Roland TR-6S 'battery powered' Roland ACB TR style Drum Machine

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Roland TR-6S 'battery powered' Roland ACB TR style Drum Machine 2021-07-04T10:55:56+00:00 I couldn't see any posts on this or its big brother the TR-8S... The TR-6S came out after the TR-8S, it is cheaper (I just paid £269 inc VAT), battery or USB powered smaller (has less knobs) and limited to 6 drums sounds at once (8s has 11) https://www.roland.com/uk/products/tr-6s/ The TR-6S is an 'on the grid' TR style drum machine. It has Analogue Circuit Behaviour (ACB) 808, 909, 707, 606 (like the VSTs in Roland Cloud and the Roland Boutique Models) + FM drum synth and sample player. Lots of Roland FX, per drum, master and send + scatter. Roland ACB models of their own instruments are pretty much spot on as far as I can tell. Personally I prefer the Roland (ACB) 808 to the 'analogue' Behringer RD-8 (MK1) I had for a while, but that all personal preference. For under £270 it seemed like a pretty good way to get pretty much all of the Roland ACB models and a pretty fun portable ( 4 x AA battery) drum machine...With USB its also an AISO audio IO 8 in to DAW, 2 out which I think you can send to FX/sidechain. There is a very cheap 3rd party VST controller....https://tr-8s-editor-controller.jimdofree.com/roland-tr-6s-editor-and-controller/#link2 The sound is very good, I have it in the same mixer as my Analog RYTM and it holds its own (ACB against analogue) and cuts through the mix very well. A lot of shift/menu for the more advanced feature controls (especially FX) but not to bad given the size which to me was one of the attractions. Basic step editing and pattern playing is pretty strait forward, I had the thing pretty much mastered in an hour...I'm still figuring out my RYTM after 7 years ;-) Do I have niggles- of course...the send FX are a bit strange in implementation for me and sample editing is limited (but to be honest I just consider sample playback and FM a bonus, I bought it for the ACB modelling). Is it just VST in a box? Well, you can say that for any digital synth (with controls and IO and no computer required etc) but in this case you can only get the VSTs by subscribing to Roland Cloud, this seems a cheaper way of doing it! t on. 'For the money' I think its great, very portable powerhouse drum machine. No hesitation recommend this, but if you want something bigger and with more direct controls, check out the TR-8S, they go for around £520. :party: :tu: SLiC https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=50134

cryophonik cryophonik https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=119290: KVRAF; 12265 posts since 7 Sep, 2006 from Roseville, CA

Post by cryophonik » Sat Jul 09, 2022 4:45 pm

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Good points! I’ll definitely continue to dive in a little more. I do have a Beatstep Pro that I don’t really use and it would also solve one other major TR-6S/8S limitation that I forgot to mention - the 16-step sequencer.

But, IDK. I already have an Analog RYTM mk2, Digitakt, and Maschine mk3. I mentioned in another thread that I was originally thinking maybe a TR-6S (or 8S) might actually replace the Digitakt, but it’s nowhere near the powerhouse that the Digitakt is. I’ll keep it for now and explore it a bit more because it sounds good and is pretty simple and fun, but it won’t be replacing anything I currently own.

Logic Pro | LUNA Pro | OB-X8 | Prophet 6 | OB-6 | Rev2 | TEO-5 | Pro 3 | SE-1X | Minitaur | Deepmind 12D | Slim Phatty | TR-1000 | Analog RYTM mk2 | Digitakt 2 | TD-3 MO | TD-3 | Maschine+

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