But there are problems - problems that people should be aware of before they get stuck with this monster.

First, the sampler is not really that usable. The MC-909's sampler lacks KEYZONES, so you can either place 1 "tone" across the entire keyboard, or you can create a "rhythm set" that allows ONE TONE PER NOTE from C1 to C2. Limited. Very limited. Maybe okay for what you want to do, but I've had problems because of this. Also in the sampler domain - the only supported sampling rate is 44.1 KHZ. No resampling to lower rates, which is an oft-used creative tool here. The MC-909 is not really a sampler.

In a move that I consider to be particularly unfair, Roland has "unbundled" most of their best drum and synth waveforms and forced you to buy their $300 expansion card to get decent drum sounds. The truth is that the MC-909's stock drum sounds are not very good, and are what I would call "self-consciously modern". Meaning that they're flagrantly rap/hip-hop/pop oriented. This is really a serious problem. Note that the MC-909 ships with 693 waveforms, but the "Supreme Dance" expansion provides OVER 800 MORE waveforms. And a lot of those are simply missing 808/909 sounds that really should have been shipped with the MC-909. This a brutally opportunistic Roland scam. You will need the SRX-05 "expander" to get decent drum sounds out of the MC-909. Or, you can provide your own sounds. That's what I'm working on.

All in all, I would say that this is one of the more "unfinished" Roland products I've seen in a while. The MC-909 sounds very nice and is stable, but the software implementation and sound set are both grossly lacking. My MC-505 has a better soundset, a better manual, and a more complete software implementation. I was hoping the MC-909 would be an upgrade, but it wasn't at all. I want to sell my MC-909, but I haven't figured out whether I really should.

Now for THE BAD: OS Bugs. Alot of them, but the biggies are 1) Patterns "drop out", esp in Song Mode. What happens is when 2 or more patterns are chained, there's a very noticeable audio dropout, similar to the gaps you get when switching patches on many modern keyboards (why my 20 year old Ensoniq gear doesn't do this is another issue). It does this even if your effects settings are the same and patch has sustain. For something that costs 1400 US new and is touted as an all-in-one workstation. 2)*RPS (Realtime Phrase) doesn't work. According to the manual and pro reviews (no doubt bought and paid for by Roland) you can save your own progressions/sounds to User RPS banks. Except they don't save. I've tried everything, so have others. Fantom owners have a similar RPS bug. A big deal for live users. 3) On latest OS, if you try to mute/unmute tracks 6 and 13 simultaneously, only one or the other will activate. This is another problem live if you want to use all 16 tracks (and who doesn't). There are a few niggles like no User banks for custom made effects, but really, the BUGS are the most important issue which Roland need to address.

The MC909 is a MOSTLY good product, but the unresolved OS issues that come with most Roland equipment nowadays makes me reluctant to recommend it to anyone, especially someone wanting to use it live or as a center piece. Makes me reluctant to recommend ANY Roland gear, really. This is a company that's beginning to become synonymous with unresolved bugs and poor support/communication/documentation.