This is where you can tell Roland what you want from the next MC707 firmware update

Well 7/7/25 approaches. If there's no update this time, I think that's the 707 sidechaincompressorless for good.

Roland, I have made so many tunes on this device that I would never have made without it. Sidechain Comp or not, a few more options on the Scenes, such as storing the mute states of the drum pads, Tempo per scene, or Vol Fade In (all 8 tracks), or Vol Fade out, would have been nice. Individual Pitch Per Step on the drum pads would have made each drum machine into a 16 track rompler. The best sidechain compressor I've ever used is on the Drumlogue, another flawed but brilliant idea. The volume swing on the Drumlogue is the best percussive groove feature on ANY drum machine. Both Roland and Korg keep shooting themselves in the foot, Roland by missing the Sidechain off the MC707, step microshifting off the otherwise excellent TR8s, and Korg by making the brilliant Drumlogue with 256 great presets, but only 1 Song. 😎 Aw blimey, what are we gonna do with Roland and Korg? Shall we just say, tongues in cheeks, 'We Hear You' (but will ignore you anyway) 😎

7/7/25 no update, suppose that's it for the 707. Shame really, Roland did so many updates, and it only needed a few further mods to be a groovebox of legend. It'll still be bought and used for years to come, but will be a CHOICE between Digitakt and MPC etc, rather than the outright winner. If they'd updated the 707 with sidechain compressor, ability to change tempo mid song, storing the drum pad mute states with the Scene etc, and then put out a 16 track MC707 MKII for a grand or therabouts, I'd have been first in the queue, knowing full well that the new version would have been updated until it was right. But anyway, will still use the MC707 until it breaks, still, in my view, the best thing Roland have made, it just needed a few more essentials for groovebox tunemaking

I hear ya! I bought mine 3 years ago, never used it! Loved the idea, hated the implementation! Still do really. But I've just got it out to try again, and I'm quite glad I didn't sell it!

But there are some wildly useful things that could be added to make the unit easier to use. All those knobs are pretty useless for me. They should've added a shortcut that can change their functionality to allow you to edit the zen-core parameters. I've just found that there is no Wait Note recording either! OMG! The only Roland device I have owned that didn't have this! XP-60, SP-808, MC-303, SP-505, SP-404mk2, Fantom, even the Aira compacts have it! Why isn't it on the MC-707?! Pleeease add this!

Well I'm quite disappointed with Roland for not updating this wonderful machine just one more time. Surely the brains at Roland could have made the multi-band compressor into an optional sidechain compressor, with trigger from any tone or pad? But I will say again, this is far and away the best device Roland have ever made. If you are prepared to 'deep edit' the synth, it has near unlimited potential for completely new sounds. Where else do you get 4 partials that can be waves/samples/pcm, with 2 step LFOs per partial, 4 controller paths, FXM etc? You won't get that kind of depth on any groovebox. In addition it has a fantastic drum machine, a great looper, 8 fully flexible channels that can be drum/tone/looper and can be different instruments or kits on any row. Roland made a brilliant, brilliant machine in the MC707, and all it really needed, in my view, was a sidechain compressor, the ability to store the mute positions of the drum pads in each scene, the ability to set the tempo for the scene, and a means of saving tones/drumkits/loopers to the SD card.

I do very much hope that Roland will see a great opportunity lost to make the MC707 into a de facto standard that all others will follow, for the sake of NOT LISTENING to the customers who've made over 100 tunes with the bloody thing! 😎

We know Roland have abandoned our beloved 707, but we've got 1 more idea for the miserable, miserly bastards 😎

Vector Synthesis

Choose 2 controller knobs on the track, and map them to x and Y. Controller X fades between partial 1 and 2. Controller Y fades between partial 3 and 4. Also works for the drum machine, where you can switch Vector on/off for each pad. Imagine cross fading between 4 snares, or crossfading between 4 partials of an evolving pad, that you can do by step, because the motion recorder will store it all. Yes, you lose two controller knobs per clip, but you gain the world's first vector drum machine.

Bet you wish I worked at Roland, 707 fans! I'd get it all sorted for you, sidechain included! 😎

Nonetheless, I'll be using my 707 for years to come. It's just a shame that Roland wouldn't give us the icing on the cake with a final update. They want some 2 1/2 grand for a new drum machine that the 707 can do better! The 707 could have been Roland's Microkorg for the next 15 years, if only they'd listened to those of us here who were telling them everything they ever needed to know to make it an 'essential groovebox'. C'est la vie, Roland, heads in the Cloud. 😎

1) Randomise partial only, drum pad or tone, in addition to a full randomise

2) Reverse play sample without having to loop it.

3) Generate soundscape. Takes any ROM sample, or user sample, and runs it through a Paul's X Stretch algorithm to make something as good as wavetable, and LONG (for intros, outros or soundtracks)

4) Random sample offset. Plays any sample from a random starting point without clicking. Addition to the random pitch and pan controls

5) Alternate play on partials 1 to 4 on each drum pad, i.e between 4 slightly different snares. (or 4 vocal samples etc)

6) Pitch control per step for each drum sequence separately.

7) Ability to set the Master Effect on/off for each partial, and on/off for each drum pad partial, thereby gaining a new insert effect (effectively)

8) Vocoder Effect with 10 built-in carriers and EQ

9) Steal Effect. Any track not using its insert effect can have it donated to another.

10) Most importantly. A new option to convert the Multiband Compressor on the output to a Sidechain Compressor instead, with 3 inputs to trigger it, Drum/Pad, Tone, Looper.


That'll help, Roly! 😎

...and finally, lastly, ultimately, Roland, if you were to upgrade the engine on the MC-707, since it is mirrored in other devices, you would then be upgrading ALL of them with the new features. You have potentially, for example, 8 samples or ROM waves per pad or tone, if you have a pan position control added to the left and right samples of each partial. Why waste left/right channels on each partial when you could have 2 samples playing together in mono. If you upgrade the O/S on the MC-707 you must also upgrade the other devices to keep them compatible. And if you make a 'save to card' option, and 'load from card' option on all of them, then all of the tones would be interchangeable, and we have over 1500 sounds made on the 707 that we would happily give away for nothing. The 'save' and 'load' functions need to include the sample if it is a user sample, obviously. You have a great ENGINE on the 707 that you have made difficult to transfer patches between users. More people will buy a 707 (and the other compatible devices) if you standardise the engine so that MC-707 tones can be transferred easily or loaded into other devices. YOU ARE WASTING THE 707, Roland.