Nerve.com have a pretty-much safe for work Holiday Gift Guide. Among the experimental kitchenware and fancy pants is the Roland MC-303 - the cheap, elderly groovebox which is often reviled by right-thinking musos, not least for demeaning the heritage of the numbers 3,0 and 3. Nerve like it because Peaches and M.I.A used it; "Watch as they and their friends gaze in rapture at the manual and then reach over and push a few buttons, generating various clever, throbbing beats." It's a mark of my endless shallowness that I wanted to buy a MC303 for almost 20 seconds after reading the piece... (Yes, that's a MC505 in the picture. I guess it matched the boots better)
12/19/2005
Official! The Roland MC303 is now trendy
Nerve.com have a pretty-much safe for work Holiday Gift Guide. Among the experimental kitchenware and fancy pants is the Roland MC-303 - the cheap, elderly groovebox which is often reviled by right-thinking musos, not least for demeaning the heritage of the numbers 3,0 and 3. Nerve like it because Peaches and M.I.A used it; "Watch as they and their friends gaze in rapture at the manual and then reach over and push a few buttons, generating various clever, throbbing beats." It's a mark of my endless shallowness that I wanted to buy a MC303 for almost 20 seconds after reading the piece... (Yes, that's a MC505 in the picture. I guess it matched the boots better)
M.I.A. used a 505, I believe.
ReplyDeletethey mention the 505 in the comments of the caption. the 505 is just so much better looking.
ReplyDeleteAhh the 505...one of the first pieces of gear I ever got. good times.
ReplyDeleteI had one too but returned it for an MPC 2000.
ReplyDeletemy 505 is all rusted and some of the cheap plastic buttons has melted due to intense spotlight heat.
ReplyDeletethe drums make me sound like m83!
Nice photo though.
ReplyDeleteI have the 505 and 303-- the 303 needed more memory, but the samples used are quite nice! (phat, yo) The 303 is good for breaks that pump and punch.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE my MC-303.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine called me up, excited to tell me she was about to buy a 303 for $350.
ReplyDeleteI was very happy for her, and told her to go grab it before someone else did, but then she told me it was an MC-303, which made me retract the advice I had just given as fast as I would pull my hand away from a box of writhing maggots.
ahhh horribley done photoshop
ReplyDeletethat shit was always trendy. I mean it came out when raves where a big deal, and techno music was supposed to be the next big thing. It says groovebox on it for christs sake, if that isnt trying to capitalize on the trend that was techno way back when, then ill eat my own poop. So there, it was always trendy.
ReplyDeleteOn mtv cribs, I noticed that Lil' bow-wow had one in his room.
ReplyDeletePeaches needs to quit. MIA is annoying. Who cares what they own - their music blows.
ReplyDeleteI should've bought a MC-505 back in the day instead of the SP-808EX I ended up getting.
ReplyDeleteI just bought a MC-303 and it's a blast to play along with.
I have owned both the 303 & 505, the drums are better on the 303 (Punchier) the 505 has a better synth engine! - That being said... the MC303 is a worthy piece of kit :) I would not be without mine... ever!! - Its not designed for these so called DJ's, its an electronic music composing machine! - DJ's should stick to playing vinyl at wedding reception and the likes! - Lets be honest here... what the hell does a DJ know about sound quality? - They only ever play other peoples music and preset groovebox patterns.
ReplyDeleteYou really have to have a MC-303 for awhile and almost need to use it. As if you have nothing else. It becomes a really useful piece of equipment. I Love that I can plug in my midi keyboard and play polysynth with an added bonus of the crazy ass arpeggio
ReplyDeletefunction it creates huge layers. By itself it can be a bit annoying but don't knock it unless you have really tried it. As for Peaches "eh"
Great synth, lots of sounds, nice drum machine, too.
ReplyDelete