Roland MC-909 Getting Started Manual page 6

®ÂØÒňΠMC-909
Whatza PCM Waveform?
There's another type of audio that the MC-909 plays: PCM waveforms. A PCM waveform is a sample
that Roland has created for you, and that's built into the MC-909's ROM ("Read-Only Memory"). The
MC-909 contains 693 of these PCM waveforms. They're recordings of all sorts of things, including
drum and percussion instruments, keyboards, guitars, basses, strings, oddball noises and on and
on. They form the basis of the MC-909's factory sounds, or "patches."
PCM waveforms, like samples, can be stereo or mono.
Whatza Patch?
When you play a sample or PCM waveform on the MC-909, you play it in something called a
"patch." The MC-909 comes from the Roland factory with 800 ready-to-play patches, and you can
create your own, too.
A patch is a group of samples and/or PCM waveforms,
and a bunch of settings, or "parameters," that determine
how each sample or PCM waveform plays. When you play
a note, all of the samples and/or PCM waveforms in the
patch play together, making one big, interesting sound.
Toning Up
A patch's samples and/or PCM waveforms are organized
into four "tones." Each tone plays a stereo sample or
PCM waveform, or it can play two mono samples or
PCM waveforms. Each tone has its own set of about
90 parameters that determine how its samples or PCM
waveforms play. Tones can be set to play together in a
different ways, resulting in a bunch of different sounds.
Patch Parameters
The number of patch parameters is huge—each patch has over 300 different parameters. Some
control the sounds of individual tones, and others set the sound of the entire patch. They can
control things like:
• how bright or muffled each sample or PCM waveform will sound.
• the tuning of the sample or PCM waveform.
• how the volume of the sample or PCM waveform changes as a note sounds.
• how the patch behaves as you play it.
• much, much more.
When you twiddle many of the knobs and buttons on the MC-909—or use the D Beams—you're
actually adjusting these parameters.
©
2003 Roland Corporation U.S.
Getting Started Guide
MC-909 Getting Started Guide
Patch
Tone
1
Tone
2
Tone
3
Tone
4
In this patch, Tones 1 and 4 each play a
single stereo sample or PCM waveform.
Tones 2 and 3 each play two mono
samples or PCM waveforms.
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