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Okay, this is my own opinion of the Mc909, i wont go into specifications as it is available on the net already. Ive owned every Roland and Yamaha and a couple of Korg grooveboxes in the past and i have to say each one has its advantages and disadvantages over each other, but as we are talking about the Mc909 only here i will try not to make too many comparisons.
SOUNDS: I find the preset tones on the 909 pretty good, there are some duff ones but overall pretty good, programming new sounds is a doddle, really easy and great results can be yielded if you put in the effort.
SAMPLING: The sampler on this groovebox is great, a bit confusing to start with when you want to import wav/aiff files but a quick reference to the manual will save you getting a headache, sampling a sound straight in is really straightforward. You can create your own drum kit patches or straightforward sound patches, or for the more daring you can mix your own samples with the internal tones which is brilliant. The tone of the sampler is excellent and you can name and save your own samples to the internal memory so its ready next time you switch on. Stock memory is 16Mb and can be expanded to 272Mb.
SEQUENCER: This has got to be one of the best ive ever used, and thanks to the large lcd screen its really easy to use and edit down to single note parameters, ie velocity, duration etc. I have always found the Roland Mc series of sequencer so easy to use and very rewarding, i dont ever use a pc/mac for sequencing at all. My only gripe is you have to stop play mode to slip into record mode, but thats not a major issue really for me.
EFFECTS: Some really cool effects on this unit, well exceeding Yamaha and Korgs offerings and i must say the reverb and compression are up there with the best, very effective compression that can make a recording sound as its been recorded in a professional studio, spot on Roland, well done. Reverb is simply stunning, full and rich with a great deal of settings and control over various parameters, i love it! Other effects include delay (nice sounding), phazer, flange, echo, eq (very effective), wah plus many many more.
OTHER FEATURES: I would never be able to list every feature from memory, find a website for that but here are a few of my favorites and not so favorite..... user programmable arpeggio....wicked and very inspiring,
Chord memory....absolutely wicked tool, i love this,
Twin D beam controllers....not really my thing but probably pretty useful for some people,
Turn table emulator slider....again not really my thing and i would have much preferred a pitch wheel or mod wheel, although it can be assiged to do this and more,
There are many many more features i havent included but you will find more details on the net.
Well thats my skew on this amazing bit of gear, it is the center of my studio and i use it to also sequence other external gear i currenty own (Roland JV1080, Korg M1 and a Roland JP8000) to produce my music, i hope i have not bored you too much and wish everyone all the best.
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