Roland P-6 Aira Compact Creative Sampler

A great fun sampler which is quite powerful once you get into it. Quirky operation due to the small screen but at this price you can’t have it all. It nestles in well amongst the budget “knock out some beats” samplers

Beats on the bus!

Awesome little bit of kit and actually even smaller than I expected! - don't let the box fool you! But of a learning curve but i watch instruction videos on the bus then grab it out of my coat pocket and go for it. Get some good wired headphones and maybe a usb battery pack, and those commutes just fly by.

Buy, Try and then u´ll Fly

Fantastic machine and if you know Roland machines you´ll be able to jam away without any manual.Don´t expect it to be an all alone machine but it´s a fine team player. To the kidz: I suggest you use midi instead of sync out as midi will give you start and stop control over the t-8. This one´s so good I would buy the S1 aswell but first things first. But this one´s a keeper. Bravo Roland! I labsolutely love it! 5 stars and cheers to musicstore for the good price and fast delivery.

I didn't like it.

There was no quick start guide in the box.Black buttons with the gray writing were hard to read, had to use a flashlight.There's so much going on, that little screen is not enough, too many codes to remember.It's not easy to use like the other Aira mini machines.It does sound good.

Just getting started! #sweepstakes

This is a sampling machine that has a learning process. I am learning the unit slowly as I am wanting to use it with the J6 and the E4 units along with my guitar to create my music. For me it's part of the fun. The presets are pretty good and there are menus and submenus to get into...... just need to spend the time to indulge in it.

Mini Acid techno machine

It's a few drum sounds and an emulated 303 so it's essentially built to be a mini Acid machine. It does the job very well. Intuitive and easy to use. Lots of tweaking can be done on the 303 to get pretty much any classic acid sound you're after. The overdrive is very good and tuneable but surprised there is no simple hi lo eq cut I see in the menus of my other Roland gear which allows you to remove unwanted frequencies easily to better shape the sound for live play. Sure you could record only the bassline into a daw and eq it there but that's out of the question for live play and something I shouldn't have to do. The same drum sounds do become boring quickly, particularly the hats which are not 909 like I'd prefer. It does strike me a bit odd that there are only a ... MoreIt's a few drum sounds and an emulated 303 so it's essentially built to be a mini Acid machine. It does the job very well. Intuitive and easy to use. Lots of tweaking can be done on the 303 to get pretty much any classic acid sound you're after. The overdrive is very good and tuneable but surprised there is no simple hi lo eq cut I see in the menus of my other Roland gear which allows you to remove unwanted frequencies easily to better shape the sound for live play. Sure you could record only the bassline into a daw and eq it there but that's out of the question for live play and something I shouldn't have to do. The same drum sounds do become boring quickly, particularly the hats which are not 909 like I'd prefer. It does strike me a bit odd that there are only a few drum sounds when Roland are famous for many. personally I would have preferred all 909 sounds if it had to come down to memory limitations instead of a mix. Hopefully in an update there will be a few more to keep the unit fresh and less of a gimmick.

Review of Roland P-6 AIRA Compact Creative Sampler Sound Module

Roland P6 is a versatile sampler that provokes creativity. One limitation is the 2.99 second stereo sample time (per pad) so longer samples only possible in mono or at reduced bit rates. The chop function is useful, with a hope its features will be expanded in future firmware updates. Initially a steep learning curve as many functions require a knowledge of shift key menus, but after a week of solid use the interface becomes quite intuitive. The possibilities to make music are exciting, with numerous ways to manipulate the samples, including a granular mode which can forge textured pad sounds out of any source sample.A great companion sampler with the SP404.

Worthy addition to the AIRA line

If you can master Roland's extensive menu diaving requirements for devices like the AIRAs, you can do a whole lot with them. The manual is very good, but as more videos come out, I will likely find an easier pathway watching someone demonstrate faetures on video, as opposed to working things out strictly using the manual.