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Roland P-6

Creative Sampler By Simon Sherbourne
Published February 2025

Roland P-6

The Roland P‑6 is a pocket‑sized sampling powerhouse.

It’s easy to criticise Roland for milking their classics in multiple form factors, but when it comes to the Aira Compact range I don’t hear anyone complaining. They’re fun, affordable and ridiculously portable.

So far we’ve seen a drum and bassline machine (T‑8), mono and polysynths (S‑1 and J‑6) and a voice transformer (E‑4). It made sense that some kind of sampler should be next and the P‑6 takes its inspiration from the Roland/Boss SP range of workstations, in particular the 303/404. As with the others in the Aira Compact series, it’s designed to get quick results in its own way, rather than to simply miniaturise a vintage instrument.

Big Picture

Like the 303/404, the P‑6 parks samples in pad slots across a number of banks, in this case six pads and eight pages. True to the simplicity of the original SPs there’s no separate sample pool or library: the samples that are loaded in the pad slots are what you have to work with until they’re overwritten. Samples are triggered from the pads, though the P‑6 lacks velocity sensitivity. It does have something even the latest 404 doesn’t: dedicated step sequence buttons. This makes sense as the device is too tiny for finger drumming.

While there’s no project structure, there are 64 pattern slots which share the palette of 48 sounds in memory. And like the 404, effects play a major role. As well as reverb and delay send effects, there’s a suite of performance effects designed to be punched in and tweaked on the fly.

Like other samplers of this type, there’s a chromatic mode (called Keyboard mode) for playing a sample melodically. Incredibly, this is polyphonic, a major win over devices like the otherwise more sophisticated Digitakt. What’s more, one sample per pattern can be played using a granular engine. The P‑6 pairs really well with a MIDI keyboard. Depending on the MIDI channel you can have all 48 sounds spread across the keyboard, play the focused pad chromatically, or play the granular sampler.

Small Details

The Aira Compacts are pocket portable. They’re less than 19cm across and the plastic shell makes them ultra‑light. The tiny, low‑profile knobs are just on the right side of usable. Most importantly, the Compacts have an onboard lithium‑ion battery which is charged via USB‑C and can keep you untethered for three hours. Unlike meatier devices such as the 404 MkII and Ableton Move, any USB charger will do, not just a high‑power adaptor.

Sensibly, the connections you’d use in the studio (USB‑C port and TRS MIDI I/O) are on the back, while audio connections are on the front panel and are less pokey when the P‑6 is on your lap. A single audio out serves for either stereo line output or headphones. You can also plug in a headset with a mic and sample in via the same port. Otherwise, there’s a more conventional stereo audio input for capturing from other devices. The USB‑C also has class‑compliant stereo audio capability in both directions. Next to the audio connections are analogue sync in and out, which alongside the MIDI Clock support via the TRS or USB connections makes this a useful little box in various scenarios.

The P‑6’s back panel is home to the power switch, a USB‑C port and 3.5mm MIDI I/O sockets.The P‑6’s back panel is home to the power switch, a USB‑C port and 3.5mm MIDI I/O sockets.

Step Up

The step sequencer provides an easy route to getting things happening on the P‑6. Select a pad, tap some steps and you’re off. You can also record from the pads in real time, either quantised or freeform. Patterns can be up to 64 steps long, spanning four pages. The mod cons we’ve come to expect from hardware sequencers are mostly present: you can set trigger probability or frequency and you can print parameter automation in real time or by holding a step. There are no variable track lengths or speeds though, just the parent pattern settings.

Pressing the...

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