MIDI Target Manufacturer(s): Roland
MC-303
Ive had one of these laying around for over 22 years and I never really got into it. The presets were all around 40 beats too fast and they sounded like the Demo mode of any Japanese synth. They were however fun, and as long as you changed most of the sounds you could get them to sound pretty nice.
Programing them wasnt hard, but they were small and there was a lot of shift pressing etc. I decided to make a panel after I found all the sysex, and it really makes them twice as fun to use.
The Panel - Mixer
The Mixer layout is identical to the part layout on the front. These units could operate in two modes, Sequencer mode or Normal mode which essentially turned them into just a sound module with 16 channels. I mainly use it in Seq mode but the button is there in the effects section to change modes. I wont explain it too much, read the manual.
Modulation.
There's a page where you can change all the various modulation details. Points to remember here. I used a Channel control for each parts so as to change the midi channel/part for each modulation section. This saves an enormous amount of space as I needed to essential have two Value controls. Using the channel control is a good hack for that. Simply select the part you want to change, then move the knobs. Channel 10 was always hard coded to be Part 1 (Drums) Parts 2-7, make up the other 8 sequence parts. Parts 8-16 are only used in Normal Mode (Sound Module Mode). Another point to remember is that when changing say Mod-Wheel, you need to reset the mod wheel each time so as to hear the change. These are old and the Midi baud rate has to be wound down to as slow as possible (Vintage - or it jolts and performs badly). Ive set this globally.
Effects
Effects are self explanatory. The Rx Part Messages work using the Part selector again to save space. Here you can set if the unit receives those messages using the buttons in Sound Module mode. Also there are CC controller assigners and Drum map assigners so you can essentially change ever part into say drum mode (map1 or 2) or musical mode (off)
You can have fun with the drum maps also, this seems to work fine although a little tedious. Remember here that the effect controls for the drums work only subtractive. In other words, the main drum part must have the effect applied, then this singular control will remove the effect from that drum only. Again...read the manual.
Edit : Quick note, when changing the Drum Parts Kit, while in Sequencer mode remember to have the drum part Selected! While in sequencer mode the unit works in Omni, so any incoming message goes to what ever part is selected. The reason for this is I had to use standard Channel 10 PC messages to change the drum kits, not Sysex. Rolands description in the sysex for the drum kits is terrible and I couldnt figure out how to change the sounds using Sysex only. The other parts (2-7) use Sysex so you dont need to worry about the part selection.
Have fun.
Brett Anthony - Thedood
