Manufacturer Roland Price £782 UK, $1299 US Oscillator Yes | Dates 1998–2002 Polyphony 64-note | |
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Timbrality 8-part (Including a separate rhythm channel) | ||
The Roland MC-505 is a groovebox conceived in 1998 as a combination of a MIDI controller, a music sequencer and a drum machine, and also has some of the prime features of synthesizers: arpeggiator, oscillators, voltage-controlled filter, control of attack, decay, sustain and release. It was released as the successor to the Roland MC-303 and is a compact version of the Roland JX-305 Groovesynth without the full set of 61 keys. It is also the predecessor to the Roland D2, Roland MC-307, Roland MC-909 and the Roland MC-808.
Contents
Features
The key features of the MC-505 are:
Criticisms
The Roland MC-505 has no sampler. The size of the LCD screen makes it difficult to read each feature setting, and over time the LCD screen would lose pixels (which in some cases renders the screen unreadable; this is called "display bug" by some users). This issue is due to the heat on the LCD screen-PCB board, the lamination between the crystal and the PCB is opening/splitting up from the little heat inside the Roland MC-505 from prolonged use. Roland has fixed this by updating the LCD screen component.