When I find tracks made with the 307 as the sole or primary sound source, I'll post them for anyone who wants to know what the groovebox can do...and what others are doing with it.
For starters, four tracks are here: http://www.wat.tv/trancelucide
Check out savage garden, silent world, eagle, and key of dream. The producer describes them as trance / house / techno.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Save new patches first. Then new patterns.
Once you know the 307 well enough to make your own patterns, you will probably want to use customized synth patches too.
Cool. But there's something you should know before you start doing these two things together. The idea is obvious after you get used to it...but I'll post it here as a quick tip, in the hopes that you won't lose that nice pattern you just spent hours tweaking to perfection:
Before you can save a pattern using any new patches you have just created, you MUST save them to the 307's patch memory first. (Then of course you should also save the new pattern.)
If you don't save your new patches, the next time you turn the 307 on, the new pattern will sound different. It will default to the patches that were there before you started tweaking them...all your hard work will be lost.
...Like I said, obvious in retrospect. But if you're new to the 307, learn this now and save yourself some late-night frustration.
Cool. But there's something you should know before you start doing these two things together. The idea is obvious after you get used to it...but I'll post it here as a quick tip, in the hopes that you won't lose that nice pattern you just spent hours tweaking to perfection:
Before you can save a pattern using any new patches you have just created, you MUST save them to the 307's patch memory first. (Then of course you should also save the new pattern.)
If you don't save your new patches, the next time you turn the 307 on, the new pattern will sound different. It will default to the patches that were there before you started tweaking them...all your hard work will be lost.
...Like I said, obvious in retrospect. But if you're new to the 307, learn this now and save yourself some late-night frustration.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Knob assignment for Multi-FX
Each of the 25 Multi-FX's has several tweakable parameters, and you can use the assignable knobs to control them. The manual (page 48) has a memo indicating this, but as usual, I wish it explained the process better. For anyone figuring out why and how to assign M-FX knobs, this entry is for you.
You have probably noticed the second row of knob labels, reading M-FX CTRL 1-3. Now, if you look at the descriptions on pp. 48-61, you'll see below each M-FX that its parameters are listed with [CTRL 1], [CTRL 2] and so on. Roland has decided that the first three parameters in each list are the ones you probably will want to tweak most often while playing live, so they've made it easy for you by dedicating the second-row knobs to them.
If tweaking these three is enough for your needs, you don't need to do anything; just point the red arrow to this row and go to it.
But you may want to adjust other parameters instead, and there are many options. For example, M-FX 1, the 4-band EQ, has 11 parameters, the most of any list. To tweak [CTRL 4-11] easily during performance, Knob Assign is useful.
Before you do anything below, keep two things in mind: 1) Whatever changes you make to the knob assignments get saved to the User Set you have chosen without an easy way to Exit out if you change your mind. So if you're not completely sure you want to reassign something, remember what your original knob assignment was so you can change it back. (I like to reserve one User Set for experimentation.) 2) If you're not planning to tweak these parameters live, the knob assignment effort probably isn't worth it.
Procedure:
Hit Knob Assign, and you'll see the User Set (#1-10) listed up top along with its four current knob assignments. Choose the knob you want to reassign with button F1-F4. Scroll left-right until you highlight MULTI-FX, and hit its F button. Whatever M-FX you have assigned to the current pattern, its list of parameters will appear. You can then scroll down to the parameter you want assigned to that knob; hit Knob Assign and bang, it's saved to that User Set until you change it again.
Other notes:
1) This procedure assigns the knob a CTRL number, not an M-FX set. So if you assign it to CTRL 9 and then switch to another pattern that uses a different M-FX set, tweaking that knob will adjust the new M-FX set's CTRL 9 parameter (if it has one).
2) You can of course assign CTRL 1-3 to these knobs too, if it's more convenient to have them in your User Set (i.e. if you don't want to keep messing with the red arrow button).
