ROLAND MV-8800 PRODUCTION STUDIO
Jul 1, 2007 12:00 PM, BY STONI
Producer/Remix author Stoni
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Click here to listen to the Mix Time MP3 file
Producer/Remix author Stoni banged out this track on the MV-8800 while working on the review. Find out more about Stoni and hear more on her music at www.stonisndz.com.
Roland has rolled out the red carpet to introduce the MV-8800, the latest addition to its MV-Series. With the look and feel of a master sequencing machine, the MV-8800 does more than just catch your attention. Designed to take your project to the next level, the MV-8800 covers all spectrums of music production. It's fully equipped with newer features that include a bright color display screen and a built-in VGA monitor connection. It also allows you to sample, sequence, record vocals, mix and burn your project to CD. Pre-stocked classic library sounds and drum kits include TR-808 and TR-909 classic Roland modules. Roland also stashed many of its signature effects models onboard, such as SRV reverbs, SDD-320 Chorus, 325 Flanger, the RE-201 Space Echo and Boss BF-2 and HF-2 pedals.
PUSHING WEIGHT
When you first turn on the machine, the bright and colorful built-in LCD display screen, centered at the top of the workstation, lights up. As a new feature, the MV-8800 displays a color screen with or without an external VGA monitor connected. A Contrast button sits directly under the bottom right of the LCD screen, and the viewing area measures approximately 320-by-240 pixels.
The Controller section has all the MV-8800's knobs, buttons, sliders and pads that make the MV-Series come together. There are five function keys [F1 to F5] positioned underneath the LCD. These buttons correspond to functions displayed at the bottom of the screen, giving you direct access to the same functions that live on the external monitor display for quick editing capabilities. Anyone who uses a laptop or other computer system knows how important the F keys are. To the left of the F keys are three function buttons: Sampling, Import and Menu.
The Sampling button puts you in sample mode to give you access to the MV-8800's audio inputs for sampling; the Import button engages the Import mode, which allows you to access the internal hard drive and sounds; and the Menu button will display a menu on a particular working screen. If there is a menu option available, it will be indicated by an “M” icon at the left of the function display area.
Positioned to the right of the F keys are the Exit, Undo/Redo and Shutdown buttons. Exit quits the current function and then returns to the previous screen. For example, if you are not sure what screen you need to view, you can simply start over. By holding down the Shift and Exit buttons simultaneously, you can switch back and forth between the LCD and external VGA monitor. Many other buttons on the MV-8800 also have multiple functions, but I will go on record in saying that the Undo/Redo button was most important for me when I needed to put down my ideas while recording and producing. This button allowed me the freedom to try different takes. When the Undo function is available, the button lights up orange. After you undo, the Undo/Redo button will blink to indicate that redo is available. To turn off the MV-8800, you must perform the Shutdown operation. If you do not save your work before you press Shutdown, all of your work and or projects will be deleted from the internal memory.
There is a Master volume knob as well as knobs for headphone level (Phones) and the input gain of the left and right channels of the stereo audio input (SENS L/R).
There are two rows of function buttons on the right-hand side. The first row consists of the Mixer button, for accessing the mixer section; the Project button, for calling up the project menu screen to load or save projects from your hard drive or CD; the Song button, for accessing the song screen used to play, record and mixdown songs; the Pattern button, for the pattern screen used to play and record patterns; and the Mastering button. You'll find the mastering toolkit necessary for adding finishing touches to the 2-channel audio data (WAV file) created by mixing down the sequencer's playback.
In the second row, when you press the Assignable Slider button, it triggers the eight assignable sliders that can be used as controllers to transmit MIDI messages. The System button accesses the system menu screen, for changing the system settings. In this row, the Sampler section has two subfunction buttons: Instrument and Audio Phrases. Instrument accesses the instrument screen, where audio data recorded using the sampler or imported from another source can be prepared for use as an instrument. These instruments are managed as patches and can be recalled for use at any time. Audio Phrases accesses rhythm patterns of a set amount of measures. You can also manage and edit audio phrases. The Disk/USB button allows you to perform maintenance on the internal disk, use the CD player function and communicate with your computer via USB.
Eager to do what I do best, I immediately spotted the 16 infamous grey Velocity-sensitive pads. I may use a different drum machine each time I'm producing a track, so it's important for me to get the right feel from the pads. While working with the MV-8800, the pads felt solid, with adjustable sensitivity and Aftertouch. Additional buttons that are dedicated to the pad functions live above the pads. The Multilevel button allows you to play a single sample across all 16 pads at different velocities. The Fixed Velocity button plays a sample at the same level every time you hit it, no matter how hard or soft. When recording data sequences, you can erase a specific note message by holding down Event Erase and pressing down on the pad that is assigned to the unwanted note messages.
To the left of the pads are the following six additional minipads. Pad Banks is used to scroll through the six pad banks, and Quick Edit is used for partial edits and phrase edits. Clip Board copies a sound to the clipboard to store it temporarily. For the Delete function, hold down Delete and hit the pad that you want to delete. If you hold down the Roll button and strike the velocity pad, you can produce a drum or sample roll. This Roll function is usually found in drum machines but not in many computer programs. Hold is for holding or looping a sound.
To the right of the pads, the basic transport section includes Stop, Play, Record and Return buttons. The Top button brings you to the beginning of a sequence, and the Jump button helps jump to step markers or measure events. Auto Punch automatically enters and exits Record mode over a specific region of the sequence. Quick Set indicates the current measure as the beginning of the loop. There's a BPM/Tap button to set sequencer tempo, and pressing Shift + BPM/Tap stores markers in the sequence data. Numeric keys are used to input parameter values as numbers and names in letters.
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