Roland MC-101

I paired this little monster with the MPC Live and just did a run of two whole song productions and I have to say, I am very impressed. The four sliders and control pots make a world of difference during live performance, even though they are super tiny (I didn't even realize how small the box really is).

The sound quality is amazing and it's packed with legendary sounds from the Roland line, featuring Juno sisters, Jupiter, SH-101, some Oberheim mayhem and instruments from the XV lines from back in the day. You can not edit the presets other than superficial touches to Attack, Decay, Release, Cutoff, Resonance etc. No direct access to the oscillators or LFO:s.

Yet.

The grand idea behind the new ZEN-Core is to have a universal sound editor that can take a patch made to an older synth and then inject it to the ZEN-Core with almost 1:1 replication. So, in theory, once Roland gets their editor out, a massive world of sonic possibility opens up with this synth.

Only gripe I have is that there is only one stereo out. I might have to buy another one in the future.

I am in synths and grooveboxes for the past year starting from 4 Volcas and a SQ64 and NTS-1 and then moving to an Elektron Syntakt and an Elektron Octatrack. I am in my late 40s and I admit that I do have some money to spend for a hobby like this.
Nevertheless, I have been still searching for a truly portable option. Well this device is just perfect for this and in many ways its beats the two time more expensive Elektron Syntakt while overall leaving too much to be desired from Elektron's workflow. No comparison with Volcas in terms of workflow, even though Volcas sound is unique.
So my comparison and reference is these devices - please don't feel offended for your favorite brand if I am doing too many comparisons!

The bad first: I understand that there are a lot of Quality Control issues with devices breaking. Also, this looks and feels like a toy - but not in a good way. Where Volcas look and feel fabulous and Elektrons are built like a shiny tank this feels like a cheap toy. Design-wise I don't know what Ronald designers are thinking or what is their target group. Maybe "DJs"? The device looks like a patchwork of leds over a high contract b/w background.
But all these are mainly cosmetic. The fantastic news now: ultra-light, lighter than a Volca. Fantastic sequencer with motion sequencing and a Clip-based approach that makes the famed Elektron sequencer and workflow really feeling limited. Versatility? Only 4 tracks but one of them is a Drum track. This again means that you are having potentially as many or more tracks to work than a Syntakt. Maybe the Syntakt or the Octatrack can deliver a more polished sound -but for a beginner and a portable device does it matter?
Effects? On track on output or even on the Scatter pads reminding the Octatrack slider. Effect quality and configuration much more straightforward and meaningful compared to my other devices.

The things that I don't like so much: there is lots of menu diving but at least what you can configure a lot right from the encoders without menu diving with preselect options that make sense musically. If you go deep into sound design there are too many options (and also too many presents) and not the best experience from a sound design perspective.
Handling? The most insane shortcuts - probably not documented - really the only device that you need to have besides you a manual or built extensive muscle memory. As mentioned I have an Octatrack and the octa shortcuts do make sense in comparison to this.

Overall this device is criminally underrated, it can replace a bunch of volcas and an external sequencer (maybe not in terms of sound but in terms of music making) and it's very competitive with Syntakt that costs almost double than that and its much less portable. Syntakt might have an edge on some sounds (synths definitely not drum ones) but for a prototyping and fun to use device does this mattter?

Again I can not understand what Roland design team was thinking - this simply looks mediocre at best ugly at worst. But what a great device.