Yo!

This time around, I'm loving using the 303. Having got one twice previously and pretty immediately not gelling with it and selling it on, this time it seems to have 'clicked' - I didn't think it'd be so easy to put a whole "production" together on one on its own but it all seemed to come together. However, as I was getting into one deeper for the first time this time, I noticed a few glitches, so I'm wondering if 303s can be a bit brain fart-y (like the MS-1) or if I've got a dodgy one, as I've probably still got a few days to return it if it's fucked up. Glitches were...

MAIN ONE - there would be drop outs in Pattern Mode. This would happen A LOT, I'd say 30% of the time, on certain patterns, altho usually with the same sample (which had been time stretched, if that makes a difference) and only on the patterns with the most samples playing simultaneously. The sample would disappear sometimes for a whole play through of the pattern, sometimes just for a bar or two. I did wonder if it was something to do with the polyphony...but I checked how many samples I had playing at each time (not over 8, more like 4 or 5 max) and if that was the problem then it wouldn't be random, surely?

BEEP! A couple of times it inserted a loud, high pitched beep at the end of sample.

There were a couple of other ones but I cannae remember them at the mo, will add if they come back to me. Probs stuff like pad lights staying on when I don't think they should be etc.

Just thought, I'll look in the manual about how to see what OS it has, if that's possible. Hold down xyz while turning on etc, I guess? Roland site has 1.02 as the latest update, which doesn't sound like much was changed on it. I'd have to buy a USB - MIDI interface to update it. Will one of those cheap 5 £/€/$ silver cable/black dongle eBay jobbies work you reckon or will I have to buy an old MIDIsport or summat?

Cheers'uns!

Turns out the 303 doesnae like triggering with the sequencer sounds that are off the card and have been timestretched. Solution: resample your bank c & d timestretched samples before sequencing.

I have the same issue with the pattern sequencer on my 303. I was worried there was also something up with mine, so don't worry it's not just you.

But hopefully it's not just us...

Yes, I intermittently have the same non-playing pad problem with mine.

I'm not great at the pattern programming live in the 303, so I hook up a DR-770 and do my step-by-step pattern programming that way.

I bring up programming because I discovered that if the sample is set to loop and is triggered more than once in the pattern, the loop function will essentially turn the sample "on" and "off". So if I have a 4-bar pattern and the 1-bar sample is programmed to start on the 1-count and 3-count, the sample will start looping on the 1 count, which turns it on. It will continue looping until the 3 count, which is like hitting the pad again and stops the loop.

This may not be the exact problem that you're having, but I'm a novice and it took me a while to figure out that some samples started and stopped on their own during patterns because the loop function was on. If a sample is not starting when it should, I check to see if the loop function is on. That said, it's occasionally created a few happy accidents when I don't check.

That said, separate from the pattern issue I described above, I have also had a similar problem to the one you're describing, where the sample stops on its own. On my 303, it seems to be that certain pads have the issue, e.g. my B6 and D8 have this issue on-and-off. If I clear the sample out of those pads, the issue stops on those pads, but starts up on others. I have noticed that this issue happens more often if I am adding delay.

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I hope it helps.