consists of smaller name local and touring acts...

. It can be expanded by adding one SRX card

SRX expansion board

The SRX are a series of expansion boards produced by Roland Corporation. They are small boards of electronic circuitry with 64MB ROMs containing patches and rhythm sets...

from 12 different cards available.

The MC-909 is the first Roland groovebox

Groovebox

to feature a sampler

Sampler (musical instrument)

. It can record audio from any of the external audio inputs, SPDIF connectors, or import wav

WAV

Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...

and aiff

AIFF

Audio Interchange File Format is an audio file format standard used for storing sound data for personal computers and other electronic audio devices...

files from a computer using a USB port. The sampler

Sampler (musical instrument)

can be upgraded up to a total of 272 MB RAM (16 MB User + 256 MB PC-100

SDRAM

Synchronous dynamic random access memory is dynamic random access memory that is synchronized with the system bus. Classic DRAM has an asynchronous interface, which means that it responds as quickly as possible to changes in control inputs...

or PC-133

SDRAM

168-Pin DIMM

DIMM

A DIMM or dual in-line memory module, comprises a series of dynamic random-access memory integrated circuits. These modules are mounted on a printed circuit board and designed for use in personal computers, workstations and servers...

Module), and the samples can be also be stored on a 128 MB 3.3 volt Smartmedia

SmartMedia

SmartMedia is a flash memory card standard owned by Toshiba, with capacities ranging from 2 MB to 128 MB. SmartMedia memory cards are no longer manufactured.- History :...

card. The unit is also able to store on two 128 MB Smartmedia

SmartMedia

SmartMedia is a flash memory card standard owned by Toshiba, with capacities ranging from 2 MB to 128 MB. SmartMedia memory cards are no longer manufactured.- History :...

cards, if you have larger than 256 MB DATA in its user memory. There are tricks from user forum sites that have found ways to go beyond this limitation using xD-Picture Card

XD-Picture Card

xD-Picture Card is a flash memory card format, used mainly in older digital cameras. xD stands for Extreme Digital.xD cards are available in capacities of 16 MiB up to 2 GiB.- History :...

s as other means for storage.

Sequencer

The MC-909's sequencer is based on pattern based composition. Each pattern has 16-tracks (parts.) Each part is set to a specific patch. There are a variety of editing modes: The main modes allow realtime recording, step recording and TR-REC

TR-REC

TR-Rec is short for TR Recording. One of the Roland Corporation TR-Series drum machines, like Roland TR-808 and Roland TR-909 had these control features. TR-REC mode lets you turn the desired notes on and off using the PADS on the Roland MC-303, Roland MC-307, Roland MC-505, Roland D2, Roland...

recording. In step recording, note

Note

In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself....

s or chords

Chord (music)

A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...

can be added one at a time. In TR-REC

TR-REC

mode, each of the 16 pads represents a point along a musical measure

Measure

- Legal :* Measure of the Church of England is a law passed by the General Synod and the UK Parliament equivalent of an Act* Measure of the National Assembly for Wales, a law specific to Wales passed by the Welsh Assembly between 2007 and 2011...

. This speeds up the entry of percussion tracks. Pattern

Pattern

A pattern, from the French patron, is a type of theme of recurring events or objects, sometimes referred to as elements of a set of objects.These elements repeat in a predictable manner...

s can be strung together into songs.

Performance

The MC-909 includes a number of features for real time performance. These include:

Muting/unmuting parts
Adjusting the level of parts
Turning on and off effects
Adjusting the tempo
Playing notes
Adjusting various parameters such as filter cutoff
Playing phrases on the fly (RPS mode)
Using Arpeggiator on the fly (with editable arp presets)
Twin D-Beam with 4 modes (incl. assignable mode)

Features

Sound generator with 64 note
Note
In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself....

