Roland’ =Presvaa=sX< QUICK START MC-303 Introduction Thank you for purchasing the Roland MC-303 Groove Box. The MC-303 is a completely new type of device: Ras ent for eiting music.” I represents a ne 1 solution for the demands of today's dance The MIC-303 combines a multitude uf funetions ina single unit-sounds that have been carefully selected for the dance seene, « sound generator offering, enhanced uperability, ang a sequencer that pushes realtirse operation to ils very limits. Even those who are totally incapable wf playing an instrument can mmediately use the MC-308 to oate original dance In order to take full advantage of the MC-30%' func Uonality, and enjoy many vears of trouble-free use plese read this owner's manual earetully Contents How to read this mangal Turning on the power Listeni Playing back varius patterns, fo the demo sons, Playing, various sounds f inching Ton Switching Rhythey Sets Single krobstomediftescxind (Reniane Mati) osu laying back phrases om the Keytar pad (RPS) o-oo sing the arpeggiator 9 Moxiilying the groove a pattern Play Quaniie Ww Lransposing (Realtime transpose) 0 PLANET 303 How to read this manual The docu nuals: "Quick Start ancl “Osener's Manual.” ‘Quick Start” explains the basic operation af the MC Mantial rentation For the MC-303 consists of tive 3, Please cea this first, The Ox cone 1s detailed explanations of the MC-300's fusetions, nd Supplementary information, order to preseat information as clearly as possible the following printing conventions are used in “Quick Start” and “Owner's Manual © The names of by eg. [PLAY] @ Instructions such as SELECT [ 4] [>] mean that You should press one of the button: toms an given fn square brackets © Paragraphs beaded by an asterisk“ contain spe notes or cautions © Reference pages are indicated as (p.°9) © The dack/lit/blinking status of an indicate i di Linguished as tollows aah Ik oink Eee) ROLAND CORPORATION All rights reserved. No part of this publicatic may be reproduced in any form without the written. permis: of ROLAND CORPORATION,Connections The MC-3003 does not contain any amp or speaker: ky order to make sound, you will need to provide a keyboard amp or stereo system, or use headphones, If you have a MIDI key board, connecting it to the MC-303 will let you create patterns more conveniently. Referring to the diagram below, connect the MIC-308 to your other equipment Steves hoackores Ae ecepir (I east over 100 Keynond amp, Autos 1. Before making connections, make sume thatthe power on. * Making connections with the powe xd on can cause problems, such as damage to your speak 2. Comect the supplied AC adapior to the MC-3N8, and fasten the AC adaptor cone to the cord stay, 28 shown an the dhagram, [his will prevent problems stich as anmtentkinal loss of power die fo the power cord being accidentally unphigged, ansl sll keep the AC askoptor jack From being damaged. 3. Plug the AC adaptor inio.an AC outlet 4. Connect audio cables and MIDI cables. [1 vou are using headphones, connect them to the PHONES jack, As nece ect pedal switches * Your MIDI keyboard may beset to transmit an any channel yow wish, * Ip you wish tw play in mone (connect OUTPUT jack jist » Single andio cable), be sure to use the 1, (MONO) © Aqulio cables MIDI cables andl pedal swilehos are ot inehiated, You sei noe fo purchase snes ions from your dealer a PLANET 303— Turning on the power * Once the commections have bon: completed (p.2), tum on power ta your various devices in the order specified, By uring on devices in the wrong order, vou risk easing, mal: funetion and/or damage to speakers and other devices 1. Tum on the POWER switch located an th panel af the MCX, © This unit i equipped with a protection cite cuit. A brief interval (a few Seconds) aftor power up is required before the unit will ‘operate normally 2, Tum on the perver on your amp systern 3. While pressing the keyboard pad to pro duce sound, rotate the VOLUME knob to adjust the volume, Adjust the volume of your amp ssstert to an appropriate level longer distorts, Tur ing the power off 1. Before you turn the power off, make sure of the Fatlowing points The volume controls of the MC-303 and of your amp system are turned te the mininum position 2. Turn of the power of your amp system, 8. Turn off the POWER sviteh of the MU-30 PLANET 303 3Listening to the demo song First la's listen to a demo song that uses the MC-308's high-quality sounds and exciting patterns. 1. Hale! down [SHIFT] and press [PLAY MODE] to enter Demo mode. The following, display will appear. 