SP-FORUMS

So looks like Roland has dipped their foot in the Korg Volca market.

Roland T8 is a 7 channel drum machine with a TB303 tossed in for that extra special acid house in a box feel. You get a mix of 606/808/909 drum sounds, but it’s not a portable TR8S or TR8. No samples to swap. So if you needed say a 707 clap or a 808 cowbell, you’re probably outta luck. That being said, you can program 32 steps for each of the 7 channels. The unit can also sync up to Korg Volcas or Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators. A few fx are included, so you can make some descent Trap or Acid House beats with this.

The J6 is like a chord machine based on the Juno synths, and has 64 preset sounds. I don’t think you really get to make sounds from scratch, and you’re limited on editing them with only 4 knobs, but, you can do tons of chord variations & appregrios for your track, finding melodies that suit your style.

And last is the E4, a mini vocal effects processor for pitch correction, vocoding, harmonies, etc. It will play along your vocal if you use it with the J6 or T8, so you can get quick results very easily.

They’re all $200 each, which to me is a great price. The midi requires the dongles if you wanted to use it with a SP, and don’t know if those are included or purchased separately.

Now a few months ago I had my heart set on a used MC909, but I’m a bit meh on the T8. I already own a Behringer TD3 & RD6 and RD9. If I got it, it’d be just to complete the collection.

The J6 is very tempting for its chords alone. A bit disappointed you are stuck with 64 presets, but they probably sound great, and you can’t get everything for $200.

The E4 I’m somewhat interested in, but I don’t sing or rap. And then I’d need to get a mic for it. But it is cool what it can do.

Anyway, here’s a link from Roland…

https://www.roland.com/global/promos/aira_compact/

https://youtu.be/ypu8hLFJm8c

Video of them in action

talking with a friend about them yesterday, we came up to a conclusion that they're tempting but maybe they lack of a mixer sync sort of thing that fit with them (who knows in the future), and that the volcas are however still cheaper than those.
other thing: with an mc-101, wich is almost the price of j6+t8 and got similar dimensions, you do lot of things more
ps
some months ago i've heard about behringer wants to jump in that market too

I think that’s why Roland was sneaky & released these first. But I’m sure these can work together with those when Behringer drops theirs. I think they’re slimmer than Volcas since they charge via USB C, so no wasting batteries if you buy these. So to take these out on a camp trip & jam for 4 hours. Possibly longer if you have a device to feed them juice. So Korg’s lacking this feature obviously.

I’m sure these will work with the SP404 mk2’s midi ports. So you could have the T8 do a 32 bar sequence, have the J6 do the chords, and then use the 404mk2 flesh out your ideas with more effects & chop loops from the devices. Very handy to bring with you anywhere you want to make music. I wouldn’t put it past Roland to make a mini SP to include with these 3.

Thanks for the heads-up on these, although for me they're unfortunately far too basic, no deep editability whatsoever. They're nowhere near as good as Korg's Volca range, not in manufacture quality, nor in ability, and I'm not a fan of the planned-obsolescence built-in battery bullshit either.

I was very interested in the J-6 Chord Synth, I've wanted to see something like that for a while, but only Roland could release a device dedicated to chords, give it only 4-voice polyphony and no way whatsoever to create your own chords - so I have no interest in that either.

Holy Fuckeroni ...

I think Roland might be one of the mega corporations that have been targeted by the Chinese 'you know what'. I cannot think of any other reason that a corporation as big as Roland would continue to make such epically bad design decisions. I'm guessing Roland will soon be selling out to a Chinese company (probably Medeli). Sony are another example of a once great mega corporation who appear to have been targeted.

This might sound ridiulous to the casual on-looker, but honestly, I could produce better products than these working from my kitchen desktop. How many of you, for example, are aware that at least two of the best synthesizers on the market right now are powered by a "Rasperry Pi Compute Module"? And how many of you are aware that the manufacturer producing these synthesizers is one of the "Big Three"?

Well let me tell you that the company doing this is Korg, and those genuinely wonderful OPSIX and WAVESTATE synths are in fact powered by a Raspberry Pi Compute Module. That's right, opening-up either of those synths will reveal a Raspberry Pi Compute Module inside and I'm guessing it's powering the MODWAVE as well. The only engineering done by Korg is the physical design and the control surface board which is just basic electronics (button and encoder interfacing design), and the software - cool eh?

But what I'm getting at is that these large corporations are no longer in a position to play the lame, dumb-ass games they play, because every time they do so, people get pissed-off and start up new companies, these are companies which later down the line will be eating into the profits of the "Big Three" when those new companies bring their non-lame competing products to market - FACT!

The fact that Korg are using the "Raspberry Pi Compute Module" in their major synth releases, should signal to everyone that these corporations are are in very real danger of going the way of the Dodo if they do not change their attitude towards the consumer. This is because they, thanks to the Rasperry Pi Compute Module and products like it, no longer have the upper hand in the matter.

I could start developing a competing product right now and so could anyone else, and it is all thanks to products like the Raspberry Pi Compute Module, and Open Source electronics design software like KiCAD etc. My apologies for being a bit ranty, but what an absolute pile of hoplessly lame, over-priced garbage those new AIRA products are!

I wish I could say something nice for once, but how can I when they keep releasing completely fucking lame, hopeless garbage like that? Seriously, I wouldn't waste a penny on any of them, and I think the only people who might enjoy them are perhaps beginners who haven't a fucking clue!

