Roland
Roland (; ; or ''Rotholandus''; or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was mil ...
MC-505 is a groovebox conceived in 1998 as a combination of a
MIDI controller
A MIDI controller is any hardware or software that generates and transmits Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data to MIDI-enabled devices, typically to trigger sounds and control parameters of an electronic music performance. They mos ...
, a
music sequencer
A music sequencer (or audio sequencer or simply sequencer) is a device or application software that can record, edit, or play back music, by handling Musical note, note and performance information in several forms, typically CV/Gate, MIDI, or Open ...
, a
drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...
, and a desktop synthesizer with many synthesis features: arpeggiator, oscillators, and voltage-controlled filter, control of attack, decay, sustain and release, different envelopes and 2 LFOs. It was released as the successor to the Roland MC-303 and is functionally related to the later-released Roland JX-305 Groovesynth, which added a 61-key full-sized keyboard but which lacked the MC-505's Megamix and D-Beam hardware and functionality. The
Roland
Roland (; ; or ''Rotholandus''; or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was mil ...
The key features of the MC-505 are:
* 64 voice polyphonic digital subtractive synthesis engine (derived from the Roland JV-1080) with 251 different oscillator, acoustic and drum sample waveforms
* 512 built-in preset sounds, 256 user sounds & 26 rhythm sets (includes the Roland CR-78, TR-808, TR-606, TR-909, TR-707 and R-8)
* 8-track MIDI sequencer + Mute Ctrl Track
* Recording length of up to 32 bars per pattern
* 714 preset sequencer patterns, 200 user patterns, 50 user songs
* 3 multi-effect units: Reverb, Delay and 24 different EFXs
* Infrared
D-Beam The D-Beam is a Roland synthesizers interface that can control and manipulate sound and effects via the user's hand movements interacting with an infrared beam of light.
Background
The D-Beam was originally manufactured by Interactive Light, as a ...
controller for hands-free sound modulation
* MEGAMix function for intuitive realtime mixing of beats and patterns
* 5 volt
Smartmedia
SmartMedia is an obsolete flash memory, flash memory card standard owned by Toshiba, with capacities ranging from 2 MB to 128 MB. The format mostly saw application in the early 2000s in digital cameras and audio production. SmartMedia m ...
card slot for doubling user patch and pattern memory
Tribute Album
In
2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
the Grand Royal record label released a compilation album At Home with the Groovebox, where all the artists contributed a track primarily using the Roland MC-505. Artists included
Beck
Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...
Air
An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...
,
Jean-Jacques Perrey
Jean Marcel Leroy (20 January 1929 – 4 November 2016), better known as Jean-Jacques Perrey (), was a French people, French electronic music performer, composer, producer, and promoter. He is considered a pioneer of pop electronica.Pavement. This was considered to be an interesting and well received album.
Notable artists
*
Beck
Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...
Gustavo Cerati
Gustavo Adrián Cerati Clarke (11 August 1959 – 4 September 2014) was an Argentine musician and singer-songwriter who gained international recognition for being the leader, vocalist, composer, and guitarist of the rock band Soda Stereo. He is ...
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...
Sean Lennon
is a British-American musician, songwriter, and producer. He is the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and half-brother to Julian Lennon. Over the course of his career, he has been a member of the bands Cibo Matto, the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tige ...
Juan Atkins
Juan Atkins (born September 12, 1962), also known as Model 500 and Infiniti, is an American record producer and DJ from Detroit, Michigan. ''Mixmag'' has described him as "the original pioneer of Detroit techno." He has been a member of the Belle ...
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboardist, and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured
Rapping, MC and vocalist Maxim (musician), Maxim, dancer and occasi ...
Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups was a free-to-use system of Electronic mailing list, electronic mailing lists offered by Yahoo!.
Prior to February 2020, Yahoo! Groups was one of the world's largest collections of online discussion boards. It allowed members to s ...
Beck
Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...
,
Air
An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...
,
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...
Sean Lennon
is a British-American musician, songwriter, and producer. He is the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and half-brother to Julian Lennon. Over the course of his career, he has been a member of the bands Cibo Matto, the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tige ...