2. Press [PLAY] and the demo song will start The demo song will play back repeatedly 3. To stop the deme playback, press [STOP] To exit Demo moce, pross [EXIT] + All rights reserved. Unauthorized use of chis material for purposes other than private, jolation of applica: personal enjoyment is a ble laws. * No data for the music that is played will be ulpu from MIDI OUT. connector Profiles Masayuki Kurihara (MASA) Marayuti ied lechnovatt whs curently mses in Tokyo. His scisiies include providing musical slestons, ccating sound Tracks anc! specials til the pradacthas of muse foe TW ‘anmercil la-snother ver Ne Wet bas been rkesed on inch seconds med CDy by Gain Resonds of Genrer, ane Py ar horace of Austell (among eats. le has perfor ata Vatey lo chanc ind onttooe partie Toby Hein Hamburg and Pate Trp May of (995, he ealibnbed the T-1. Records company inp nership with DY Kan and others He is curently aking fora wor Ryeland Allison yell makes licens era at he ped sinning puter contol lnaricie tytn. ey honored 4 ines Naoki Matsuura (GigBag) Wile eng the USA Jor lO he sale laying ea pote sional bas plaer Mainly he rs plaving el ive an stato Sionsawuest New England anc. Asa clan ceson ply ‘Naokt joined many tossione and gigs wtih Paget De Cioudie Bod Tommy Compl Stove Hunt (cuter Alan Holdsworth) eee awed Tiger Okeah’s OVC recoudny trical Urectr SME Music Dual De Song ks a wes om Shigeyoshi Kawagoe (Shige Kewagoe) Shigevosbi entered the Berklee College of Muse in 1965, and radon i jazz compen atl arangemens, He studied net Bret Wilote (par and Hal Cook composon arangement, and improvisation). While in school, he got together with [ft Ramsev, Chee Paths, Dave Dethouune, an Zack ltd cn fae group “One Aon, One Soa” They performed many in Hae Boston ate, an on nueraus usisiens ey wens te pening act sl wth Roy Aves a Stacy Lauas, Moving to New Tork er gradation sn cere of SRS. econ Ns won a Felormer song the Fae sacl He tired fo opin March $598 Sos thes he fo Vee hep buoy oo guint, compos arrange wD prea Kazuhiro Terada (Terra) Karalvo Teada i the Rolond employee spose fr he ae Hei ed soar the MCAD, [tough he does no playa ctrument, be pestis ne as a muraher of Pesformenee Uni “Techno Heaven” an Techno {Gt "Polar" isis pa a te IC wll makes cont Kezumi Sagawa (Sagawa) ‘On #4 Maniac Love, Kasim Sagan was responsible for much Athen gt Subline RecoMds) Jn Mart 1996, bis 25nch "Can You reload rm fk Rororcings PLANET 303 Sim In FrequencPlaying back various patterns The MC-308 contains a large number of pattems, These pattems are orgenized into 3 banks (A-C). By using the following procedure to select patterns, you can enjoy a wide variety of accompaniments. Here's how to play back and select patterns For details on the built-in patterns, refer to “Press 1. Make sure that the PLAY MODE indicator PATTERN is lit itis not lit, press [PLAY MODE] to make the PATTERN indicator light 2. Press SELECT | 4| [®] to make the PIN/SONG indicator light ‘The bank and number of the currently selected pattern will appear in the display 3. Rotate the VALUE dial to select a pattern 4. Press |PLAY|, and the pattern will begin playing, 5. To select a different pattern, rotate the VALUE dial, If you select a different pattern during, play back, the: tem will appear in the NEXT display. After the current pall ced patiern Select and play back var 6. To stop pattern playback, press [STOP PLANET 303 nank ane number of the selected pat finishes playing, playback will automatically move to the select ot pattern Hist” (Owner's Manual; p94), c®Playing various sounds ‘The MC-303 has seven Parts; [-7. A "Part" is analogous to # musician playing on instrument. This mieanis that the MC-303 is able to simulate a seven-member ensemble. In addition to these Parts, there isa Rhythm Part that plays rhythm instruments, The instruments used by Parts 1-7 are called Tones, and the instrument used by Part Sis called a Rhythm Set You can select various Tones and Rhythm Sets to hear cliferent sounds Switching Tones Let's sivitch the Tone for Part I fo hear the variety of sound thatthe MC-303 provides + For alist of the MC-300's Tones ref to "Tone list” (Owner's Manual; p.85) 1. Make sure that the [PTN SET] and [RPS EY ES SET] indicators are dare Ze IE they are lt, prass the button to tum them off qe 2. Press SBLECT | 4] [> | to make the TONE Seo. indicator light angst ape 3. Make sure thal the {PART SELECT] indica tor is lit, and press PARI [1] to select Part 1. The indicator of the bution you pressed sill light The Bank and Number of the Tone currently selecied for Part will appear in the display. 4. Play the keyboard pad or your MIDI key- boatel to hear the sound, You ean shift the pitch range of the keyboard x00 PAD pad by using the OCTAVE [+] [+] buttons. To ase T*wa lower the range, press OCTAVE (1. To raie A the range, pross OCTAVE [+]. 