For me this is the best demonstration on this thing because you dont get lost in all teh details, i don't want to hear the song/sequence structure for the 15th time but you get to the things that matter: sounds, workflow, sampling and your opinions on it. So thanks for the video!
So, I finally ended up buying one of these, and I have to say... it gets better the more you use it. Very unintuitive at first. But once you get rolling with it, extremely versatile.
I sold my Digitakt to get the Verselab, I was not disappointed, it truly is an incredible piece of kit. It sounds truly amazing, it's a bit like a hardware version of Ableton Live.
Your "song mode section" nails it! ... just playing and adjusting loops and jams over and over can be absolutely boring. It's fun, but it's not art to me. I write songs, and this sound module gets me there faster than anything since the Electribe 1. If you are making synth pop / new wave / dance rock / techno rock / or any song composition, this things works...and works well.. it's a song machine, not a beat box.
As a vocalist who has used Roland for years this is a dream to use , but yes it can be a steep learning curve. That is why Roland have training academy training for free. I initially purchased the maschine+ HATED IT ,it's not vocalist friendly I suppose each to their own choice at the end of the day , this one ticks all the boxes I need for a vocalist without the 3500 AUD price of the MPCX stand-alone
Yes, and you can re-enroll in the Cloud Academy for free as many times as you like. Chris sees it as a kind of "hang out" as we all try to learn how to learn this more effectively. There are definitely efficiencies and strategies to be found. I liked the idea of copying sections to other sections as a sort of back up (since there's no undo).
Hey! I appreciate your feedback on this. I’m looking for something I can do live vocal looping with and create and bring in new vocal tracks on the fly while performing. Is that how you use it and would you recommend it for that?
@@crystalmyslajek A Verselab with a Boss RC-505 mkii looper would be a pretty stellar set-up for what it sounds like you’re looking to do. Hope you’re figuring it out and enjoying the process!
I've been trying to get a few questions answered forever: 1. Can you record, put together and save your own sampled kits? 2. Can you merge vocal takes? For people that record bar for bar.
Great review. I have both the Verselab and the MPCOne. I love them both however, for me, the work flow on the Roland is so much easier than the MPCOne. MV-1 also forces you to be a more organized creator. If I had to give one up I'd choose...... NEITHER! =) Love them BOTH! Thanks again....
I have to admit you're one of the best TH-cam reviewers I have seen. You really go in detail and paste a realistic view on these Musical Gear. Thanks for all you do I love your Channel
Hi ! Been following you for years and for some bad reasons, I only recently got the MV-1. I thought I would be limited by the sections system (instead of scenes on the 101). But actually, it's not the case, on the contrary. It turned out to be exactly what I needed : focusing and getting to finish songs ; mixing with my Minifreak, recording vocals. Needed a couple days to master it but now that's second nature. I feel I will never feel limited with the amount of tracks or steps. Especially since, you can get further from the 16*128 steps limit (128 unique measures) in several ways. 1) by overdubbing with an external synth in vocal mode ! because the "vocals" tracks gives your 12 minutes (6 in stereo) which are completely independant from the sections data -- you can repeat a section but overdub with external synth layers to make something drastically different 2) by reducing the tempo and changing the measures scale (1/8) you can get the equivalent of 512 unique measures (in unquantized mode). Dream standalone machine for me, esp. since I suffer from eyestrain. The tiny screen just to check parameters is perfect for me ; for the rest, the pads & lights are the screen. I tend to think it's not THAT niche actually. There are many people who enjoy making songs with lyrics and are not fond of sticking in front of the computer for hours.
Cheers Gabe, really balanced and as ever learned a few things. More positives for me were attaching a powerblock and running off to anywhere with it, it seems to encourage collaboration, daring I say singing even, and the zenbeats screen for tuning effects as you need it. More I use it the more I enjoy it and they've caught lightening in the workflow bottle... completely agree it just pushes you to make a song.
Omg to track out an entire beat like that over audio USB is a dream 😍 so convenient. This is weird box forsure, but I do see how useful it can be. Sample chopping not so much, but it ain't trying to be a MPC so it's okay.
i think i got it now. its basically the most liked parts of the jdxi just moved from sketchbook to actual draft creation and from a minisynth to a groovebox format. they just shouldnt have marketed it as an entry device. like with the jdxi i think alot of pros wouldnuse this as a sketch book if they gave it a shot.
Love this review. Your corrected list of who this should be for is spot on. I’m a former Fantom-x user and loved the song sequencer + audio tracks workflow. I now have a Jupiter-Xm for my mobile work and have been looking for a standalone drum machine with song sequencer. Felt that TR6S wasn’t enough and the MC101 was just not the right fit. The MV seemed close but a bit overkill with the extra synth section as I have the Jupiter. But it seems to be the current option to add to my mobile setup. Unless you have another suggestion.
I own an mv1 and owned a mc101 until recently I gave it to a buddy because the mv1 made my mc101 useless. The mv 1 is the Mc 101 on steroids. Does same things except the mv1 can record and process audio.
They would have to put sounds from the monologue and Wavestate inside the Drumlogue in order to be competitive. They can even do a classic edition with the color of the triton le with built in triton sounds
So to go all old man get off my lawn for a moment. The best song mode I ever messed with was on the roland MC 307. It was pretty much how how they all work now, you select patterns to be played in order and you can set it to play a pattern a certain number of times, but you could set things to be muted. So you could have a a pattern called "pattern1" that has your drums, and bass, and melody in it. You could in song mode say "Play pattern1, but with the bass muted and no no kicks or snares 1 time. Then play pattern 1 again but with all the stuff" I used to have 2 bass lines in a single pattern because in song mode I could switch between the two and and then my 4 bar loop has an 8 bar bass line.
For 🎵 song writing/ vocal recording only. 😆lol. That's why I'm getting it. Just to get a lil Grove of a Melody and writers block 🥰🤣 Record so I can remember my lyrics on the go. Perfect for me. 👌🏾. It just looks fun for a vocalist.
Great video, as always. I watched this long ago and decided to get one. I dont regret it at all. I want to point out though that all the talk in the comments of this being a steep learning curve is very subjective. To me, the steep learning curve live in the sp404. I know thats not an apples to apples comparison, but imo the 404 is way harder to learn than this.
Interesting-very interesting. I was ga ga over the the spec sheet-because I don't exclusively produce EDM. Hmmmm-This is a video you might have to watch like 5 times before you press the buy button. Thank you so much Gabe!
I see your point! Im look for the Dawless boxes-to make me compose *songs*. Gabe mentions this in his review-he get's stuck in small loops/hooks/jams-which has been my curse my whole life. So please check back in with how the MV-1 Helps/doesn't help with song composition. I am dying to hear about this exact feature. Thank you for Posting!
I've had mine a short time. So far, I have a lot of starts, but zero finishing. I'm not freaking out yet about this. It's new to me, and I understand that it will take a little time to understand (especially since I haven't used any Roland instruments in years). I can't wait to experiment with vocals.
@@luminousbrilliance1711 I have the first update to this. Only got it yesterday and it will take some time for me to learn what I need. I will go through the tutorials next week. Basic songwriting with built in sounds and mixing is sweet! As is the composition part in song mode. Now I will learn to find all the vocal effects and guitar related effects as well. As I have many song ideas allready recorded in phone, with guitar and vocals. Will be hard to not create new tracks in the process as it is a lot of fun and pretty easy to do. I always wanted the 808 sounds and styling, never cared about plugins. Considered getting Behringer RD-8, until this came out. No regrets.
Once you get an idea going and you want to send it to a DAW, what workflow do you follow? Do you export stems, do you record both midi and audio to daw, etc? Honestly, this box would be perfect if they increased the scenes to 32. I think they increased the mc 707 scenes so i hope they can do that here.
Honestly, this with the mc 707 style screen, some kind of expression control (mod wheel or MPE) and more emphasis on sampling would make this a hip hop artist's wildest dream. MV2 Roland? C'mon make me proud
People get so messed up about the small screen. The reason I DON'T want an MPC One is because of the screen. Too much like a DAW. To me it seems pointless unless your main focus is sampling and some type of portability. My main goal is to work with different sounds and make a completed composition without having to be clicking a mouse and staring at a busy and complicated screen. Sort of like a swiss army musical notepad. So I ask myself, why does this appeal to me? Here's what I think... You make music with your hands and listen with your ears. How many musicians close their eyes and focus on feeling and innerspace, I'd say nearly all. You're tapping into a different part of your brain. So yeah, of coarse you need to look at the thing to make music but to minimize the amount of complexity you're taking in visually seems like an interesting decision. I have one on order cause it's on sale rn, seems like a bargain for what it does, hope I jive with the work flow. Also, I love that it will export the tracks so I can mix as a separate process. I've totally killed my creative flow by getting "into the weeds" of mixing prematurely. And if you don't have a complete composition yet, how do you mix in the proper context? And mixing is all context, but the temptation is so great!! lol... Just some thoughts.. Hope I like it and I appreciate the approach on this review.
