Audio Damage AD-202 is a new authentic Roland MC-202 Synthesizer emulation for macOS, Linux, Windows, and iOS.
The Roland SH-101 and TB-303 are legendary analog synthesizers. The MC-202 was a hybrid of the two, released in 1983. It was often described as the poor man’s TB-303 but can also be seen as an evolution of both.
It didn’t achieve the same mega status as the first one, but it has its fans. Audio Damage developers are among them, since they’ve now released a cross-platform emulation with the AD-202.
Audio Damage AD-202
The AD-202 is a new authentic emulation of the Roland MC-202 analog Synthesizer/sequencer for macOS, Linux, Windows, and iOS. Plus, there is a free version you can play in your browser.
Of course, the primary sound direction is basslines, leads, etc., where mono synths are perfect. However, the Audio Damage AD-202 can also produce other sounds thanks to its extended feature set. Unlike the original, the AD-202 has 8-voice polyphony.
At its core is a single VCO with four ranges, based on the PolyBLEP sawtooth oscillator and a two-saw pulse that stays free of DC at any width. Pulse width and PWM are also available with LFO and envelope modulation.
In the source mixer, you can find a flip-flop-divider-based sub-oscillator for extra depth as well as a noise generator. The mixer isn’t just a simple mixer; it’s also a shaper, thanks to pre-filter saturation on the summed output.
The Pre-Filter Sat control pushes up to eight times as hard into that clipper without makeup gain, so the mixer overdrives the way it does when you run all four sources wide open.
Then you shape your sound with a 24dB resonant ladder filter with a four-pole low-pass filter with its own drive control, a tanh nonlinearity in the feedback path, and gain compensation at high resonance.
Modulation shortcuts (LFO, ENV, and kybd) are available right in the filter block. Talking of modulation. There is a single ADSR envelope with the same retrigger options as the hardware and synceable multi-wave LFO with delay. It also has an optional per-note retrigger.
Advanced Features
Alongside the added 8-voice polyphony, Audio Damage AD-202 includes portamento (up to five seconds of glide), an age parameter that adds per-voice fixed random drift across various features, post-VCA distortion, and a bipolar tilt EQ.
It also includes full MPE with per-note pitch bend and pressure, four aftertouch destinations, MTS-ESP microtuning, and velocity.
The built-in sequencer is not emulated. Since the plugin supports both MIDI and MPE, you can use your preferred sequencer. However, the free browser version includes several sequences.
AD-202 ships with various ready-to-use sounds, ranging from bass, leads, pads, FX, and more.
First Impression
Many SH-101 and TB-303 emulations are on the market. An authentic MC-202 emulation, however, was either nonexistent or very rare. Therefore, it’s great to finally have this synth available as an emulation.
I really like its retro sound. It’s a shame they didn’t expand the plugin with some simple effects.
Audio Damage AD-202 is available now for an introductory price of 34,95€ until September 15th, 2026. It runs as a standalone and VST3, AU, CLAP, and AAX plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel), Linux, and Windows.
The iOS version is out now for $4,99 on the Apple App Store and runs as a standalone and AUv3 plugin on iOS (iPhone/iPad). You can test the plugin in your browser on the official website.
More information here: Audio Damage / Apple App Store
Really not sure why this is being reported on as being an MC-202 emulation, since Audio Damage’s own site admits that it isn’t:
Is AD-202 a model of one specific hardware synthesizer?
It is our take on the classic single-oscillator monosynth of the early 1980s, the kind that came in a small silver box with a red LED and a strap on the side. We built the voice architecture, the envelope behaviour, and the trigger modes from the ground up rather than circuit-modeling any one unit, then added the things we always wished that kind of synth had.
maybe to avoid legal action from Roland. Developers are cautious since the ex-Propellerheads ReBirth RB-338 take down. Or why is the plugin is called “202”, and it looks like the original 😉
It should lose your patterns every time it’s shut down, just like the original. It was truly a case of “record it or lose it.”
Ridiculous Price. 🥱
no sequencer = no MC-202 emulation. Just an sh101 with LFO delay and noise (absent on real 202)
The sequencer wasn’t a highlight in the MC-202. So every external sequencer makes a better job than the original. The browser version has patterns you can play with it.
Actually not, the sequencer was its true diamond, look even at the name Microcomposer. Roland made 11 models of Microcomposers in 20 years from MC-8 to MC-80 and all are sequencers. MC-202 is first a unique sequencer as a small lite 2channel mc-4 with it’s quirkiness restrictions and groove and only secondly a synth, call it a sequencer with a rather simple sound module no noise even lfo is just a sine.
There is not much uniqueness in mc-202 besides it’s own sequencer, you’ll never get a true experience of a 202 using it without a built-in sequencer
If a vst is going to get controlled by a daw, I have absolutely no interest in them reproducing a sequencer which is ‘quirky’ or had restrictions. why would developers waste their time offering such? You can take similitude too far. in the end the interface should always be subservient to the sound.