Roland AIRA Compact P-6 Sampler/Sequencer

General

The Roland AIRA Series has just expanded with the addition of the P-6. A kind of tighter take on the SP-404, this portable sampler has a granular engine under the hood.

The Roland AIRA Compact P-6

The Roland AIRA P-6 has definitely been built for working on the fly, especially since, in terms of both the size and layout, it's not much different from your average smartphone. The underlying sampling engine features granular options, so you can grind your samples right down into smaller crumbs or granules and trigger them in an entirely different context from the original snippet, opening up a big can of sound-design potential - even despite the dimensions. This means that, while the on-board memory isn't exactly gigantic, it gives users plenty of space to get creative.

Control

It doesn't take too much time to get to know all of the ins and outs of the control panel, which includes effects so you can dip everything in a little secret sauce. An X0X sequencer is another a welcome feature, so you can create looping melodies and rhythms on location, on the spot - even on stage. With this unit, you can simply record and sample everything and anything, chop it up and go nuts.