{"id":1010173,"date":"2022-05-10T03:00:20","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T07:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1010173"},"modified":"2022-05-10T03:00:20","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T07:00:20","slug":"rolands-199-aira-compact-series-are-a-serious-play-for-entry-the-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1010173","title":{"rendered":"Roland's $199 Aira Compact series are a serious play for entry the level"},"content":{"rendered":"

It might seem hard to believe, but until now Roland hasn\u2019t had a true competitor to Korg\u2019s<\/a> seemingly ubiquitous Volca<\/a> line. Sure, the Boutique<\/a> range is portable and battery powered, but they\u2019re also twice the price of a Volca. And that\u2019s without the keyboard accessory. Now, though, the company finally seems to be taking the entry level seriously with the Aira Compact series.<\/p>\n

These new $199 instruments borrow tech from their big siblings in the Aira line, like the VT-4 Voice Transformer and the TR-8 Rhythm Performer. The T-8 is a drum machine that uses Roland\u2019s Analog Circuit Behavior<\/a> (ACB) to recreate sounds from the 808 and 909, and the J-6 Chord Synth does the same, but for the Juno-6. While there\u2019s certainly nothing wrong with having more portable budget synths and drum machines, it\u2019s the E-4 Voice Tweaker that really stands out. It brings pitch correction, a harmonizer, vocoding, plus pitch and formant shifting and a looper to the world of mobile music hardware.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Roland
\n
Terrence O’Brien \/ Engadget<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Before we get too far into specifics, though, let\u2019s go over what all three have in common. They\u2019re all quite tiny, for one. While they\u2019re only slightly smaller than a Volca, the cumulative effect is obvious. On the back are \u215b\u201d MIDI in and out jacks, as well as a USB-C port that\u2019s used for charging the internal lithium ion battery, but can also handle MIDI and audio over USB. Across the top are \u215b\u201d sync in and out jacks, as well as mix in and out jacks, which allow you to daisy-chain multiple devices together.<\/p>\n

The ability to connect all three Aira Compacts, without the need for an external mixer, is undeniably huge. When you\u2019re trying to craft a portable music making setup the less gear and cables, the better.<\/p>\n

T-8<\/h2>\n
\"Roland
\n
Terrence O’Brien \/ Engadget<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The T-8 is definitely the most straightforward of the three, and probably the most immediately usable. While it has more advanced features, anyone who\u2019s ever used a step sequencer before should immediately be able to start putting together basic beats. While I guess I should be thankful that you get 32 steps instead of a measly 16, it doesn\u2019t feel like it would strain the hardware terribly to go for a full four bars.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, there are some tools at your disposal to switch things up. There is a fill mode, plus step looping for creating instant custom fills by just holding down a few buttons. There\u2019s also per-step and master probability options for introducing a touch of unpredictability, plus substeps, send effects, accent and velocity parameters. In some ways, it\u2019s a more capable sequencer than you\u2019d find on a Volca Beats. That said, Korg has automation in the form of Motion Sequencing, which the Aira Compacts lack.<\/p>\n

\"Roland<\/section>\n

The sounds aren\u2019t particularly flexible without a lot of menu diving, though. From the front panel you can change the tuning and decay of the kick and snare \u2013 just the tuning of the clap and tom, and just the decay of the open and closed hihat. If you have a preference for a 707 kick and snare, tough. You get what Roland gives you, which is a mix of sounds from the TR-808<\/a>, 909 and 606.<\/p>\n

You can add overdrive, or switch the bass synth from saw wave to square wave, or swap out the clap for a second tom if you feel like slogging through the T-8\u2019s somewhat arcane menu. But without a manual handy the cryptic eight-segment LED screen is difficult to decipher.<\/p>\n

At least things like probability, velocity and effects are easy to manage. A lot of parameters require using the shift function, but it\u2019s hardly the end of the world.<\/p>\n

The bass synth is a nice addition. It\u2019s based on the TB-303 and can handle acid basslines with relative ease. Again, there\u2019s not a ton of versatility there. It does what it does, and don\u2019t expect much more. I do wish that you could use the synth\u2019s filter as another send effect, though. It would be nice to route the entire drum pattern through it for buildups and breakdowns.<\/p>\n