3) If you tweak the knob and nothing seems to be happening, make sure you've got the M-FX Switch turned on for the Parts you want it to affect (via the Setup -> Part Mixer menus).
You have probably noticed the second row of knob labels, reading M-FX CTRL 1-3. Now, if you look at the descriptions on pp. 48-61, you'll see below each M-FX that its parameters are listed with [CTRL 1], [CTRL 2] and so on. Roland has decided that the first three parameters in each list are the ones you probably will want to tweak most often while playing live, so they've made it easy for you by dedicating the second-row knobs to them.
If tweaking these three is enough for your needs, you don't need to do anything; just point the red arrow to this row and go to it.
But you may want to adjust other parameters instead, and there are many options. For example, M-FX 1, the 4-band EQ, has 11 parameters, the most of any list. To tweak [CTRL 4-11] easily during performance, Knob Assign is useful.
Before you do anything below, keep two things in mind: 1) Whatever changes you make to the knob assignments get saved to the User Set you have chosen without an easy way to Exit out if you change your mind. So if you're not completely sure you want to reassign something, remember what your original knob assignment was so you can change it back. (I like to reserve one User Set for experimentation.) 2) If you're not planning to tweak these parameters live, the knob assignment effort probably isn't worth it.
Procedure:
Hit Knob Assign, and you'll see the User Set (#1-10) listed up top along with its four current knob assignments. Choose the knob you want to reassign with button F1-F4. Scroll left-right until you highlight MULTI-FX, and hit its F button. Whatever M-FX you have assigned to the current pattern, its list of parameters will appear. You can then scroll down to the parameter you want assigned to that knob; hit Knob Assign and bang, it's saved to that User Set until you change it again.
Other notes:
1) This procedure assigns the knob a CTRL number, not an M-FX set. So if you assign it to CTRL 9 and then switch to another pattern that uses a different M-FX set, tweaking that knob will adjust the new M-FX set's CTRL 9 parameter (if it has one).
2) You can of course assign CTRL 1-3 to these knobs too, if it's more convenient to have them in your User Set (i.e. if you don't want to keep messing with the red arrow button).
3) If you tweak the knob and nothing seems to be happening, make sure you've got the M-FX Switch turned on for the Parts you want it to affect (via the Setup -> Part Mixer menus).
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The data in 'Microscope'
(This entry should be subtitled, "Places the manual isn't clear, part 1 of 3,267,894,50...")
The "Microscope" feature lets you examine the data saved to each part in detail. However, page 72 of the manual, which discusses this topic, leaves out a couple of important things a new user would find helpful.
In the chart there, when you see...
1-1-00 A 4 104 0-22
1-1-24 C 4 104 0-22
...what's all this telling you? Simply, this says that the part is to play two notes in succession: A then C, both in keyboard octave 4. They sound on the first and second 16th-notes of measure 1, and they both should have the same volume ("velocity") and note duration ("gate time").
The manual is sketchy in two respects:
1) It doesn't remind you on this page that each quarter note is divided into 96 "ticks", meaning the 16th notes fall at clock points 00, 24, 48 and 72. So for example, a note falling on the upbeat of measure 2, beat 4, would register here as 2-4-48. (Notes do not have to fall right on a 16th note; change the third number to one that is not a multiple of 24 if you want to move the note slightly.)
2) Gate time is given in the two numbers on the far right, which correspond to the beats and ticks the note lasts. So a note with 0-22 gate time lasts a bit less than a full 16th note in duration (i.e., a full 16th note would be 24 ticks long).
Other information can appear on this screen as well. One of the most common types is a CC (Control Change) message, which can mean, for example, a knob tweak. Look at preset pattern #112, part 3, and in addition to the note names, you'll see the CC messages that give the synth line its "wah" effect. (CC message numbers are listed under MIDI Implementation in the appendices.)
You can get a feel for what all these numbers mean by choosing a pattern, muting all parts except one, and then changing the data for that part in Microscope to see what happens. UPDATE: As Gastón mentions below, you have to exit Microscope to listen.
