Back in 1999, this groove arranger burst onto the scene as Roland's playful answer to the rising DJ keyboard trend, packing the groovebox heart of the MC-303 into a keyboard with a wild D-Beam for air-guitar filter sweeps.
Its 49 velocity-sensitive keys anchor a 24-voice polyphonic, 10-part multitimbral sound engine loaded with 448 dance-focused tones—think punchy EDM leads, thumping basses, and 12 drum kits—plus real-time knobs for tweaking filter cutoff, resonance, reverb, pan, and volume on the fly. A built-in sampler grabs up to 32 seconds at hi-fi 31.25kHz (or 128 seconds lo-fi) across 16 slots, with processing like pitch shift, time stretch, ring mod, and auto-loop, triggered via buttons or keys. Fire up the arpeggiator, 64 dance styles via RPS phrases, or the simple two-button recorder to layer melodies over auto-accompaniments, all blasted through a 2x15-watt bass reflex speaker system that punches surprisingly loud for live jams. Compact yet hefty at around 20 pounds, it sports pitch/mod wheels, mic/stereo inputs, MIDI I/O, headphones, and footswitch jacks for easy hookup.
Over two decades on, players still dig its raw, unpolished charm for bedroom beats and party sets—loud speakers and instant grooves win fans—though some note the clicky buttons and barebones sequencer feel dated for deeper editing.
