MFB 502 Owner's Manual

General Information

Thank you for purchasing the MFB-502, a compact drumcomputer with eight real analogue
sound sources. Realtime control is provided for each sound in various ways. The MFB-502
also includes 72 programmable patterns (Rhythmen), each with individual fill-in, that can be
combined to eight complete songs.

Setting Up

To power up the MFB-502, insert the supplied Power Supply. Connect MIDI IN to any
keyboard´s or sequencer´s MIDI output. The Stereo Out has to be connected to an amplifier.
It is also possible to use the individual outputs of the sound sources by connecting their
outputs to a mixing console. Using an individual output automatically excludes that specific
sound source from the Stereo Output. Now turn on the drumcomputer by pressing the
ON/OFF button and then the amplification.

Instruments

The eight instruments (1/BD...8/HH) can be manually triggered when hitting their individual
white instrument buttons on the machine. Of course all instruments can be played by MIDI,
too.

B (35) = BD Hi, C1 (36) = BD Lo, C#1 (37) = SD Hi, D1 (38) = SD Lo, D#1 = Clap Short
E1 (39) = Clap Long, F1 (40) = Lo Bongo, F#1 (41) HiHat, G1 (42) = HiBongo, G#1 (43)
= HiHat, A1 (44) = LowTom, A#1 (45) Open HiHat, B1 (46) = MidTom. C2 (47) =
MidTom, C#2 (48) = Cymbal, D2 (49) = HiTom.

Each sound source offers individual level control. Additonal controls are:

Bass Drum/Tom/Bongo
Attack controls the intensity of the first soundphase. Turn clockwise to enhance or even
overdrive the attack level. Pitch adjusts the instrument´s tuning. Turn the knob clockwise for
higher pitches. Decay adjusts the length of the instrument´s release phase. Turn clockwise to
increase. This knob also influences the general pitch of the instrument.

Snare Drum
Attack controls the level of the initial sound phase. Turn the control clockwise for more bite
or even overdrive the sound. Use Noise to add floor to the sound – the level of noise is
incread by turning Noise clockwise. Decay controls the release time of the snare drum
sound as well as the general pitch. Turn clockwise for longer release times and higher pitch.

Hand Clap

Attack controls the width/length of the clap sound. Turn clockwise for longer release time.
Tone adjusts the brightness. Turn clockwise for a brighter sound. Decay adjusts the
reverberation time. Turn clockwise for a longer reverb.

Cymbal

Attack controls the first sound period of the cymbal sound. It emulates the intensity of the
drum stick´s hit. Turn up the knob if you want the sound to reach the sustain phase at
medium volume quicker. Tone adjusts the character of the cymbal sound between noisy
(left position) and metallic (right position). Finally Decay controls the overall length of the
sound.

HiHat

Decay adjusts the length of the sound.

Sequencer

Hit Play to start (or stop) the sequencer. The Tempo control sets the speed of the playback.
Each pattern contains a basic rhythm and a fill-in. Hit Fill to toggle between the playback
modi. The left LED indicates that only the basic rhythm will play. The right LED indicates
that the fill-in will always follow the basic rhythm.
Selecting the rhythm patterns is easy. Press and hold Rhythm. The white instruments
buttons select the first eight patterns. To select higher memory locations, press a second
white button (Rhythm is still hold). The LED’s will display the corresponding location.
Selecting different rhythmic patterns can be done live on the fly without worry about getting
out of timing. The MFB-502 will always play the previous pattern to the end before starting
the next.

Programming sequences

Select a rhythmic pattern before recording. Press Play to verify if any rhythm is stored on
that location. If so press and hold Rec and Rhythm for 1 second to erase.
Now select an instrument first: Press and hold Rec , while selecting the instrument (eg
1/BD). The MFB-502 now displays the BD track lane. Use the eight instrument buttons to
set and delete odd 1/16th notes. For even 1/16ths press Shift at the same time.
The second BD (BD Hi) is simply selected by pressing 1/BD twice while holding Rec.

All instrument tracks are programmed the same way. Select Rec and

1/BD Bass Drum Lo (press twice to select BD Hi)
2/SD Snare Drum Lo (press twice to select SD Hi)
3/HC Hand Clap short (press twice to select long Hand Claps)
4/LT Lo Tom (press twice to select Mid Tom, press three times to select Hi Tom)*
5/HT Lo Bongo (press twice to select Hi Bongo)
6/CY Cymbal
7/OH Open Hi Hat
8/HH Closed Hi Hat

* The pitch range of the three tom sounds is adjusted with the Pitch control.

Setting the Accent is similar to an instrument´s programming. Press Rec and Shift to set full
accent, press Shift twice to set medium accent.

Songs

The MFB-502 has eight song memory locations. Each can hold up to 64 patterns that can be
freely arranged for playback.

Playback

Press Song and one of the white instrument buttons to activate Song Mode. Play starts the
selected song.

Recording

Press Song and one of the white instrument buttons to enter Song mode. To start
programming the song sequence press Rec. Now enter the pattern memory locations step by
step. Specifiy between basic rhythm and fill-in first. Then press and hold Shift, select the
rhythmic pattern with the white instrument buttons and then release Shift. Proceed in the
same way to select the next pattern in your song. To define the end of the Song simply press

Rec. Ready.

MIDI Channel

To change the MIDI channel, press and hold Shift and Fill. Use the tempo control to define
the MIDI channel. The LED will indicate the corresponding value 1 – 16. Exit and store by
releasing Shift and Fill.

MIDI Clock

The MFB-502 can run in internal or external mode. Change between these modi by
switching the machine on while pressing Play. Only in external mode the MFB-502 will
accept MIDI Start, Stop und Clock information.

Owners Manual

Drumcomputer

MFB-502