Robust 🦸‍♂️ (Roland TR6S Rhythm Performer // S1 Tweak Synth // J6 Chord Synth) Synthwave

video upload by 2-Minute Warning

"In the wake of my previous video, here's a synthwave-like jam featuring the same 3 little boxes from Roland: the TR-6S (Drums), the S-1 (Bass) and the J-6 (Arp/Chords) 😉

The track starts with a drum pattern from the TR-6S where I only used the TR-707 Analog Circuit Behavior engine (I.E. no static 707 samples), modeling the quirks and instabilities of the analog envelope and amplifier stages that came after the D/A converter 🤩 (the TR-707 was PCM based, but still had some randomness thanks to the analog part after the D/A converter).

I also used the DRIVE master effect of the TR-6S to add some dirt and energy (the DRIVE somehow also act like a compressor).

I recorded 3 DRUM patterns (2 main parts and 1 break) but as I used the probability, sub probability, parameter-lock features etc. the drum patterns seem to be longer than 1 bar!

Then come the BASS (played by the S-1, I recorded 4 patterns which are 4-bar long for this) and the ARP/CHORDS played by the J-6 (I decided not to sequence this instrument as I wanted to trigger it live and bring some organic fluctuations to the track 😊).

For the sync part, the TR-6S is sending MIDI to the S-1, and the S-1 is sending analog clock to the J-6 (there was no need to start the J-6's sequencer as the ARP/CHORDS were triggered in real-time)."