Some areas of question are with the tracks. I am having trouble with setting up one track then moving to the next and while in the second track accidently changing the settings from the first. I also feel that there are to many factory presets eating up space. Its possible to "make" music on the box using only preset demos, it gives the impression that it was designed for people who can't make music feel like they are. Relative to the presets the space to sequence original tracks seems cramed in corners.

Before I worked on my desktop with programs such as Hammerhead and edited in CoolEdit Pro, the transition to the RM1X was quick and painless. For its use and purpose I think it is a great box. Anyone else struggling over the mc505, go for the rm1x. Yes roland had the 303 but they need to get over it, acid is old news. I havn't slept since I brought the rm1x home.

I've had mine for a month now, and I love it. It has very usable sounds (particularly if you hook a compressor up to it to beef up the sound), and I am now buying the (discountinued) Roland JX-305 for more sounds an additional 8 part sequencer. You can have best of both worlds, ya know.

Anyway, the only thing that bothers me, like most here, is the lack of outs. But I can deal...the sequencer rocks the house and couple it with a SU700 and you have an awesome Live capability.

rob.

Winner via catigories:

Synth Sounds: MC505. I really didn't expect it, but the MC505 DOES sound quite good. Of course, they couldn't hold a candle to my Prophecy (well, in mono that is ^_^), but they're NOT that bad. Yammie's were useable, but the MC505's JV engine showed her stuff and made the AWM whimper. Plus all those outputs on the MC505.. It does show how Roland listened to people on the complaints with the MC303. 2 Outputs on the Yammy. Bah! (not like I care though).

Drum Sounds: Draw. I always liked my MC303's drumsounds, and the 505 improved on them greatly. Yammy threw in some great drumsounds in (I love the "break" set), making me throw a draw in.

Sequencing power: RM1X- Once again, ROCK solid timing. Plus the editing of the sequences kicks the MC-505's in the head a bunch of times. The big screen RULES for layout of beats and such. Plus there's the disk drive that Yamaha gave us. All those 1.44 meg floppies DO come in handy! If anything, you can make the RM1X a cheap,cheezy web page midi player ~_^.

Storage space- RM1X. Disk drive. Need I say more.

Ease of use: MC505. Maybe it's because I'm a vetran with the MC303, but the RM1X's pattern writing interface must be the MOST annoying thing in the world. It's an opinion thing. This just my personal opinion, but I don't like the way the RM1X instantly "jumps" to the phrase you press. The MC505 finishes the pattern, THEN switches over to the phrase you pump in. Grrr.... Yammy! Also, the part faders for all the tracks on the MC505 rock pretty much. Roland deserves kudos for throwing on so much "in your face" dials and such.

Midi channels RM1X - Full 16 channels of power. Not 8, not 3 and a half, not 1, but 16. Horray!

Both of these boxes are great. But for me, I picked the RM1X. I needed a sequencer. Perhaps if I didn't have as many synths as I do, I'dve hopped on the MC-505 faster than you could say "Grooveboxes suck!". But I think they're really two different machines, The Yammy started out as a great hardware Sequencer, then was thrown in the CS2x's sound engine to make it a "Grooveplop" competitor, while the MC505 is a drastic improvement on a very decent sequencer, with knobs, outputs, and sounds galore. I love them both, but what it came down to in the end was how much I could spend with my credit card. The blue box won over the silver.

Fives for both of 'em.