MATRIXSYNTH: ROLAND TR-8S Demos


Saturday, March 17, 2018

ROLAND TR-8S Demos


Published on Mar 17, 2018 Sunshine Jones

Playlist:

1. ROLAND TR-8S BASIC KIT DEMOS
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First let me say that there is a lot going on under the hood here on the Roland AIRA TR-8S. There are many kits, and many ways to include sounds, add effects, samples and more.

My general approach is to answer my most fundamental questions - how does it sound, how does it work, can I make use of it, and does it delight me? - before I dig down too deep.
This is a set of clips featuring the most basic kits and effects to let you see and hear what the @rolandaira TR-8S sounds like fundamentally.

1. TR-909
2. TR-808
3. TR-707
4. TR-727
5. TR-606

There is also a TR-626 kit which is great 80's fun, and many more sounds.

Next I'm going to explore adding my own samples and try to apply a sample loop as well.

2. Roland TR-8S Sampling Experiments
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Late into the night last night I explored the idea of importing my own collection of samples into the Roland AIRA TR-8S. Much of the exploration was in headphones and I couldn't wait for the sun to come up so I could listen and document the experiments for us to dig together.

1. A loop of my darling Geraldine Hunt with a -12db filter, accompanied by internal 909 sounds.

2. 100% Roger Linn samples taken by me from my old Linn Drum, sequenced and tuned to make your Camero go faster and match your tri-level nylon jacked.

3. The SP-1200 Congas translated from floppy to WAV files, and loaded into the TR-8S with reverb and a kick added.

I still have some functional questions (like how to assign things like kick attack to the CTRL knob, can one step edit the motion recordings, and other basic stuff...) as well as a real desire for some kind of time/pitch compression and expansion.

Perhaps that could be solved with using slices of a loop, or perhaps the inclusion of a particular file format with beat markers - I don't know - but tempo based samples will not automatically sync. They must be either worked out to a tempo ahead of time, or pitched to be in sync on the TR-8S. However you work it out, one is then working at a fixed tempo (provided pitch is essential) and that can be tricky live. In any given performance I may play at 110 if the audience is forward thinking and with me, but in more ordinary and adverse circumstances I will be forced to play the same material at 122-125 depending on how hostile they are. That's a huge leap in tempo, and getting that perfect on the fly can be tough.

But I'm undaunted, deeply inspired, and I'm going to dig in deeper still and answer my questions and come up with workarounds.

It's only been about a day, but I already just LOVE this thing and can barely remember not having it around.

3. ROLAND TR-8S LOOP SYNCOPATION EXAMPLES
ROLAND TR-8S LOOP SYNCOPATION EXAMPLES
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I talked about the fact that the Roland AIRA TR-8S doesn't have any time compression/expansion for loops, and here are three examples of ways to work with time based loops:

1. PITCH
The whole loop is imported into one instrument and pitch is adjusted to accommodate timing between 105 bpm and 125 bpm
This technique works great as the old school use of loops. Sometimes a loop gets really interesting when you slow it way down, or speed it way up. But for pitch crucial loops this isn't practical at all. For example in a live performance if you really must play faster or slower, this means your looped material will end up being pitched higher or lower, and if it's meant to play with other instruments the whole composition will be out of whack and potentially sound a tonal, or just wrong (or wonderful!)

2. FOUR SLICES (the one-and technique)
The same loop is chopped into 4 parts. Every beat is trimmed (import the sample loop 4 times and edit each one) and then placed on 4 instruments and the beats are programmed in sequence across the grid.
This allows for tempo adjustment between 125 bpm and 117 bpm without adjusting the pitch.

NOTE: It sounds better as you go faster, than it does as you go slower, so it would be best to begin with a slower loop than you need, so that as you increase tempo the timing feels better, and it sounds tighter than if you had to slow way down.

3. EIGHT SLICES
The same loop is cut into 8 parts and placed into 8 instruments. The decay of each slice is cut in half, and the tempo may be adjusted between 105 bpm and 140 bpm without adjusting the pitch one bit.
NOTE: There's no reason we have to use a unique kick and snare for this size of slice, so this could be done with fewer slices, and using up fewer instruments.

TIP:
When using a uniform grid solution, you can do some pretty interesting things. For example - chop up 4 different loops at the same grid (8) and then use program changes to switch between kits for crazy, far out glitch beats, or dynamic pattern changes at random. It's pretty sick.

Conclusion:
It seems there are many ways to accomplish timing without feeling that the device truly needs to import ReCycle files, or contain a time compression/expansion feature. But it does take us away from the device, and ask us to think it through before we get to it.

I grabbed this loop for fun and explored it on the device itself, without going back to the computer or another device for additional editing. It all happened right here in the TR-8S with a single loop. Naturally this would have gone faster, and possibly been a better result if I'd done the editing on the computer, but I am really not taking my inspiration from computers anymore, and want to work with the device I'm working with when I'm working with it. So taking the slow road, and doing it "stupid" style is all right with me, and seems to produce worthy results I can get behind.

Hope this helps with your adventures.

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