The "Microscope" feature lets you examine the data saved to each part in detail. However, page 72 of the manual, which discusses this topic, leaves out a couple of important things a new user would find helpful.
In the chart there, when you see...
1-1-00 A 4 104 0-22
1-1-24 C 4 104 0-22
...what's all this telling you? Simply, this says that the part is to play two notes in succession: A then C, both in keyboard octave 4. They sound on the first and second 16th-notes of measure 1, and they both should have the same volume ("velocity") and note duration ("gate time").
The manual is sketchy in two respects:
1) It doesn't remind you on this page that each quarter note is divided into 96 "ticks", meaning the 16th notes fall at clock points 00, 24, 48 and 72. So for example, a note falling on the upbeat of measure 2, beat 4, would register here as 2-4-48. (Notes do not have to fall right on a 16th note; change the third number to one that is not a multiple of 24 if you want to move the note slightly.)
2) Gate time is given in the two numbers on the far right, which correspond to the beats and ticks the note lasts. So a note with 0-22 gate time lasts a bit less than a full 16th note in duration (i.e., a full 16th note would be 24 ticks long).
Other information can appear on this screen as well. One of the most common types is a CC (Control Change) message, which can mean, for example, a knob tweak. Look at preset pattern #112, part 3, and in addition to the note names, you'll see the CC messages that give the synth line its "wah" effect. (CC message numbers are listed under MIDI Implementation in the appendices.)
You can get a feel for what all these numbers mean by choosing a pattern, muting all parts except one, and then changing the data for that part in Microscope to see what happens. UPDATE: As Gastón mentions below, you have to exit Microscope to listen.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Online manual / documents
More housekeeping: In case anyone's looking for a copy of the manual or other documentation from Roland, see below.
Manual: http://media.rolandus.com/manuals/MC-307_OM.pdf
Quick Start: http://media.rolandus.com/manuals/MC-307_QS.pdf
Manual Addendum, though it doesn't say much: http://media.rolandus.com/manuals/MC-307_AD.pdf
...The Wikipedia entry on the 307 has them as well, along with some other useful links.
Manual in French: http://manuals.roland.be/Francais2/MC307_fr.pdf
Manual: http://media.rolandus.com/manuals/MC-307_OM.pdf
Quick Start: http://media.rolandus.com/manuals/MC-307_QS.pdf
Manual Addendum, though it doesn't say much: http://media.rolandus.com/manuals/MC-307_AD.pdf
...The Wikipedia entry on the 307 has them as well, along with some other useful links.
Manual in French: http://manuals.roland.be/Francais2/MC307_fr.pdf
Monday, October 19, 2009
Terms, abbreviations, etc.
If you're unfamilar with the jargon I sometimes forget to avoid using, have a look below.
307 - What I'll call this groovebox, cos I'm too lazy to type MC all the |)@%^ time.
BPM - Beats Per Minute. What some old geezers still refer to as "tempo".
DJ - don't make me smack you.
EM - Electronic Music, or what we all want out of our 307s.
LFO - Low-Frequency Oscillator. An important modifier for altering EM sounds, and found on many synthesis devices.
MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface. The electronic language that allows most electronic instruments to communicate with one another. A huge topic in and of itself.
OS - Operating System. The software that runs the 307. To the best of my knowledge, the latest -- and probably last -- is version 1.03.
TR-REC - REC stands for "recording" of course; TR is a reference to Roland's TR series of drum machines. Using TR-REC turns the pads of the 307 into a sequencer.
UI - User Interface. The knobs, buttons, screen, etc. on the face of the 307 and its internal organization, which is accessed frequently through menus. A source of hair-pulling, teeth-gnashing at 3:30 AM, and the inspiration for this blog.
NOTE: Some posts (like this one) will grow as I learn from readers' comments and my own experience, so I've labeled the likely entries as "Expanding". Other labels are hopefully self-explanatory.
