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Museum : Roland Room : MC-202 MicroComposer
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Search the Synthmuseum.com Classifieds for this instrument.

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MC-202 MicroComposer

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. Manufacturer:
Roland

Model:
MC-202 MicroComposer

Production period:
1983-85

Quantity produced:


Famous Fingers
Who played this instrument?

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. . .

Roland MC-202 MicroComposer

owner: Daniele Marziali

The MC202 is a sequencer and simple monophonic synth with 32 buttons arranged like a small keyboard (F-C).

The monosynth is similar to the SH-101. The VCO is based around the ever-so-popular Curtis 3340 chip and features a slider switch for octave (2', 4', 8', 16'), a slider for pulse width, and one for modulation (LFO) amount. The VCO outputs a square/pulse wave, a sawtooth wave, and a sub-oscillator which are mixed together in the "Source Mixer" section. The sub-oscillator is switchable between a square wave 1 octave down, a square wave 2 octaves down, and a pulse wave 3 octaves down. There are knobs which control fine tune and portamento. The VCF section has a slider for cutoff frequency and resonance. There is a slider for each of its control sources: envelope, LFO, and keyboard. The VCA can be controlled by a simple gate or the Envelope. The envelope is an ADSR with a slider for each stage.

The sequencer is quite powerful for its time. The MC-202 features a large (for the time) LCD display, upon which all the sequencing editing is displayed. The two available sequences can be played simultaneously using the CV/gate outputs to control another sequencer. The sequences can have a combined total of 2729 events. Sequences can be entered in real time via the pushbutton keyboard or via another keyboard using the CV/gate inputs. This feature has a negative side, though. Since all incoming CV/gate signals are routed through the microprocessor, there is a bit of a lag when the MC-202 is played by a another keyboard or a MIDI-to-CV device. The Sequences can also be programmed using step-time, setting a separate pitch and duration for each note. Also programmable in a sequence is accent and portamento. Accent works the same as in the TB-303, with an accent amount knob that can be adjusted in real time as the sequence is playing. The speed of the sequence is also controlled by a knob.

The back panel has a sync input and two sync outputs, a tape interface for saving and loading sequences, CV/gate inputs and two CV/gate outputs (one for each sequence), a headphone jack, and a main output jack.

The MC-202 came out at a time when the synthesizer market was just starting to impliment MIDI. After MIDI became an accepted standard, sequencers such as the MC-202, using the old-style CV/gate interface, quickly lost popularity and died away.

[from The A-Z of Analogue Synthesizers, by Peter Forrest, published by Susurreal Publishing, Devon, England, copyright 1994 Peter Forrest]



Famous Fingers
Who Played This Instrument?

808 State, Atomic Babies, Autechre, Bizarre Inc, Coldcut, Dreadzone, Rusty Egan, Future Sound of London, Laurent Garnier, A Guy Called Gerald, Groove Corporation, Simon Harris, Juno Reactor, KMFDM, Michael Law, LFO, Loaded, Mulligan, Rhythmatic, Sabres of Paradise, Severed Heads, Insom Shalom, Tim Simenon, Switzerland, Peter Vetesse Josh Wink - used it to create that "tweeking" sound in the acid classic "Higher State of Consciousness",

[Let us know if you have any further additions to this list.]

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