I would love to see a video of you exporting each stereo sound to mix in your DAW or your mixing and mastering general settings for export. For me, the only big flop on this unit is not knowing exactly where to eq/cut the lows per instrument track as there is no visual graph to analyze. I've used the mastering features and whenever I export the .wav it never sounds like it does when you listen to it on the unit. Aside from that, I did speak with Coolout beats about the .wav folders not having page memory and he is submitting that to Roland for the next update
Not everything should be for beatmakers, sample choppers. Menu diving with good amount of features is expected, I’d like it to be smaller. It’s high/tall plastic shoebox, it would be nice if its thinner and a bit tilted like Circuit. All the YT vids show it from the top and look nice, in real life you HAVE to look from the top, so using somewhat tilted stand is best. Faceplate plastic is amazingly cheap, as on 101/707. With that amount of criticism, while nothing of critical I LOVE the thing! It’s the first standalone device that satisfies my inspiration. Comparing to alike OP-Z, Roland, Akai or more expensive larger Maschine/Force (the ones I had personal experience with). Small while powerful enough to be standalone outside of studio or part of your table. Indeed not demanding to move all you synths and sht from from main table onto aside racks. Which is important, because I don't want to limit my myself to one Maschine+ taking all the space in front of me. A synth with 5 octaves needs to be a main thing (for me). So MV-1 fits in such setup. Handy. It’s also my gate to the zen-core. Also as a synth module (without investing $$$$ into Roland hardware running the same engine). Everyday I grow more into it. While most of the time with new hardware you uncover issues you hate as you go. MV-1 may have some improvements to go, but nothing major and feels like complete element to the flow, that was missing before. This is a keeper .... so far :)
Thank you for replying with real world implementation-Myself I was thinking... a really really really bitchin' 8-Track-with some synths. But still this is alot of info to think about. Thanks again.
"Not everything should be for beatmakers, sample choppers." I think that is what Roland was shooting for-hence the marketing campaign-which focused on just that. But the engineering department was like-here is the the hot genre EDM-let's throw all that in there to to sell more Zen-Core subscriptions. :-)
@@luminousbrilliance1711 They shouldn't've even try target "beatmakers" as will lose mental fight to mpc lovers and stuff :) Positioned it for songwriters as "simple", as Gabe properly mentioned, is still quite steep learning curve. Why they forget Synth lovers who can use Vocal track? Never mentioned it once. This is exactly I am here for and I bet many of "us" will discover benefits of MV-1 stepping forward off everything else. By us I mean majority, why lie, hobbyist bedroom musicians, who do most in DAW with VST, have tons of plastic controllers, one or two synth can afford and looking for a standalone to unstuck from the DAW. So called EDM and Electronic lover (innovating in genres that do not have name for yet). Not seasoned live-performers going into gig nightly LOL you know, The Ordinary :D yeah, so song mode, ability to drive hardware synth with midi out and get back audio in to the unit, and still have 6/7 tracks left, important with real synth engine. Was playing it yesterday with Polybrute and very happy for pairing. I also (have to) use only one sampled drum kit, to let more synth I can tweak. All works good. When groove box is drum machine + bass +pads + else, while still a supplement to you main keys and synth. I'll be taking Verselab to vacation and plane and stuff (instead/plus to OP-Z, instead of plain controller for iPad). By not in the world paying yearly to no one! So i have an extra pressure not using my sht for a day or a week. I'd rather buy few things I love :)
@@samprock Wow! Thank you for the reply-really! I would describe myself the same way "Hobbyist Bedroom Musician" (That's Perfect). Honestly thank you for the real world implementation, case example. So for you-the MV-! is a grab and go vacation go-to?!? Now, that is fascinating! My Yosemite vacation rig would be my microfreak and a circuit into a Zoom, Or something like the MV-1. Ha! Your post I will have to read 5 times before I press buy. But this post had me wandering around in the yard wondering: "I wonder what ARTURIA is working on these days." :-) Anyway-congrats on the PolyBrute-I have a budget-but yikes because price! Thank you again for the reply-I am still considering the MV-1-it's actually kind of fun to shop for this crazy stuff. :-)
@@luminousbrilliance1711 90% of my music is made or conceived on mobile setup, or plain iPad/iPhone, Gadget or Cubasis or indeed Zenbeats. Beach vacation or Yosemite trip :) Always smthg part of any vacation, otherwise it not a "vacation" LOL The only mobile hardware stays and posted track from last vacation was OP-Z (which I love and Verselab is a natural continuation of a mighty box with large pads, more synths goods, while still handy). Its bad Roland did not fit a battery (for the size of device they could have), but at least thought thru with usb- battery power option, so its good. I'd love MV-1 to be in Circuit body (Push alike), but cant do nothing in two synth and 4 part mono sample drum. I'm big fun of Arturia, starting from V2 MiniMoog, their Keystep/Beatstep Pro were top used (with iPad too). One thing made me home in MV-1 - it is a Beatstep Pro, which all of a sudden doubled tracks with synth engine and drum machine on board :) I'd love Arturia to come up with groovebox under progressing beatstep/keystep pro, but don't see its happening. On my few weeks age question to have scales in BSP they said - good idea we can think of that ... after so many years :) its ok they focus on other directions. Polybrute, cant be happier. Besides its indeed cheap to more expensive rivals from DSI, Roland J8 or Fantom, or same price Iridium I returned. I totally love on board sequencer, fx and multi-instantiated VST ... while its analogue. Just a new bar for anyone. I had to skip on microfreak and many things along the road to keep feeding my music piggybank for it :)
That tiny screen and not really being able to conveniently chop samples on it are a dealbreaker for me. But from what I understand, I really like the concept of that _vocal_ track . I often find myself with a finished pattern and just want to jam over a loop, regardless of its length and somehow overcome the limits of 16, 64 or whatever amount of steps. Like for example playing in a solo with an analog instrument or synth, or maybe even sing or at least whistle to find some new melodies. I guess it would do the job and is quite unique with regards to that. I also like the offered flexibility to freely choose between the step sequencer and the drum pads, one for live recording finger drumming, the other for quickly putting down a 4 on the floor beat or conventional hihat patterns. Given that it dropped quite drastically in price, it does like quite a decent offer.
best review on this! Just got one as an alteernative to my Ableton Daw. my computer crashes in order to run my tracks, and I'm not motivated in "fighting the machine" anymore. Just want to get to my music production. Only thing I'm worried about is if it's only preset samples. i always my own basslines, leads, everything and almost never use samples. So I hope I can still produce as I'm used to - just without my annoying computer. I was never good in Daws and the 1000 clicks for small things and the "omg what did I just click?? it's all changed now" -disasters. Hoping this will be more fun and less clicky. But - it may be "the calculator" experince for me as well.
It's for people who wanted a song mode for the MC-707 but instead of that, Roland created a heavily stripped-down version without all the good stuff from the MC-707. How else would they differentiate it? I guess they could just have added a song mode to the MC-707. Ugh, but that would be way too logical! Yes I know the 707 is a performance tool, but would it have been a stretch to add a song mode? It's only a performance tool because it doesn't have a song mode, but pretty sure it could be made to do both. I hope they combine the best of the 707 and MV-1 in a new product, and with an OLED screen to provide a little more info ... PLEASE! I am not a Roland hater although it may sound like it, but every piece of Roland gear I have ever bought, has always had some bloody stupid limitation that made no sense to the masses. Would love to see a "Dawless box" that combines the best of the 707 and MV-1!
10:40 this is what I needed to hear. I want to sell my keyboard arranger because I don't have a ton of space and I mainly only use it for some jams, I want to stick to a quality 61 key midi controller like the Novation SL61 mk3, and just own a couple small sound modules if I want to play something live. But finding the right sound module is impossible because everything seems to be discontinued. I bought the Roland Boutique D-05 because I truly love the sounds of the D50 but I'm besides that I'm limited with options. I found a used Roland SD-50 that could fit my need but it's out of production and people seem to have problems with it crashing, plus it only supports firmware updates over a dedicated USB drive. So after a lot of pulling my hair out, I'm a little more confident to bite the bullet on this, even though most of my music creation is in Ableton Live. At least Guitar Center has returns and I can check it out near me.
I have a friend who just bought one and he has done some amazing stuff with it, but for me..... I just don't get it. Just not tactile enough for me to take this over a DAW. I can see the appeal of being able to track directly onto multitracks but then why go to the standalone box where things are more awkward to work with only to end up in the DAW anyway.