- voice
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...

polyphony
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
16-track sequencer+Tempo/Mute Ctrl Track
16MB sample memory (expandable to 272 MB max.)
SmartMedia card handling (8-128 MB) to store audio and midi files and backup (16MB)
Effects generator (24-bit reverb, two multi-effects processors, compression/EQ and mastering effects)
Large LCD screen
Expandable with SRX
SRX expansion board
The SRX are a series of expansion boards produced by Roland Corporation. They are small boards of electronic circuitry with 64MB ROMs containing patches and rhythm sets...

-series wave expansion boards, SmartMedia cards (smf,wav)
USB port for MIDI and transfer of data (full duplex) and for remote editing (groovemanager)
S/PDIF
S/PDIF
S/PDIF is a digital audio interconnect used in consumer audio equipment over relatively short distances. The signal is transmitted over either a coaxial cable with RCA connectors or a fiber optic cable with TOSLINK connectors. S/PDIF interconnects components in home theaters and other digital high...

input and output plus coaxial I/O (digital)
Line In with selectable sources (line in,mic) for sampling, re-sampling
Dual D-Beam
D-Beam
The D-Beam Controller is a Roland Synthesizers interface that controls sound and effects via hand movements interacting with an infrared beam of light. Although controlled in a similar manner to a theremin, it should not be confused with one. The theremin operates with radio frequencies.It was...

controllers (solosynth, cut+reso, turntable, assignable(midi))
Turntable emulation (pitch control, BPM control, hold, push)
Velocity sensitive pads
V-LINK connecting audio & video in performance

Compared to the MC-505

The follow features are not available on the MC-505 synth:

Sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

ability.
A huge editing LCD screen.
A second D-Beam
D-Beam
The D-Beam Controller is a Roland Synthesizers interface that controls sound and effects via hand movements interacting with an infrared beam of light. Although controlled in a similar manner to a theremin, it should not be confused with one. The theremin operates with radio frequencies.It was...

controller.
Two extra filter modes.
Stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...

waveforms for your patches.
Matrix Control, Random Modify and Fat controls.
A mastering stage that features three-band compression
Audio level compression
Dynamic range compression, also called DRC or simply compression reduces the volume of loud sounds or amplifies quiet sounds by narrowing or "compressing" an audio signal's dynamic range...

and equalization
Equalization
Equalization, is the process of adjusting the balance between frequency components within an electronic signal. The most well known use of equalization is in sound recording and reproduction but there are many other applications in electronics and telecommunications. The circuit or equipment used...

.
Turntable
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...

emulation.
Morphing LFO
Low frequency oscillation
Low-frequency oscillation is an electronic signal, which is usually below 20 Hz and creates a rhythmic pulse or sweep. This pulse or sweep is often used to modulate synthesizers, delay lines and other audio equipment in order to create effects used in the production of electronic music. Audio...

waveforms.
Sample machine gun feature.
Velocity sensitive pads.
Fully editable arpeggios.
Chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...

memory.

The following features are available on the MC-505 but not on the MC-909:

The MEGAMix function.
The Portamento
Portamento
Portamento is a musical term originated from the Italian expression "portamento della voce" , denoting from the beginning of the 17th century a vocal slide between two pitches and its emulation by members of the violin family and certain wind instruments, and is sometimes used...

knob.
The Groove knob. However, the groove/quantize
Quantization (sound processing)
In signal processing and digital audio, quantization is the process of approximating a continuous range of values by a relatively small set of discrete symbols or integer values...

functions are preserved under an editing menu.
The ability to control the individual amount of delay assigned to each part.
The Ad-Lib function from the D-Beam.

Most MC-909 users agree that both machines are different enough to justify keeping both of them and integrate them using a MIDI cable.

Users

The Roland MC-909 was used by the hip hop producer RZA

RZA

Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, better known by his stage name RZA , is an American Grammy-winning music producer, multi-instrumentalist, author, emcee, and occasional actor, director, and screenwriter. A prominent figure in Hip Hop, RZA is the de facto leader of the Wu-Tang Clan. He has produced almost...

while working on the movies Blade Trinity & Kill Bill

Kill Bill

Kill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....

