Roland E-4 overloaded by synth and drum machine (no talk)

video upload by Richard DeHove

0:00 Synth 1
1:19 Drum 1
1:42 Synth 2
4:32 Drum 2
5:29 Synth 3
7:28 Drum 3

"Roland's cheap plastic E-4 "voice tweaker" hates line level audio in. It's "allowed" only with a particular flavor of TRRS known only to Initiates of the Fifth Circle. I was shunned by this elite even after offering multiple brands and configurations of TRRS cableware. Why did Roland make it so hard? Because it's a "voice tweaker" and they know best.
So stuff that. I went line-level into the mic input and even cranked up the mic input level as well. The little 'peak' light complained bitterly for some time, then often appeared to just give up and pretend the levels were fine. Was it now broken? I neither know nor care anymore. I don't expect this cheap plastic box to last very long anyway.
Most reviews and demos of the E-4 are launch day promo vids where people gush about their corporate gift. And of course it's easy to say nice things about free stuff. But when you swap your dollar-delineated labour for plastic music boxes, your scrutiny is perhaps a little sharper.
This is a lightweight toy which, although regarded as "cheap", is still way too expensive for what it is. Under no circumstances would I rely on it live but for mucking about, and especially for cutting loops in the studio, it's excellent.
Although some of the video here is chopped and messy it does perhaps give a sense of the reality that for every 30 seconds glitchy loopy joy there's usually another 10 or 15 minutes of unseen sonic garbage that has been edited away.
SIGNAL FLOW:
With the DB-01 it goes: DB-01 mono out to the Xotic SP Compressor, from there to the BOSS RV-6 - which is off - to get two mono channels. One channel goes straight to the DAW. The other goes into the passive DI box and then into the mic input on the E-4.
With the LXR-02 it goes: Left out to the DAW; right out to the SP Compressor, then into the DI box, then into the mic input.
There is absolutely no processing in the DAW aside from centering every channel and creating a simple, roughly 50/50, wet-dry mix. The E-4 has no mix control, just a tiny volume knob.
The white patch cable coming into the E-4 is the clock from the DB-01 / LXR-02. On many settings the clock seemed a bit laggy.
The oscilloscope shows the output of the E-4 only.
Happy to answer any questions.

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