Hey sluts,
tOday I played with my new instrument the Roland underrated synth.'

Yep what pleasure it was
I don't think I have ever programmed a synth patch which come with such great ease!

It was like I did't even need to try to create a patch. It just sort of came to me when I press the play button.
Sure the sequencer is a real bitc% but hell what a sound.
Thank you Roland 80's!

love mine, it can get pretty darn aggressive, do some gnarly bass sub bass, it can do a pretty decent faux 303 i feel too, total bass sub bass acid machine, attack is quick enough for decent kick drums too!

yeah the sequencer is a biatch haha, haven't done any cv mod to mine or anything of the like yet, wish it could hold multiple patterns but whatever it is a great sound source that is surprisingly versatile for how basic it is

umm here are some kick drums i made awhile back with it, love it! (pardon the noise)
natefrogg-mc202kick-samples-0003 202 by natefrogg on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

Nice will check out the sounds.

Yes very fat sounding considering the size thats for sure, I can't get over how light the thing weighs and how quickly you can make a fat bass with out even trying. Bass Patches come almost automatically.
I work on house and techno productions also and I can't get over how nicely it fits into this genre. I had kicks, snares, percussion and bass sounds coming out of it!
Like you say, very agressive sounding, I love it, going to be my got to machine for bass that's for sure.

Nah no mods on mine either, I actually prefer having old gear untouched.
I think i will end up synching this to my TR 909 or an MPC, the sequencer does my head in for real.
But sounds wise it is up there with the best of them for me.

I agree, the 202 got some magic inside. it looks and feels so simplicistic,
but it spits out perfect old skool bass sounds in just a few slider moves.
oscillator is meaty, fliter is liquid, envelopes are extremely musical.
I have many other more expensive/exotic/sophisticate analog mono and polys,
but when it comes to solid basslines I often find myself heading towards the 202.
internal sequencer is a bit of a pain, but also quite fun to program once you get used to it. I have mine hooked up to a doepfer dark time and a kenton usb-solo for more complex and on-the-fly sequencing action. I was a bit scared of the unfamous 202 lag when controlled via cv-gate, but I think mine has been modded by its previous user cause it actually runs in solid sync.

great little synth! handy 2 x sync outs.

you are all making me regret selling mine

rghhh it's true they sound amazing...i've promised myself someday i'll own one OR an sh101 OR a CMU810 cause I hear they are all quite similar. the filter...so edgy and expressive...

So question right here......

Easy to synch to an mpc?
Just getting in to the old vintage and much of it does not have midi.

Ideally what I want is for this thing to play the notes i sequence in Logic 9 After researching, I think I will need a midi to cv convertor.
Anyone no about hooking this old stuff up and hooking it up for ease?

For the record i am on an old vintage hunt, it just sounds to good!

This is what i mean....
I have other analog but seriously this thing is just fat.
Now i want an SH-01......I hear they are the same engines anyway.

Yeah man the SH-01 and the MC 202 Have exactly the same sound engines.
Sure the SH-01 is far better looking.

Just looking at buying a blue one on Ebay, but man they get up high in $.
The MC 202 Is stil cheap for now.

You're getting the SH-101 confused with the SH-01 aka GAIA
Just wanna make that clear.. don't want you to get the GAIA and be all angry at us

MC-202 was my first love,.. know it like the back of my hand (just never got used to the realtime sequencer metronome.. so i always did step seq.. which isn't easy).

btw - there is a little mod that you need to do even if you want to sequence it via CV/GATE. Or else it hiccups.. (sometimes in a good way.. but fix it if you wanna get serious).

SH-101 is phatter than MC-202 tho right?

no clue... personally I like the sound of the 202.. might be more limited, but if I wanted something more complex I would avoid both anyway

I've played many SH-101's and MC-202's.. no two sounded the same... meaning the resolutions of the parameters were always a bit different... doesn't mean one is better than the other tho..

yeah I'm not getting at "what is better"

I once had a MC-202 and thought it was thinner than SH-101, I want to get it again.

saying it's sort of random luck.. I loved my 202 and hated my friends 202 (cause I couldn't get my sounds on his)... maybe re-calibrating it would help? I know nothing about that so forgive my ignorance.

The modification you need to do on the 202 is pretty easy and well documented online, course you have to have a bit of confidence with a soldering iron. After that you need a simple midi - CV (as you know).

The other option is get stuck in learning to program the internal sequencer and get a midi clock - din sync converter to lock it to clock out of your MPC.

BTW what MPC do you have? just asking because they don't all have great sync!!! my MPC1000 syncs fine to some gear but not others. I have a Kenton Pro 2 which has 2 x CV/gates plus DIN out midi ins etc, this unit happens to sync up fine with my MPC but like I said the MPC1000 doesn't send great clock. I recommend Kenton whatever MPC you have.

Okay so getting the Kenton Pro 2 is not enough to get this thing working with my daw via midi. Are you saying I will also need to do a modification is that right?
I have an Akia MPC 2500
Thanks for the reply

yes... know anyone who solders?

Ha ha man I am just a producer, I hate the soldering Iron....
Man this old Vintage sounds fat, but what a headache man....

Arragghhhhhhhh...I am just speaking to one of the tech guys out at Kenton, to see what they recommend.

Man this means I have to do this will all my old gear, man oh man..
What a bitc% this is going to be.

Thanks man!

