MFB 301 pro: The (new) 40-Year-Old Drum Machine 

R.I.P MFB 😭

Thanks, yeah I already had the dancing bear, and the 301 sounds different enough to keep both

I agree

Ha ha ha thanks. I was planning to use it as a melodic synth, but just the sound overview was already 10min long. Also I don’t want to take over your schtick 😜

IMHO the MFB301 is worth it for that sound alone. it's has that lo-fi gamecube tennis ball hit feel to it. pop! pop! Definitely using it in a track soon!

Yup, I love drum machines. in my opinion, you need 3. one classic analog, one sample based ( preferably Elektron ) and one with a comprehensive drum synthesis engine.

Sure, you can email me from the about page in my channel. ru-vid.comabout

I finally unwrapped my Plankton Spice that was stuck under the tree all of December. I'll use the 301 as a source for that video

Thanks! Same to you

I’ve never owned a Beatstep Pro, but if it can send MIDI CC messages as part of a sequence or map them to its encoders, you’re good to go!

Maximum Bokeh or Death! 😜

In general I’m using the Squarp Pyramid as my main MIDI sequencer, and a pretty standard MIDI keyboard ( midiplus X6 mini ). It’s been a while but I think I wasn’t using the pyramid for that demo, and mapped the various CC from the drum machine to the knobs on the Pyramid.

They can. You can program patterns directly with the unit and control all the parameters. But that interface is a complete disaster, so I’m planning to only drive it as a sound engine over MIDI.

You can access everything from the front panel, but it's a combination of button presses and the encoder. an external device or sequencer that can send MIDI CC makes it much nicer to use.

I'm not familiar with the Tanzbär 1 so I'd say it's closer to the Tanzbär Lite ( which I do own ) it doesn't sound the same, but I can mix and match individual voices from the 301 and the Lite and they sound related, if that helps.

yes, once you select a voice, the main encoder and button combo modifies it. pretty simple.

you can program the voices in the MFB301 to listen to different MIDI notes, so I'd say yes for the notes, but for the knobs to work, the Drumbrute needs to allow then to be mapped to specific MIDI CC messages, because that's not configurable on the 301. ( Disclaimer, I don't have a DB )

@@OlivierOzoux Thanks, I will look into it about the mapping of the knobs. The Drumbrute has the perfect interface but the Vermona, Tanzbar, and MFB have the cool sounds.

Well each instrument has 12 velocity sensitive levels, but to me that’s not volume control. However because it’s an all analog path, I’m sure there are traces on the board that could be tapped for individual out mods.

It's not just velocity. Levels can be set per instrument with the sequencer running or stopped. Just press Value, then an instrument button (keep it pressed), then rotate Value to change the volume of that instrument. With the sequencer running, depending on which LED above Value is lit, you can change the volume of just one instrument or the whole pattern. I agree that the interface is cryptic, but it's amazing how much functionality they crammed into it. There's even a swing function and a song mode.

Jordi Moragues I don’t use the internal sequencer at all, and there is no CC messages to control the volume. I wonder if there is a way to control the volume of each voice using the 301pro as a sound engine only

I just mentioned the sequencer because it's a way to mute parts or change their volume during playback. You're right that there aren't CCs to affect instrument volume. Perhaps they left them out because that's relatively easy to do through the front control panel.

Me too! I’m definitely planning to use it in my next track.

Yup, you can totally use this thing on its own, it has tiny buttons and a single dial, but there’s an onboard sequencer and everything. As long as you realize that being a retro/vintage piece of gear, you’ll program it like a 80s VCR

@@OlivierOzoux Thank You

Oops I thought this was a comment for another video. You play it over MIDI, or you step program patterns and press play.