@@petercastle4381 I like small screen as can read few letters and digits without reading glasses under my cans :) I had more trouble with Maschine or Force where "large screen" things are small and far. Did not p even try iPad for a screen. Music stays in your head, not necessarily on screen, which is good. Did not we by groovebox and sht to unstuck watching DAW/VST all the time? so I'm ok with small screen and even cheap plastic I hate. I love the thing :)
You think they would have made this not to compete with the MPC but to be a complimentary unit to the aira mx1 mixer. They had the right idea of making USB units that would work with their mixer protocol. I think they missed the mark on their own idea
I think a great niche for this is people who already own other hardware keyboards- MODX or Nautilus, for example- who want to add Roland sounds and groovebox sequencing and sampling feature. I currently own a MODX and an Akai Force. If I didn't have a Force, I'd add the MV-1 in an instant. It also makes for an excellent sound module. I use Cubase and this would give me a solid sketch pad, with streaming USB Audio. But in tandem with other hardware keyboards that are lacking groovebox-style sequencing features, this is an excellent addition IMO. Another caveat here, is that it's cheaper than the MC 707, but also includes the vocal effects and mic input. Even as a 7 channel Roland sound module, IMO it's well worth the price of admission. And it does lockdown the "one stop shop" category, because there's nothing else in this price range with such a robust set of synth sounds. And no, MPC one does not compare on the synth front.
If it wants to be a DAW-in-a-box a large screen is a must with a 4D knob (like the Maschine MK3) or a touchscreen. Menu diving kills the creative flow. The MV-1 has promise, and I like the all in one aspect, but it could be improved.
one thing I can't figure out about this is how they map a chromatic kb to a 4x4 pad, I even looked through the manual and it doesn't say what the notes are?? all I've found is a reddit post which supplied the following, please tell me it's wrong?? idk how anyone could play a melody on this if so. -- Pad 13: C#2 Pad 14: D#2 Pad 15: D3 Pad 16: D#3 Pad 9: F1 Pad 10: A1 Pad 11: C2 Pad 12: E3 Pad 5: C#1 Pad 6: D#1 Pad 7: F#2 Pad 8: G#2 Pad 1: C1 Pad 2: D1 Pad 3: F#1 Pad 4:
Anyone know if there is a Groovebox type device, like Roland MC-101 or Verselab MV-1, that includes a decent set of SuperNatural acoustic piano voices (or anything of equal quality), and some decent electric piano, organs and synths? I basically want a 12VDC-powered tabletop sound module to use off-grid (mobile and without wall outlet -- ie: on batteries), and groove boxes seem to be a highly cost-competitive equivalent to old-school type boxes like the Integra-7 (covered phenomenally well by Gabe Miller here on TH-cam, for dance/electronic music but not acoustic/instrumentalists). Plus with a groove box, you get trigger pads, another display, a pad grid that can function as a multi-color display, knobs and a million effects. The MV-1 includes phantom mic power / instrument input, and a virtual drive for recording that analog input, making it a potentially killer keyboard/vocals busker-rig. The SuperNatural sounds are a step above what I've been hearing from other acoustic piano sound engines. Piano Shack does a great sounds demo here: th-cam.com/video/i8ef11m8YS4/w-d-xo.html
UPDATE: The Fantom 6, 7, and 8 use SuperNatural. The Fantom -06/07/08 appear to be lightweight younger cousins that have many of the electronic features, but not SuperNatural. Side-by-side sounds videos suggest the 0x fantoms to be inferior for acoustic voices, and the 1/4 weight of the keyboard itself suggests overall build and keybed feel are likely also inferior.
Thanks! I'm looking for something like this but with good piano sound module section. In general, I'd like more depth on voices of the hardware you're reviewing.
Hi thanks. Regarding the first question, it seems to me obvious this machine is for singers and guitar&bass players due to the audio in, that is not present on TR or MC
Hey Gabe, great review. I just got one of these things and I'm noticing that my one-shot 808 bass from one Section will bleed over into the next Section instead of being muted, so there's this ugly note overlap. Is there a setting to stop this from happening?
@gabe miller music thanks for this excellent video. Can I check how many songs this can store on it and can you save a live sets worth? thanks in advance!
A dual headphone jack is good for having a performer being able to listen to the mix while they sing / perform. I am guessing since this thing is build to input vocals and or instruments that was the thought process for the 2nd jack.
Hi! I got a question, how do the pads compare to for example the newer MPC´s , Maschine or Roland SP404mk2? I understand that its possible to set it more sensitive than by factory default. Thanks
Yo Gabe, I should send you my old Ensoniq ASR X to use for a month and try to learn. Hey, believe you me I believe you'd have a new respect for the MV-1 LOL! I like what I see from it. I mean DAWLESS to me is a bit taboo these day's because a IPAD beats all these stand alone in this day an age. Beatmaker 3 is impressive and I want to an MV-1 but cannot justify the price I'd just get the newer Ipad Air 4 for that price ya know? I am glad you made this vid and you did an amazing job making e want one, Congratz!
Any way to use this live to do sets by muting unmuting tracks etc? This seems more to create a song and then export it. Im using the es2 for live sets and while i love it because on a single machine you can do full sets and its insanely fun to play. That said, i want a new groovebox because the sample management is just a complete pain. I need something that also offers sixteen tracks, something where almost all new grooveboxes fail, that is fun to play live, has some solid effects and a synth engine. Will this one work?
Just got mine last week. I'm still new to the beatbox scene, but i can see the pros and cons you are talking about. I noticed the hi-hat volume is barley ledge able My question is when i record in a track and i go over the time How can i erase that for "Example" The KIT TRACK? I got the Promotional package from Roland all set up and updated the ver I put the SZD in my Sound file When i go get them I can not preview them What may i be doing wrong?
To lengthen the number of bars you're recording, hit Copy + Measure > button. If you go over time, you just have to undo what you did by erasing the notes from the sequencing strip at the bottom. You might want to try just programming the drums by first selecting the sound, and then pressing the button in the sequencing strip where you want it to go. For a basic beat, put the snare on 5 and 13. If you do the snare and hi hat via programming, it may be easier to do the kick drum via live recording. Even just doing the hi hats before switching to live drumming may help. As far as the drum kits, it IS tricky. If you go to the kit, the default is that you're changing the sound of the individual pad. To change the kit, experiment with the Section Select button on the left (under the Note button). When you press Kit and then Section Select and then the main knob, you should be able to scroll through the kits. There are A LOT of them!
Use an external keyboard when possible. It helps to make it sound a bit less loopie Anyone know if i can edit levels for the sounds input directly into the sequencer (coming in at full volume) rather than when played on the pressure sensitive pads (which are often registered at lower levels)?
03:50 Ok, usb-audio to daw but Can i connect a usb audio interface (let's say a 8 outs unit) in order to have individual track outputs? I mean MV1+ audiointerfase+external mixer. Nice vid!
You can record the individual tracks into your DAW with no extra gear, but I don't think you can send the individual tracks to a hardware mixer without a DAW.
I am still trying to find the "final" piece for my DAWless recording setup. But I don't make only electronic music- I want realistic drum and acoustic instrument sampling/sequencing, as well as the synth and techno stuff. Nobody seems to demo those. I can slave it to my multi-tracker to sync everything up, so I don't need the vocal track, except for samples. Could the MV-1 be the final piece in my DAWless puzzle?
Yes. It has a huge array of sounds natively, some of which are acoustic, but it's also expandable in the sound department so you should be able to find what you're looking for.
@@GabeMillerMusic you basically get an ableton style clip workflow using the screen (707 has something similar built in I believe), and you get to get into the zencore synth to really get into the nitty gritty of synthesis and sound design. Not sure if you need a subscription tho. I researched this heavily (your videos helped a lot) before I decided to get the MPC Live MK2, but the main draw of this unit for me was the mic input that a lot of these boxes don’t have.
So having had some experience of some other recent Roland gear anyone able to comment on if the MV-1 has any issues not sitting correctly on surfaces(some wobble from the base of the unitwhile hitting pads etc) and consistency of feel of buttons and pads ?
Every critical turn this video takes just annoys me. It's an altogether NEW thing. It's too early to be making judgments. Even things as simple as "the steep learning curve" are partly due to the device's newness (and a poorly designed manual, and videos that fail to clearly show how things work). This means that as people get comfortable with it, there will be more videos illustrating more things in a very accessible way. Blaming the device (or manufacturer) over the user is short-sighted. And, yes, if you read Roland's article about the device, they know precisely whom they've created this for. This device is basically a dream device that I never dreamed up. Back in the 90's when I bought my giant Roland XP-80 with a poorly written English manual, that was hard, but I nonetheless learned how to use it. I didn't have TH-cam to turn to either. By comparison, this is easy, and you can figure some things out fairly quickly with the information you have access to. I understand people have questions. They should. It's a great thing to be curious about. This, like most instruments, is a bit easier if you actually know how to make music. Also, you can do a range of styles and genres of music with this. The amount of sounds is staggering.
I think we pretty much agree on a lot of these points. I have a lot of experience with music production hardware, so I'm used to step sequencers, menu diving, and a lot of the layout here. I brought up the learning curve because it could be frustrating for beginners to music production, and because some of it is a result of clunky UI design. Just because something is functional, it doesn't mean it can't be more streamlined. But to be clear, I 100% agree that this is a dream music production device. This many tracks, the Zencore engine, recording capabilities, multitrack out, a solid step sequencer and song mode, and a competitive price make this a really fantastic device. I just want to be hyper aware that not everyone will click with it the way I did.
