MC-101 and the external MIDI source (keyboard)

[VoytecG]

Hello and greetings to the esteemed Forum. (Long Intro)
I am completely a newbie here and my exposure to Roland products has only been my desire to own an MC-101.
I've had almost 50 years on the scene, but mostly with acoustic piano (Jazz), but recently I've started to return to my early days when Jazz-Rock fusion was the current trend. I started with an iPad as my main sound source, but now I've started to try on hardware more. I would like to supplement my rig with one more source and, as I belong to the mutants who seek a harder path of success than logic dictates, I came up with the idea of using some groovebox as a sound module. Since I haven't had anything from Roland in my life, the MC-101 caught my eye. Enough of this introduction, now specific questions:

Inferring from observation, there will be no problem connecting an external keyboard to the MC via USB (indirectly via AUM on the iPad, as my top keyboard - Yamaha MX - transmits exclusively via MIDI, or USB)[?]

Can I save Clips only with an assigned sound? (No notes)

Can I use the pads to change the tone? And here's where it's important; at this point I'm not very interested in receiving PCs, Banks, etc. from other hardware, I want to, just change timbres like I would using a "real" synth from the old days, and using pads would be the ideal solution.

Using pads, can I mute, or solo sounds?

I confess; I can't yet master all this nomenclature: project, track, clip, etc.

If anyone can help me, I'd be very grateful.

VoytecG

[xp30]

Inferring from observation, there will be no problem connecting an external keyboard to the MC via USB (indirectly via AUM on the iPad, as my top keyboard - Yamaha MX - transmits exclusively via MIDI, or USB)[?]

The MC-101 has a regular MIDI input and can receive supports MIDI-over-USB. You can directly connect the Yamaha-MX via a MIDI cable to the MC-101. You can also connect both the Yamaha-MX and the MC-101 via USB to the iPad and do the MIDI routing on the iPad. I am not familiar with AUM, however, apps like iMIDIPatchBay can do that.

Can I save Clips only with an assigned sound? (No notes)

The saved clip contains both tone and notes. However, you do not have to store any notes within a clip, if that helps.

Can I use the pads to change the tone? And here's where it's important; at this point I'm not very interested in receiving PCs, Banks, etc. from other hardware, I want to, just change timbres like I would using a "real" synth from the old days, and using pads would be the ideal solution.

Using pads, can I mute, or solo sounds?

The MC-101 is actually quite interesting: Within a project, you have 4 tracks (aka zones aka parts), which can be assigned to different MIDI channels. You can play all 4 tracks simultaneously.

Each track has 16 clips, and each clip can contain a different Zen-Core tone (including insert effect). Only 1 of the 16 clips is active at any time.

You have 2x8x8 scenes. Each scene stores which clip is active per track. There is a mode on the MC-101 where you can quickly switch between the scenes using the 16 pads.

You can create a Zen-Core tone that produces no sound.

Switching clips is seamless. That means: If you have an acoustic piano in track-1-clip-1 and an electric piano in track-1-clip-2. You can play the acoustic pianos and hold the keys. If you switch to track-1-clip-2, then the sound will NOT cut off, until you release the keys. And you can already play the new tone with the new effect.

If you put all of this together, then you can assign 4x 15 tones to the clips + 1 tone per track without sound. You can program the 128 scenes for selecting combinations of the 4x 16 tones, and you can use the pads to switch between these combinations, and you can implicitly mute tracks by selecting the clips that produce no sound.

I have mentioned it before: I think the MC-101 is quite interesting as a sound module, in particular because it is fairly easy to find in mint condition on the used market for less than 300 USD, and because it is fairly compact. However, there are caveats:

• Polyphony is 64 stereo voices (when using PCM oscillators with 12db TVF filter, as far as I know), which is twice as much as my XP-30. It is not a lot if it is the only sound source.
• It is not designed as a sound module, and some important features for a sound module are missing (e.g. keyboard and velocity ranges).
• Roland has not published the MIDI implementation, which makes it hard to use advanced features.
• Within a project, there is only 1 reverb and 1 chorus/delay send effect, shared by all 4x 16 tones. There is no reverb in the MFX effect types.
• Switching projects is slow, and I would not switch projects between songs.
• Track types are fixed within a project. If you need to trigger many one-shot samples, then you need to make one of the tracks a drum track. That means all 16 clips within the track a drum tones.

[VoytecG]

Hello,
thank you very much for your time. And your answer is very comprehensive and gives a lot of food for thought. I will read it a few more times, especially the ending, and make a decision. Fortunately, in the store where I want to buy, I have the possibility to return up to 30 days.

Greetings and thanks again.
Voytec G