Roland MC-202

Groove box

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950.00

street price

Roland MC-202 was introduced in the 1983. Its development was inspired with the legendary monophonic synthesizer SH-101 (design, interface) and no less famous bass synthesizer TB-303 (sequencer). The abbreviation "MC" stands for MicroComposer, at that time it was a popular name for sequencers by Roland.

MC-202 has a small but durable housing with 32 buttons at the bottom for note entering, an LCD – a rare feature back then, as well as sliders and buttons for manipulating the sound in the upper sections of the synthesizer.

The device is definitely a reminiscence of SH-101, since the sound core is taken from the latter one. Despite this MC-202 lacks a noise generator, and some changes have touched upon the LFO section where there is no selection of waveforms now. Like SH-101, MC-202 includes analog oscillators with saw/pulse waveforms and a sub-oscillator. As expected, each of them has volume control.

They can be modulated by LFO or through ADSR envelopes for subtractive synthesis (attack, decay, sustain, release). The LFO generates a sine wave and is controlled by speed and delay faders. A low-pass resonant 24 dB filter can also be modulated by LFO or envelopes.

The device sequencer can store up to 2600 notes per 2 tracks, but the sequencer is not as convenient as it might seem. Fortunately, it can be synchronized with external devices such as SH-101, TR-606 or TB-303, and its sequencer can control almost any synthesizer that has CV/Gate inputs. You can also add portamento and accent shifts.

Tags: analog synthesizer

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Usage area
Synthesizer
Usage Design/ Form Factor
Without Keys, Desktop
Archetype
Analogue (A)
Polyphony
Monophonic
Tone Generator / Sound Synthesis
Synthesis Method	Analog Subtractive
Oscillator Type	VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator)
Sub-Oscillators per voice	1
Waveform/ Spectral form (main generator)	Square
Waveform/ Spectral form (main generator)	Saw
Filter
Low-pass Filter (LPF)
2-pole
24dB
Resonance
Envelope Generator (EG)
ADSR
Modulation
LFO: LFO Count	1
LFO Waveforms
Sine
Sequencer
Parts count	2
Note Capacity	2729
External controllers
CV/ Gate IN
CV/ Gate OUT
Audio out
Analogue: 1/4" (6.35mm)	2
Power
Power Supply	External
Dimensions
Height	55 mm
Width	343 mm
Depth	204 mm
Weight	1.350 kg
Color
Grey
Production start	1983
Production end	1985
	Production ended

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