I'm 100% a synth beatmaker and instrumentalist. I got the SP404 MK2 because I'm an SP head. But I want a synthy standalone. I don't really like MPC synths haha. Also not a big fan of the MPC workflow. This thing seems like a possible option for later 🤔
@@boomboombaby9140 The more I look into the Verselab I see where it shines and also where it doesn't. It seems like the song bulding on Verselab beats MPC by a good margin, but not necessarily in other areas. But now that the Push 3 is out, neither MPC or Verselab is an option for me anymore. I was basically looking for exactly that haha. I don't like the MPC layout and UI at all, even though it has a lot of features. To each his own. I had an MPC2000XL for years and enjoyed that, but ultimately MPC is not for me.
@@boomboombaby9140 That's fine, you can feel that way haha. MPC is good for some people. But there's a reason the vast majority of beat makers who play their own instruments use either Ableton or Logic to make their "beats." MPC is geared for sample chopping (although Ableton is equally as capable of that). Kiefer, Kaelin Ellis, Anomalie, Matt Wilde, The Kount, Slowya.roll, Telemakus, etc. all use Logic or Ableton. Clips/scenes in Push is much more capable for mixing and matching sections and being able to play along in real time, for however many measure you want, etc. Logic is obviously a full fledged DAW si it has that. This process is slowed down significantly if done on an MPC. Up until Push 3 the closest thing was Akai Force, but you can't even change time signature on that, so that rules out more complex songwriting/beatmaking. It's different territory and plenty of people wanted another option. It's not that it's not possible, it's just not intuitive as part of the music making process on MOST samplers. Almost all of them. Bottom line Ableton revolutionized electronic music composition with this. If you don't make music that way, that's fine. But more options is better. Push 3 is perfect for some people. MPC for others. Different methods.
Why don’t you talk much about the MC-707? Is it just too expensive? The 707 strikes me as the same as this MV-1 with a different workflow. It seems like something you’d really love.
The talk about a learning curve is ... dumb. Even something as straight forward as the Maschine Mikro MK2 has a learning curve. Plenty of weird design quirks in there, even YEARS after the first Maschine was released. In terms of sampling though, it kind of sounds like the Verselab MV-1 is not aimed at that as much, which is a huge mistake. Owners of the MV-8800 have been begging for a new stand-alone for years now (for real beatmaking)... and I'm totally not convinced this is 'it' at all. I do get what you mean with menu diving and it looks like a lot of steps for just adjusting a synth. But in a more general sense any device will have its learning curve. I hope they will make a more true MV-8800 type successor than this one.
Sure, every device has a learning curve, but some learning curves are steeper than others. For someone just getting into production, a steep learning curve could be a lot more frustrating, since they're learning everything from scratch. It's not an unreasonable thing to touch on. It's also worth mentioning because some of the learning curve comes from jank in the workflow, although there *are* a lot of very intuitive bits as well.
I'm new to all of this, can anybody recommend a synthesizer drum machine in one unit for beginners, I like music such as phantogram m83 radiohead, just something to start with..
If you were after Zen, I'd go Integra 7 and add a MPC ONE. You'd have a DAW killer at your finger tips. ROLAND sounds, EAse of MPC, Nice touch screen instead of whatever this thing is suppose to be... Not loving Roland's direction when it comes to MPC boxes! Groove box in 2022 should have BIG easy to read and use screens. This just seems backwards.
Thanks for the video! Very helpful, but I have a question. I’m new to this device and I cannot figure out how to pick which tracks play in a section. For example, if I have a piano on the KICK track and a synth pad on the SNARE track, how do I get just the piano to play on section 1 and both the piano and synth pad to play simultaneously on section 2? I tried muting the SNARE track on section 1, but now it’s muted on both sections 1 & 2. Am I missing something here? Thanks, Josh
The sections behave independently, but the track settings (like mutes) don't. So you'd need to erase the piano part from one section and the synth from the other. Hopefully that makes sense, I might have shown that a bit more clearly in one of my MV-1 track walkthrough videos.
Thanks Gabe. So is removing each note using the buttons on the sequencer per track the only way to do this? Seems tedious. I can’t believe Roland wouldn’t have simplified this a bit. Thanks. Josh
Spoke with Roland support. For anyone else having this issue, you need to hold clear and press note to delete all notes on a track for a section when in section mode. That way you don’t have to do it manually per note on the sequencer.
Re the "Roland Sound Engine" (I call it basically that too) it hasn't changed much since the introduction w the D-50 in '86. I grew up with one, when was a kid a D2, MC-808, MC-307, MC-909 in 2014. When I was a kid I was extremely intimidated by the menus and complex looking diagrams printed on the keyboard top - but as you said in the MC-707 video, its actually not that hard to understand it all once you get through Roland's cryptic labeling. To me the defining feature different from Yamaha & Korg is that Roland's is always 4 PCM Audio Sample "Tones" or "Partials" or "WAVE" w the FM (color, amount only) AMP, Filter, Pitch all have the same slew of attributes and en envelope each, what's special is you then get various ways of combining the wave forms including the ring-modulation options - called "Structure" on the D-50, TMT on the MC-909. Same 10 structures. The D-series had this upper/lower organization w its own fx for each of the 4 layers (which they never again did!). Mid-late 90s was the JV engine. MC-909, Fantom, XV-5080 got the new XV engine that was different only in that it could load stereo samples into each of the 4 tones (JV allowed you to pan the 4 layers individually - mix/match w Roland waveforms. My JD-XA (2015) digital parts have the same structure!
I dig your videos and content, especially as a beginner and new MC-101 owner. But if I may suggest, cut down on the... cuts in your video editing. There was probably one every 5 seconds at the beginning and your face kept on "jumping" slightly because of it. Super distracting 😬. Anyway, thanks for the review!!
Looks not as cool as the korg electribe. On ethe electribe you can change the synth with knobs, modulatate params with LFO, run them through filters and amps - unlimited
For me this is the best demonstration on this thing because you dont get lost in all teh details, i don't want to hear the song/sequence structure for the 15th time but you get to the things that matter: sounds, workflow, sampling and your opinions on it. So thanks for the video!
So, I finally ended up buying one of these, and I have to say... it gets better the more you use it. Very unintuitive at first. But once you get rolling with it, extremely versatile.
I sold my Digitakt to get the Verselab, I was not disappointed, it truly is an incredible piece of kit.
It sounds truly amazing, it's a bit like a hardware version of Ableton Live.
Your "song mode section" nails it! ... just playing and adjusting loops and jams over and over can be absolutely boring. It's fun, but it's not art to me. I write songs, and this sound module gets me there faster than anything since the Electribe 1. If you are making synth pop / new wave / dance rock / techno rock / or any song composition, this things works...and works well.. it's a song machine, not a beat box.
Had to get rid of my EMX1 back in 2012 but I've been searching desperately for something that can make *a song* so this comment sold me.
As a vocalist who has used Roland for years this is a dream to use , but yes it can be a steep learning curve.
That is why Roland have training academy training for free. I initially purchased the maschine+ HATED IT ,it's not vocalist friendly I suppose each to their own choice at the end of the day , this one ticks all the boxes I need for a vocalist without the 3500 AUD price of the MPCX stand-alone
Yes, and you can re-enroll in the Cloud Academy for free as many times as you like. Chris sees it as a kind of "hang out" as we all try to learn how to learn this more effectively. There are definitely efficiencies and strategies to be found. I liked the idea of copying sections to other sections as a sort of back up (since there's no undo).
Hey! I appreciate your feedback on this. I’m looking for something I can do live vocal looping with and create and bring in new vocal tracks on the fly while performing. Is that how you use it and would you recommend it for that?
@@crystalmyslajek boss looper pedals maybe x
@@crystalmyslajek A Verselab with a Boss RC-505 mkii looper would be a pretty stellar set-up for what it sounds like you’re looking to do. Hope you’re figuring it out and enjoying the process!
Marked down to 500$ I think it might be a better deal than the circuit tracks.
USB audio is a must have !
Edit: Finally ordered one!
got it black friday sale 2022 on guitar center/sweetwater for 500$
Just picked up used for $330. It is a blast
I've been trying to get a few questions answered forever:
1. Can you record, put together and save your own sampled kits?
2. Can you merge vocal takes? For people that record bar for bar.
1. Yep, you can do that.
2. I'm not sure on that one. You do have multiple takes that can exist together on the same track though.
@@GabeMillerMusic Thanks for getting back to me! I did some digging it turns out you can basically resample vocal takes into one take. So it works!
Great review. I have both the Verselab and the MPCOne. I love them both however, for me, the work flow on the Roland is so much easier than the MPCOne. MV-1 also forces you to be a more organized creator. If I had to give one up I'd choose...... NEITHER! =) Love them BOTH! Thanks again....
Looking at the MPC one , versa lab and MC 707 what would choose for more chill out music?
