WOW! What an honor to see my face in an episode of Bad Gear, complete with floating hearts! You made my day, brother. I am also skeptical about the motorized faders, so I disabled them in the settings, making them operate like.. faders. :)
@@CrusaderGeneral no it is not indeed!! Did you ever know why he throws around that odd sort of ‘can’t put my finger on where’ accent that he has made one of his key distinguishing features?!? The truth is, the Mr. Pilz is just one of an unknown number of alter egos belonging to one Mr. Alex Ball. Someone once threatened to blackmail Alex by rendering his social credit score too low to cope with, by threatening to accuse him of being a bot. So Alex caught onto the cyber bullies and with quick thinking he hatched his plan. To create yet another other synth gear enthusiast who would seem in every way unique on his own. BUT, he added this distinct accent of Mr. Pilz as a defensive sort of distraction for anyone who might actually look into the legitimacy of Mr. Ball for themselves. He is hoping that doing so would reveal to the curious one Mr. Audio Pilz, with his Bad Gear channel. SO Mr. Balls’ intentions all along were to Create a trap for cyber delinquents of the most sinister magnitude. If I recall correctly, I can remember he said that it was a “plan troll for trolls by implementing a red herring!”
@5:34, this preset pattern was used by Jean-Michel Jarre on the track 'Chatterbox' from the Téo & Téa album. Actually, the MC-808 was used on almost every track on this album.
@@christianvandalstrom8337 I agree with you full-heartedly. When I heard the first snippets before the album came out, I couldn't believe it was music by Jarre....
@@pakey423 you're correct. a lot of us who heard samples declared 'wtaf???' and when we got the album, we all collectively looked at one another through our computer screens and no words were needed. however, 'vintage' is the only track on that album that's a step into the JMJ we know and admire. but as it was one of those 'you need an album to end the contract', well, for what it's worth, it sounds like he had a couple of months to get it together and out there. and it was. and some of us refuse to acknowledge that we bought 'the album we don't want to name'. 🤣
I love my two MC 808's.Along with my Electribes, my MC 307, Alesis Micron and other miscellaneous "bad gear". Pretty soon, you will have reviewed my entire studio lol.
In the hands of someone who knows what they're doing, the Roland MC-808 is actually straight up legendary. A lot of these devices would complement a hardware based studio setup quite well. Even today.
I almost always watch your videos more than once. I find them equally entertaining, interesting and inspiring. Honestly this is rare for me. Kudos on the great channel.
What’s crazy is that in the process of reviewing these things you have to learn them well enough to make actual good music. The second and third grooves on this were legit awesome. Enough to make me want one 😄
@@AudioPilz I just can't imagine learning a new synth every week and making 3 good tracks while producing a video, while still having time to reference so much pop culture. Amazing.
That jam with the Rocket is the most smooth ass late 90s, UNKLE/Massive Attack/Sneaker Pimps Underground Bristol Lounge Trip Hop Critically Acclaimed Tongue in Cheek British Crime movie track I've ever heard
@@artisans8521 The MV-1 at least can sample through something other than USB, I imagine the screen makes loop editing just a smidge easier. They sound great but that workflow is something else entirely.
@@rorz999 I can believe it, didn't have the cash on hand right atm, but the 707 is on my list after tracking down a SH-01A or MS-1. I have a need for a SH-101 style synth and Zen-Core stuff gets close but not close enough for what I'm after.
the sample that starts jam 2 reminded me of can's "future days" and the fact that you could make this motorized slider machine take me there just shows again why you rule
I've disabled the motorized faders on mine and use the faders manually, which is an option not mentioned here. I seldom remember that the faders are motorized, just like I forget that there's a Dimension Beam on board, since I use neither. Consequently, I've never seen them as weak points. If you put the time and effort in, you can get amazing results with these units. Great episode.
I bought one last year...it looked brand new, manual still in its plastic...I found it fucking hard to use but as I unlocked it, it yielded plenty of inspiring loops...I have a Deluge now so that's the focus but I'm never getting rid of the 808...it's clunky but there's some magic in it
I used to own one of these, I paid 540 for it and after 2 yrs I gave it to my friend. It was so hard to edit using the silly APP that went with it. All writing on it was nothing like my MC-307. I found it super hard to get into, poor sample memory though i did add a card to extend it and would often have to re-insert the card upon boot up. Glad I have Ableton now :) Them sliders are sooooo noisy too LOL
It's amazing...You went from a "content creator" with great videos, to influencing the used synth market, to being in different memes each time I open Facebook. That's so awesome! Congratulations to you. Can't wait for your next video.
Before the MC-808 release, I used to work on several occasions for Roland, next to other work areas, I did some sound, kit, and pattern preset programming for some of their groove boxes and synthesizers, hence you may find some of these within the later MC-808 factory ones. The predecessor MC-909 was a powerful and somewhat underrated piece of gear, I've been using it quite a bit and found the programming via the MC-909 EDITOR extremely convincing. It has a lot under the hood. The major dealbreaker for me was that after switching between patterns, faders and knobs wouldn't allow for smooth value pickups and this was making the MC-909 a no go for live performances, especially the faders for track volumes were useless in this regard. Something that companies like Elektron got right by using endless encoders. In one of the meetings with Roland, I expressed my frustration about what I felt was the biggest handicap of using the MC-909 live. Then, it must have been a year or two later, just before the opening of the Namm Show the MC-808 was introduced, I've been attending an internal meeting with Roland, and they showed me the MC-808. I was like, what the hell is this? The lack of a display and interfacing via any kind of knobs or faders (other than the motorized ones) felt like a terrible mistake, regardless of how much I was into the software editor. So I've been rather underwhelmed and to the surprise of the present Roland folks showed no excitement. After some moments of confusion one guy said, but it was you who mentioned that motorized faders could be a solution for your problem, didn't you suggest us the concept? My mind went "f...k" what the hell did go wrong? They took on the motorized faders I mentioned in a footnote, but forgot about the rest? Long story short, Roland gave me an MC-808 and I worked on additional patterns for them, but I never felt comfortable with that thing and it didn't stay long.
