Synth: Roland MKS-7 Super Quartet Review by: Ric Miller (rmiller@mbnet.mb.ca) Years Made: 1984 through ? Polyphony: Melody section: 2; Chord Section: 4 (6 when tied together as one section.); Bass section: 1; Drum section: 11 Multitimbral: Yes MIDI: yes, but limited to patch changes, Modulation and pitchbend. Other external control: Patches can be changed with Sysex messages, but not stored! Patch storage: 100 preset patches for Melody and Chord; 20 for Bass Voice architecture: DCO: pulse, sub, pwm, saw LFO: rate, delay, (fixed at triangle waveform) VCF: On/Off HPF LPF with freq, resonance, env mod, kbd mod, lfo mod ENV: 1 ADSR, and gate CHORUS: off/on (stereo chorus for chord section) Sequencer/Arpeggiator: none Keyboard/rack: 2 space rack mount; responds to velocity; overall amount controllable via front panel slider Individual volume control sliders for each section on front panel Midi channels selectable for each section. Not remembered when unit is turned off. Individual outputs and Mix outputs. Known problems: Accessories: Related synths/gear: Juno 106; Juno 60; Juno 6 Comments: Very simple midi implementation, but a very nice sounding machine with a wide range of sounds. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bruce Henderson 2U high rackmount based on Juno 106 voice architecture. Analog Chord (4 voices), Melody / Lead (2 voices) and Bass (1 voice, and rather 303 esque). Includes an 11 voice PCM rhythm section lifted from a TR-707. Average price $100.00 to $175.00 US Long Form =================================== Roland MKS-7 Super Quartet This 2U high rack mount is one of the early attempts at a synth module that could do it all. In creating this, Roland took the sound engine from a Juno 106, along with some sound innards from a TR-707 and created a multi-timbral "mini workstation". The SuperQ has a 4 voice section called the "Chord Block", a 2 voice section called the Melody Block, a monophonic bass section, and an 11 voice PCM rhythm block. Each of these can be accessed through separate outputs, or mixed together in a master stereo pair. Front Panel: Tune Knob Headphone Jack Master Volume Slider Control pairs for the 4 sections consisting of 1 button (to select MIDI channel numbers) and a level slider to control the volume. Dynamic Sens knob (changes the amount of velocity is applied to the voice modules) Patch selector buttons 0-9 digit keypad for selecting patch numbers Transpose button MIDI channel selector Power Switch Back Panel: Pitch bender sensitivity knob Modulation sensitivity knob Bass detune knob MIDI in MIDI through Output level switch (low, medium, high) L+R mix output (4) individual outs, 1 for each section. Interesting notes... Chord and Melody section can access 100 patches, the bass section can only access the first 20. The SuperQ is a ROM only machine. You cannot download new patches to it. It is possible to edit the patches using a Juno 106 editor (X-OR seems to work just fine) or a Juno-106's front panel sliders. The chorus in the Melody (Lead) section is mono, the chorus in the Chord section is stereo, and the Bass section has no chorus at all. By default the MIDI allocation is as follows Melody CH 1 Chord CH 3 Bass CH 2 Rhythm CH 10 Rhythm section note assignments: Note Voice 51 Ride Cymbal 50 Hi Tom 49 Crash Cymbal 48 Hi Tom 47 Mid Tom 46 Open Hi Hat 45 Mid Tom 44 Closed Hi Hat 43 Low Tom 42 Closed Hi Hat 41 Low Tom 40 Snare Drum 39 Hand Clap 38 Snare Drum 37 Rim Shot 36 Bass Drum 35 Bass Drum It is also possible to lock the Chord and Melody section together to be a single 6 voice unit. The chord unit does not respond to Noise On / Off and the Melody section does (but besides that implements the Juno 106 architecture).... The bass unit only has DCO PWM, VCF Cutoff, VCF Res, VCF Env, VCF Keyboard, VCF Level, Env A,D,S,R The SuperQ is a fun little unit, and it should be possible to change the system to allow 10 banks of ROM patches, and several different drum kits. As it is, it is still a very capable unit, and can usually be found for $100.00 to $175.00 dollars US.