Whichever device you install, it should be possible to play a huge number of songs back in one go, bearing in mind the capacity of a Zip or IDE drive relative to the MC50's internal memory. A Zip100 or 2.5-inch IDE hard drive can be installed into the chassis itself, and an external SCSI Zip device can be connected via an optional interface. As far as disks are concerned, there are a few options. Song Chain is the MC80's version of MRP, but because it pulls songs directly from disk, the size of the storage medium is the only limitation to the number of songs that can be chained together into a performance. We certainly never felt that it was necessary to run two MC50s just to remove a couple of brief breaks in the set. We also controlled the start of the new Bank with a footswitch so that we wouldn't be caught unawares by it automatically starting itself after loading. Having just a couple of gaps in a set was not really a problem though, as we knew where they were, and could therefore use them as an opportunity to enter into a little crowd banter and tell the audience of up and coming gigs. The time taken to load a large bank was about 30 seconds (or less for fewer songs), but the blank measure or two we inserted at the start of each song to hold its SysEx data added a few more seconds. Although that wasn't enough for a whole set, it did give us up to about 20 minutes of playing time until there was a break while the next Bank loaded itself. When we used the MC50 for our gigs, we managed to cram a maximum of just four songs in each Bank, each of about four to five minutes in length. This is how the display should look in Quick Play mode. At the end of the sequence, the next bank has to be loaded, and this takes a finite amount of time. When a bank is loaded, it will automatically play all its songs in the specified order, responding to any interval times, count in marks and loop points entered by the programmer. Songs are sub-grouped into what Roland call 'Banks', of which a performance can contain 26 ordered from A to Z. Unfortunately, the feature is limited by the internal memory of the MC50 because the songs have to be loaded before they can be played, so that even though it is theoretically possible to have total of 99 song files in an arrangement, in reality, there is only room for a few to be loaded at one time. MRP is a playlist for songs, enabling a programmer to arrange a group of songs into a performance. Chaining is done via the MC50's performance mode, called Super MRP, which is accessed by turning on the power while holding down Numeric Key 2. It's worth noting that the MC50 already has a Chain Play type feature that eliminates the loading delay between songs. The sequencer also offers something called Chain Play, which uses the same streaming process but works on a predefined list of tracks, enabling you to arrange an entire gig's worth of material beforehand. What's more, another song can be cued up ready while that one is playing. In this mode, it is possible to scroll through a song menu and press play when you see the one you want, without having to load it into memory. SOS contributors Tom Flint and Colin Williams reply: Just as on the MC50, a song has to be loaded into the internal memory of the MC80 before it can be edited however, the MC80 has a playback-only mode, called Disk Quick Play, which streams songs directly from disk. Will the MC80 do all this as well as be able to play back songs with little or no pause between songs? We also want to cut down on leads and hardware by using one sequencer instead of two, and are hoping that a more modern sequencer with more features will encourage us to do things like loop sections on the fly and so on. When you have masters and backups of every floppy disk the numbers start building up really fast. One of the other reasons for getting an MC80 with a Zip drive is to cut down on floppy disk usage. I read that although the MC80 only holds one song at a time in memory, it can play back multiple songs directly from the disk drive, but I was wondering if there was a significant pause time between songs when playing directly from disk? I like to be able to load at least 10 to 12 songs at once. Being able to start a song the instant a previous one finishes is highly desirable in a club gig situation where we want to run a whole set of songs without a break. At the moment I run two MC50s together so that I can load songs on one while the other is playing, thereby avoiding pauses. It seems to supersede the MC50 in every way, especially with the Zip drive installed. I want to replace our band's two Roland MC50 sequencers with the MC80. Unlike the MC50, Roland's MC80 Micro Composer can stream songs directly from disk without having to load them into memory first.
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