J-6<\/h2>\n
\"Roland
\n
Terrence O’Brien \/ Engadget<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The J-6 is a somewhat more confounding beast. It\u2019s a four-voice synth, based on the Juno-6<\/a>. You can play the keyboard normally, but the rubber keys aren\u2019t exactly great for playing in realtime. Instead you\u2019re meant to use it in chord mode, where each key automatically plays a chord. You can switch between 100 different sets (confusingly labeled \u201cgenre\u201d on the actual device), each of which contains 12 chords. And, in addition to just punching in the chord progressions manually, there are nine different \u201cstyles\u201d with 12 variations each for playing arpeggios and rhythmic chord stabs.<\/p>\n

This is great for quickly knocking out something that sounds pretty decent on its own, but I\u2019d be lying if I said I had any idea what was going on. What chords are in what sets? Is there any logic to which variations are lumped together?<\/p>\n

The J-6 is also bound to disappoint anyone who wants to design their own synth sounds. There are 64 presets and, if there is a way to design a patch from the ground up I haven\u2019t found it yet. The only controls you have over the synth engine itself from the front panel are filter cutoff and filter release. If you press shift those knobs control the resonance and attack of the filter.<\/p>\n

Honestly, though, that\u2019s fine. All 64 sounds here are pretty solid, even if a few of them are a little samey sounding. On something this small, with so few hands-on controls, I\u2019d rather Roland just give me a small excellent palette to work with than force me to spend three hours menu diving.<\/p>\n

E-4<\/h2>\n
\"Roland<\/section>\n

Lastly there\u2019s the E-4. It is an absolute blast. Full stop. It\u2019s not that it doesn\u2019t have flaws, it\u2019s just that frankly they don\u2019t matter much. Do I wish Roland had gone with an XLR input as opposed to a \u00bc\u201d? Of course I do. Would phantom power have been a nice touch? Sure. But damn it, every time I fire this thing up I have trouble putting it down. The combination of auto pitch correction (you know, the generic version of AutoTune) and synthetic harmonies turn anyone into instant Bon Iver. And if you\u2019d rather get your funk on, there\u2019s a solid sounding vocoder with more waveforms than I can count.<\/p>\n

You can also enable all the effects simultaneously, so you can auto pitch your vocals, generate harmonies, and then feed your newly chorded voice through the vocoder to create a choir of robots. Then slap on some reverb, delay or chorus to add even more depth, and start turning the Scatter knob to glitch yourself out in realtime. And yes the vocoder will follow the pitch of auto correct if you use it, or you can control it via MIDI keyboard.<\/p>\n

\"Roland
\n
Terrence O’Brien \/ Engadget<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

There is also a 24-second looper with the ability to overdub, so if you don\u2019t like the preset harmonies, you can record your own backup vocals. Just remember to set your preferred effects first because pitch, harmony and vocoder are applied before recording. You can still use the reverb and Scatter to mangle your loop after the fact, though. Oh, and yeah, the E-4 has Scatter. It\u2019s still not great, but it does work better on vocals than it does drum patterns.<\/p>\n

Wrapup<\/h2>\n

\n

\"Roland
\n
Terrence O’Brien \/ Engadget<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Roland is bringing some serious firepower to the world of tiny, dirt-cheap music gear. It\u2019s borrowing features and tech from its more expensive instruments that start<\/em> at $400<\/a>, and bringing it down to almost impulse purchase levels. In fact, there\u2019s a very good chance I\u2019m gonna go out and buy that E-4 Vocal Tweaker real soon. The sub-$300 range is increasingly important for synth makers, and Roland\u2019s first salvos shouldn\u2019t be dismissed as the company merely playing catch up.<\/p>\n


\n
\nSource: Engadget – Roland’s 9 Aira Compact series are a serious play for entry the level<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It might seem hard to believe, but until now Roland hasn\u2019t had a true competitor to Korg\u2019s seemingly ubiquitous Volca line. Sure, the Boutique range is portable and battery powered, but they\u2019re also twice the price of a Volca. And … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,110],"tags":[98],"class_list":["post-1010173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engadget","category-unfiltered-rss","tag-engadget"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1010173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1010173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1010173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1010173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1010173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1010173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}