But this is a great and fast sequencer and a very capable drum machine, to say it's limited well, is foolish beause there is litrerally hundreds of things this machine can be used for. I think the complex nature of the machine is more than you can handle, and you we're probably turned off enough by this to bag the whole machine.. In a 2words: short sighted... To say it's limited is pure rubbish, in terms of synth sounds yes, but there are 10+ usable drum kits and a great step sequencer, with more instruments the possibillites are unlimited. Tunnel vision isn't a good thing nor is belieiving the hype you sheep..

My 2 cents, 4 marks out 5 -- independent outs and track sliders (aka. 505) would've made this a killer machine but now it's so cheap what the heck just get one and please learn how to use it before you bash it..

-nubey

This is a VERY limited box.

Y`all entitled to your opinion (please note I haven`t sank so low as to give this thing a low score) but I find this all quite disturbing.

Thankyou.

Cakewalk Settings for BulkDump The following settings are known to work within Cakewalk for downloading the MC303's internal memory: [Options] SysxSendPacketSize=256 SysxSendDelayMsecs=400 LocalOnPort=-1

[MIDI Output Devices] 0=Roland MPU-401 MaxOutPort=0

[MIDI Input Devices] 0=Roland MPU-401 MaxInPort=0

That was taken from the MC303 site... Though it says that it'll take approximately 10 minutes (not three like the manual says... Time to watch some TV then...)

I got this box in 1997, after becoming sick of Rebirth, wanting something real to use, no more stinkin' mouse movements..... So I hunkered down and bought it.

I had already known about the limitations of the box, but I wasn't too worried about it, as I was just starting. Immediatly, I skipped all the presets and jumped into the Userbanks, and started the drum programming.

It was a dream for me almost. I was love-sic with my first piece of gear, and I loved it tons, poking around in it, trying to find the best sounds, what to manipulate, etc etc.

Flash forward to now, and it's current usages. Since then, I've purchased a great deal of more stuff, like my alpha juno 2, a PC200mkII (which I'm selling pretty soon, it's got no use for me now with other keyboards), a korg 707, an electribe EA-1, and my current love, my Prophecy. Right now, the only thing I use the MC303 is as a main sequencer/Drum machine, and I'm still finding things out about it now.

The only sounds that I still use are the drum sounds. The synth/etc sounds now sound lame compared to my other stuff (Then again, I've never owned a rompler-synth), and they seem to get lost when I EQ my mixer with it (I'm learning why people bitched about indie outs now... but there are better things to do with this little box...). Everything else is triggered out via the sequencer in midi, which I still love, despite the lack of memory.

Notice how it said _MC_. MC is for Micro Composer. Hence using this as a sequencer is within its capabilities. I was already to go buy another sequencer because on pattern changes, it would lose the MIDI-OUT settings, but after reading through the manual, I found out that the settings of everything can be saved with the patch (Shift+Function and key 15 BTW).. I don't think I've been so happy in my life with it.

It's a sequencer for me, triggering out pads on my Juno, making weird arpeggio patterns for my 707 and prophecy, and a global timer for my EA-1 (which I use its own sequencer for). It's still quite a useful piece of equipment for me, despite all the crap it takes.

The timing floats around, but so does a TB303's, the knobs don't transfer CC's (I don't really care, I use the controls on my Prophecy...), the memory is small (Use a computer, It's written in the manual in appendix C, I belive), the internal synth sounds suck, but that has no effect on me, as I only may use one or two at max, and are excellent for someone who's new, the thing has only two outputs, but do you really need more for a PCM rompler box.....

Overall, it's an excellent sequencer/drumbox, trying to be an all-in-one box, to satisfy some people who use it alone. But please, don't try to compare it to a studio! It's NOT A STUDIO!

I'm done now! ^_^

Four out of Five. -1 for the fact that it's got that whacky midi implementation and floaty timing that makes me want to kill it. -1 for user memory space. +1 for the programming interface. +.5 because it's sustained a beating. A four seems appropriate.