Roland MC-101 4-track Groovebox Reviews

Didn't buy this when it first came out but once I saw all the updates it become an obvious choice.
By the time I decided the price had risen quite a bit but I think overall it's worth it.

It sounds great throughout the various catogories and especially those modeled/sampled after Roland's classic synths.
Right now I'm mainly using it as a sound module for the Akai MPC One. Not sure how many people realize that each track can contain 16 clips and each can contain a different instrument. These clips can be changed via midi from any external sequencer. So you have 4 tracks x 16 clips which is 64 different sounds if you want them, all of which can be switched via midi. All of this is just one project and you can set up different configerations in countless projects.
And one last thing, because it is a self contained groove box I can pull it out of the studio and sit on the couch and have fun writing all kinds of things within the box. Great stuff!

This is my first step into this kind of technology and it has been amazing! Completely changed the way I make music. I thought it would take me forever to learn my way around it but it is quite intuitive and easy to work with. 100% recommend.

The MC101 started out kinda rough, but Roland has Firmware updated the hell out of it. The workflow using shift commands takes some practice, but is easily mastered after 2-3 weeks of dedicated use. The synthesizer is great for mostly sketching, except for bass sounds (Pair it with a Dreadbox Typhon). The sample stretch algorithms could use some improvement. Everything else is pretty much a winner. Roland, keep coming with more updates, glad you are listening to end-users (Roland).

I have both the MC-101 and MC-707. Most of my kit is Roland, actually.

The 707 is excellent for stage and group performance, but the 101 is exceptional for on the fly. One would feel that having half the controls buried in the Shift menu might give it trouble, and not having a visual patch list with categories can slow you down. The latter part does a little, but not by much if you learn your way around.

This could almost be a second drum machine for me. The only thing not making it a primary is my TR-S8 which has the custom filters and setups.

It has onboard programs that really show what it can do and help generate ideas, especially if you are someone like me who has the concepts, but sometimes struggles a little at first to put concept to work.

It plugs wonderfully into my MX-1 and uses the phantom USB socket without issue - so if it is part of your kit and you want to save on batteries, this is a great option if you have both. It will use the onboard clock of the MX-1 in default state.

The only downside is a one-octave keyboard and entering notes in a tone track to the sequence can be a little gamey. However, the visual line is intuitive, it is easy to pick up, and travels well.

The tracks themselves do not have a general mute switch, something lacking from the 707. However, you can easily get around this by making an empty clip (most of the presets do it in clip 1) and swapping to it as active, if you do not want to do a fader mute.

All in all, it is good for travel, well worth the polyphony. It will not equal to the big brother in the 707 as far as complete utility. This is something I would consider a graduate instrument. When I return to playing my 707 after noodling on this, I'm going to have a lot more control.

The reviewer is a former band student who doesn't quite grasp keys and basic music settings well yet, has listened frequently to electronic music and is worming their way through the initial learning.

I used to fiddle around with loopy software some years back. I wanted to start making music again but didn't want to upgrade my PC nor be co fined to creating at my desktop. And so I found this to be a SUPERIOR choice for it's many capabilities found in multiple other machine types. It doesn't do EVERYTHING an MPC does, but it has lots of capabilities. It doesn't do everything a drum machine does, but gets the job done with flying colors.
Same goes with synthesizing, changing shapes and motions of samples, engineering the sounds to your taste and style. I even use it as a soundboard for irritating housemates!

A lot of possibilities within this little box.

Of course I love the portability of it, no doubt. There are tons of samples, leads, synths, drum kits and instruments built within. Start from scratch right out of the box.

It's super easy to learn the "mechanics" and find a workflow for creating projects. I love this groovebox and recommended this for all around easy music creation.

This little box has all the sonic and sequencing power you need to create great live sets and studio tracks...
The zen core sound engine creates earth shattering bass lines and crushing drum beats....plus a ton of melody and bottom patches
Match this up with Akai live and you can hit it anywhere without plugging in....

Too many gotchas in the too steep of a learning curve. Roland engineered a beautiful creative device and then hobbled the user's enjoyment of it with sketchy technical writing that ends up requiring you to perform several iterations of trial-and-error to see if you've got it right. Biggest con: you can't use it except under a bright light, because the (Shift) + items become literally invisible after dusk.

It has taken awhile, but I now look forward to my sessions with it. Tone tracks and drum tracks behave differently, and that is a big and confusing part of the learning curve. I also found that exporting audio into Logic Pro X via USB isn't as straightforward as I hoped it would be because of the multiple input channels, but it can be done. I will probably instead record audio of multiple sessions of solo clips and live performance from the 101's line out into either my Zoom recorder, or directly into Logic via my Scarlett audio interface.

Whatever, it has a tremendous sound set built into it, and the creative possibilities seem limitless. (You of course don't even *have* to record it anywhere to have a blast with it.)

My mom got me this for a graduation gift. Probably the best gift Ive gotten in years. Its a great sketchpad for musical ideas. I love that it has a ton of patches that I can use as a sound module also. I imported midi sequences and chord progressions to get me started. However, plan on "BYPB" bring your own Bass. Not very substantial in that department, but again, awesome for jamming on a couch, or back seat of a car.
Very well executed Roland!

This is the first groove box type thing that I have ever had. It sounds great. The manual is not your friend. The reference manual is also not your friend, but it at least has more than a the zero information in the paper manual you get in the box. I recommend that you print out the reference manual and then get it wire bound for $5 at OfficeDepotMAX.

Learning how to use this thing is about learning how the knobs and pads control different functions depending on what menu you are on. There is a F-ton of menu diving and I get lost easily, but I'm figuring out. There are some features that seem deliberately hobbled. For example, you can have a clip with 128 steps, but you can only reference where you are for the first 64 of them. There's no pattern chaining, as far as I can tell, so I think that to make a "Song" out of the clips, you would need to sequence them on a separate device, or be a real wizard with your timing.

I also recommend that you get a bag for it and a mobile USB power supply, unless you want to spend all your money on batteries.

I wish there that there was a real book on how to use this like the 800 page tomes that I used to get for Adobe Photoshop in the early 2000s.

I think it's a very cool piece of equipment, however I lack creative execution. I cannot tell you how great it is in comparison with anything else or what it may lack. Even though I watch the video tutorials, it's still a steep learning curve for me.

One thing I did do that failed me big time - I wanted to connect the Groovebox to my MacBook Pro using Catalina. I had to download a driver for it to be recognized by computer. I did not remember to do a back up of my laptop on Time Machine. I followed the instructions to load the driver and I could never reboot into the laptop at any point afterwards. I lost 6 months of data since my last back up - which included downloaded music, personal documents etc. No sympathy, thanks. I'm sure so many of you readers have gone through that before and my issue is, I'm usually diligent on that so I'm more p.o at myself.

I bought this even though I have no talent to create music. I just want to have a bit of background music for my photo slides I sometimes share with friends on Face Book. Of course I want better music but due to Copyright laws and using FB... well you know.

Too many gotchas in the too steep of a learning curve. Roland engineered a beautiful creative device and then hobbled the user's enjoyment of it with sketchy technical writing that ends up requiring you to perform several iterations of trial-and-error to see if you've got it right. Biggest con: you can't use it except under a bright light, because the (Shift) + items become literally invisible after dusk.
I was torn between this or upgrading my 2nd gen iPad Air, and now wish I'd gotten the new iPad Air instead. Might enjoy playing around with the MC 101 from time to time, but the fun quotient just doesn't seem to be there anymore after just a few sessions of use. (Might leverage the expenditure by hooking up a midi keyboard to it and sending the audio-out to a good quality boom box, thereby turning it into a usable electric piano, drum kit, or low-end synth.)
If you've owned several such sequencer/Groovebox type devices, this certainly might be what you're looking for. But for those who have primarily only worked with a DAW, think hard.