New Shit

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  BCM said:

nice! welcome to the family we should form some kind of MFB synth group...

 

thanks! another two frames in similar style, and you'd have one great animated gif.

  BCM said:

tight

I wish i'd seen this thread before. hathathhat, have you received your step64 yet? it could be an interesting experience...

One of the first things I noticed about mine was that it didn't do legato, despite the accompanying literature claiming otherwise. Instead, it did some crazy shit wherethe two notes you choose to slur end up with the same value, or something like that. The guy that makes them reckons it's the synth (ms20) that is the cause of the problem, but i used to run it from a shitty old midi-cv converter (the one that's in the wasp) and an even shittier midi sequencer (cough mc-505 cough) and didn't have any problems doing legato.

No legato (and no glide of course) is not the end of the world though. it was the other problems that really got on my tits. Mode 5 on the step64 is supposed to give you 32 steps plus an extra control running whatever you like - a filter, gate time, velocity, whatever else you've got holes for. This is nice because 16 steps can feel quite limiting, and it's a pain in the arse jumping from one sequence to another to create a longer sequence. Unfortunately the additional control only works for the first 16 steps, which means, for example, that you'll make a sequence with crazy filter action in the first half, and a really boring sound in the second half. It took a long time to convince the bloke that makes them that there was a bug, the language barrier being a problem. Eventually he agreed, and to his credit, spent some time working out how to fix it, then offered to repair it for free. I procrastinated a bit - a lot - , and now he seems to be ignoring my emails, but i'm going to keep bugging him until he makes good on his offer

Of course, that bug may well be absent from yours if it's from a run made after my complaint, and if not i'm sure he will offer to fix it. Anyway, with a bit of extra effort you can achieve better results from the 16 step mode as you have two extra control channels. This is why i delayed sending mine off.

Bugs aside, it's a lot of fun. It feels much more direct and hands-on than creating sequences on a keyboard, a computer, or a push-button sequencer. It would have been nice if it had the option of acting as a midi-cv converter. Also, i think it might be a little glitchy when it acts as a midi clock - it seems to send out extra hits when i hook it up to my dmx. I will have to try it with another machine.

Anyone else used this machine? I'd quite like to get another midi-cv converter or step sequencer, but they all seem so expensive. any suggestions?

also still waiting to hear those kraftzwerg samples! thinking of getting one... and maybe also the step64....

  hahathhat said:

  BCM said:

nice! welcome to the family we should form some kind of MFB synth group...

 

 

thanks! another two frames in similar style, and you'd have one great animated gif.

 

  BCM said:

 

tight

how is that alesis micron treating you

would you endorse it?

got MFB-502 and step64 today.

initial reaction: i'm tempted to order the synth lite II.

secondary reaction: perhaps i should trick my MFB-502 out... replace the LEDs with evil green and the knobs with bigger ones... i don't need to see the captions...

allo allo

thought id chuck in as ive been using mfb for bout a year

started with the mfb Kult

http://www.mfberlin.de/Produkte/Musikelekt...T/mfb-kult.html

which i got ta replace a load of drum machines i sold

it is really nice , sounds are pretty dirty which i found perfect & theres tons of em ta play with.

then i saw the 503e

http://www.mfberlin.de/Produkte/Musikelekt...e/mfb-503e.html

this thing is the bollocks, makes you feel like a giant with its tiny 606 style step sequencer

sounds are nice and fat and are great when ya mix em, (tuned down toms with bass drums ect ect)

power snare!! run this through a distortion pedal, (as i do with everything) and it will make ya cream all over your aphex pyjamas

i really recomend both these drum machines

as for the synths , there just wernt enough good sound examples on t' net for me ta go for em

the build quility aint great so id say to all those soldiers wanting to make some tunes in the warzone

your better off using renoise on your Toughbook

you should also look into the Flame Clockwork

http://www.analoguehaven.com/flame/clockwork/

coz they are really nice

byee

i've been cranking out ridic mfb jamz this week.

my live rig now packs into a cube of synthesis. i'm realizing the mfbs have the potential to make my load much lighter!! i'm eager to get an assload of patterns program so i can really get going on this. i've been using my mpc1000 as a clock source and nothing else; i've been having so much fun i haven't even gotten around to using it for midi/drums/sampling along with the mfbs! but i will, oh yes...

roughly:

- mfb-502

- mfb-step64

- korg ms2000

- akai mpc1000

- yamaha mg16/6fx

- novation remote sl 25

- minidisc to record it all

good shit.

  hahathhat said:

i've been cranking out ridic mfb jamz this week.