307 - What I'll call this groovebox, cos I'm too lazy to type MC all the |)@%^ time.
BPM - Beats Per Minute. What some old geezers still refer to as "tempo".
DJ - don't make me smack you.
EM - Electronic Music, or what we all want out of our 307s.
LFO - Low-Frequency Oscillator. An important modifier for altering EM sounds, and found on many synthesis devices.
MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface. The electronic language that allows most electronic instruments to communicate with one another. A huge topic in and of itself.
OS - Operating System. The software that runs the 307. To the best of my knowledge, the latest -- and probably last -- is version 1.03.
TR-REC - REC stands for "recording" of course; TR is a reference to Roland's TR series of drum machines. Using TR-REC turns the pads of the 307 into a sequencer.
UI - User Interface. The knobs, buttons, screen, etc. on the face of the 307 and its internal organization, which is accessed frequently through menus. A source of hair-pulling, teeth-gnashing at 3:30 AM, and the inspiration for this blog.
NOTE: Some posts (like this one) will grow as I learn from readers' comments and my own experience, so I've labeled the likely entries as "Expanding". Other labels are hopefully self-explanatory.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Things to do first/early on
Fresh out of the box, a 307 can be bewildering. The manual isn't the clearest, lots of the functions are buried in menus, and the knob labels are heavy on unfamiliar abbreviations. So in this post I'll list a few things that you can try right off to help get a feel for it. (Think of this post as a simpler version of the Quickstart Guide.)
1. The obvious one: Hit play and listen to the preset patterns. Yes, most of them you probably won't like, but they will give you an overview of the 307's raw sounds. (They'll all play at the same BPM if you play them without hitting stop before switching patterns, so they'll likely be slightly easier on the ears if you hit stop each time.) If you want to scroll through them one at a time, use the Value wheel or adjacent Inc/Dec buttons; but if you'd rather skip between them by style & genre, hit the Left/Right buttons in the Cursor section.
2. Some portions of the 307, like the "Stop-Play-Rec" section, make intuitive sense from the get-go; others, not so much. One section of the user interface (UI) that can bring fairly instant gratification is the three buttons labeled "Part Select, Part Mute, Rhythm Mute". I'd get comfy with these early on, as they affect the drum/synth parts (R, 1-7) in fundamental and cool ways, allowing you to create a full-length track from a single pattern if used tastefully. To wit:
-Part Select: Hit it, and then hit one of the eight part buttons. That one alone will light up. Until you choose another one, whatever you do to the seven filter knobs up above (#1-4, LFO depth, Filter Cutoff and Resonance) will affect the sound of that part alone. Tweak away while the pattern plays. Also, playing the keyboard at bottom will sound that part's synth voice (but see #3 below).
-Part Mute: Hit this button and all the parts in a pattern that have something recorded on them will light up. If they're currently muted, they'll light up and also flash. Hitting each part button will mute and unmute it. This includes the R part, which governs all the rhythm (percussion) parts as a group. But if you want to mute, say, just the snare drum, hit...
-Rhythm Mute: ...which is organized the same way as Part Mute, only now you can mute and unmute each of the eight percussion parts individually.
Annoyingly, it's impossible to mute/unmute just some of the percussion parts at the same time that you do synth parts 1-7, but at least there are a couple of tricks available to create drama. One is to mute a couple of parts first, and then hold down the Part Mute button while hitting Part Select. Each time you do this it reverses the muting assignments: Every part that's muted gets unmuted, and vice versa.
3. The white & black buttons along the bottom are set up to function as a piano-style keyboard -- as long as all four buttons under "Pad Select" are dark. Whatever part you've selected with Part Select will sound when you play on these buttons. But if you hit one and hear something other than a single tone (i.e. a long complex riff) or nothing at all happens, check to make sure none of the Pad Select buttons are lit red (which means the 16 buttons are being used for other functions I won't get into here).