. RZA

RZA

uses many Roland products including the Roland Fantom, MV-8000 & Roland MV-8800. Another artist that uses the Roland MC-909 is Switchfoot

Switchfoot

Switchfoot is an American rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman , Tim Foreman , Chad Butler , Jerome Fontamillas , and Drew Shirley .After early successes in the Christian rock scene, Switchfoot first gained mainstream...

keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas

Jerome Fontamillas

Jerome Earl Fontamillas is a Filipino American musician. Jerome has played in several bands notably with industrial rock band Mortal and Fold Zandura, with long time musical partner Jyro Xhan. He currently plays with alternative rock band Switchfoot as a guitar and keyboard player.In 1985...

for live setups.

Criticisms

The Roland MC-909 received good reviews at tech magazines like Future Music and Sound on Sound

Sound on Sound

Sound on Sound is an independently-owned monthly music technology magazine published by SOS Publications Group, based in Cambridge, UK. The magazine includes product tests of electronic musical performance and recording devices, and interviews with industry professionals...

. However it faced serious competition from the cheaper and more intuitive Yamaha RS7000. Many MC-909 users complained about several operating system bugs at the Yahoo! Groups forum and also Roland Clan Forums. In fact, even when the machine was released in 2002, it took Roland Corporation

Roland Corporation

5 years until some of the more complex bugs (like the inability to store RPS patterns) were fixed in the operating system upgrade v1.23 in early 2007.

Another common complaint refers to the unit's size, which makes it less portable than a laptop with a midi controller.

The sampler, although powerful, lacks the ability to set keyboard ranges for different samples, making it difficult to create realistic sounds from a set of multisamples. There is, however a work-around for this via an external editor on the PC & Mac called: MC-909 Editor Update v3.1, that is freely available for download at this site.

While no longer in production, the MC-909 can be bought these days second-hand at places like ebay

EBay

eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...

for values closer to US$750.00 dollars or higher still if in mint condition.

Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) US$1,795.99 on October 8, 2002 - when they were first released by Roland Corporation**

Unsolved bugs

Several operating system bugs were gradually solved over time; the last operating system upgrade (Version 1.23) was introduced on March 30, 2007.

The current unsolved problems at the present moment are:

Many users complain that there is no sustain in Song Mode, resulting in a noticeable audio gapping between patterns. This is most noticeable as slower tempos. (Although different Machine, see also: MC-808 Roland MC-808#Unresolved issues)
Even when a part is set to EXT, the internal sound engine will continue to produce sounds. You can work this around by assigning a blank patch to that part; however this is not the expected behaviour described in the manual.
Going into MENU (e.g. USB transfer) resets the 909 to Preset Pattern 1 when you come out of menu.
Tracks 6 and 13 will not mute/unmute when pressed at the same time (introduced in v1.22)

There are current unresolved issues with the implementation of effects when switching patterns, but the MC-909 was "designed by specification". Roland might refer to the end users' requests for effects that sustain past the point when the pattern switches as they "developing a future new product".

The last operating system upgrade (Version 1.23), corrected few issue with:

RPS Setting, RPS Mixer WRITE editor of the contents of operation does not save a fixed point.
Import BMP features and functionality Realtime Erase fixed.
Song editing function has been strengthened.
Sounds & Effects strengthened, Stable for tuning various countries. (Roland Corp. Japan Trans: MC-909 VER. History List http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.roland.co.jp/support/downloads/index.cfm%3Fln%3Djp%26SearchBy%3DRcId%26dst%3DP%26iRcId%3D0000012909%26dsp%3D1%26sPrNm%3DMC-909&prev=/search%3Fq%3DMC-909%2BVer.1.23%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4PCTA_enUS245US245%26sa%3DG&usg=ALkJrhhEFk57sczycJzmaxn69XxzanCNYA)

External links

MC-909 PDF Manual Links: