Roland TB-03 Bass Line Synthesizer Reviews
The Roland Boutique TB-03 gives you the sound and control set of the company's iconic TB-303 Bass Line synth in a petite battery-powered unit that fits in the palm of your hand. Powered by Roland's cutting-edge Analog Circuit Behavior (ACB) technology, the TB-03 serves up the flowing, spellbinding grooves of the infamous silver box, and takes things further with enhancements not found on the original. A 4-digit LED display lets you program and tweak more accurately than ever, while overdrive and delay effects let you deploy savage walls of sound that will drive your club audiences wild. In the studio, connect with external gear and your computer via the TB-03's MIDI I/O and USB port, which functions as a 24-bit/96kHz audio interface.
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Most Recent Reviews
Terrible power
After 6 mos of in house use and limited moving of the unit the power is cutting in and out deeming it unusable. Huge waste of time and resources.
Classic
Nice replica of the tb-303, feels like original. Never played the original. Only downfall I thought the sound was going to be a little bit more beef fear but other than that a nice little bass synthesizer.
The closest you're going to get to the original sound
This synth has a thick bass sound that I've yet to hear on any other derivatives or descendants of the original 303. It's small and dense and feels sturdy. Programming the TB-03 in the step sequencer takes some practice, but if you spend an hour or so running through some pre-made patterns (search the internet), it's not too hard.
The rotary knobs are all satisfyingly tight. Maybe a little small, but not annoying so. MIDI I/O, standard signal I/O, so it integrates easily with your other gear.
If you want a squelchy acid bassline for your rig, this is the one to get. It's a little pricier than other offerings, but it's worth it.
Great Gear
Real deal. Better than the original in my view. The added distortion and delay are a nice add on. The red LED display is number one on the list of things that make this unit better.
AWESOME!!!
Just got mine today. I've wanted a 303 since the early 90's, but wasn't willing to shell out $1200.00 for one. Looks and feels like the real thing, but with USB. Sounds awesome! My only gripe is no power adapter.
Amazing
Hi! The boutiques are a great buy, even if you can get some of the sounds of this one in other places there are things you can only do with the 303 or in this case the tb-03. So much like the original. Great thing about any boutique is being able to connect via USB straight to the computer. The computer recieves midi, and audio signal (ability to record both). Adam has helped me out with great deals and always had my back about the latest info. Sweetwater is the best place to buy things!
Impressed to say the least.
I have been listening to the "Acid" sound since 1992. I have countless tracks with that sound and I have played with MANY emulators, (rebirth, tb3 etc) and this by far has the closest sound to the original. This one and the Cyclone Analogic TT-303 are the best ive seen. Build quality exceeded my expectations and i would bet its made better than the original. I have seen a demo of wave form comparison with this unit, tb3, tt303, and original and its pretty spot on. For $ you'd be hard pressed to find a hardware version this good. In 1996 I wanted a 303 so bad and all Roland had available was the MC-303, which is far from an original. Ive had to wait 21 years to get the real deal. Buy it now b4 they stop making it!!
Heavy Hard Hitter, the TB-03
I didn't expect to be this blown away when I first powered this baby on. It completely blew my mind right out of the box. And I play it everyday with every chance I get and it never ceases to amaze! It's so deep and wide-ranging, and rewarding to play. With every subtle turn of any given knob comes a new and unheard of sound to me! I mean, it's classic acid sound, but plugged into monitors, it's a monster, with wall-rumbling lows and squelching highs- such sonic nirvana!!! I highly recommend it. I thoroughly enjoy the original TB-303 sequencer. It's almost not intuitive and kind of hard to learn, but that's the beauty of it. The results are interesting, unimaginable and pleasantly surprising! I've had it for a month now and I am fawning over it. I currently prefer it over my other real analog synths. This may be analog modeling, but I seriously can't tell the difference.
TB 03
As an owner of the original 303 the Boutique is your next best option unless you have $ just laying around to blow. It has its ups and downs but in all it will satisfy your inner acid demons. I love how easy it is to sync in to my DAW (Logic Pro X). The only thing I don't like about this is that it doesn't have the same analog warmth and is extremely chirpy when tweaking the env mod. Having the built in distortion along with reverb and delay is great. No more need to use pedals. Now only if Roland would do a boutique of the MC 202 long with the 808 we would have a good reason to get rid of the laptops on stage.
Great
I got the Roland tb-03 bass line synth last week and been messing around with it and wow I really like this one.i got the Roland tb-3 bass line as well but there's something about the tb-03 I like more I can't wait to take it out and give it a test run and let the audience take a listen to it good job Roland for bringing it back
Basically as good the original, worth every penny!
Sounds great, and with a little know-how and any DAW you can make it sound just as good/better than the original. Minor downside is the MIDI control is minimal and there's no useful documentation on what you can do with MIDI. Other than that it's great and I fell in love with this thing pretty fast. I'm really into old school techno/house etc., so this was easily the best $ I've spent on a synth ever. The difference in sound between this and the original is pretty insignificant in my opinion.
Roland TB-03 So, close but so far away.
I bought the TB-03 to essentially retire my original Roland TB-303 from 1982 which I have had since 1997. While I'm very impressed with the TB-03 as it certainly looks, feels, programs, plays and sounds like the original TB-303 I am annoyed to hell that it doesn't come with the ability to be plugged in, like the Original TB-303 to a 9V DC walwart or something similar. Why? Because I'm also an MX-1 owner. As you may or may not know, the Roland Aira MX-1 is a great mixer but only has 1 USB buss on its inputs that supports power. If I pick up the TR-09 or a second TB-03, how majorly annoying is it that I will have to run them analog audio to the MX-1 because Roland couldn't be bothered with a simple DC power plug input on these units? That and this then forces you to use conventional midi jacks. And these USB cables are not going to be around in 30 years. What then huh?
Like really...What a stupid, dumb, idiotic design decision!!!
"Oh but just run it on batteries..." Uh, no. How about put a freaking power plug jack on it!?
So while Roland more or less gets it this time around for sound, look and feel, they ruin the product's chance of a perfect score (and thus the retirement of my TB-303 to long term storage) on this and I'm rather upset about it because I would be buying another one of these and two of the TR-09s and these rest of the boutique series, otherwise.
Good Enough Against the Real Thing
I was very excited to get the TB-03 along with its companion TR-09 drum machine. I like the ease of programming TB-03 over my old TB-303 or my Cyclone Analogic Bass Bott TT-303. Since I also own a Roland AIRA TB-3, I ran the original TB-303, the TT-303, the TB-3 and TB-03 against each other through the same mixer. Short of using an oscilloscope, the TB-03 held its own with the TT-303 (which is still the closest to my TB-303) and I could almost reach the high end chirp of the TB-303 when the knobs are cranked. In reality, awesome acid sequences can be performed with the TB-03 and only an engineer could tell.
The MIDI and USB updates are nice. The body is metal rather than the old plastic chassis of the TB-303 and the other inputs and outputs are 1/8" rather than 1/4" (except the CV and GATE which are 1/8" on the original). The LED display and boutique cradle are nice touches for ease of use.
Overdrive and delay effects are added in this updated classic. The overdrive is pretty good, but the delay is grainy when the sawtooth waveform is selected.
Overall, I am very happy with Roland's updated silver box. Considering the cost of a vintage TB-303 or even a clone like the Bass Bott, the price is right.
Roland TB-03
The new virtual analog Roland TB-03 is very close to real analog sounding. It lacks a tad bit of in your face analog sound. I was very surprised and happy with the sound over all though. I have grown up with 303 sound, from playing the real thing to Rebirth to D16's phoscyon and AudioRealism's Bass Line 2 and 3. I can make all the classic sounds and love the sequencer. The overdrive distortion is kind of weak and I wont turn it up past half way, as it starts muddying and decreasing the sound. The delay is ok at a couple of settings but isn't that great either. I wish they would have added an LFO or something else instead of the distortion and delay. It sounds WAY better through the RAT guitar pedal and MXR analog delay pedal. I would have paid a couple hundred more for an analog reissue but overall I am in love with this synth and I am making some killer tracks with it already.
