If this is gonna be the case it would probably swing it for me. More so thinking hooking it up to my phone on the go and being able to sample from YouTube/streaming apps/projects on Drambo/Koala/etc./iCloud folders with stuff from my main rig. I feel like it’s likely that this will work, just haven’t seen anything to confirm.
Was doing really well at ignoring this because I’ve already got a 404mkii and an iPad/phone, looks like it’d be quite difficult in some ways with menu diving and the display … but damn the more I look at it, the more it just seems like the perfect device to throw in my bag and do quick sampling / sample mangling / jams on the go.
It’s a shame that chop mode doesn’t allow start and end time tweaks, but I think there might be a work around.
You could use the technique in the video to do the chopping manually onto separate pads, then I think you can resample in chop mode (not sure it’s called this) to move all those samples from individual pads into chops on a single pad.
I don’t have the P-6 to confirm, but piecing together what I’ve seen in a couple of vids I think this should be possible.
The only factor I’m worried about is that there is one USB setting on the MKII that you need to change to avoid feedback from the DAW (“Mix In”) if you want to do the Marlow Digs style workflow of sampling from and back into the DAW. I didn’t see that setting in the P6 manual, but it could be on by default. For smartphone sampling, I imagine it will work just the same, so you should be good!
While max sample time per sample isn’t gonna be an issue for me for most stuff, for longer stuff this machine will basically force the pitch up and back down method using the lowest sample rate, so definitely gonna have to go more old school on this for certain things.
I’m sure I’m in the minority, but I’m also not all that fussed with the chop edit stuff. On a machine like this, I think there will inevitably be some types of material that you’ll need to prep elsewhere for sanity’s sake. I’ve done that plenty on other machines, and stuff like pitching with a turntable is part of sampling from the start. These days you have millions of options for that. I noticed in the Dibiase video that he chopped something on the SP and then sampled the individual parts in chain mode. The sample chain per pad actually looks pretty amazing on this from what I’ve seen in videos. I wonder if the normalizing process trims off excess space at the end of each sample?
While I know there are a lot of purists that want everything done in one single device, I’m more about finding quick, painless workflows and workarounds, and focusing on making music. A little prep work and planning goes a long way, and then you can focus on doing the more fun stuff. It’s just gonna be a matter of figuring out what is doable and what is just too painful on the machine and then finding the easiest workaround/workflow.
I never was an SP202 or SP303 person, but I believe I heard a lot of people live recorded their performances into multitracks or DAWs on those machines because the sequencers were so limited. Is that right?
Also, since I already have an SP404mkii, the appeal of this machine for me is in what it can do that that can’t. The lofi sampling modes, the more synthesis type sampling, the microphone, true XOX style sampling etc.
Back in the day, with the 202 and 303, I would just make the whole beat in the box and record out a two-track to cassette or a digital mixer.
Nowadays, I track out the individual parts into a daw for more control/ further arranging. Of course you could do it that way too, back then. Just depends on your process. There are no rules.
With regards to the using the p-6 as an fx processor, there are ways to avoid getting a feedback loop. Depends on how you set-up the routing/monitoring in your daw of choice.
I don’t have a p-6 to mess with the usb audio situation, but I don’t see why it cant be done with some trickery.
Yeah, definitely. Nostalgia might be my favorite dopamine trigger.
I’ve watched a bunch of YouTube videos in the last few days of people making beats on old machines. I didn’t realize that there are people still making beats on a lot of these old samplers, like the MS-1.
For some reason the simple screen on this even triggers a bit of nostalgia and transports me back to the pre-internet days of watching Voltron on TV as a kid. Looking at the manual and having used the S-1, I don’t think the screen is going to be that much of problem, honestly. The button combos look pretty easy to remember for the most part, especially with the labeling on the panel.
Because the sequencers are so similar and the knobs on the S-1 also control some of the granular functions, it looks like that might be the perfect device to pair with it for bass lines. The no mixer design of these is great and getting to apply effects to the mix with P6 is like a cherry on top.
Watched the nonjuror video, tapped out when he got to the microtiming bit and was having to hold a step, tap the ‘granular’ button five times and then turn the knob, for each individual step adjustment. Roland UI design is truly unparalleled.
Years of menu dive jamming on the Electrobe2’s has allowed me to evolve a sixth finger one each hand, these shortcuts will be of little hardship for me.
To adjust trigs per step, you hold the step you want to edit and hit the granular button, then you can adjust things like velocity, microtiming, probability, etc. You select those with the dial and enter button. Nothing too outrageous. Pretty logical. (I just thought of a good way to remember it. If you want to make granular edits to the steps hit the granular button).
FYI, the per step editing is exactly the same on the S-1. The button isn’t called Granular on that one, but it’s the same button, so the machines in this line use a common workflow, which is nice if you own the S-1 and the P6.
The SP404MKII has a lot to remember but the P6 looks pretty simple in comparison. The device is pretty well labeled and the manual is a quick read as well.
I’ll answer my own question. I just tried it out on the S-1 and surprisingly you can reload either the sequence or pattern while the sequencer is running, and the cool thing is that when you are in menu mode it stays on whatever screen you are on until you exit, which means you can twist knobs until your heart’s content and hit reload and it instantly reverts at the push of a button. Basically means it’s easy to revert quickly without any tricky button combos, like you can do on the Digitakt. Cool performance trick.
Also, if you exit menu mode, the next time you enter it, it is already queued up to the last thing you did on that menu, so it’s easy to exit menu mode to add trigs to the sequencer and then quickly get back into menu mode to do the reload trick to quickly revert to the old pattern.
The knobs are small of course so not exactly the best performance sampler. I haven’t looked too deeply at midi CC, but maybe you could midi up something with bigger knobs like a BeatStep if you wanted perform on this thing.
This seems like a really great instrument, but all the menu diving would ruin the fun for me, I guess. I’m not in the market for another sampler, but if Roland had designed it like a sp-303 mkll, meaning a proper OLED display, proper knobs, and velocity sensitive pads, maybe an sd-card slot for swapping between projects, this would have been an instant classic. I’d have put down 300€ for that. But maybe that would have made it too close to the sp-404 mkll?
I guess what I’d want is all the functionality of the p-6 with a straight forward UI that’s based around the design of the sp-303 with some more knobs, an OLED display and 16 step sequencer buttons.
