Roland AIRA Compact T-8 J-6 E-4, S1 and bears - oh my!

[fastlanestranger]

Ugh. I'm so lazy. I should have kept my stupid mouth shut. But actually going to give this a shot. Thoughts and prayers pls.

I'm starting to worry that you might be my spirit animal. Can relate.

Haha

I started to look at it but... there's LOTS of stuff. Not sure how helpful a cheat sheet would be that's 20 pages long. Still, might try to suss out the actual shortcut stuff.

[Kattefjaes]

Yeah, with apologies to Pascal, condensing it is actually the hard part that takes time.

[fastlanestranger]

Yeah, with apologies to Pascal, condensing it is actually the hard part that takes time.

Ah...I see a problem here.

[Kattefjaes]

Yeah, with apologies to Pascal, condensing it is actually the hard part that takes time.

Ah...I see a problem here.

You're more of a C man?

[Kattefjaes]

Ok, well, I recieved my S-1 today. Initial response- it sounds really nice. Sure, you need pixie hands to tweak it in realtime, but it sounds huge. I don't have an SH-101 handy to compare (more's the pity), but it feels like the polyphony makes it into its own animal anyway. Really pleasantly surprised.

I think I have a few of those coloured caps from Thonk left over in my box of Euro bits, I'll have to see if they are worth the effort on here.

Really nice little machine though, it's a proper synth in the clothes of a toy. This might be one of those rare "modern Roland accidentally makes something really cool without really irritating arbitrary limitations" moments.

[fastlanestranger]

Ok, well, I recieved my S-1 today. Initial response- it sounds really nice. Sure, you need pixie hands to tweak it in realtime, but it sounds huge. I don't have an SH-101 handy to compare (more's the pity), but it feels like the polyphony makes it into its own animal anyway. Really pleasantly surprised.

I think I have a few of those coloured caps from Thonk left over in my box of Euro bits, I'll have to see if they are worth the effort on here.

Really nice little machine though, it's a proper synth in the clothes of a toy. This might be one of those rare "modern Roland accidentally makes something really cool without really irritating arbitrary limitations" moments.

Someone's definitely getting fired over this.

[Kattefjaes]

Yeah, it does feel like a bit of an oversight.

Incidentally, Thonk's tall trimmer toppers work fine. I had some spare in my box of Euro misc, and plopped one on the MOST IMPORTANT knob. Fits nicely, and makes it a bit easier to wiggle:

cutoff.jpg

...so I'll be grabbing a bunch more of those in appropriate colours soon.

[IR]

I was mildly interested in the T-8, but the drum sounds seem really limited. I mean, they sound good, but it's more like a 606 with a beefier bass drum, and the potentiometer shafts would just annoy me. That new one is even worse. Not a fan of the MFB style button combinations either.

I just pulled out my Volca Bass, and it's a great 303 type synth. The one measure sequencer is annoying if you don't want to do acid, but the extra features like the attack and LFO are great for acid, even if they weren't on the 303. Also noticed how much I hate the lack of knobs on the envelope and I need to order some.

The Voice Transformer one is kind of interesting, but I don't know how much use I would get out of it.

[Kattefjaes]

Heads up for S-1 users. Mine shipped with 1.01, there's a 1.02 with some bug fixes and extra features now:

https://www.roland.com/uk/support/by_pr ... s_drivers/

[euromorcego]

I was mildly interested in the T-8, but the drum sounds seem really limited. I mean, they sound good, but it's more like a 606 with a beefier bass drum ...

you say it as if it is a bad thing ....

Imho the T-8 is the best of the bunch (if you like acid), a micro groovebox that is very portable and sounds good (very good 303 emulation). You can basically leave it in living room ...

The others are nice, but for "small synths" there are more option on the market, and for a polysynth, I am not too keen on the trimmer pots.

[IR]

I was mildly interested in the T-8, but the drum sounds seem really limited. I mean, they sound good, but it's more like a 606 with a beefier bass drum ...

you say it as if it is a bad thing ....

I want claves and cowbell, maybe a hiQ sound as well.

Really I'd be more into the MC-101.

[Kattefjaes]

Thonk "Tall Trimmer Toppers" fit nicely on the S-1 and make it slightly more pleasant to use. I had been waiting for a few more to arrive so I could match the rings around the pots on the panel:

s1-knobs.jpg

Honestly, it's far more wiggle-able than I'd been expecting. It's actually a decent-sounding little synthesizer without too many bizarre arbitrary limitations- still wondering how that one got through.