5. Rotate the VALUE dial to select other Toms, Gg 6 PLANET 303Switching Rhythm Sets A *Rhythm Set” is a collection a var —<—<—<—$— 1s rhythm instruments (percussion insteuments and sound cffecis). Unlike a Tone, ¢ Rhythm Sot will produce a different sound for each key that you press Here's how to select a Rhythm Sot and play its sounds, Far a (Gwner's Manual; p90), 1. As when selecting Tones, make sure that the [PTN SET] and [RUS SET] indicators are dark, and that the TONE mdicator (locaied above SELECT | || [pis bt 2. Make sur that the [PART SELECT] indica- tor is lit, and press PART [R] to select the Rhythm part The indicator for the button you pressed will light The number of the Rhythm Set currently selected for the Rhythm Part will be shown in the CURRENT display 3. Play the keyboard pad oF your MIDI key: board to hear the sounds. Play different keys to hear different rhythm instruments You can shitt the piteh range of the keyboard pad by using the OCTAVE [-] f+] buitons. To lower the range, press OCTAVE [-] To raise the range, press OCTAVE [+] 4. Rotate the VALUE dial to select other Rhythm Sets, At this time, you can set OCTAVE to -2 sw the difference between the various rhythm sets can be clearly seen PLANET 303 Is on the rhythm instruments included in each Rhythm Set, refer to “Rhythar Set list” aH @Using the knobs to modify the sound (Realtime Modify) The MC-303's Realtime Modify function lets you use the knobs to modify the way’ thal the Tone of the selected Part will sound — while the paltern is playing back! Let's use pattern AT and modify the Synth Bass sound for Part 2, 1. Follow the procedure given in “Playing back various patterns" to select and play back pattem AIT Make sure that the [PART $ tor is lit-and press PART [2] to select Part 2 ECT] indica: mmeguec 3. Rotate the CUTOFT and RESONANCE The Synih Hass amuctot ayid-veil durgess CE Playing back phrases from the keyboard pad (RPS) Normally, Tones or rhythm instruments will sound when you pross the keyboard pad. However the RPS (Realtime Phrase Sequence] function lets you play not only Tones or rhythm instruments, bot entire Phrases by pressing a note on the keyboard pad, A Phrase” here ind cates the playback for one Pari of a pattern. Since you can play back slfferent phrases by pressing different keys, this function rovitles a convenient way to add fins during a live performance, and alse lets yous combine two oF more phrases to create a pattern 1. Press [RPS SET] to make the button indica- BEY BEE. tori ‘This turns on the RPS finction 2, Press one or more keys af the keyboard pac to play back phrases You can use the RPS function to play back phrases oven while a Partern is playing back 3. To turn off the RPS fanetion, prose [RPS SET] to turn off the button indicator 5 PLANET 303LL Using the arpeggiator ‘The MC-303 lets you produce arpeggics simply by holding down a chord, Here's how to use the arpeggiator 1. Make Sure that the [PEN SET] and [RPS SET] indicators are dark Ie they are lit. press the button to torn them off 2. Make sure that the [PART SELECT indica- {or is lit, and pross PART [2] 10 select Part 2 3. Pross [ARPEGGIO} to tuen on the button indicator, 4, Play 2 chord on the keyboard pad or on your MIDI keyboard. In this example, play the following chord The chord you pressed will be arpeggiated Press various chords and listen to the result You can use the arpeggiator even while a Pattern is playing back You can adjust the emphasis of the arpeggio To change the pitch range in which the chord ' arpeggiatou, press [FUNC] to male the but sdicator blink, and rotate the OCTAVE RANGE knob. 5. To stop arpeggio play, press [ARPRGGIO] ‘once again and confirm that the buttons indi- ator has gone out PLANET 303 AModifying the groove of a pattern (Play Quantize) Transpo 10 Play Quantize isa fonction which lets you modify the graove of a pattern while that pattern is play- ing back. Let's use Pattorn A12, and modify the groove of the drums and bass, 1, Select Pattern 12 and play it back (p.5). 2, Press [QUANTIZE] to make the SHU indicator light. 3. Rotate the TIMING knob to adjust the play: back groove, Starting from the center detent, gradually rotate toward the right. Afler a while, the groove of the drums and bass will change 4. To return to the original feel, press [QUANTIZE] enough times to get all three indicators to go out, g (Realtime Transpese) Realtime Transpose is a function that lets you change the key (pitch) of the pattern, You can transpose the pattern aot only while itis stopped, but even while it is playing back Using Pattern ADIL, let's try transposing, tHe pattern Select Pattern AO] and play it back (p.5) 2, Press [TRANSPOSE] to make the buiten indicator light When you press the button, the pattern will immediately be transposed, With the factory settings. the pitch will be tarapond up eae Se The dopey wil) =I =e inde o> To return to the original key, press [TRANSPOSE] to turn off she button indicator PLANET 303