Hi there, and welcome to the unofficial Cheat Sheet for the Roland MC-101 Groovebox!
This Cheat Sheet aims to provide a one or two pager of the most useful shortcuts and workflow operations of this nifty little Groovebox. Please note that you'll be able to find most of these by reading the manuals, but who has time to go through all of that, right? ;)
Everything in bold refers to a control (a button, knob or slider) on the front panel of the MC-101 (see picture above).
A + (plus-sign) between two or more controls indicates that those controls should be used simultaneously, in the specified order.
A , (comma) between two or more controls indicates that those controls should be used sequentially, in the specified order.
First of all, this is a work-in-progress (WIP) until specified differently. You're currently looking at the Markdown version of the cheat sheet, the PDF version can be found here.
Though I always strive to be complete and correct, there's always the chance that there's something missing or just plain wrong in here. Should that be the case then make good use of the New Issue button from the Issues tab above. Or even better: New Pull Request from the Pull Requests tab!
Anyway, enough chitchat, see below for the Cheat Sheet!
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Track settings | Shift+Track Sel |
| Clip settings | Shift+Clip |
| Sound settings | Shift+Sound |
| System menu | Shift+Filter |
| Motion editor | Shift+Mod |
| Copy clip/track | Shift+FX |
| Clear clip | Shift+Project+Track Sel |
| Quick write project | Shift+Tempo |
| Scatter settings | Shift+Scatter |
| Quantize settings | Shift+Record |
| Multi FX settings | Shift+Multi FX |
| Display knob value | Shift+Knob |
| Knob fine adjustment | **Sound/Filter/Mod/FX+Value Knob |
| Select C1 parameter | Sound+C1 |
| Select C2 parameter | Filter+C2 |
| Select C3 parameter | Mod+C3 |
| Select C4 parameter | FX+C4 |
| Storage mode | Project+power on device |
| Enter scene mode | Clip+Seq |
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Copy/Paste Step | Select Pad to copy, Shift+FX, Select Pad to paste, Shift+FX |
| Delete Step | Shift+Project+Pad |
| Pad edit | Shift+Note |
| Duplicate measure | Seq+> |
| Halve measure | Seq+< |
| Add drum substep | Seq+Pad |
| Add low velocity drum hit | Track Sel+Pad |
| Clear clip | Shift+Project+Clip |
| Edit measure length | Shift+> or Shift+< |
| Auto-advance mode (tone track only) | Pad, Record + Pad of 1st step |
| Note edit | Seq, Pad, C1-C4 to change values |
| Note edit alternative | Seq, Pad, hold Sound or Filter or Mod or FX, Value to change value. |
| First/last step mode | Shift+Seq |
| Cancel first/last step | Shit+Project while in first/last step mode |
| Toggle notes/chords | Press twice Note |
| Chord designer | In chord mode, press Shift+Filter |
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Force start | Shift+Play |
| Mute/Unmute drum part | Note+Pad (for clip) or Track Sel+Pad (for track) |
| Transpose tone track | Note+Pad |
| Select pitch of looper track | Note+Pad |
| Random sequence | Track Sel+> |
| Reverse sequence | Track Sel+< |
| Tap tempo | Shift+Exit |
| Toggle metronome | Tempo+Exit |
| Toggle arpeggiator | Long press Note |
| Stutter/top of pattern | Shift+Play while playing |
| Start/Stop current clip | Clip+Sel while playing |
| Multi FX parameter select | Multi FX+FX Prim |
| Multi FX parameter depth | Multi FX+FX Depth |
| View knob value | Shift+C1-C4 |
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Store Scene | Clip+Pad1-Pad8 |
| Recall Scene | Clip+ long press Pad1-Pad8 |
| Scene selection | Long press Clip |
| Scene chain | Shift+Pad |
Start editing: Press Seq, then Pad to select the first step, then Note. Enable/disable notes via Pad (hold for tie). Select step via Value.
Start editing: Press Note,Pad to select the drum part to edit, then Seq. Enable/disable steps for given drum part. Select drum part via Value.
First/Last Step mode:
Select last step: Pad
Select first step: Shift+Pad
Press Record,Note, then Play; play on the pads, press Record again to stop.
Press Pad, then Shift+Record, select source from menu. Press Pad to select clip and press Record. This puts it on standby-recording mode and will record the 1st 8 measures (max) after pressing Play.
Make sure motion is on (via Motion Editor), Press Play, Record, press Sound or Filter or Mod or FX, C1-C4 to record motion for each track. Press Record again to stop.
Press Seq, Shift+< or Shift+> to select step. Press Value, C1-C4 to change motion value.