A mishmash of Roland’s SH-101, TB-303 and MC MicroComposers, the MC-202 was a commercial failure when it was released in 1982, but history has been much kinder to it. Now the machine’s story is being continued by Tubbutec, which has just released an upgrade kit that the company says turns the MC-202 into a groovebox.
Out of the box, the MC-202 offers CV and gate jacks for sequencing your favourite analogue instruments. It also has a built-in synthesiser that bears more than a passing resemblance to the SH-101, both physically and sonically, and its form factor has strong echoes of the TB-303.