They're full‑bodied and fat then hollow, deep and slightly odd, respectively — exactly as they should be. Such was the demand for Roland's TB303 in the years since it was discontinued that a flourishing market arose for companies willing to step in and plug the gap. Authentic 303 Sound and Behavior via Roland’s ACB Technology You know when you hear a TB-303—a hypnotic, tribal sound that works best in dark, crowded rooms with big sound systems. While I was still coming to terms with the TB3's multiple identities, I turned to the first two locations for reassurance. It's more extreme terrain as the tail end of bank B is laced with exotic ingredients and increasingly dirty or wonky variations, but more bass variety wouldn't have gone amiss.The two remaining banks are quite adventurous, with the first consisting of up‑front and usually spiky, edgy or supersawy dance leads. Do this while sync'ed, however, and there's no way to resync without stopping playback.Notes and rests are entered via the touchpad and the sequencer advances automatically as you release each one. If lack of tuning seems an odd oversight, the relegation of two important controls to the touchpad is an even stranger decision. I wasn't sure whether Scatter's bump and grind was at its best processing monophonic bass lines, but when effects were introduced it became more interesting.I suspect the TB3 will have a harder time establishing itself than the TR8, mainly because it lacks the drum machine's focus and immediacy. The TB3's knobs and pad transmit MIDI data. The sequencer is plenty of fun and if there were an editor to tweak the sounds and effects, or simply collect favourites, the TB3's desirability would grow exponentially. Roland have promised to address this. Despite a few shortcomings, though, the TB3 represents good value for money.All contents copyright © SOS Publications Group and/or its licensors, 1985-2020.
Release the pad when it's bang in the middle and all four are set to an equal (lower) magnitude. Again there isn't a separate volume control for the computer audio and (unlike the drum machine) there are no audio inputs, but such an interface thrown in is hard to complain about. Control built-in effects. This extra confirmation is handy, not least because patterns can be of any length from 1 to 32 steps, which isn't easy to show with 16 LEDs.

The Roland DJ-707M DJ Controller for Mobile DJs is an integrated live sound console, loudspeaker management system, and fully-fledged performance Serato DJ Pro controller that’s equipped to handle the demanding audio needs of working Mobile DJs. It's easy to use and, like the TR8 before it, asks whether you're happy with the generated pattern before overwriting the existing data. But before moving on to MIDI, there's a tiny operational niggle I should mention. If you make a mistake, notes can quickly be erased using the pad's clear function, or you can slip into step record and make edits that way, adding accents and so on. Lit mostly in red but framed in green, the pad is capable of recognising a single contact only, its functionality decided by a line of small rubber buttons. Making either the Keyboard, 'XY Play' or 'Env Mod' modes active will tie sound selection to the encoder. We've therefore seen countless rack clones, wannabes and awkwardly close 'homages'. For example, in sound B04 you're given control over four independent oscillators via the touchpad, with the central point representing 'friendly tuning'. Of the 40 lead patches, there are a fair percentage I'd use — assuming I could remember their numbers. The first I reviewed was the FAT Freebass in 1997 and, in my conclusion, I suggested that if Roland ever started to make the 303 again, it was more likely to be in the form of a computer‑modelled version. YouTube Channel. Pattern copy function
However, when I tried this and replayed the data back to the TB3, all was not right. It would be even more versatile if the sequencer's note transmission could be turned off though.