@@davidmoore9385 MC 707 would do downtempo perfectly. MPC is more energetic MV-1 is good for dance trap shit too.
One thing the mv1 has that the mc101 is a little lacking in is the mv1 has a huge library of 808 bass sound variations.
I have to admit you're one of the best TH-cam reviewers I have seen. You really go in detail and paste a realistic view on these Musical Gear. Thanks for all you do I love your Channel
Hi ! Been following you for years and for some bad reasons, I only recently got the MV-1. I thought I would be limited by the sections system (instead of scenes on the 101). But actually, it's not the case, on the contrary. It turned out to be exactly what I needed : focusing and getting to finish songs ; mixing with my Minifreak, recording vocals. Needed a couple days to master it but now that's second nature. I feel I will never feel limited with the amount of tracks or steps.
Especially since, you can get further from the 16*128 steps limit (128 unique measures) in several ways. 1) by overdubbing with an external synth in vocal mode ! because the "vocals" tracks gives your 12 minutes (6 in stereo) which are completely independant from the sections data -- you can repeat a section but overdub with external synth layers to make something drastically different 2) by reducing the tempo and changing the measures scale (1/8) you can get the equivalent of 512 unique measures (in unquantized mode).
Dream standalone machine for me, esp. since I suffer from eyestrain. The tiny screen just to check parameters is perfect for me ; for the rest, the pads & lights are the screen.
I tend to think it's not THAT niche actually. There are many people who enjoy making songs with lyrics and are not fond of sticking in front of the computer for hours.
Cheers Gabe, really balanced and as ever learned a few things. More positives for me were attaching a powerblock and running off to anywhere with it, it seems to encourage collaboration, daring I say singing even, and the zenbeats screen for tuning effects as you need it. More I use it the more I enjoy it and they've caught lightening in the workflow bottle... completely agree it just pushes you to make a song.
Omg to track out an entire beat like that over audio USB is a dream 😍 so convenient. This is weird box forsure, but I do see how useful it can be. Sample chopping not so much, but it ain't trying to be a MPC so it's okay.
i think i got it now. its basically the most liked parts of the jdxi just moved from sketchbook to actual draft creation and from a minisynth to a groovebox format. they just shouldnt have marketed it as an entry device. like with the jdxi i think alot of pros wouldnuse this as a sketch book if they gave it a shot.
Love this review. Your corrected list of who this should be for is spot on. I’m a former Fantom-x user and loved the song sequencer + audio tracks workflow.
I now have a Jupiter-Xm for my mobile work and have been looking for a standalone drum machine with song sequencer. Felt that TR6S wasn’t enough and the MC101 was just not the right fit. The MV seemed close but a bit overkill with the extra synth section as I have the Jupiter. But it seems to be the current option to add to my mobile setup. Unless you have another suggestion.
I own an mv1 and owned a mc101 until recently I gave it to a buddy because the mv1 made my mc101 useless. The mv 1 is the Mc 101 on steroids. Does same things except the mv1 can record and process audio.
Really hoping Korg will nail it with the drumlogue !! Looks so promising
They would have to put sounds from the monologue and Wavestate inside the Drumlogue in order to be competitive. They can even do a classic edition with the color of the triton le with built in triton sounds
So to go all old man get off my lawn for a moment. The best song mode I ever messed with was on the roland MC 307. It was pretty much how how they all work now, you select patterns to be played in order and you can set it to play a pattern a certain number of times, but you could set things to be muted. So you could have a a pattern called "pattern1" that has your drums, and bass, and melody in it. You could in song mode say "Play pattern1, but with the bass muted and no no kicks or snares 1 time. Then play pattern 1 again but with all the stuff"
I used to have 2 bass lines in a single pattern because in song mode I could switch between the two and and then my 4 bar loop has an 8 bar bass line.
For 🎵 song writing/ vocal recording only. 😆lol. That's why I'm getting it. Just to get a lil Grove of a Melody and writers block
🥰🤣 Record so I can remember my lyrics on the go. Perfect for me. 👌🏾. It just looks fun for a vocalist.
Great video, as always. I watched this long ago and decided to get one. I dont regret it at all. I want to point out though that all the talk in the comments of this being a steep learning curve is very subjective. To me, the steep learning curve live in the sp404. I know thats not an apples to apples comparison, but imo the 404 is way harder to learn than this.
Interesting-very interesting. I was ga ga over the the spec sheet-because I don't exclusively produce EDM. Hmmmm-This is a video you might have to watch like 5 times before you press the buy button. Thank you so much Gabe!
I encourage you to look at more videos about the MV-1. I think there are better voices to listen to about it.
I ordered one for the song mode alone!
Thank you, great review.
I see your point! Im look for the Dawless boxes-to make me compose *songs*. Gabe mentions this in his review-he get's stuck in small loops/hooks/jams-which has been my curse my whole life. So please check back in with how the MV-1 Helps/doesn't help with song composition. I am dying to hear about this exact feature. Thank you for Posting!
@@luminousbrilliance1711 Thank you! It should be here in beginning of may.
I've had mine a short time. So far, I have a lot of starts, but zero finishing. I'm not freaking out yet about this. It's new to me, and I understand that it will take a little time to understand (especially since I haven't used any Roland instruments in years). I can't wait to experiment with vocals.
If your are new to the game 🥺.
@@luminousbrilliance1711 I have the first update to this. Only got it yesterday and it will take some time for me to learn what I need. I will go through the tutorials next week. Basic songwriting with built in sounds and mixing is sweet! As is the composition part in song mode. Now I will learn to find all the vocal effects and guitar related effects as well. As I have many song ideas allready recorded in phone, with guitar and vocals. Will be hard to not create new tracks in the process as it is a lot of fun and pretty easy to do. I always wanted the 808 sounds and styling, never cared about plugins. Considered getting Behringer RD-8, until this came out. No regrets.
Once you get an idea going and you want to send it to a DAW, what workflow do you follow? Do you export stems, do you record both midi and audio to daw, etc?
Honestly, this box would be perfect if they increased the scenes to 32. I think they increased the mc 707 scenes so i hope they can do that here.
Honestly, this with the mc 707 style screen, some kind of expression control (mod wheel or MPE) and more emphasis on sampling would make this a hip hop artist's wildest dream. MV2 Roland? C'mon make me proud
People get so messed up about the small screen. The reason I DON'T want an MPC One is because of the screen. Too much like a DAW. To me it seems pointless unless your main focus is sampling and some type of portability. My main goal is to work with different sounds and make a completed composition without having to be clicking a mouse and staring at a busy and complicated screen. Sort of like a swiss army musical notepad. So I ask myself, why does this appeal to me? Here's what I think... You make music with your hands and listen with your ears. How many musicians close their eyes and focus on feeling and innerspace, I'd say nearly all. You're tapping into a different part of your brain. So yeah, of coarse you need to look at the thing to make music but to minimize the amount of complexity you're taking in visually seems like an interesting decision. I have one on order cause it's on sale rn, seems like a bargain for what it does, hope I jive with the work flow. Also, I love that it will export the tracks so I can mix as a separate process. I've totally killed my creative flow by getting "into the weeds" of mixing prematurely. And if you don't have a complete composition yet, how do you mix in the proper context? And mixing is all context, but the temptation is so great!! lol... Just some thoughts.. Hope I like it and I appreciate the approach on this review.
The screen still sucks. The one on the 707 is okay, this one is not.
Agree with you. Screen is visual stimulation, and sometimes, it creates distraction
Thank you so much for this interesting video.
I am in doubt between this Verselab and a MC-101.
I would love to see a video of you exporting each stereo sound to mix in your DAW or your mixing and mastering general settings for export. For me, the only big flop on this unit is not knowing exactly where to eq/cut the lows per instrument track as there is no visual graph to analyze. I've used the mastering features and whenever I export the .wav it never sounds like it does when you listen to it on the unit. Aside from that, I did speak with Coolout beats about the .wav folders not having page memory and he is submitting that to Roland for the next update
I'm sure more videos about this will eventually come out.
I may get this, I have stored my 8800. This thing is inspiring.
Not everything should be for beatmakers, sample choppers. Menu diving with good amount of features is expected, I’d like it to be smaller. It’s high/tall plastic shoebox, it would be nice if its thinner and a bit tilted like Circuit. All the YT vids show it from the top and look nice, in real life you HAVE to look from the top, so using somewhat tilted stand is best. Faceplate plastic is amazingly cheap, as on 101/707.
With that amount of criticism, while nothing of critical I LOVE the thing! It’s the first standalone device that satisfies my inspiration. Comparing to alike OP-Z, Roland, Akai or more expensive larger Maschine/Force (the ones I had personal experience with).
Small while powerful enough to be standalone outside of studio or part of your table. Indeed not demanding to move all you synths and sht from from main table onto aside racks. Which is important, because I don't want to limit my myself to one Maschine+ taking all the space in front of me. A synth with 5 octaves needs to be a main thing (for me). So MV-1 fits in such setup. Handy. It’s also my gate to the zen-core. Also as a synth module (without investing $$$$ into Roland hardware running the same engine).
