While less expensive than the Roland MC-909, the MC-808 has a number of features the MC-909 does not, including double the polyphony (128-voice) and motorized faders.

(However, the OS v1.03 update available on the Roland website allows for some patch editing without a computer, most notably sample chopping, including auto-chop.)

The key features of the MC-808 are:[2] The factory box comes with the following accessories: owner’s manual, sound and parameter list, AC adaptor, CD-ROM (with editor and USB MIDI driver), ferrite core, a band for fastening the core, and a leaflet ("Attaching the Ferrite Core").

Standard patches have two LFOs available, which can be assigned to modulate the WG, TVF or TVA.

The sound generator allows for the routing of parts into two Multi-Effects(MFX) units.

TR-Rec allows each of the 16-pads to represent a beat, and makes it easy to enter percussion tracks.

[2] The Roland MC-808 was used prominently in the album Téo & Téa by French composer Jean Michel Jarre, who used some of the preset patterns as the base for a number of the tracks of that album.

The extracts used from the MC-808 are looped sound samples recorded with Audacity and trimmed to be used in Sony Acid Music Studio.

(Note OS v1.03 update available on the Roland website allows for some additional patch editing without a computer, most notably sample chopping, including auto-chop.

)* There are current unresolved issues with the implementation of effects when switching patterns, but the MC-808 was "designed by specification".

Roland might refer to the end users' requests for effects that sustain past the point when the pattern switches as they are "developing a future new product".