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concepts - lcd display - edit steps - edit realtime - step & gate length - play mode - quickresults - side notes - signal flow
Software
MC-202 HACK - uses the MC-202 "Tape save/load" jacks to create and copy Songs from Mac/PC to MC-202 and vice versa.
Funny things you can do with an MC-202
From Pac Man to May Hem
- put a few notes (e.g. only C notes) going up and/or down in the sequencer
- set the STEP time and the GATE time of every note to 1
- set cycle to on, set the tempo to the slowest setting
- hit start and slowly turn the tempo knob up and down
This way you can make a lot of background "fluttering" accompaniments using the MC-202 in sync with other gear, just add a bit of reverb too.
The same way you can also investigate 80's computer game sounds, because a lot of these sounds are just made of very fast note sequences.
Crashes
When the MC-202 looks like it's not responding and the display shows weird infos, or you hear stuck notes, don't hit it. Just search for stuck rubber buttons and release them. The buttons tend to do that sometimes.
Beep system
| Beeps | Meaning |
| 1 | Confirmation |
| 2 | During "STEP BACK" - You go to the last note of the previous measure. |
| 3 | Error: Trying to press [BAR] on the first note. |
| 4 | Error: Trying to set a STEP length of zero. |
Syncing to other Roland x0x DIN-sync gear
With 'x0x' is meant: other Pattern based Roland units like the 303/606/707/808/909...
- 192 STEPS in the MC-202 will sync to one 4/4 standard 16-note Pattern or one 3/4 "triplet" 12 note Pattern in other x0x units.
- each single x0x Pattern step in 4/4 "normal" beat has a duration of a "STEP=12" note.
- each single x0x Pattern step in 3/4 "triplet" beat has a duration of a "STEP=16" note.
- notice that every 4 notes in 4/4 will have exactly the same duration as every 3 notes in 3/4 in x0x gear.
| 4/4 Pattern | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |  |
5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | |
| MC-202 STEP ends on | 12 | 24 | 36 | 48 | 60 | 72 | 84 | 96 | 108 | 120 | 132 | 144 | 156 | 168 | 180 | 192 |
| 3/4 Pattern | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
4 | 5 | 6 | |
7 | 8 | 9 | |
10 | 11 | 12 | |
| MC-202 STEP ends on | 16 | 32 | 48 | 64 | 80 | 96 | 112 | 128 | 144 | 160 | 176 | 192 |
- for every single step in the TB-303 in 4/4, you can have 4 "STEP=3" notes playing in the MC-202, which is big fun.
More about using the MC-202 "Tape Sync" (FSK) to synchronize other DIN gear.
Strange MC-202 behaviour
When you have created Measures for both of the Channels, the Measure counter will derail during play. Don't worry, when you stop playing, you can still navigate to the correct Measure number in a Channel and continue playing from there.