4. Certain effects can be set to activate/deactivate with the three-position "Grab" switch right near Knob 4. How to program this switch is of course too complicated to detail here, but you can get a fairly decent intoduction to its capabilities as you go through the preset patterns by toggling it On and Off.
5. A related idea: As you work your way through the preset patterns, try isolating individual parts by muting most or all of the others and then play with the keyboard, knobs, grab switch, etc. to get a better idea of what's happening to that particular part. (I know lots of producers are philosophically opposed to doing anything with presets, and when it comes to live performance, I'm right there with you. But since Roland, in its wisdom, decided to make presets we can't erase, we might as well learn what we can from them.)
6. "Turntable Emulation" over on the right is an easy way to adjust a pattern's tempo and/or overall pitch somewhat, either if you're a DJ who wants to sync the 307 with spinning vinyl or you just like the effect. But if you're a klutz like me, your hand will have a tendency to knock into the slider and move it accidentally, so while you're learning the ropes it might help to hit the Pitch and BPM (beats per minute) buttons to darken them right after you turn on the 307, just to avoid the annoyance.
7. If you've tweaked a pattern beyond recognition and want to get it back to the way it was when you started, switch to another pattern and then switch right back to the original one. But if you like the monster you've created, first save it to one of the 200 User patterns...a good way to start accumulating ideas for your own stuff.
...There! That ought to keep you busy for awhile.
1. The obvious one: Hit play and listen to the preset patterns. Yes, most of them you probably won't like, but they will give you an overview of the 307's raw sounds. (They'll all play at the same BPM if you play them without hitting stop before switching patterns, so they'll likely be slightly easier on the ears if you hit stop each time.) If you want to scroll through them one at a time, use the Value wheel or adjacent Inc/Dec buttons; but if you'd rather skip between them by style & genre, hit the Left/Right buttons in the Cursor section.
2. Some portions of the 307, like the "Stop-Play-Rec" section, make intuitive sense from the get-go; others, not so much. One section of the user interface (UI) that can bring fairly instant gratification is the three buttons labeled "Part Select, Part Mute, Rhythm Mute". I'd get comfy with these early on, as they affect the drum/synth parts (R, 1-7) in fundamental and cool ways, allowing you to create a full-length track from a single pattern if used tastefully. To wit:
-Part Select: Hit it, and then hit one of the eight part buttons. That one alone will light up. Until you choose another one, whatever you do to the seven filter knobs up above (#1-4, LFO depth, Filter Cutoff and Resonance) will affect the sound of that part alone. Tweak away while the pattern plays. Also, playing the keyboard at bottom will sound that part's synth voice (but see #3 below).
-Part Mute: Hit this button and all the parts in a pattern that have something recorded on them will light up. If they're currently muted, they'll light up and also flash. Hitting each part button will mute and unmute it. This includes the R part, which governs all the rhythm (percussion) parts as a group. But if you want to mute, say, just the snare drum, hit...
-Rhythm Mute: ...which is organized the same way as Part Mute, only now you can mute and unmute each of the eight percussion parts individually.
Annoyingly, it's impossible to mute/unmute just some of the percussion parts at the same time that you do synth parts 1-7, but at least there are a couple of tricks available to create drama. One is to mute a couple of parts first, and then hold down the Part Mute button while hitting Part Select. Each time you do this it reverses the muting assignments: Every part that's muted gets unmuted, and vice versa.
3. The white & black buttons along the bottom are set up to function as a piano-style keyboard -- as long as all four buttons under "Pad Select" are dark. Whatever part you've selected with Part Select will sound when you play on these buttons. But if you hit one and hear something other than a single tone (i.e. a long complex riff) or nothing at all happens, check to make sure none of the Pad Select buttons are lit red (which means the 16 buttons are being used for other functions I won't get into here).
4. Certain effects can be set to activate/deactivate with the three-position "Grab" switch right near Knob 4. How to program this switch is of course too complicated to detail here, but you can get a fairly decent intoduction to its capabilities as you go through the preset patterns by toggling it On and Off.
