Roland T-8 Aira Compact Beat Machine

Appearance:shrink wrap pristine newSuitability:PerfectQuality:OutstandingThe seller is highly recommended. Very fast shipping direct from Japan. No bubble wrap but the unit is padded well with foam inside the box

Acid beats anywhere!

This is a neat groove box. You get a selection of classic 808, 909 and 606 instruments plus a very good 303 bass line synth. Ready to go out of the box. Can be played anywhere using some headphones. Compliments existing gear with its sync in/out and midi in/out. Using the USB C to A cable (included) means it can easily be hooked up to a DAW with no drivers needed (it has audio through USB and standard audio in/outs). Plugs straight into the MX1 mixer with the Aira usb connection. If you use port number 2 on the MX1 mixer it’ll also keep the built in battery charged. Just remember to switch Aira link ‘on’ in the T8 menu for the sound and midi to work. I’ve also bought the J6 and have a TB3 connected via the MX1 mixer and they all sing together nicely. Well priced and ... MoreThis is a neat groove box. You get a selection of classic 808, 909 and 606 instruments plus a very good 303 bass line synth. Ready to go out of the box. Can be played anywhere using some headphones. Compliments existing gear with its sync in/out and midi in/out. Using the USB C to A cable (included) means it can easily be hooked up to a DAW with no drivers needed (it has audio through USB and standard audio in/outs). Plugs straight into the MX1 mixer with the Aira usb connection. If you use port number 2 on the MX1 mixer it’ll also keep the built in battery charged. Just remember to switch Aira link ‘on’ in the T8 menu for the sound and midi to work. I’ve also bought the J6 and have a TB3 connected via the MX1 mixer and they all sing together nicely. Well priced and easy to get started. Speedy delivery from PMT as always and great customer service. Recommended!

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.

Fun fun fun

I will use this for song writing and accompanying guitar and in conjunction with the J6. Both of these mini synths are fun and have a learning curve. But they are well constructed and can be connected with trs midi cables. I wish that Roland would include the owner manuals instead of downloads.

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 T-8 AIRA Compact Beat Machine

As you do, have a cupboard full of wires & a soldering iron. Little did I know the frustration that would be involved in reading a book that didn't come with the unit (some of us like ye olde paper) along with excessive ordering of patch cables.Granted, my experience thus far has been interrupted every 5 seconds by a nutty kitten, but the book out of the box could have been less "print it yourself" lazy.Difficult to work out required leads at order stage, so be prepared to get surrounded by leads you will never use, trying to find the stuff you put on the back shelf.That said, musical experience when you forget about all that & plug into a speaker, is total pleasure, minus the cowbell.I have to go now, I am all tangled up with wires.

Roland T8 review

The new Roland Aire T-8 compact Is everything you could want from a drum machine and comes in such a compact and easy to use format. Using the Roland classic 808 and 909 sounds this beat machine was very easily inserted into my live Dawless set up. Its easy to use and program the step sequencer making new drum patterns on the go very easy. For recording its as simple as connecting via USB and it has a 5 hour battery life for playing live shows. I am very happy and impressed by this product and would highly recommend for anyone that needs a cheap and easy to use drum manchine.

Tiny, fun, and immediate

I can of course make better rhythm tracks on my DAW (Ableton), but this just brings me immediate joy. I sometimes twiddle mindlessly with this (hooked up to the S-1 and the J-6) on the side as I'm working at my regular desk job.One noteworthy feature that brings this up to 5 starts for me: The patterns only retain the rhythm (for drums) and note (for bass track) information, NOT any of the sound settings (such as bass filter cutoff or resonance). This means that I can switch patterns for rhythmic variety while keeping the same overall sound of the mix. I only wish the other AIRAs did the same... (or at least, had two independent sets of preset banks – one for sequences and the other for sound settings).On the downside, diving into the unnecessarily cryptic menus ... MoreI can of course make better rhythm tracks on my DAW (Ableton), but this just brings me immediate joy. I sometimes twiddle mindlessly with this (hooked up to the S-1 and the J-6) on the side as I'm working at my regular desk job.One noteworthy feature that brings this up to 5 starts for me: The patterns only retain the rhythm (for drums) and note (for bass track) information, NOT any of the sound settings (such as bass filter cutoff or resonance). This means that I can switch patterns for rhythmic variety while keeping the same overall sound of the mix. I only wish the other AIRAs did the same... (or at least, had two independent sets of preset banks – one for sequences and the other for sound settings).On the downside, diving into the unnecessarily cryptic menus is required for advanced settings, but that's an unfortunate given for the AIRA series. I mostly avoid the menus in practice.

Worth it just for the 303 emulation

These little Aira compacts are kind of amazing, especially the S-1 and the T-8. The drum sounds in this one are good, but there's very little you can change about them.The 303 emulation is fantastic though, and you have all the controls you'd get on an old-school 303 (but with a much better sequencer). You can even just use it as a sound module thanks to USB MIDI and audio, just be aware that there's no MIDI control over the 303's parameters (only notes). Still, totally worth it for the hands-on control and sound.