Not sure, I just know they have the same sound engines, this is what Roland Claims

Ahh don't know, all I know is I want both...

Man I am on a mission I want all the Old Roland Gear in my studio, every bit of it.

So in love with its sound.

JUST looking at a Roland Jupiter 4 at the moment.
Love it all, but man just wish it had Midi you know.

I believe the 101 has noise where as the 202 does not. The amount of phat is largely determined by the operators skill rather than the instrument itself. That besides the point though.

I have a 202 as well, mine runs off the internal sequencer with sync from the Din port on my Cirklon.

Today I was checking CL saw a Kenton ProSolo which I considered picking up as an interface for the Pro-One as I would like more control than just programming it from the sequencer on the 202 which is very time consuming.
When looking at the specs for the Kenton, I noticed that it offers Din sync as well.

Could the OP not use the 202 on its internal sequencer sync it with a Kenton box running sync instead of modding it?

you could play it and record/sample it; din syncing and using the sequencer can be fun with great results too, you'd need a din sync converter to sync to the mpc that way; the cv route would be most flexible but you would need to do that little mod first

Hey Dubtek,

Ya see from all the reading I have done on Kentons website it sounds like no mod is needed apart from there pro 2 machine.
Just plug it up to the Pro 2, and blaw instant midi.

I am however having it all confirmed with Kenton, just waiting for a reply from the tech team.
Crazy machine, fat sounding but hell what where they thinking when creating the sequencer.
Does me head in.
Hence why I want it to simply synch with Logic, just want it to read my Logic 9 midi is all

Hey Nate,
Yeah this is what I currently do, I sample all my old Vintage, just print/record it to Logic via my console.

Sounds fat, ideally though I want it to read my Logic 9 midi notes, as I do much of my work in Logic 9 Piano roll.

This how I kind of use all the new analog, like the Moog, just get in there via midi, perfect.

Yes, you can pick up a kenton pro solo and will be able to send midi note on and note off information to the 202.

Note that the 202 will also hiccup, as previously stated. The CV/Gate Ins on the back are made for inputting data into the sequencer via a CV/Gate keyboard, not for fast live playing. The microprocessor will quantize everything - ie slides will move in semitone increments.

If you wanted to sequence via midi and cv/gate, and not have to worry about note hiccuping and quantizing, you have to modify the board by cutting two traces, and wiring in switchjacks.

Roland MC-202 Mods1 - CV/Gate - cykong.com

Vintage sound comes with a price.

and really, half the fun and funk comes from that sequencer. Input 8 notes, set all notes to 16ths, add a couple slides and accents, set the accent to control the vca and vcf, and turn on looping == better 303 Read the manual on it, it's not hard to grasp really.

Would have to agree with you about funk comes from the sequencer.
I have programmed a few bass lines in there already, its not that I don't know how to do it.
In fact I program all my beats in my TR 909 and track this in to my DAW.

The issue I have with using the sequencer on the MC 202 is this, and it may sound stupid.
You see I write most of my music in a DAW expect the beat which comes from my drum machines. You see the issue I have is I know nothing about notes, so I just draw my notes in Logic 9 and this works for me. I can't play keys none of that stuff.

Now If I sequence in a bass line in the MC 202 and record this in to Logic 9 to use with my other tracks, how do I know what is coming out of the MC 202is at the same root note as my Logic notes.
Hope this makes sense.

Yes I know use my ears, but it is just easier for someone like me with no musical theory or knowledge about notes to use the piano roll in Logic 9.

Well not instant midi in this case.
The 202 has a problem where it passes the cv gate information into the sequencer and then on to the synth when using an external cv gate source. (As I understand it) This causes a lag.That is why the mod is required. To bypass the sequencer.

So you have 2 choices.

1.Mod the 202 to bypass the sequencer and go straight into the synth then trigger it from Kenton box cv gate. This way has more direct control from l as you can program it externally and have it respond straight away with out having to stop to program the 202s sequencer.

2. Program the 202 internally using its own sequencer and the use the Kenton to sync via din and have it play along. It will be quite limited as far as control. No real time control with din sync. It just plays whats programmed and you get to tweak the synth. This is the shorter route to getting it to play along with logic. (You could still mod it later to have it be able to accept cv gate from the Kenton to have more flexibility.

This is why I want a Kenton box for the Pro-One. I want more control over the Pro-One. At the same time I am happy enough to let the 202 play a loop and do a little filtering. My 202 has a mod where the audio into the headphone gets routed to the filter.

Thanks man.
Or I could just simply program using the sequencer in the 202 and just track straight into Logic as I am doing now!

I know what you mean about point number 2, at least it will be in Sync with Logic right. At the moment I just sample it.
At least this way I can have it working along my other tracks in time.
Thanks

I wouldn't call that stupid at all man, you can tab out your basslines in logic, and then once you have the bassline completed and going to the chord progression, enter in all the bassline data into the 202 manually. Then just mute the track that is controlling the bassline in logic. then tweak away

You have a 909 as well? Try this. Out from one of the 202 sync ports in to the sync port on the 909. Now you should be able to get them to play together. It may take a bit of poking around. You will need to set the mode on the 909 correctly. Unfortunately Roland didn't included a sync out on the 909. But hey now your one set closer to jamming out with things hooked up together and thats the point at the end of the day. Now you can record the 909 and a bassline from the 202 going in together.