SP-FORUMS

Anyone used this machine? I found a real bargain and I think of taking the chance. I am mostrly curious about the sound egnine, I need quality synth sounds. Thank you

i didn't used this. i failed buying it but maybe the mc-303 or mc-505 is better. what kind of sound you're searching?
if you take a little look in this "other gear" section i have post something about yamaha an200 and roland d2 (i bougth the 2).
another good one is the yamaha dx200.
anyway the mc-307 is not bad. but maybe too similar to the mc-303 sound.
peace

eyecam wrote:Anyone used this machine? I found a real bargain and I think of taking the chance. I am mostrly curious about the sound egnine, I need quality synth sounds. Thank you

It has the same sound engine as the MC-505. I own the MC-505 and it sounds great in my opinion.

There's enough there to tweak the sounds too, but if with quality synth sounds you mean extremely high polyphony and such, then I would really try out the MC-307 before buying.

I totally like my MC-505 though, it sounds great and I do consider the synth part to be excellent, but as it's an older piece of gear, it's not comparable to say a Roland V-synth.

From what I've read about it, sound quality is supposed to be very good.
It has its shortcomings, though (but doesn't all gear?).
Here's SOS' pros and cons:
pros
Bags of good sounds, rhythms and riffs instantly available.
Plenty of user patch locations.
64-note polyphony.
Flexible synthesizer engine.
cons
Single stereo output.
External power supply.
No Low Boost feature.
Poor timing in Song Mode if individual patterns are (moderately) complex.

Read the review here:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun01/a ... dmc307.asp

if you want high quality synth sounds, you should really get a proper synth rather than a groovebox with synth-like options!

cartesia wrote:if you want high quality synth sounds, you should really get a proper synth rather than a groovebox with synth-like options!

yeah, i'd agree with cartesia. I just sold a 307 a few days ago. i got it second hand years ago from my cousin and it was my first piece of gear besides my turntables and mixer. It is a fun machine and it sounds pretty good, but it's kind of a pain to really edit and tweak the synth sounds. its fun to sketch out some tracks that you might want to flesh out later, or to fill in little gaps here and there. however, like cartesia said if you are look for quality expressive synth sounds i would look elsewhere.

I don't know what the craigslist scene is like in greece, but over here you could score something like a korg dw 8000 or dw 6000 for about the price of the 307...or you could drop another hundred or so and get a used microkorg/micron/mopho.

all in all unless you are really really tight on your budget and can get the 307 for like $75 or something i would hold out a little longer and get something that you can grow with and will have a better interface.

Good suggestions there regarding getting a 'real' synth instead.
However, if you really are set on getting a groovebox thingy, there is always Yamaha's dx200 & an200. They can be edited via a computer program (which often is the case when you want to dig really deep in other synths as well).

I've owned an MC-307. If you want good synth sounds get an AN200 instead. If the 307 is cheap enough buy it, ebay it, then get an AN200 and pocket the the difference.

@hematurge,Lezlie
the an200, like i said before ....

ellaguru wrote:@hematurge,Lezlie
the an200, like i said before ....

Yeah. I see that now! Well, then the an200 is recommended by many, hehe. Personally I had the plg150-an plugin card for a while, and though I no longer have it, I can certainly say it had a very nice sound & great potential.

yeah actually thats a good call

I had an AN200 and I kinda wish I still had it..

Having 2 of them would be pretty dope.

the sequencer has a little bug, but you can work around it pretty easy. (when you switch patterns, it skips the first note - just once. once it loops around it plays properly again - so u just change patterns 1 measure early, and keep the volume down till the 2nd time the loop plays.

we have talked about this once on my an200 post. i think that this problem happens when you switch "on the fly" with the an200 buttons and not with the knob.
until now i never really pushed an200 to its limits.

What bothers me the most with the AN200 (&the DX200) is that there is only 1 synth part and 3 drum parts. It should've been the other way round But the units are based on the plg cards, and they are only one part. Damn, Yamaha should develop these things further!

Well, I found it for 145 euros which I think is a very decent price.
I am starting to go back in the tech house days (life's very weird, indeed) and I need sth to lay down beats intuitively. Youtube vids have satisfied me enough, I think i won't regret it after all. I just wait for the machine to arrive.

The AN200 also seems a very serious machine

Oh, I meant a groovebox with quality synth sounds, sorry I didn't make that clear

On a side note, my next purchase will be the Korg Kaossilator. Though it no where near is comparable to the other synths mentioned in this thread, it does have a nice sound and should be a fun addition to my sp-606. Used with the effects in the sp, I guess some mileage can be had with just this one little box. Plus it's very cheap