Roland today introduced the P-6 Creative Sampler, a device that the company says “packs renowned Roland sampling technology into a pocket-size gadget with sophisticated granular sound design options and a powerful sequencer.”
The Roland P-6 features an onboard mic, intuitive controls, a USB-C audio/MIDI interface, and a versatile selection of hands-on MFX, making the instrument a powerful and portable sampling option.
You can capture sounds using the built in mic, analog inputs, or a smartphone via USB-C. After capturing sounds, it’s easy to chop up longer samples for triggering from the onboard keyboard or combine multiple sounds with Step Sampling and resampling features. There’s also a curated selection of hands-on MFX, including Vinyl Simulator, DJFX Looper, Stopper, Lo-fi, Scatter, Phaser, Resonator, and more.
Granular sampling tools in the P-6 let you transform tiny sounds into sonic landscapes, with the ability to detune samples, adjust the grain shape, play with head position, head speed, spread, and more.
The P-6 also features deep sequencing features, including motion recording, probability, micro-timing, off-grid sequencing, and sub steps. With the Step Loop function, it’s possible to manipulate playback in real time for creative improvs and instant stutter effects.
Features:
- Pocket-size sampler
- Built-in mic for quick sample capture
- Chop function for slicing samples into segments for easy playback from the onboard keyboard
- Step Sampling to quickly create individual split samples assigned to a single pad and playable on the keyboard
- Resample internal audio to create new sounds and capture custom loops
- Trigger any sample on the keyboard using chromatic and polyphonic playback
- Dedicated filter and envelopes for each sample
- Edit samples and import/export sounds with the P-6 SampleTool software for macOS and Windows
- Extensive granular sound parameters, including detuning, head position, head speed, spread, grains, and much more
- 64-step sequencer with motion recording, probability, micro-timing, off-grid sequencing, sub steps, and more
- Customize sounds with 20 curated MFX plus dedicated delay and reverb
- Comprehensive connectivity with audio, MIDI, and sync I/O plus AIRA Link
- Class-compliant USB-C audio/MIDI interface for plug-and-play audio streaming with computers, phones, and tablets
- Lithium-ion battery with up to 3 hours of operation per charge
- Sturdy construction, high-quality controls, and rubber pads
- Connect to other AIRA Compacts and standard MIDI devices with optional BOSS TRS MIDI cables
Pricing and Availability:
The Roland AIRA Compact P-6 Creative Sampler is available now with a street price of about $220 USD.
Looks fun but is there any video of someone just jamming nicely on one of these? They all seem to be talking videos.
They are specifically made for Youtube videos and not for jamming ;;)
JK, … or am I? Not so sure… yet!
nice jam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9sQpfklVf8
Very nice indeed. Thank you, that is what I was looking for.
Kotg needs to step up their Volca game
is that all Roland is capable to poop out after all these months ?
I don’t 100 % understand this devolution movement of Roland.
In the past Roland made samplers [Example the S-series incl S-50..etc..] that could be flagged as a Studio industry devices due to their technology implementation and now they are making gadgets or toys for fast buy, throw away and move on….?
I´m not fan of that, to be honest….
Maximum time per sample: 5.9 seconds in 44.1 kHz mono or 2.95 seconds stereo
There are certain aspects to this that I like.
However, the low sample memory really bothers me. At 44.1 kHz, a maximum of 5.9 seconds of mono sampling isn’t great. Okay for beat making, not great for ambient etc.
I get it. Roland don’t want to cannibalise the sales of the 404 etc. But, still should be better.
I want to hear more demos.
i read it is 5.9s max per sample!
I’m not so sure about your statement about it being not great for ambient. the granular synthesis seems to make great sounds for ambient and extends samples much longer than the 6 second limit. it does, however, seem pretty cluttered and a bit too much menu diving on a 7-segment for me.
“Affordable” all too often means “cramped GUI” & “Just enough memory to tick you off.” This gives you many creditable sampling choices, but its like doing it through a keyhole. The sound is satisfying. I just prefer a bigger work surface. There are no doubt happy campers with six of these being fed by a controller.
I would buy a granular sampler for Fantom for $300!!!
God damnit!
I think as a portable music making device, this thing looks great. I feel it would be a good addition to my little Volca rig. I can’t wait to get one.
Roland was like lets give these people the worst sample memory possible but also enough features so it looks cool and every kid still buys it.
Thank you Roland for screwing it up once more. Bravo.
This makes the model:samples feel absolutely redundant. Quite impressive tbh
not really, samples has a lot better ui, controls and memory, and I think also a true sample-per-step function. Yes, P-6 has sampling and granular mode, but with that kind of memory limit it’s probably no fun.
Model:samples is far better instrument. The ‘granular’ engine on this is questionable beyond words, but it’s a decent and well spec’d price of kit. Also it fits with my purse in my handbag perfectly and matches my other accessories which is always a brucie bonus. Fiddly small knobs are worth it for the kool factor and may be enlarged in a future firmware update.
model samples can not sample, that’s the reason I sold it quite fast. also 6 tracks is not much… on the roland you have 6×8=48 samples for every sequence to choose from
of course polyphony can not handle playing them all at once but still thats a lot more than 6 tracks to work with.
i think the S-1 is a modern classic, and its worth having to deal with the ultra-fiddly menu with that LED
but yeh, im not sure about this one… roland has a habit of making things that come close to being extremely good but just end up being super frustrating instead because of weird limitations or whatever
i mean, if 100 kids buy it and have fun and make things, they win for me. if 100 gear collecters buy it and it gets occasionally plugged into the endless ambient-for-nowhere set well, meh. i’m getting pretty damned old and feel like drawing the next generation in is a worthy endevor, not knoking them down and denigrating their choices. Bob knows they’ll need it
I think I’ll buy it. Sounds like the love child of a Boss SP303 and a Zoom ST224, just a lot quicker and with a finer sequencer. I did not get how to switch pattern to pattern and if it would keep playing or would it skip a beat: that’s my only doubt about, and yet won’t be an absolute deal-breaker. I plan to use it for beat making and as a sketchpad. Worth saying I’m 49yo and I publish few tracks per year nowadays, don’t mind limitations when it comes to HW samplers and do I it just for fun. In my opinion it has plenty of ram: at lower sampler rates and double speed it can record waaaay longer loops. E.G.: 4bars @ 82bpm are 12.8 seconds and sampling at 44.1 kHz in mono you have 5.9 seconds per pad, sample at double speed and you’ll fit 4bar on a single pad, lower the sample rate and you can record 4bars @ 82bpm in stereo on a single pad. I don’t see how this is not enough to have fun
Not sure why people are hating. Roland noticed the tiny budget synths that Korg, Behringer and others are making and decided that they should create a line of affordable entry-level devices. Their little S-1 is brilliant, this looks interesting too.
AIRA product line exists as long if not longer than volcas, and before Roland had Boutique synths (small recreations of their big synths from the 80′ and 90′. Behringer stuff with their microscopic sizes is a joke though 😉