5. A related idea: As you work your way through the preset patterns, try isolating individual parts by muting most or all of the others and then play with the keyboard, knobs, grab switch, etc. to get a better idea of what's happening to that particular part. (I know lots of producers are philosophically opposed to doing anything with presets, and when it comes to live performance, I'm right there with you. But since Roland, in its wisdom, decided to make presets we can't erase, we might as well learn what we can from them.)
6. "Turntable Emulation" over on the right is an easy way to adjust a pattern's tempo and/or overall pitch somewhat, either if you're a DJ who wants to sync the 307 with spinning vinyl or you just like the effect. But if you're a klutz like me, your hand will have a tendency to knock into the slider and move it accidentally, so while you're learning the ropes it might help to hit the Pitch and BPM (beats per minute) buttons to darken them right after you turn on the 307, just to avoid the annoyance.
7. If you've tweaked a pattern beyond recognition and want to get it back to the way it was when you started, switch to another pattern and then switch right back to the original one. But if you like the monster you've created, first save it to one of the 200 User patterns...a good way to start accumulating ideas for your own stuff.
...There! That ought to keep you busy for awhile.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Easy breaks with Key Shift
Just discovered an easy way to make drum breaks using Key Shift. It just takes a single knob assignment...no other programming hassles required.
Setup:
First hit "Part Select" and choose the R (rhythm) track. Then hit the "Knob assign" button up top, choose a knob using F1-F4, and then hit "Set up (F1)". You'll get a list from which you'll be able to choose from reverb, delay, etc. Scroll down and choose "Key Shift" by hitting "Enter", and then exit out of the menus.
(One thing to note: Your knob choice will then be saved to the U.01 group of knob assignments, meaning it will be available right when you boot up the 307, as long as you move the red arrow to the left of the four knobs up to its topmost position. You can save it to U.02 - U.10 if you'd rather this not happen.)
Now for the fun part:
While a pattern plays, tweak the knob you chose (again, make sure Part Select is set to R and the red arrow is at the top). You'll get some cool percussion effects. I tried this with the preset pattern "Hiphop East 3" and found that tweaking it down gave some heavy big-break style drum hits, while all the way up resulted in a bunch of reverse percussion/scratching. To get your original sound back, return the knob to its center position.
Setup:
First hit "Part Select" and choose the R (rhythm) track. Then hit the "Knob assign" button up top, choose a knob using F1-F4, and then hit "Set up (F1)". You'll get a list from which you'll be able to choose from reverb, delay, etc. Scroll down and choose "Key Shift" by hitting "Enter", and then exit out of the menus.
(One thing to note: Your knob choice will then be saved to the U.01 group of knob assignments, meaning it will be available right when you boot up the 307, as long as you move the red arrow to the left of the four knobs up to its topmost position. You can save it to U.02 - U.10 if you'd rather this not happen.)
Now for the fun part:
While a pattern plays, tweak the knob you chose (again, make sure Part Select is set to R and the red arrow is at the top). You'll get some cool percussion effects. I tried this with the preset pattern "Hiphop East 3" and found that tweaking it down gave some heavy big-break style drum hits, while all the way up resulted in a bunch of reverse percussion/scratching. To get your original sound back, return the knob to its center position.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Basic beatmaking video
Are you a noob just getting started making beats? Check out this 7.5-minute YouTube video from a 307 owner.
He demonstrates how to put together a basic beat in Realtime Recording, which starts on page 63 in the manual. But before you dive into the written explanation, it might be easier to watch him do it, then use the manual to figure out which buttons he's pushing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zQXGQ7n4zo
One thing I'll mention: I'm not sure why at around the 2:15 mark he apparently tries to make the hihat sound on every 16th-note, but then it ends up only sounding some of the time. My guess is that he's got the hihat set to be part of a "mute group", which means that if another percussion sound in the same group is playing simultaneously, it overrides the hihat (for details, see manual page 105.) UPDATE: Below, Gastón says I'm likely right about this.
