MC-808 Questions and Answers

[Artemiy]

Hey all!

Thanks to the awesome work from Dirk aka dr_boehm, we now have a collection of answers to frequently asked questions concerning the Roland MC-808 groovebox.

Download it at the Clan's document section:

http://www.rolandclan.com/media/22/MC-808_FAQ.html

Artemiy.

[Zolo]

Unfortunately Roland self hasnt done this job. But big respect to Dirk. Its great.

[doombilly]

The motor faders are loud. How can i stop them from automatically going to new positions?
Press [SYSTEM] and then [SHIFT] + [PANEL]. Cursor right 5 times. Here you can set the motors of the faders on or off. If you want to keep this setting you must press [WRITE] after adjusting the setting.

The motor faders are loud. How can i stop them from automatically going to new positions?
Press [SYSTEM] and then [SHIFT] + [PANEL]. Cursor right 5 times. Here you can set the motors of the faders on or off. If you want to keep this setting you must press [WRITE] after adjusting the setting.

DEJA VU!

[Artemiy]

No, all is correct, he repeats that twice so that even most impatient MC-808 users will learn that!

[doombilly]

OIC

[lejoix]

hey dirk,

respect, my man

[dr_boehm]

Hey to all !!

If you are missing a topic in the FAQ please drop a short note in this subject and i will try to incorporate that into the FAQ.

Ciao, Dirk.

[larry Castro]

Is it possible on the mc 808 to set the pads as different chords that aren't in the same scale. So for example you can play a C major chord then a A minor chord on different pad without having to change the scale of all the pads to A minor. So in realtime i could play a C then an A minor. If anyone could help me with this that would be great.

Cheers

[dr_boehm]

Hi larry,

i also asked me that question and found no solution. Maybe by calling different RPS patterns (one in C-Maj, one in a-Min ...) you can do that job.

With the chord function it is not possible!

One more way:

In the first record take only record major chords, in the second record minor chords...

Ciao, Dirk.

[TOTAL]

save the chords in user slots in the order you are going to use them, with repetitions, f.e. minor, major, 11, major, etc.

when ready to play switch chord option on and press shift+chord to have this chord delection menu on the 808's lovely little screen. Select the first chord and start playing.

you will need two hands: one to play the roots ant the other to turn the dial.

It's fun!

[dr_boehm]

Hi TOTAL!

Very cool hint!!

Ciao, Dirk.

[Zolo]

I were wondering why my Midi IN doesnt work. Thougt it might been damaged but then read in the faq's that i have to set it to USB Mode to use the midi i/o's... Great help for me !
Thank you

Bye
Zolo

[Jaafar]

Hi everybody,

The FAQ page is a great doucument, I found many answers there, thanks dr_boehm!

I still have one problem: when I change patterns, delays stop. You wrote:

- "If you have f.e. a delay effect that should stay the same in all patterns of a song make sure that the effect is allways assigned to the same effect unit (EFX1 or EFX2) so that delays are not stopped at the end of the pattern. "
- "If you have the same effect in two consecutive patterns always make sure that the effect is assigned to the same effect processor. If the same effect is on the next pattern the effect will not stop on the pattern boundary."

Well, I checked everything and it still stops the delays when I change patterns, even if I copy / paste the same pattern in two slots and play them one after the other. The delays always reset when the second pattern starts.

I would like the delays to slowly decrease, exactly as when I stop the pattern. Do you have any clue? Is there an option like "patch remain", but a kind of "effect remain"?

[TOTAL]

indeed. I have noticed the same.

at the change of pattern all gets cut unless you change for an initialized (i.e. blank) pattern. This latter factor makes the whole thing puzzling, b'cause in init both fx are by default lowboost, which means in all cases you have a change.

The same with pattern calls - all gets cut.

The workaround I can think of is just using an external sequencer. I have a rm1x and will probably go for it.

[Jaafar]

Yeah, actually, changing to an empty pattern is equivalent to stopping the sequencer so the delay goes on. For the moment I have the same method as you do: I sequence everything with Ableton Live when it comes to playing different note sequences within the same parts / patches.

But:

1. sometimes I'd also like to use more than 16 different patches in a song, and then I get limited: can't sequence everything without changing patterns

2. it doesn't work for live action! I guess one could ultimately handle this using the RPS patterns with a quantized launch and the "hold" function so as to get 32 parts, but it's so annoying and un-natural...