BTW, there's a new Korg Volca FM which is well worth the money. It's actually got 6-voice polyphony now which makes it a proper DX7 synth module capable of playing chords (and even has MIDI in and MIDI OUT). Lovely stuff, that's more like it, and it just goes to demonstrate what I was talking about above, because I'm guessing the only reason they released it is because the Sonicware LIVEN FM has come along and will be eating into Korg's profits.

Here's three cheers for the 'Competition', also known as the 'Lame Product Killer'.
YAY ... YAY ... YAY

Right, now where did I put that Raspberry Pi Compute Module?

The market has changed for sure. It used to be the big 3 dominated the synth market. Keyboards, rackmount synths, and a Groovebox or drum machine pretty much shut down Ensoniq, EMU, Oberheim, and some others I’m too tired to recall.

But now people prefer to use DAWS, softsynths, midi controllers, and gear keeps getting smaller & smaller. And with Eurorack, modular synths & effects make lots of different ways you can patch the synths of your dreams. And Behringer’s cloning whatever they can.

It’s fine if you won’t buy these. If you’re finding they’re garbage or just a cheap attempt to piggy back on Korg’s success with the Volca line, perhaps you’re right. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the Volcas when they dropped. But Korg doubled down on keeping them small & compact. Only midi in. No easy connection to your DAW. Not very easy to swap patches on VFM or Sample. So Roland saw ways to improve on the designs. And with Behringer trying to make their own mini synths, probably gave them a reason to not only release theirs before they did, but somehow did it with a chip shortage.

I’m glad Korg has updated some of the Volcas, but they still use 6 AA batteries, and don’t have a port that connects to your laptop or desktop. A missed opportunity if you ask me. Would it kill them to make their units a little bigger, and have more features. Yeah, but if they did, everyone would bitch. So Korg has to realize that their exclusive market is getting competition with not only Behringer but Roland as well.

The great news for us: they should all sync together. So anyone on a budget, can live with the limits, or isn’t fussed on what’s not included will buy these.

And other companies will make smaller synths as well. I don’t expect the big 3 to dominate the market like they used to, but maybe Yamaha can’t recover? Or Behringer skyrockets enough power & resources to join the big 3 and they become the big 4? No clue, but I do know gear is shrinking. So there will likely be more of these down the pipeline.

Totally hear you on the shrinking gear thing. It has to be one of the biggest problems I have with music making gear. You might recall that slight OT discussion in the 404 MKII thread about me intending to buy a Panasonic Lumix FZ330 camera.

Well guess what? ... I bought one just last week.
And guess what else? ... I had to send it back.
And guess why? ... It was too bloody small.

I'm sure the camera is as awesome as it's reputation and spec suggests, but I took it out of the box, held it in my hand and almost immediately put it back again after seeing how small it was. Didn't even bother to switch it on, no point, I think it was designed to be held by kids. Absolutely ridiculous, I really had no idea that cameras in general had gotten so small, it's been years since I visited an actual camera shop so I had to go by the photos and videos before buying (and it looks way bigger than it actually is).

So it's the same problem everywhere it seems. Music gear, cameras, pretty much everything that demads good, roomy ergonomics is being destroyed by the insane fetish the manufacturers have for making everything as small as possible. God I could rant for hours about that but I won't, needless to say, it's gotten to the point now where size has to be a major factor in what I buy.

I think where music gear is concerned, Behringer make better design decisions than any of the "Big Three" do, but even Behringer fuck-up big-time sometimes. And just a thought, but I think the term "Big Three" is no longer valid. I reckon "Big Four" is more appropriate these days since I'm guessing Behringer is bigger than the "Big Three" combined, or if not, it soon will be!

But back to the problem of everything being so mall. The problem (as usual) is largely YouTube and general social media influence. All it takes is for one popular retard reviewing gear to start saying stuff like "It's too big to fit in my crammed studio", then we get the "Sheeple Effect" where masses of others will post the same in the comments just to fit in and make it look as if they have so much gear they simply don't have the room. Then when they reap the consequences of posting such bullshit, they start whining it's too bloody small.

Corporate Speak to Reality Conversion Guide:

- "Compact" generally means "Advertised Product Has Bad Ergonomics"
- "Lightweight" generally means "Advertised Product Is Built Like Shit"
- "Built-In Battery" generally means "Advertised Product Has Built-In Planned Obsolescence"
- "Editor App Available" generally means "Advertised Product Is Crippled"

Of course there are exceptions, but in general that's it

I guess we can blame Korg for starting the trend. But I guess most devices are shrinking due to cellphones. The camera you bought & returned. They likely just can’t sell a regular film or even digital camera just like before, now that everyone owns a Android/IPhone, that means your average consumer wouldn’t buy a larger camera. So they have no choice but to shrink it.

Now not all synths benefit from a smaller package, doesn’t mean they’re the best sounding or feature packed, but it is what it is. And you get what they charge you for.

The entire world economy has been damaged by phones, and yep, the manufacture of cameras is just one of sectors that have been especially hard hit. The only way to deal with the problem is to make it illegal to sell "smart" phones and tablets.

A phone should serve nothing other than the purpose of being a phone, but with every phone manufacturer being a W.E.F member, don't expect that to happen, after all, they would never take way their own indoctrination, manupulation and spy devices - which is why we need to do it for them.

But yup, just about everything it seems is suffering from the phonomena of shrinkage, although those new drim machines from Behringer seem pretty substantial in the photos. Never actually seen one for real but they look pretty big and roomy, especially compared to the competition.