Everyday I grow more into it. While most of the time with new hardware you uncover issues you hate as you go. MV-1 may have some improvements to go, but nothing major and feels like complete element to the flow, that was missing before. This is a keeper .... so far :)
Thank you for replying with real world implementation-Myself I was thinking... a really really really bitchin' 8-Track-with some synths. But still this is alot of info to think about. Thanks again.
"Not everything should be for beatmakers, sample choppers." I think that is what Roland was shooting for-hence the marketing campaign-which focused on just that. But the engineering department was like-here is the the hot genre EDM-let's throw all that in there to to sell more Zen-Core subscriptions. :-)
@@luminousbrilliance1711 They shouldn't've even try target "beatmakers" as will lose mental fight to mpc lovers and stuff :) Positioned it for songwriters as "simple", as Gabe properly mentioned, is still quite steep learning curve. Why they forget Synth lovers who can use Vocal track? Never mentioned it once. This is exactly I am here for and I bet many of "us" will discover benefits of MV-1 stepping forward off everything else.
By us I mean majority, why lie, hobbyist bedroom musicians, who do most in DAW with VST, have tons of plastic controllers, one or two synth can afford and looking for a standalone to unstuck from the DAW. So called EDM and Electronic lover (innovating in genres that do not have name for yet). Not seasoned live-performers going into gig nightly LOL you know, The Ordinary :D
yeah, so song mode, ability to drive hardware synth with midi out and get back audio in to the unit, and still have 6/7 tracks left, important with real synth engine. Was playing it yesterday with Polybrute and very happy for pairing. I also (have to) use only one sampled drum kit, to let more synth I can tweak. All works good. When groove box is drum machine + bass +pads + else, while still a supplement to you main keys and synth.
I'll be taking Verselab to vacation and plane and stuff (instead/plus to OP-Z, instead of plain controller for iPad). By not in the world paying yearly to no one! So i have an extra pressure not using my sht for a day or a week. I'd rather buy few things I love :)
@@samprock Wow! Thank you for the reply-really! I would describe myself the same way "Hobbyist Bedroom Musician" (That's Perfect). Honestly thank you for the real world implementation, case example. So for you-the MV-! is a grab and go vacation go-to?!? Now, that is fascinating! My Yosemite vacation rig would be my microfreak and a circuit into a Zoom, Or something like the MV-1. Ha! Your post I will have to read 5 times before I press buy. But this post had me wandering around in the yard wondering: "I wonder what ARTURIA is working on these days." :-) Anyway-congrats on the PolyBrute-I have a budget-but yikes because price! Thank you again for the reply-I am still considering the MV-1-it's actually kind of fun to shop for this crazy stuff. :-)
@@luminousbrilliance1711 90% of my music is made or conceived on mobile setup, or plain iPad/iPhone, Gadget or Cubasis or indeed Zenbeats. Beach vacation or Yosemite trip :) Always smthg part of any vacation, otherwise it not a "vacation" LOL The only mobile hardware stays and posted track from last vacation was OP-Z (which I love and Verselab is a natural continuation of a mighty box with large pads, more synths goods, while still handy). Its bad Roland did not fit a battery (for the size of device they could have), but at least thought thru with usb- battery power option, so its good. I'd love MV-1 to be in Circuit body (Push alike), but cant do nothing in two synth and 4 part mono sample drum.
I'm big fun of Arturia, starting from V2 MiniMoog, their Keystep/Beatstep Pro were top used (with iPad too). One thing made me home in MV-1 - it is a Beatstep Pro, which all of a sudden doubled tracks with synth engine and drum machine on board :) I'd love Arturia to come up with groovebox under progressing beatstep/keystep pro, but don't see its happening. On my few weeks age question to have scales in BSP they said - good idea we can think of that ... after so many years :) its ok they focus on other directions.
Polybrute, cant be happier. Besides its indeed cheap to more expensive rivals from DSI, Roland J8 or Fantom, or same price Iridium I returned. I totally love on board sequencer, fx and multi-instantiated VST ... while its analogue. Just a new bar for anyone. I had to skip on microfreak and many things along the road to keep feeding my music piggybank for it :)
That tiny screen and not really being able to conveniently chop samples on it are a dealbreaker for me.
But from what I understand, I really like the concept of that _vocal_ track . I often find myself with a finished pattern and just want to jam over a loop, regardless of its length and somehow overcome the limits of 16, 64 or whatever amount of steps. Like for example playing in a solo with an analog instrument or synth, or maybe even sing or at least whistle to find some new melodies. I guess it would do the job and is quite unique with regards to that.
I also like the offered flexibility to freely choose between the step sequencer and the drum pads, one for live recording finger drumming, the other for quickly putting down a 4 on the floor beat or conventional hihat patterns.
Given that it dropped quite drastically in price, it does like quite a decent offer.
best review on this! Just got one as an alteernative to my Ableton Daw. my computer crashes in order to run my tracks, and I'm not motivated in "fighting the machine" anymore. Just want to get to my music production. Only thing I'm worried about is if it's only preset samples. i always my own basslines, leads, everything and almost never use samples. So I hope I can still produce as I'm used to - just without my annoying computer. I was never good in Daws and the 1000 clicks for small things and the "omg what did I just click?? it's all changed now" -disasters. Hoping this will be more fun and less clicky. But - it may be "the calculator" experince for me as well.
It's for people who wanted a song mode for the MC-707 but instead of that, Roland created a heavily stripped-down version without all the good stuff from the MC-707. How else would they differentiate it? I guess they could just have added a song mode to the MC-707. Ugh, but that would be way too logical! Yes I know the 707 is a performance tool, but would it have been a stretch to add a song mode? It's only a performance tool because it doesn't have a song mode, but pretty sure it could be made to do both. I hope they combine the best of the 707 and MV-1 in a new product, and with an OLED screen to provide a little more info ... PLEASE!
I am not a Roland hater although it may sound like it, but every piece of Roland gear I have ever bought, has always had some bloody stupid limitation that made no sense to the masses. Would love to see a "Dawless box" that combines the best of the 707 and MV-1!
Good video Gabe! I Love this review!
10:40 this is what I needed to hear. I want to sell my keyboard arranger because I don't have a ton of space and I mainly only use it for some jams, I want to stick to a quality 61 key midi controller like the Novation SL61 mk3, and just own a couple small sound modules if I want to play something live. But finding the right sound module is impossible because everything seems to be discontinued. I bought the Roland Boutique D-05 because I truly love the sounds of the D50 but I'm besides that I'm limited with options. I found a used Roland SD-50 that could fit my need but it's out of production and people seem to have problems with it crashing, plus it only supports firmware updates over a dedicated USB drive. So after a lot of pulling my hair out, I'm a little more confident to bite the bullet on this, even though most of my music creation is in Ableton Live. At least Guitar Center has returns and I can check it out near me.
"Prosumer angle" nice term :). Great review!
I have a friend who just bought one and he has done some amazing stuff with it, but for me.....
I just don't get it. Just not tactile enough for me to take this over a DAW. I can see the appeal of being able to track directly onto multitracks but then why go to the standalone box where things are more awkward to work with only to end up in the DAW anyway.
You don't have to end up in a DAW. This is obviously more tactile than a DAW as well.
i know I'm kind of off topic but do anyone know a good place to stream new movies online ?
@Vance Joaquin I watch on FlixZone. Just google for it :)
@Grayson Aydin yup, have been using Flixzone for since april myself =)
@Grayson Aydin Thank you, I went there and it seems like they got a lot of movies there :D I really appreciate it !
Great review! A little bit of "Bad Gear" vibe, especially at 1:45
At the first glance, the Roland MV-1 is ticking all the boxes...
@@Nik.leonard 'you have already heard the MV-1 in our little opening tune...' LOL
Focus group Roland used agreed Mini screen would reduce playing with menus on a larger screen.
@@petercastle4381 I like small screen as can read few letters and digits without reading glasses under my cans :) I had more trouble with Maschine or Force where "large screen" things are small and far. Did not p even try iPad for a screen. Music stays in your head, not necessarily on screen, which is good. Did not we by groovebox and sht to unstuck watching DAW/VST all the time?
so I'm ok with small screen and even cheap plastic I hate. I love the thing :)
i hope more MVs are released to suit users.
You think they would have made this not to compete with the MPC but to be a complimentary unit to the aira mx1 mixer. They had the right idea of making USB units that would work with their mixer protocol. I think they missed the mark on their own idea
I think a great niche for this is people who already own other hardware keyboards- MODX or Nautilus, for example- who want to add Roland sounds and groovebox sequencing and sampling feature.
I currently own a MODX and an Akai Force. If I didn't have a Force, I'd add the MV-1 in an instant.
It also makes for an excellent sound module. I use Cubase and this would give me a solid sketch pad, with streaming USB Audio.
But in tandem with other hardware keyboards that are lacking groovebox-style sequencing features, this is an excellent addition IMO.