He demonstrates how to put together a basic beat in Realtime Recording, which starts on page 63 in the manual. But before you dive into the written explanation, it might be easier to watch him do it, then use the manual to figure out which buttons he's pushing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zQXGQ7n4zo
One thing I'll mention: I'm not sure why at around the 2:15 mark he apparently tries to make the hihat sound on every 16th-note, but then it ends up only sounding some of the time. My guess is that he's got the hihat set to be part of a "mute group", which means that if another percussion sound in the same group is playing simultaneously, it overrides the hihat (for details, see manual page 105.) UPDATE: Below, Gastón says I'm likely right about this.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Return to 'original values'
I bet you're expecting this post to be all about good ol' fashioned baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie, aren't you? C'mon, admit it...
Sorry to disappoint :) but the real subject is: How to get a 307 pattern to revert to the state it was in before you started tweaking knobs, muting parts, etc.
At this point in my learning curve, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to do it with one pattern. (This is annoying for anyone who has spent time with the "compare" feature on the Korg EMX, but I'll try not to wax nostalgic.)
However, there is a workaround. Maybe it can't be done with ONE pattern, as I said...but it can easily be done with TWO. So if you have a pattern you like to tweak during live performance, read on.
The solution:
Save the pattern twice, to two different positions in memory (say, U.050 and U.051). While you're performing, tweak U.050 as much as you like, then when you're ready to go back to what you started with, switch to U.051 and you're there. (No-brainer: I recommend saving the pattern to adjacent locations in memory, so you can use the DEC-INC buttons to toggle between them).
This obviously takes up twice as much memory space as a single pattern, so it's probably best done sparingly if you need lots of patterns for your live set. But it works well for breaking down a pattern completely and restoring it on the fly.
If anyone has other/easier/better solutions, please comment below.
UPDATE: Since writing the above, I discovered the memo on page 30 of the manual, which says that you can also return to the pattern's original settings by switching to the another and then switching back, but BEFORE the pattern actually changes. This is good news (if well hidden), but I think the method I found has its benefit: In case the pattern you switch to is not suitable to follow the first one, you risk making the change right when it becomes impossible to switch back (i.e., the pattern button starts flashing). If you're on stage thinking about half a dozen things, this is a potential danger. If you *know* you plan to do lots of tweaking to certain patterns, saving two copies of these might still help you.
Sorry to disappoint :) but the real subject is: How to get a 307 pattern to revert to the state it was in before you started tweaking knobs, muting parts, etc.
At this point in my learning curve, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to do it with one pattern. (This is annoying for anyone who has spent time with the "compare" feature on the Korg EMX, but I'll try not to wax nostalgic.)
However, there is a workaround. Maybe it can't be done with ONE pattern, as I said...but it can easily be done with TWO. So if you have a pattern you like to tweak during live performance, read on.
The solution:
Save the pattern twice, to two different positions in memory (say, U.050 and U.051). While you're performing, tweak U.050 as much as you like, then when you're ready to go back to what you started with, switch to U.051 and you're there. (No-brainer: I recommend saving the pattern to adjacent locations in memory, so you can use the DEC-INC buttons to toggle between them).
This obviously takes up twice as much memory space as a single pattern, so it's probably best done sparingly if you need lots of patterns for your live set. But it works well for breaking down a pattern completely and restoring it on the fly.
If anyone has other/easier/better solutions, please comment below.
UPDATE: Since writing the above, I discovered the memo on page 30 of the manual, which says that you can also return to the pattern's original settings by switching to the another and then switching back, but BEFORE the pattern actually changes. This is good news (if well hidden), but I think the method I found has its benefit: In case the pattern you switch to is not suitable to follow the first one, you risk making the change right when it becomes impossible to switch back (i.e., the pattern button starts flashing). If you're on stage thinking about half a dozen things, this is a potential danger. If you *know* you plan to do lots of tweaking to certain patterns, saving two copies of these might still help you.