@@AudioPilz Most welcome & pretty much forgot about the MC-808 and that story, it came back to my mind whilst watching. Then how did I end up here - the routine of a long-term subscriber. Nothing could be bad in a better way than Bad Gear!
@@tubelog Are you telling me the one reason why my MC-808 delights me so much when those knobs fly up and down is because you brought it up in a meeting? Thank you ,sir... Thank you.
@@CaidicusProductions Well, that's what I've been told back then and happy to hear that there is at least one soul out there enjoying those flying parameters. For me the MC-808 never worked as a performance instrument, and by solving one problem, they crippled the whole product around that. It's been their last MC for a long long time, so it also killed that product line somehow - says enough.
I have them both and the 909 looks like a Big Daddy compared to 808. 909 is REAL. The reverb is spacious and dense, compressor works as it should, lo fi compressor has that crunchy punch. I couldnt get that quality outta 808, and it’s not completely standalone.
That 1st jam was so different from what we usually get on this show. Gosh damn i was into it. I wonder about the devices longevity but i think u proved it can still be pretty useful. Lets watch those prices shoot up now lol
I love this channel so much. The presentation, the content, the editing, the memes, everything. Thank you for all the entertainment. Your team deserves all the success.
few days ago, i just started to think about MC-808 and MC-909 and wondered what use I could possibly get from one, and if they're available - and in fact checking if you did a review of one of them. A prophecy.
MC707 deserves a look. Owned one for a year and it is just not a device which makes you want to make music. It’s like riding your bike uphill. After using it for a while I went back to MPC Live and went “aaaaaah. FUN!”
Is it me or polyphony shrunk over time ? In those days, everything had extreme polyphony. Nowadays, something like the Digitone has, what, 8 voices ? They have of course more to offer in other areas, but I still find it kind of weird.
Roland MC 808?!? I didn’t know that my SP808 and MC505 went behind my back, ate after midnight, and had this monstrous love child! Motorized faders?! OOOHH?¡DUDE! This came out in 2006? That would render it bad, I guess. THIS THOUGH? THIS looks like the very groove box that would be an easy MV8800 killer for me, with the row of 16 buttons in a row 808 mode?!! I hope I can still buy this!
Hi. A personal update: Remember how I obsessed about the MC 808's sequencer being able to recorded poly aftertouch and wanting one badly? I have in the mean time found out that the sequencer of my trusted old W30 can record and edit Poly AT data as well! Roland was well ahead of the MIDI pack at that time! So I have dusted off myself and my W30 after years of neglect (Yep, I am so old I bought it new) and everything is still working! The W30's sequencer might no have as many bells and whistles as that of a DAW but it can all the essential stuff and is ultra stable. For people who can live with a tracker style numeral environment it still "ticks all the boxes". Another bonus is that I can now also reuse all the unique user samples in which I put so much work in the past. Back to the future, dude! My tip: It's high time you give it a whirl on your channel, if only to see how you react when it cramps your typical pattern based workflow. 🙂
I have one and I love it, except that the D-Beam never fully disables and leaves a squeal in everything, using it with headphones drives me nuts. But my musical interests started with drums and I love how well the 808 handles accents and such, you can get really dynamic and fluid in the drum department.
Audiopilz the english-speaking Thorsten Sträter of the Synthworld. I love your entertainment so much and I am glad for the passion you have for it. Keep it going!
Pilzaddict here, I used to own one, it was not so bad, but really lacked character as a standalone. Worse of all, the CPU would get crunchy after about 10 tracks (if I remember, it was something like 10 years ago). However, I did get some nice grooves out of it
@@AudioPilz so there I was thinking “they always end right as the first breakdown/bridge/solo is due”, expecting it to be a technique to speed up production by just doing a “verse”. Now I find out you actually do an entire track as Patreon bait? Clever man.
82 comments in about 1/2 an hour. Wow, your getting very famous. I think I’d to leave your channel it’s now mainstream 😂. No! Love your work and thanks for making every Friday great after work. Every episode giving me a lot of knowledge of synths. Cheers Mate
There's only one Roland groovebox that remains to cover. The holy grail of Roland groovebox Bad Gear: The Roland MV-8000. It's either "bad gear finally good" or "good gear gone bad". Either way, I have faith that you can handle it, Florian!
The MV 8000 wasnt a groovebox, it was a full-on music production station for serious producers. It was directly aimed at the MPC and did very well. It was hardly "bad gear" and anyone who say it was obviously were inexperienced. That is one piece of pro studio gear that doesn't belong on this show..
@@mc2engineeringprof well, no, there have been plenty of times he has showcased bad gear, but its all subjective anyhow, so whats junk to one person is gold to the next
@@TK-hz4ss I think the takeaway is that "anything can be good gear in the right hands and with the right use case". The MV-8000 is no better a piece of gear than the Nord Lead 2, the Roland System - 1, the OP-1, the AN1x, the X-Station, or countless other pieces he's reviewed. I love mine, but the thing takes forever to boot and load samples, the memory is paltry (even when upgraded), the screen miniscule (you need the VGA/mouse adapter, really), the .mvo patch format is obscure, the onboard synth is pretty pathetic, the effects are limited, the IO isn't great, there's no ADAT, who needs turntable / phono jacks?, there's lots of menu diving, etc, etc. I still love it, but there's plenty of reasons that it's "bad" in some people's eyes. I think Florian will love it, though, and I can't wait to see what he could do with it. I think he'll be shocked.
