An all in one techno music production studio, this machine has it all. A massive collection of professional and coveted electronic synth and drum sounds, effects, built-in real-time VCF and envelope knobs for tweaking, a sequencer/arranger, and many other great additions. This is the successor to the MC-303 and is now much more advanced. Its sounds will be familiar to any techno-head.

The LFO and resonant filters allow quick and easy sound manipulation. The new D-Beam allows you to randomly tweak your sounds by passing your hand over an infrared beam! It has a great sequencer for building your songs (with groove quantizing and part level faders for mixing) as well as many idea catchers like the phrase sampler and arpeggiator.

This is an all-in-one music machine that's great for DJ's or anybody else who wants to create slamming dance tracks. Designed as a stand alone machine, they do not work quite as well when incorporated into a multi-synth keyboard rig. It's perfect for beginners and advanced users, but offers the most possibility to those who will use it exclusively. By the way, in comparison to the MC-303, this is far better especially in the quality and quantity of sounds! It is used by Beck, Chicks On Speed, Peaches, Freddy Fresh, and Cibo Matto.

Pip Squeak

January 11, 2010 @ 10:57 am

Part Two

I boycotted buying Roland products for a while espescially on items another manufacturer might make also. Which in my book is a shame because I've been buying Roland ever since the SH1000.

So for me, 8/10 without accounting for the display issues, or 3/10 with display issues. (You need to see what you're doing when you're doing it - like the names etc.).

Very, very disapointed with Roland over this display issue.

Pip Squeak

January 11, 2010 @ 10:56 am

Part One:

I like this machine a lot for all the things it can do like Midi control over other synths, pattern sequencer real time control etc.

What I didn't like was that the display pixels went on it and Roland would not replace the display screen under some sort of 'hidden warrantee'. Which is a shame because it seems just about all the ones I've seen listed for sale have the same issue.

Since I use it as a 'band in the box' with my original patterns to play against, I needed that screen fixed. So at great expense to me, another screen was customized for my MC 505 by techs. It cost me just over $200 to get it repaired.

Part Two to follow...

tweekaholic

January 8, 2010 @ 5:15 pm

When I started using the mc-505 it was after using the mc-303 for several years. It was great for the moment, but lacked the sampling that the mc-909 would soon have. The sounds are like that of the mc-303 with a similar user interface. It was a great drum machine when it came out, and was really reliable on the road, easy to program, and sounded great. Personally, I love the sounds out of these old boxes. The d-beam was a really cool addon. I was able to make just about any type of music off this thing, and I played on this for a couple of years and traded it in for a mc-909 when it came out. Overall, if you don't need any sampling, it is a great box.

laurent

November 20, 2009 @ 5:23 pm

Sound design on this box can be frustrating but
the peak filter can produce some fun results.
Only a few waveforms are usable and drums are too
compressed.
Sequencer is overloaded after recording 2 knob movements.
So....my 505 is something like a toy I use once in a while........

Johan

August 30, 2009 @ 5:04 am

I first had an MC-303, but it really is very limited compared to the 505. One of the most important features of the MC-505 is the elaborate 8 channel step sequencer which can either play the internal instruments or steer your entire MIDI setup. The limitations of the push-button keyboard are quickly solved by connecting a master keyboard.

The 505 uses the same synth engine as the JV-series. This means you get access to very powerful editing functions, which makes this groovebox more of a real synth compared to the MC-303.

All in all a very powerful music tool in the studio or on stage. And it's built like a tank!

The estimated value is a tad over the top. These machines go for around €400 ($570) on eBay.

<987654321>

 

Post Comment!

Your Name: (Required.)

Email Address: (Required, not published.)

Image verification: (required)

Message:

 

Posting Rules:
Please keep your comments relevant! Do not post requests for help, do not use for sales, do not post unless you have something interesting to say about this instrument, or we may delete your post.

I have read and understand the posting rules.