WORLD OF MUSIC ; PORTABLE KEYBOARD - Latest Portable Music Keyboards, Synthesizers and Music News

Roland recently introduced the P-6 Creative Sampler, a device that they say “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.

Here’s a roundup of early reviews for the Roland P-6, starting with the Loopop review, video above. As ever, host Ziv Eliraz offers an in-depth overview of the device, plenty of audio examples and shares his take on the device’s pros and cons. “I don’t think that there’s anything that comes close in terms of the feature set for the price,” notes Eliraz. He’s not so wowed by the device’s display, though.

Enrique Martinez (aka Ricky Tinez) calls it “a really cool device for the price”, but doesn’t love the screen and the feel of the buttons:

Topics covered:

00:00 I fell for it

00:45 This is definitely a “Roland” product haha

01:10 Drum Programming

02:55 Why is Copy Paste this many steps?

04:19 Sampling the 3rd Wave Synthesizer

04:46 Quick word on the sampling options AND the editor!

05:52 Laying down the Chord Sample

06:57 Editing Steps this way kinda sucks

08:09 Hawkeye is my coproducer

08:36 Bassline Time!

09:32 The Filter Env Depth. Am I alone in thinking this?

10:36 The Step Editor confused the hell out of me BUT it’s pretty dope and makes sense!

12:25 Poly mode is SUPER dope for something simple like this.

12:58 THESE DAMN QUANTIZE SETTINGS WTF

14:43 Messing with some MultiFX

15:49 Sampling with the Mic!

16:20 I HAVE to be doing this wrong… right?

18:40 Lining up the Shaker with Pitch

19:08 Awesome Probability settings

20:37 What the hell happened to my kick?

21:25 The BUSes are cool but slightly a letdown

23:25 My Final Thoughts on the Roland P-6

In his review, Jorb describes the P-6 as “basically a modern, pocket-sized SP-303”:

Finally, David Hilowitz shares his take, which features a great look at sampling with the P-6:

Hilowitz calls the P-6 “A fantastic sampling groovebox” for the price.

What do you think about the new Roland P-6? Watch the videos and share your thoughts on Roland’s new pocket-sampler in the comments!

In this video, synthesist and sound designer Hazel Mills demonstrates how to make evolving sounds using the UDO Super 8 synthesizer.

Mills covers the modulation options that are available on the Super 8, digs into the details of sound design, demonstrates how to make multi-layer patches and then plays examples of her patches.

Topics covered:

0:00 – Intro

01:19 – Overview: Main Components

02:39 – Perf 1: Lower Layer Breakdown

04:10 – Perf 1: Upper Layer Breakdown

07:23 – Perf 1: Demo

08:49 – Perf 2: Demo

09:37 – Perf 2: Lower Layer Breakdown

11:25 – Perf 2: Upper Layer Breakdown

12:43 – More Sounds: Improvisations

16:12 – Outro

Nervous Squirrel let us know that they have introduced a new Eurorack module, the Turmoil Trigger Disrupter.

The Turmoil module features trigger delay, skip and ratcheting features in a compact Eurorack module. The module is useful for adding controlled unpredictability to any source of triggers.

Key Features:

• Clock Deflect – this lets you shift triggers forward or backwards from where they would have otherwise occured.
• Clock Skip – this lets you set the probability of a trigger being passed through.
• Bursts – you can set the number of times a trigger is repeated (from 1 to 8) to create ‘ratcheting’ style

A quad version is also available, the Turbulence.

The modules are available now with the following pricing:

• Turmoil – £180
• Turbulence – £480