Haha, short answer is yes. It's okay as a sequencer (for the price) but it can't transmit bank or program changes to your other synths, so you have to select the sounds you want on those external synths. Maybe not the best for playing a live set but this person managed it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tzQMBfFrUp0.html

If I understand your question you want the TD3 to play a pattern when the 707 starts? Sounds like you're trying to do the opposite of what I do in this video. In the video the TB-3 is the Master Clock source - it controls the tempo of the 707 and tells the 707 when to start and stop. I got rid of my 707 and I don't have a TD3 but maybe try this: Put 707 in Track Play mode (under Play press Track?); Then hold down Shift and press Sync Mode until the display shows a tempo number (example: 120), not S-d, S-t, or S-n. That seems to make the 707 the Master - it will set the tempo and tell connected devices when to start/stop (if I'm reading the manual correctly). I found the next steps on a Sweetwater article about the TD3: Set the TD-3’s clock source to its connection type. Connect a MIDI OUT (cable) from another device (707) to the TD-3’s MIDI IN. Manually adjust the clock source (of the TD-3) by pressing the BACK and WRITE/NEXT buttons at the same time. (You want to choose 2-MIDI/DIN): Clock Source: Press Selector 1 (INT/TD-3), 2 (MIDI/DIN), 3 (USB/COMPUTER), or 4 (TRIG/SYNC IN). Hit play on the master clock device (clock source - in this case the 707). The TD-3 will follow the Play command and tempo. The TEMPO knob on the TD-3 will not work (set the tempo on the 707), and you can use the pattern and Pattern buttons to create an arrangement. To get the TD-3 back to normal operation follow the above to choose Clock Source 1 (INT/TD-3). Then the TD-3 will be a master device again.

@CorduroyCam I'm starting to think the midi out port is broken 😐 . I manged to get TD3 to trigger 707 but not in the way I wanted , I'll try and see if din sync will work tomorrow . I'm having a break from it , I went from feeling super happy because I had an amazing 303 clone to unbelievably disappointed because I couldn't sync them . Thanks for your ultra helpful reply 👍🏻 , it was super kind of you 😀 Have an amazing weekend

@@edwallace3704 Also maybe try another midi cable? I recently drove myself crazy trying to get some devices to sync and it turned out the midi cable was faulty. Good luck.

@CorduroyCam I changed the midi cable , I want the 707 to be able to control start stop of Td3 and tempo . I manged to get td3 to trigger 707 but it was triggering td3 pattern with 707 drum sounds so sounded weird . The out cable on 707 looks damaged so I'm thinking maybe it's broken , I did take it to a guy a couple of weeks back and he tested it and said it was fine 🙂 , it's ultra frustrating have 2 amazing machines and not being able to get them working together

@CorduroyCam I'm gonna have a coffee and try this now , I'd have a fee beers when I messaged last night and forget about this reply lol

Hello, thanks for the question, I have some suggestions: I'm under Windows 8 32-bit. I'm not sure XGWorks works under 64-bit. Err4 is "This appears when checksum of the received System Exclusive data is incorrect." That doesn't help much but it makes me think the midi data (actually SYSEX data) is getting corrupted between Windows 10 and the DX. Maybe it's transmittitng too quickly. It could be a problem with the driver for your midi controller/hub (are you using a USB-midi hub? I've heard they can cause problems). If possible, try a different midi-hub? When do you get the error? Is it all the time, or just when you dump the patches? If it happens during transmit-bulk-dump try setting the Bulk Dump Interval to something higher, like 1 second or even higher? Also, in the Setup of XGWorks there are some other tabs beside the Device tab. There's a tab called System Exclusive that you could check to see if there's a way to slow down the SYSEX/MIDI transmission rate. (I haven't checked that tab myself but if I get a chance later I'll let you know). One more thing, make sure you don't have any other midi software open when you have XGworks open, just in case the other software is also sending data to the DX.. Hope you get it working.

