Roland MC-101 Groovebox Drum Machine

Produce and perform music anywhere, anytimewithout clutter or complications. The MC-101 GROOVEBOX has all the high-quality sounds, sequencing, and effects of the professional MC-707, in a compact four-track version thats go-everywhere portable. Get started with an inspiring collection of ready-to-go sounds and patterns, or easily create your own. Craft a unique style by importing custom sounds and loops that sync to tempo. And you can perform with the MC-101, triggering clips and shaping your sounds with direct, hands-on control.

Pocket production studio.
The MC-101 is a professional production tool, sharing the sounds and many of the capabilities of its bigger sibling, the MC-707. And there are advantages in being small. The MC-101 is solid-yet-light and runs for about five hours on four AA batteries, so you can design sounds, create drum patterns, and compose musical phrases just about anywhere. And its not just a scratch pad for simple ideas. You can produce fully-fledged professional tracks or create backing tracks and accompaniment for live performance.

Turn a creative spark into fire.
The MC-101 has a four-track sequencer optimized for creating today’s electronic and dance-focused music. You can use the 16 RGB pads to create drum, bass, and synthesizer patterns and produce your own original music. Explore a musical playground, where you can freely combine loops and one-shots with melodic phrases including your own MIDI sequences and imported audio recordings. Compose and trigger clips, rearrange, re-sample, record automation, and more.

A portable studio full of vintage gear.
The MC-101 has the Roland sounds that have defined electronic and dance genres for over forty years. Legendary instruments like the TR-808, TR-909, JUNO-106, and SH-101 are all here, ready to replicate classic sounds or be combined, tweaked, and processed into entirely new sounds.

Expandable sounds, patterns, and phrases.
Compose from a curated collection of built-in beats, phrases, and sounds, all expertly crafted by renowned artists and sound designers. And the MC-101 is part of an expandable platform. So, when you’re ready for more, or want to explore new genres and styles, you can easily change things up by adding new content.

Play your own custom audio in perfect sync.
Each track contains a powerful sample player so you can import your own custom sounds. Use your own voice, or the sound of your favorite instrument from your computer. Imported audio can sync with the MC-101’s tempo or be processed with the arsenal of built-in effects and hands-on controls.

Produce tracks ready to stream or perform.
With the MC-101’s wide range of pro effects, your music sounds polished and fully produced. Each track has independent effects processors with a huge number of variations. Lush chorus brings depth to pads and other synth sounds. Delays and reverbs create evocative spaces and add movement to delicate sequences. Overdrive, distortion, and amp simulation inject grit and intensity into synths, guitars, drums and more. You can also run your entire mix through master effects like filters, bit-crushers, and a master bus compressor that glues it all together with punch and clarity.

Produce and share with the world. With a single cable.
When you’re ready to further develop your tracks, or share your creations with friends and fans, simply connect the MC-101 to your computer with a single USB cable. It has advanced USB audio interface capabilities and can record an entire mix or all four parts to individual tracks in your DAW. Or sample sounds from your DAW to capture backing tracks, stems, or the sound of a favorite software synth for your next live show.

Specifications

Sound Generator

• ZEN-Core (Tone, Drum Kit)

Track Type

• Tone, Drum Kit, Looper (Audio Loop)

Maximum Polyphony

• ZEN-Core: 128 voices (varies according to the sound generator load)
• LOOPER: 4 (varies according to the available number of Looper track)

Tracks

• 4 tracks

Clips

• 64 clips (16 clips per track)

* Clip Type: Tone, Drum Kit, Looper (Audio Loop), it varies according to the track type.

Tones

• Preset Tone: 3,000 or greater
• Preset Drum Kit: 80 or greater
• User Sample (as a Tone or Drum Kit): available by importing form SD CARD
• Looper Sample (as a clip of Looper track): available by importing from SD CARD

* Available total time for User Sample: 12 minutes in mono, 6 minutes in stereo (44.1 kHz)
* Available format of User Sample:
WAV 32–96 kHz/16 bits, 24 bits (mono, stereo)

* Available total time for Looper Sample: Approx. 60 sec (44.1 kHz)
* Available format of Looper Sample:
WAV 44.1 kHz/16 bits, 24 bits, 32 bits, 32 bits float (mono, stereo)

Effects

• Track Multi-Effects: 90 types
• Track EQ
• Chorus/Delay: 9 types
• Reverb: 7 types
• Master Effects: 90 types
• Master Compressor
• Master EQ

Step Sequencer

• Maximum Step: 64 steps

* Available on a Tone or Drum Kit Track

Looper

• Time Stretch, Pitch Shift

* Available on a Looper Track

Display

• 16 characters, 2 lines LCD (with backlit)

External Storage

• SD Card (SDHC supported) for saving Project Data and Audio Data

Connectors

• PHONES jack: Stereo miniature phone type
• OUT(L/MONO, R) jacks: 1/4-inch phone type
• MIDI (IN, OUT) connectors
• USB port: USB B type (Audio, MIDI)

Power Supply

• Alkaline battery (AA, LR6) x 4
• Ni-MH battery (AA, HR6) x 4
• Obtained via USB port (USB bus power)

Current Draw

• 500 mA

Expected battery life under continuous use

• Alkaline battery (AA, LR6): Approx. 3 hours
• Ni-MH battery (AA, HR6): Approx. 4.5 hours

* This can vary depending on the specifications of the batteries, capacity of the batteries, and the conditions of use.

Dimensions

• 224(W) x 132(D) x 61(H) mm
• 8-13/16 (W) x 5-3/16 (D) x 2-7/16 (H) inches

Weight (including batteries)

• 716 g
• 1 lb 9 oz

New Features

With the new Version 1.7 update, the MC-707 and MC-101 GROOVEBOXES continue
to evolve with inspiring features for music creation and live performance:

• Scene Chain (MC-707 & MC-101): Scenes can be chained in sequential order with customizable playback cycles
• Audio Insert (MC-707 & MC-101): Insert track into input of another track for stacking MFX
• New Chord Designer Functions (MC-707 & MC-101): Write All Type 1 (Chromatic) and Type 2 (Diatonic)
• Writes the designed chord across all pads, either chromatically or diatonically through the selected scale
• Count In (MC-707 & MC-101)
• New Scatter Functions (MC-707 & MC-101): Pan Glide, Quantize, Grain
• Delay / Reverb Send to PC IN (MC-707 & MC-101) and EXT IN (MC-707 only)
• New Looper Track Functions BPM Sync (MC-707 & MC-101) and Export Clip (MC-101 only) BPM Sync addresses audio fluttering while synced to external MIDI
• Metronome Output Selection (MC-707 & MC-101)
• Bug Fixes