Another caveat here, is that it's cheaper than the MC 707, but also includes the vocal effects and mic input.
Even as a 7 channel Roland sound module, IMO it's well worth the price of admission.
And it does lockdown the "one stop shop" category, because there's nothing else in this price range with such a robust set of synth sounds.
And no, MPC one does not compare on the synth front.
If it wants to be a DAW-in-a-box a large screen is a must with a 4D knob (like the Maschine MK3) or a touchscreen. Menu diving kills the creative flow. The MV-1 has promise, and I like the all in one aspect, but it could be improved.
one thing I can't figure out about this is how they map a chromatic kb to a 4x4 pad, I even looked through the manual and it doesn't say what the notes are?? all I've found is a reddit post which supplied the following, please tell me it's wrong?? idk how anyone could play a melody on this if so.
--
Pad 13: C#2 Pad 14: D#2 Pad 15: D3 Pad 16: D#3
Pad 9: F1 Pad 10: A1 Pad 11: C2 Pad 12: E3
Pad 5: C#1 Pad 6: D#1 Pad 7: F#2 Pad 8: G#2
Pad 1: C1 Pad 2: D1 Pad 3: F#1 Pad 4:
Anyone know if there is a Groovebox type device, like Roland MC-101 or Verselab MV-1, that includes a decent set of SuperNatural acoustic piano voices (or anything of equal quality), and some decent electric piano, organs and synths? I basically want a 12VDC-powered tabletop sound module to use off-grid (mobile and without wall outlet -- ie: on batteries), and groove boxes seem to be a highly cost-competitive equivalent to old-school type boxes like the Integra-7 (covered phenomenally well by Gabe Miller here on TH-cam, for dance/electronic music but not acoustic/instrumentalists). Plus with a groove box, you get trigger pads, another display, a pad grid that can function as a multi-color display, knobs and a million effects. The MV-1 includes phantom mic power / instrument input, and a virtual drive for recording that analog input, making it a potentially killer keyboard/vocals busker-rig. The SuperNatural sounds are a step above what I've been hearing from other acoustic piano sound engines. Piano Shack does a great sounds demo here: th-cam.com/video/i8ef11m8YS4/w-d-xo.html
UPDATE: The Fantom 6, 7, and 8 use SuperNatural. The Fantom -06/07/08 appear to be lightweight younger cousins that have many of the electronic features, but not SuperNatural. Side-by-side sounds videos suggest the 0x fantoms to be inferior for acoustic voices, and the 1/4 weight of the keyboard itself suggests overall build and keybed feel are likely also inferior.
Good review, Peter from Roland Verselab - Users Independent Group, Facebook.
Thanks! I'm looking for something like this but with good piano sound module section. In general, I'd like more depth on voices of the hardware you're reviewing.
Would love to see a video with the MV1 and the mpc 101 hooked together and used in a jam
Hi thanks. Regarding the first question, it seems to me obvious this machine is for singers and guitar&bass players due to the audio in, that is not present on TR or MC
To make a beat: Press shift + edit while dialing the knob left 3 turns + hold your foot up
Another modern day version of the endless varieties of guitar pedals available in my youth.
Indeed ,just think back to their V-Drum/recorder days .Roland are on repeat mode .
Not like guitar pedals at all, especially old ones.
The 1010music Blackbox looks sick af
Hey Gabe, great review. I just got one of these things and I'm noticing that my one-shot 808 bass from one Section will bleed over into the next Section instead of being muted, so there's this ugly note overlap. Is there a setting to stop this from happening?
I've actually run into the same thing. I still need to look into how to fix it.
Add a mute group along with an empty pad and trigger it at the end of the measure (learned that from another TH-camr, sorry can't remember who)
@gabe miller music thanks for this excellent video. Can I check how many songs this can store on it and can you save a live sets worth? thanks in advance!
what's it for>? people who want to make songs ( with SINGING).
A dual headphone jack is good for having a performer being able to listen to the mix while they sing / perform. I am guessing since this thing is build to input vocals and or instruments that was the thought process for the 2nd jack.
Hi! I got a question, how do the pads compare to for example the newer MPC´s , Maschine or Roland SP404mk2? I understand that its possible to set it more sensitive than by factory default. Thanks
Yo Gabe, I should send you my old Ensoniq ASR X to use for a month and try to learn. Hey, believe you me I believe you'd have a new respect for the MV-1 LOL! I like what I see from it. I mean DAWLESS to me is a bit taboo these day's because a IPAD beats all these stand alone in this day an age. Beatmaker 3 is impressive and I want to an MV-1 but cannot justify the price I'd just get the newer Ipad Air 4 for that price ya know? I am glad you made this vid and you did an amazing job making e want one, Congratz!
Any way to use this live to do sets by muting unmuting tracks etc?
This seems more to create a song and then export it.
Im using the es2 for live sets and while i love it because on a single machine you can do full sets and its insanely fun to play. That said, i want a new groovebox because the sample management is just a complete pain.
I need something that also offers sixteen tracks, something where almost all new grooveboxes fail, that is fun to play live, has some solid effects and a synth engine.
Will this one work?
It seems to me to be confusing as to what the difference between this and the 707 ? apart from the price....
Just got mine last week. I'm still new to the beatbox scene, but i can see the pros and cons you are talking about. I noticed the hi-hat volume is barley ledge able My question is when i record in a track and i go over the time How can i erase that for "Example" The KIT TRACK? I got the Promotional package from Roland all set up and updated the ver I put the SZD in my Sound file When i go get them I can not preview them What may i be doing wrong?
To lengthen the number of bars you're recording, hit Copy + Measure > button. If you go over time, you just have to undo what you did by erasing the notes from the sequencing strip at the bottom. You might want to try just programming the drums by first selecting the sound, and then pressing the button in the sequencing strip where you want it to go. For a basic beat, put the snare on 5 and 13. If you do the snare and hi hat via programming, it may be easier to do the kick drum via live recording. Even just doing the hi hats before switching to live drumming may help.
As far as the drum kits, it IS tricky. If you go to the kit, the default is that you're changing the sound of the individual pad. To change the kit, experiment with the Section Select button on the left (under the Note button). When you press Kit and then Section Select and then the main knob, you should be able to scroll through the kits. There are A LOT of them!
@@JasonHader Thank You
@@ronaldlundbohm815 to clear note and keep the bars and the sound just hit clear+Seq.
@@ghanezu Thank You
I like that you can play the sections momentarily, can you record that into a pattern?
Use an external keyboard when possible. It helps to make it sound a bit less loopie
Anyone know if i can edit levels for the sounds input directly into the sequencer (coming in at full volume) rather than when played on the pressure sensitive pads (which are often registered at lower levels)?
Please, I only want to know if it possible to connect a piano using MIDI or usb port and make recordings on the verselab from the piano?
Sound design on MC-101 then load your custom designed patches into MV-1.
How much better is the MC101 over verslab for workflow design?
03:50 Ok, usb-audio to daw but Can i connect a usb audio interface (let's say a 8 outs unit) in order to have individual track outputs? I mean MV1+ audiointerfase+external mixer. Nice vid!
You can record the individual tracks into your DAW with no extra gear, but I don't think you can send the individual tracks to a hardware mixer without a DAW.
I am still trying to find the "final" piece for my DAWless recording setup. But I don't make only electronic music- I want realistic drum and acoustic instrument sampling/sequencing, as well as the synth and techno stuff. Nobody seems to demo those. I can slave it to my multi-tracker to sync everything up, so I don't need the vocal track, except for samples.
Could the MV-1 be the final piece in my DAWless puzzle?
Yes. It has a huge array of sounds natively, some of which are acoustic, but it's also expandable in the sound department so you should be able to find what you're looking for.
I hear using the Zenbeats app as a screen helps the workflow considerably.
I've heard the same, I'll definitely do a video on it eventually
@@GabeMillerMusic you basically get an ableton style clip workflow using the screen (707 has something similar built in I believe), and you get to get into the zencore synth to really get into the nitty gritty of synthesis and sound design. Not sure if you need a subscription tho.
I researched this heavily (your videos helped a lot) before I decided to get the MPC Live MK2, but the main draw of this unit for me was the mic input that a lot of these boxes don’t have.
* None of those boxes have.
@@JasonHader the akai Force has a mic pre. Can’t think of too much else.
very true words on Roland marketing here!!!
just as im writing this u show the tone edit thing its basically the same size display and same order of parameters in the tine edit likenon my jdxi.
This machine is not for beat makers in the since for those who depend on sampling to make their music Roland dropped the ball on that.
Can you record another synth from the audio in l/r ?
that rapid fire question/answer section at the start was nice you should do it more
If I have the MC-707, is it worth getting this for song mode and vocal features?
My guess would be no, unless you *really* don't want to do vocals or arrangement in a DAW.
@@GabeMillerMusic Thanks
So having had some experience of some other recent Roland gear anyone able to comment on if the MV-1 has any issues not sitting correctly on surfaces(some wobble from the base of the unitwhile hitting pads etc) and consistency of feel of buttons and pads ?