One more thought - depending on your midi interface there may be some options in the driver software for your interface that you could adjust to prevent the checksum error. Check the manual for your midi interface, or let me know what interface you have and I'll see if I can troubleshoot some more. Cheers.

I checked my settings in XGWorks: Under Setup-System Setup-System Exclusive tab my Reception Buffer Size is 8192, my Transmission Buffer Size is 512, and my Transmission Interval is 2000 - see if those settings help?

@@CorduroyCam thanks a lot for your fast reply friend, much appreciate it . I think that maybe trying on another midi box (I have 2) works because as you said is an error of data transmission... The thing is if I use Dexed and send a patch to the dx like I do with xgworks works perfect with the same midi... So I think is something of incompatibility with W10 or something like that. Don't know what

I will try all your tips, thank you so much.

I haven't got access to a Model:Cycles I'm afraid. I think linking it to a Model:Cycles would be similar to linking it to the MC-101 though. I'll be doing another video on linking the MC-303 with the MC-101 so hopefully that'll have some useful info for you.

Thanks and you're welcome! I did play a bit in real-time over the sequence (I played the Roland D-05 in real-time at 17:55) but I know what you mean. I was holding my camera in one hand so I only had one hand to play! I'll be making a shorter, more focused video on this soon, so I'll try to include more real-time playing in that one (with both hands, haha).

That's great Benoit! I hope some other MC-303 users check out your video to see that it can be a good little sequencer.

@@CorduroyCam thank you :-) It’s a mix of positive and negative sides when it comes to use it as a main MIDI sequencer but people can do it !

@@MusicwithMachines Couldn't agree more! It can be a challenge, but it can be fun. I don't think too many people are looking to go out and buy an MC-303 as their main sequencer these days, but if you already have one and haven't figured out all the functions yet, it's probably more useful than you would think. I'll link to your video and some others in my future MC-303 videos, if you don't mind?

@@CorduroyCam no problem :-)

When you say you can't go back to your track, you mean you can't get back to your U15 pattern? Are you using the jog wheel to get back to U15? You have to start with U15 each time to save each variation you want. In the manual on page 83 it says error 8 happens when you try to change the settings on Preset pattern (one of the permanent patterns that can't be modified) or on a Variation pattern (L01, for example). I'll try to recreate the error you're getting on my MC-303 and I'll get back to you.

So I tried it on my MC-303 and I couldn't recreate the problem. Maybe make sure the PTN SET and RPS SET buttons are not lit before trying to write the variation? On mine I started with U08, I muted some parts, I did SHIFT-FUNC-13 and it says uri L01 (uri actually means vri - variation). I used the jog wheel to select L22, then pressed ENTER. It says SUrE and I pressed ENTER again. Now it shows I'm on L22. I can use the jog wheel to get back to U08 (hold SHIFT to jog more quickly). I'm not stuck on L22. If I mute some parts on L22 and then do SHIFT-FUNC-13 I do get error 8, but it goes away immediately - I don't have to reboot my MC-303. I can jog back to U08 and make another variation. I'm wondering if maybe some of your buttons are getting stuck. Some of my buttons are starting to fail - I have to press them really hard. If your jog wheel is sticky you can gently pry off the dial and spray some contact cleaner in the pot and twist it a bunch to try to clean it out. Make sure your device is off when you do that. If the problem persists it could be a hardware issue - some of the components may be failing.

I just noticed that if you hold FUNC and use the jog wheel it jumps forward by entire tone banks (A through U), but on my device my FUNC key sticks so even when I let go of FUNC it still jumps one entire bank at a time when I use the jog wheel. I have to wiggle the FUNC key to unstick it. So maybe check that on your device, and maybe check if your ENTER button sticks too. Basically if you are unable to jog back to U15 I would wiggle all of the buttons and try the jog wheel again. If you can't get it working you could try a factory reset, but you'll lose all your user patterns. When you do a variation write it saves to the non-volatile RAM (or some sort of RAM). That RAM uses a tiny battery to keep the RAM active even when the device is off. There's a small chance your battery is causing this issue. If the battery has never been replaced then it's very very old. You can look on youtube for a video on replacing the battery, but that will also erase all of your user patterns.

