Not enough space to do on one pad, but split it up into octaves across a few pads. Also consider recording the sounds pitched up and then pitching them back down afterwards, that will increase sample time.
Anyway, this kind of device is not ideal for multisampled instruments, but can probably still do cool stuff if you get creative. Also, don’t forget it can play samples chromatically and polyphonically, so maybe good to see how good it sounds with one note chromatically before trying to sample a whole piano.
Yep, was just wondering… I think they may have complicated this device a little too much tbh. You can do many things in somewhat convoluted ways, which only follows the MC-101 trend. By comparison, it may shed a positive light on older things like the Circuit rhythm, which is very limited but all about the workflow. If I had a P-6 I would probably ignore all the extras and try to live with some basic stuff that is more immediate, but then if you are going to sample a CMaj7 chord directly because the song needs one, you might as well get a device that forces you into that path and is easier to figure out. A bit like the chord machine in Elektron.
Maybe the P-6 is especially good for ambient and other specific stuff, I don’t know.
Yeah, I thought that was the point. Like grabbing different parts of a record. I just thought it sewed them all together making a longer single sample out of the recordings. But it stores the samples separately within a pad. Like having a sub bank of samples.
It’s a neat idea. I dig it. It probably works with resample too. So lots of fun sound crafting at the subterranean plane. Turtle power!
yikes this is sort of confusing to me. i’ll just have to wait until it gets here so i can play with it and report out.
i’m thinking i’ll put together a little 707 kit, an 808 kit and a 909 kit and leave everything else empty and just sample off my iPhone with a USB cable.
Yeah, your sequencer just points back to the sample, so if you change your sample it changes in your pattern. Just a different workflow than some people are used to, so requires a different approach than say the Digitakt.
The positive thing is that with the step sample feature you could probably just do this on a few pads, and still have a lot of pads/banks free.
Personally, I’d almost just recommend a TR6S for those kits. I love the sound of it for the classic drum machines, but not as a general-purpose sampler. I’ve only recently embraced the idea of having a separate drum machine and sampler.
I was thinking that even if you can’t assign different sub steps to mute groups, you make one pad for your regular drum sounds you don’t care about playing over other sounds and one pad for your hats that you need in a mute group. It would be really nice if you could assign different mute groups to those steps though.
As you said, this mode will be great for having different bits off of a record assigned to each sub pad. It’s a real space saver.
part of the reason i like the compacts (s-1, p-6) is that they look good. all the full size aira stuff (even the smaller TR6S) are just ugly as sin to me. vain, i know, but there’s so much gear out there i have choices.
the old way on the 404 for example was to record a long sample full of snare hits on a pad. find one you like. set the start and end point and then resample to a separate pad. but now with step sample, or even the grid chop, i wont have play through a whole sample of snares to find the perfect one.
Def an improvement. I like this way of working. Having a palette of sounds on a pad, instead of diving into a menu.
Agreed. One other thing I noticed in that Andertons video is that each multifx corresponds to a different one of the 16 steps, so once you know your favorite ones it will be easy to just hit multifx and the step to call up vinyl sim or whatever rather than having to scroll through a menu. Roland did some clever things with this I think.
It’s more about the visual possibilities- labels, easier to update, sliders and meters, XY pad, etc. knobs and pads and buttons are nice but they need to be ergonomic too, which the compacts sacrifice for portability. Usable but not ideal.
I don’t know jack about Granular, so I don’t know how well the P6 will stack up against something like the MicroGranny 2, but there are some cool sounds in this video, almost Ennio Morricone like towards the end. It will be interesting to explore this side of things.
alright, i watched the video and my interest spiked from mildly interested/curious to full blown GAS in the half hour it took to finish it.
my dream of making actual dub techno on a tiny handheld battery powered device while i sit on the train may finally be realized.
while great for what they are, both the volca sample and k.o. ii left me sorely disappointed as far as the basic channel/maurizio/MVO department is concerned. as such, both have been relegated to boom-bap duties and i get bored making lo-fi rap beats pretty fast which means they collect dust while i plop out stuff on an ipad.
besides, the k.o. is not actually portable as it has an insanely fragile fader thingie that makes me afraid to look at it, much less throw it into a backpack without a fireproof case.
the roland p6 might just be thing!
EDIT: online order cancelled because they have it at guitar center and i’m going in the morning.
After fedex’s usual slow antics in have successfully unboxed, updated, and cleared the samples and pattern data. I’m spent.
Collecting up some drum hits to step sample into a pad or two. I’ll try a quick 16 part kit to see if it works, then I’ll go crazy on a 64 step kit.
Guessing l’ll do 2 pads on first bank with all the single hits, then maybe a couple pads of a subby 808 type bass so I can play them chromatically. I’m sure it will be bedtime after that.
Tomorrow I’ll come up with a key/scale etc (I know very little about music stuff) and try to fill the last two pads of the first bank with a step sample chain of guitar chords (will sample myself playing), and some piano VST or hardware synth pads/chord chains for the last pad.
With that first bank I should have some basics to get a little beat going. I’ll also have a better idea of the memory usage. I’ll definitely be downsampling and lofi-ing the dung out of most everything because why not.
I’m really looking forward to the sample prep/sound design outside the P6 to pre spice the samples and hits, and the step sampling into the P6.
The unit feels fine for the price, well built, the little knobs and buttons feel fine. At this time not caring what it does or doesn’t do, gotta concentrate on learning the basics.
More granular inspiration. The Roland will sound less grimy I’m sure though because it isn’t 8-bit, but still good to get the inspiration juices flowing. Best granular example I’ve found so far. Getting me exited for this thing to get here. A flavor of lofi I haven’t explored.