Why are you here?...wait, why am I here?
So I recently picked up a used MC-307, a groovebox that Roland released about a decade ago. Why start a blog on such an antiquated piece of hardware, you may ask?
Web research has turned up very little to help me get going with the 307, which obviously has a lot of power but a less-than-ideal user interface. When I was getting started with EM, I got a lot of help from other, more experienced producers; without the forums and user groups I found, it would have been more difficult, even with the far less steep learning curves I encountered on my other gear.
But for anyone diving into the 307, it appears we're out of luck in that department: The Roland groovebox forums have next to no posts on the 307, the Yahoo Group was overtaken by spammers years ago, and there's precious little elsewhere. We're on our own.
However, I refuse to give up on the 307 too quickly, primarily because it's already impressed me in a few important ways. So here's what I'm planning to do with this blog:
I'm going to chronicle my efforts to make the 307 rock, and exactly how to use the interface to make this happen. I dislike the manual, to put it mildly, so I'll try to translate what I discover into comprehensible English.
Readers of this blog (which I'm beginning in October '09) are of course welcome to use what techniques I find, pass them along and post comments.
If anyone has suggestions on topics I might cover, hit me up. I'm hoping this will turn out to be a useful resource. I've posted a note about contacting me here.
A few parting thoughts:
-I'll be posting ideas and discoveries as I come upon them, so reading in chronological order will seem a bit haphazard; check the post titles for subject matter (I'll keep them simple and descriptive).
-Posts will limited primarily to immediately usable tips. With few exceptions, I won't waste your time with descriptions of what buttons and knobs do, general discussions on synthesis, or much else that you can find elsewhere. When I think of something off-topic that might help, I'll try to link to it.
-I'm not a MIDI god by any means, so beyond the basics I probably won't be much help with figuring out why the 307 won't talk to other digital gear. Until this blog gathers enough followers that I can start throwing questions out randomly, your best bet on effective interconnection will be forums dedicated to the other device.
-Comments are welcome and solicited. Trolls aren't.
Web research has turned up very little to help me get going with the 307, which obviously has a lot of power but a less-than-ideal user interface. When I was getting started with EM, I got a lot of help from other, more experienced producers; without the forums and user groups I found, it would have been more difficult, even with the far less steep learning curves I encountered on my other gear.
But for anyone diving into the 307, it appears we're out of luck in that department: The Roland groovebox forums have next to no posts on the 307, the Yahoo Group was overtaken by spammers years ago, and there's precious little elsewhere. We're on our own.
However, I refuse to give up on the 307 too quickly, primarily because it's already impressed me in a few important ways. So here's what I'm planning to do with this blog:
I'm going to chronicle my efforts to make the 307 rock, and exactly how to use the interface to make this happen. I dislike the manual, to put it mildly, so I'll try to translate what I discover into comprehensible English.
Readers of this blog (which I'm beginning in October '09) are of course welcome to use what techniques I find, pass them along and post comments.
If anyone has suggestions on topics I might cover, hit me up. I'm hoping this will turn out to be a useful resource. I've posted a note about contacting me here.
A few parting thoughts:
-I'll be posting ideas and discoveries as I come upon them, so reading in chronological order will seem a bit haphazard; check the post titles for subject matter (I'll keep them simple and descriptive).
-Posts will limited primarily to immediately usable tips. With few exceptions, I won't waste your time with descriptions of what buttons and knobs do, general discussions on synthesis, or much else that you can find elsewhere. When I think of something off-topic that might help, I'll try to link to it.
-I'm not a MIDI god by any means, so beyond the basics I probably won't be much help with figuring out why the 307 won't talk to other digital gear. Until this blog gathers enough followers that I can start throwing questions out randomly, your best bet on effective interconnection will be forums dedicated to the other device.
-Comments are welcome and solicited. Trolls aren't.
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