 

my live rig now packs into a cube of synthesis. i'm realizing the mfbs have the potential to make my load much lighter!! i'm eager to get an assload of patterns program so i can really get going on this. i've been using my mpc1000 as a clock source and nothing else; i've been having so much fun i haven't even gotten around to using it for midi/drums/sampling along with the mfbs! but i will, oh yes...

 

roughly:

 

- mfb-502

- mfb-step64

- korg ms2000

- akai mpc1000

- yamaha mg16/6fx

- novation remote sl 25

- minidisc to record it all

 

 

good shit.

nice! i'm seriously considering buying either a dave smith evolver module or an MFB synth today....think i'm gonna go with the evolver due to it's analogue style sequencer....

MFB Kult looks cool, is it for sale anywheres?

yeah they still have them in some on line music places in germany i think....

my MFB 502 DrumComputer blew up yesterday

tried to turn it on and nothing happened so I checked all the connections and that and tried again and then smoke came out of it and now it's broken.

Luckily, I think I've got a 3 year warranty from Musikhaus Thomann, so I can probably get a replacement.....will have to send it back to Germany though which is a hassle....

That sucks, you got it pretty recently too?

I heard some samples of the MFB 503 the other day, sounded quite nice.

yeah, only got it in September....i guess it was cheap and you might expect this sort of problem....just checked, it should be covered by a 3 year warranty so not too bad...

New MFB stuff....

MFB 522

TR-808 clone

~280 euros

http://www.mfberlin.de/Produkte/Musikelekt...e/mfb-522e.html

I might get this instead of a Boss DR-110, this one has MIDI OUT (no IN though), it sounds pretty good!

It has mini-jack outs though lol (does that even matter?)

oh yeah and it has a really gay cowbell =/ that's a bit of a shame, but it's still really great for the price, great snare and bass, hats sound alright from what I can hear

  BCM said:

yeah, only got it in September....i guess it was cheap and you might expect this sort of problem....just checked, it should be covered by a 3 year warranty so not too bad...

so did you receive a new one?

lol no i've never got round to sending it away

lol, ah well you still got a couple of years to send it

Oh yeah, I meant the MFB 522 has MIDI IN only and no MIDI OUT, sorry for that

yeah i figure it's got a 3 year warranty so there's no hurry.... :embrassed: god i'm so lazy.

i just played with the MFB-522 at the schneider's buero. it's totally absolutely fuckin kickass. i wish i got that instead of the DR-110.

  kokoon said:

i just played with the MFB-522 at the schneider's buero. it's totally absolutely fuckin kickass. i wish i got that instead of the DR-110.

So what do you think about the 808 cloning aspect of this thing? Is it really convincing? I couldn't find any good demos with just a BD and SD or anything, all those demos out there have got these stupid rhythms. From what I can hear the BD and hihats sound really good though. But does the snare sound any good?

mind that i never had a real tr-808 in my hands, but i think the snare's not exactly the same. i really like it though. maybe a bit more hollow, the pitched sound component isn't as smooth and beefy as with the 808. but i really like it. and it's very tweakable, much more than on 808. the kick is great, the hats i don't remember so much, but they sounded good. actually i really didn't view the 522 as an 808 clone, but a kinda-808ish analogue drum machine. with tons of beef.

and i like beef very much.

Alright, cheers.

I might buy one soon, sort of found myself a reasonably good deal.

Okay I got one now, it's great indeed, if a little quirky. I can still hear some sort of reverb, most likely from the congas that never ends, sort of like a buzzing sound :P Also, the tune knob from the cymbal seems to work anti-clockwise, and when I twist (twiddle) it, the pitch of another continuous buzzing sound in there is affected. You can only hear this when you've set the volume very high.

I love all the sounds though, the clap is also great, and the cowbell doesn't sound that bad. Maybe I'll post some samples up here later, even though I haven't got a decent audio interface anymore (sold it ;)), so perhaps the quality will suck.

nice, do post some samples! i'm glad you like it, i really didn't notice the sound quirks you're describing, but i wasn't in an environment where i'd notice that kind of noise. the background buzz you're describing is obviously leakage of some voices' VCAs, theoretically it could probably be hacked somehow to fix it, but afaik there's a lot of SMD components in there, so it would be a pain. if it doesn't bother you too much, i guess it's best to take it as it is :)

so how would you rate the SD? and what do you think about the 808-iness of the machine?