@@CorduroyCam i didn’t expect this much effort from your response. you’re awesome! i figured out that i have to go back to my track on U15 to create another variation. everything’s all good now, thanks to you! cheers 🥂

@@CorduroyCam i also checked all of the buttons and the part 5 button is kinda sticky, but everything else is great considering the unit i have was one of the last made in 1997 (based on the serial number). also, the previous owner didn’t change the internal battery since they got it in 1999, so i might need to change that soon. PS i have an unrelated question: what kind of midi hub did you use to send midi and clock from the mc303 to the other synths?

Thanks Marco! I've had my MC-303 for years as well and I'm still learning. I think it can do some awesome drum & bass! If you are going to use the MC-303 live you may want to check out my other video about pattern sets. I have a bunch of Roland gear - I'll have to check out the JD-Xi.

@@CorduroyCam i’ll check out your pattern sets video later. thanks again!

The JD-Xi looks interesting, like something Kilo Ren would use. Seems like each part is on a different midi channel which makes it "easy" to sequence with the MC-303 (if that's the plan).

Awesome, have fun, it has some hidden potential.

You're welcome. I haven't tried this yet but I may test it later: Put the MC-303 on Slave mode (look at page 72 of the manual); turn on SYNC OUT on the MC-303 (see page 73 of the manual); turn on midi-thru on the MC-303 (like how I show in the video) - this step may be unnecessary unless you want the Keystep to trigger sounds on the TR8; put the dip switches on the Keystep to Internal (for Internal clock); and check the TR8 manual to see how to set it to receive external clock (maybe "Auto"?) and external transport (maybe "MIDI real-time message reception"?). Are you using the ARP or the sequencer on the Keystep? Those could trigger pattern-sequences that are in the MC-303 to play. Let me know if you run in to issues with that because I may have some ideas.

I did a test on this and got it working - I'll make a little video about it because a lot of people seem to like using the keystep with the MC-303. Follow the steps I mentioned above, but there's one extra thing you have to do on the keystep: since you have to press play on the keystep to start everything, you have to have the keystep on a sequence, but then it will play the internal sequence and the MC-303 will respond, so you just have to erase the sequence in the keystep. You'll have to check the keystep manual on how to erase a sequence or wait for my video.

Right on! I don't use my Six Trak enough. I did upgrade the firmware ROM in it to version 14 and I have another video of sequencing it with the MC-303 where the midi sync-timing seems a lot better than in this video (which I just realised I haven't posted, but trust me, the timing is better), but it's also not at the end of a chain of 5 synths in that video.

Ha, right on!

You're welcome

You're welcome, glad you found the video useful. Hope you also saw the note near the end of the description about turning down part-levels on the MC-303 if you want to use sounds from the MC-303 as well as external hardware sounds - the Keystep will trigger both MC-303 sounds and external sounds, so just turn down the volume 'level' of the parts you don't want triggered in the MC-303. I didn't mention dip-switch settings on the Keystep. I believe I had mine on Internal, but I haven't tried passing the arpeggiator or sequencer on the Keystep through the MC-303 to external gear - I think that would warp my mind trying to get that to work.

You're welcome! Glad it helped - it's a surprisingly useful sequencer once you get it figured out.

The display doesn't actually blink like that in-person. It may be because the camera I used is 30fps but the display on the MC-303 refreshes at a lower rate? (It uses 9 volts DC, so I don't think it's refreshing at 60 Hz.) A lot of RU-vid videos of the MC-303 have the same issue - I saw a video where the guy speculates the refresh rate is 12 Hz, but who knows?

Hi, I think you can do that but you'd have to check the TR-707 manual. It probably sends midi-out on channel 10. You'd have to figure out which "notes" each drum part of the TR-707 plays/triggers, and then set up your MPC2000 samples to be triggered by those notes. You may also have to set the TR-707 to send out the midi (i.e. act as the master device). Don't quote me though!