Fun, affordable, pocket-size instruments
Roland have announced a new mini range – ‘AIRA Compact’.
This new line is a series of portable, battery-powered instruments which are smaller & cheaper than the boutique series but pack a huge amount of functionality & power.
Overview
AIRA Compact puts Roland’s legendary creative magic in the palm of your hand. Jam, perform, and develop ideas anywhere with genre-defining sounds. Chain AIRA Compact instruments together to extend your palette—or connect with MIDI gear, computers, and music apps to expand your existing rig. Fun, affordable, and easy to learn, AIRA Compact brings serious musical power to creators on the move
T-8 Beat Machine
First out the box, is the T-8 which looks like the easiest out of the three: It is a six-track drum machine that combines the iconic sounds from the TR-808, TR-909 and TR-606.
You also get the bass part of the TB-303 with a sequencer – this runs up to 32 steps featuring a step loop, pattern shift and probability enabling you to add variation to your grooves.
J-6 Chord Synthesizer
Next up – The J-6 Chord Synthesizer which blends the JUNO-60 synth with a chord sequencer.
100 chord sets are also included enabling users to trigger cords and create progressions using the built-in keyboard.
E-4 Voice Tweaker
Finally, I come to the E-4 Voice Tweaker, a cool little box if you are into vocal effects.
There are pitch and format sliders available to mess around with to change the sound along with a huge knob dial for the scatter function to slice & dice your audio.
All three are out now to buy, priced around €200 // £170.
For any further info, head over to Roland.
Read next: Korg release new version of Volca FM synth