Song mode reminds me of the Polyend tracker
Thanks for this. I was hoping for something that hit a sweet spot between the MC-101 and MC-707....MC-505??? But this is isn't that.
ever use the mic stuff?
Hey if you can check out the best thang drum machine and sampler and do a review it's a old machine but very very powerful.......thank you
Every critical turn this video takes just annoys me. It's an altogether NEW thing. It's too early to be making judgments. Even things as simple as "the steep learning curve" are partly due to the device's newness (and a poorly designed manual, and videos that fail to clearly show how things work). This means that as people get comfortable with it, there will be more videos illustrating more things in a very accessible way.
Blaming the device (or manufacturer) over the user is short-sighted. And, yes, if you read Roland's article about the device, they know precisely whom they've created this for.
This device is basically a dream device that I never dreamed up. Back in the 90's when I bought my giant Roland XP-80 with a poorly written English manual, that was hard, but I nonetheless learned how to use it. I didn't have TH-cam to turn to either. By comparison, this is easy, and you can figure some things out fairly quickly with the information you have access to.
I understand people have questions. They should. It's a great thing to be curious about. This, like most instruments, is a bit easier if you actually know how to make music.
Also, you can do a range of styles and genres of music with this. The amount of sounds is staggering.
I think we pretty much agree on a lot of these points. I have a lot of experience with music production hardware, so I'm used to step sequencers, menu diving, and a lot of the layout here. I brought up the learning curve because it could be frustrating for beginners to music production, and because some of it is a result of clunky UI design. Just because something is functional, it doesn't mean it can't be more streamlined.
But to be clear, I 100% agree that this is a dream music production device. This many tracks, the Zencore engine, recording capabilities, multitrack out, a solid step sequencer and song mode, and a competitive price make this a really fantastic device. I just want to be hyper aware that not everyone will click with it the way I did.
I'm 100% a synth beatmaker and instrumentalist. I got the SP404 MK2 because I'm an SP head. But I want a synthy standalone. I don't really like MPC synths haha. Also not a big fan of the MPC workflow. This thing seems like a possible option for later 🤔
P.s. The MV-1 reminds me of the Maschine Plus in a way. Preset based, good for songs. Good presets, in both cases too.
I have a mpc live 2 and the verselab both are capable but the mpc has it by workflow.
@@boomboombaby9140 The more I look into the Verselab I see where it shines and also where it doesn't. It seems like the song bulding on Verselab beats MPC by a good margin, but not necessarily in other areas. But now that the Push 3 is out, neither MPC or Verselab is an option for me anymore. I was basically looking for exactly that haha. I don't like the MPC layout and UI at all, even though it has a lot of features. To each his own. I had an MPC2000XL for years and enjoyed that, but ultimately MPC is not for me.
@@remyvegamedia push 3 ?🤮🤮🤮
@@boomboombaby9140 That's fine, you can feel that way haha. MPC is good for some people. But there's a reason the vast majority of beat makers who play their own instruments use either Ableton or Logic to make their "beats." MPC is geared for sample chopping (although Ableton is equally as capable of that). Kiefer, Kaelin Ellis, Anomalie, Matt Wilde, The Kount, Slowya.roll, Telemakus, etc. all use Logic or Ableton. Clips/scenes in Push is much more capable for mixing and matching sections and being able to play along in real time, for however many measure you want, etc. Logic is obviously a full fledged DAW si it has that. This process is slowed down significantly if done on an MPC. Up until Push 3 the closest thing was Akai Force, but you can't even change time signature on that, so that rules out more complex songwriting/beatmaking. It's different territory and plenty of people wanted another option. It's not that it's not possible, it's just not intuitive as part of the music making process on MOST samplers. Almost all of them.
Bottom line Ableton revolutionized electronic music composition with this. If you don't make music that way, that's fine. But more options is better. Push 3 is perfect for some people. MPC for others. Different methods.
Why don’t you talk much about the MC-707? Is it just too expensive? The 707 strikes me as the same as this MV-1 with a different workflow. It seems like something you’d really love.
Dam this thing is cool
I don't understand why Roland couldn't put a large screen on the unit if your using it as a standalone unit the little screen will be a pain!!!
i think roland dont like screens
@@deadnameisdead There's an article explaining they done a focus muscian group. Who said it makes the work flow more productive.
@@petercastle4381 hm..... interesting
Yeah, the intent is to get away from the screen.
akai mpc series next?
What is the reason for its existance?
The talk about a learning curve is ... dumb. Even something as straight forward as the Maschine Mikro MK2 has a learning curve. Plenty of weird design quirks in there, even YEARS after the first Maschine was released. In terms of sampling though, it kind of sounds like the Verselab MV-1 is not aimed at that as much, which is a huge mistake. Owners of the MV-8800 have been begging for a new stand-alone for years now (for real beatmaking)... and I'm totally not convinced this is 'it' at all. I do get what you mean with menu diving and it looks like a lot of steps for just adjusting a synth. But in a more general sense any device will have its learning curve. I hope they will make a more true MV-8800 type successor than this one.
Sure, every device has a learning curve, but some learning curves are steeper than others. For someone just getting into production, a steep learning curve could be a lot more frustrating, since they're learning everything from scratch. It's not an unreasonable thing to touch on. It's also worth mentioning because some of the learning curve comes from jank in the workflow, although there *are* a lot of very intuitive bits as well.
I'm new to all of this, can anybody recommend a synthesizer drum machine in one unit for beginners, I like music such as phantogram m83 radiohead, just something to start with..
Roland jd-xi.
If you were after Zen, I'd go Integra 7 and add a MPC ONE. You'd have a DAW killer at your finger tips. ROLAND sounds, EAse of MPC, Nice touch screen instead of whatever this thing is suppose to be... Not loving Roland's direction when it comes to MPC boxes! Groove box in 2022 should have BIG easy to read and use screens. This just seems backwards.
Thanks for the video! Very helpful, but I have a question. I’m new to this device and I cannot figure out how to pick which tracks play in a section. For example, if I have a piano on the KICK track and a synth pad on the SNARE track, how do I get just the piano to play on section 1 and both the piano and synth pad to play simultaneously on section 2? I tried muting the SNARE track on section 1, but now it’s muted on both sections 1 & 2. Am I missing something here?
Thanks,
Josh
The sections behave independently, but the track settings (like mutes) don't. So you'd need to erase the piano part from one section and the synth from the other. Hopefully that makes sense, I might have shown that a bit more clearly in one of my MV-1 track walkthrough videos.
Thanks Gabe. So is removing each note using the buttons on the sequencer per track the only way to do this? Seems tedious. I can’t believe Roland wouldn’t have simplified this a bit. Thanks.
Josh
Spoke with Roland support. For anyone else having this issue, you need to hold clear and press note to delete all notes on a track for a section when in section mode. That way you don’t have to do it manually per note on the sequencer.
Sync 2 of these together then you have 14 tracks and 2 vocal trakcs
Re the "Roland Sound Engine" (I call it basically that too) it hasn't changed much since the introduction w the D-50 in '86. I grew up with one, when was a kid a D2, MC-808, MC-307, MC-909 in 2014. When I was a kid I was extremely intimidated by the menus and complex looking diagrams printed on the keyboard top - but as you said in the MC-707 video, its actually not that hard to understand it all once you get through Roland's cryptic labeling. To me the defining feature different from Yamaha & Korg is that Roland's is always 4 PCM Audio Sample "Tones" or "Partials" or "WAVE" w the FM (color, amount only) AMP, Filter, Pitch all have the same slew of attributes and en envelope each, what's special is you then get various ways of combining the wave forms including the ring-modulation options - called "Structure" on the D-50, TMT on the MC-909. Same 10 structures. The D-series had this upper/lower organization w its own fx for each of the 4 layers (which they never again did!). Mid-late 90s was the JV engine. MC-909, Fantom, XV-5080 got the new XV engine that was different only in that it could load stereo samples into each of the 4 tones (JV allowed you to pan the 4 layers individually - mix/match w Roland waveforms. My JD-XA (2015) digital parts have the same structure!
I dig your videos and content, especially as a beginner and new MC-101 owner. But if I may suggest, cut down on the... cuts in your video editing. There was probably one every 5 seconds at the beginning and your face kept on "jumping" slightly because of it. Super distracting 😬. Anyway, thanks for the review!!
Damn😂 right off the back😂😂😂
Looks not as cool as the korg electribe. On ethe electribe you can change the synth with knobs, modulatate params with LFO, run them through filters and amps - unlimited
👍🏾
Better get a synthstrom deluge
Still no sidechain? Come on Roland
It don’t have a bunch of tracks 7 1 vocal 8 in all
It’s odd you call it weird because it’s like an mc101 on steroids and you love the 101
Couldn’t Pas up buying when Roland lowered the price to below $500. A bargain for all this power.
Missing mumble button..Gowiza giwoza giwoza