Roland MC-303 Groovebox was my second "synth" that I ever got, and I think I got it around 2001. Others were buying MC-505 and MC-307's back then, but I had to settle for second hand MC-303.
Rolands MC-303 has got it's fair share of bashing during all these years, but there is still something that I really like about it. I have always thought that MC-303's drum samples were good and it had better drum kits that following MC-307 and 505. Especially the 808 sounds have great presence. Kicks and toms boom, Snares and claps snap like they should and hihats sizzle bright.
TR-909 sounds are good too, the toms have that round full sound and snares and kicks pound like they should. Maybe the hihats are bit weaker, but thats made up with great ride and crash cymbals. On top of these the MC-303 has tons of great percussions from 707 and 727 drum machines and lots of acoustic drum sounds for break beats, jungle and drum'n'bass. And it has that classic TR-recording in its sequencer, where you can tap the beat realtime or use the classix X0X style programming.
This first simple demo shows some of the better preset patterns and templates that are hidden in underneath all that late 90's crazy techno and goa trance stuff.
