If you see an embedded video by someone else, hit 'quote' and all will become clear.

No clue if this'll work but have you tried setting the sample you are playing to polyphonic?

Got it now. Thank you!

Not sure if this is the issue, as I haven’t tried MIDI yet, but I did see that there are three different channels depending on what you want to do (one shots, chromatic, or granular). Channels are in the manual, I don’t know them.

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried that but it didn't seem to change anything. To clarify; what I'm saying is that all the keys send the same note. (not just one note at a time)

So, I mentioned the Hiromu Nagasawa-San interview on a French forum and asked the peeps over there if anyone who owned both the S-1 and the P-6 could report on the S-1 front panel being able to control the P-6 granular engine through CC messages... and this awesome dude actually came up with full on exhaustive diagrams showing how the S-1 knobs and buttons control almost every single granular parameter on the P-6. And by the looks of it, Roland has carefully picked the most "real time synthesis" parameters to be controlled directly by S-1 knobs, leaving the more "system-oriented" parameters to the SHIFT + knob or buttons CCs.

This is going to make the whole P-6 granular experience a lot more fun. Almost weird that Roland didn't advertise this from the get-go.

Check out the link. The liner notes are in French, but the diagrams are in English. It confirms what I was hoping. The S-1 is a fantastic micro controller for the P-6 granular synth with an almost knob-per-function UI. I've resisted buying the S-1 for 15 months, but as a future P-6 owner, it's going to be hard to justify not getting the S-1 now. For those who already own both units, this is simply awesome. Of course, nothing prevents me from using my very old MPK 49 controller, but considering the size of the S-1, its standalone ACB SH-101 goodness and the fact that the whole S-1/P-6 CC configuration comes premapped out of the box...

https://fr.audiofanzine.com/sequence....11926070.html

This is amazing! Thank you for sharing. I own both the P-6 and S-1, so my mind is blown.

You're welcome. This is indeed a game changer when it comes to the P-6 granular UI. Combine it with the S-1 and you get a full on knob-per-function granular synth. Bam! Thanks for sharing your first P-6 granular sounds with us. Sounds super dreamy. Music to my ears.

You sold me on it.

I hope you enjoy it! I think it’s awesome for people that are into stuff like the old quirky sampler keyboards from back in the day, but want modern features. I love mine. I think a lot of people just won’t get it though, because it’s not really meant to be a do-it-all DAW-in-a-box kind of a machine. A lot of vocal hate online about the specs (sample time, size, etc).

seems an impulse buy for me if it arrives at my local musical gear store

That's a really good summary of this box. It's like a little paint palette to mix bold colors together before spreading the paint on the canvas.

"people who want do-it-all-DAW-in-a-box" should be happy with AKAI MPC. It's not an "either/or" situation though. I have both - they are for different purposes and for different workflows.

Starting to dive deeper into the granular engine (pun intended). Gave it a try in like a 1970s documentary/library music style. I was on the fence about whether to upload this one to YouTube as I wasn’t entirely happy with it, but I’ve learned some stuff I want to fix for the next one. I haven’t really sorted out a good workflow for sequencing the granular stuff so am playing it in live over the sequenced samples. I need another pair of hands. Haha. 😅

Still loving this thing.

couple of things to think about

1.so far NO Roland compact has any feature updates of any significance - what you buy is what you'll have in years to come.

2.now i have the T-8 and the S-1 an quite like them both, but have to also keep in mind that roland compacts are GLOBAL there's no projects/songs

3. trying to record a vocal or audio input at the P-6 plays will bake in the backing with you vocal it resamples, there's no mix knob to use the backing for monitoring the timing/pace etc of the backing and recording the inputs separately onto a pad... doesn't happen. everything gets baked

3.a .... you could have the p-6 stopped and record a vocal but then you'll have no idea of timing or pitch to match up to.... so yeh .... um workaround would be to put the backing on your phone with headphones on.. and use that as monitoring and sing in to the p6 when stopped.. but you won't hear your voice until you play it back.

P-6 is cool as a sketchpad but you really can only do 1 song at a time with it...you'll require a note pad on all the settings you use for different projects and swap to them when you want to work on a different song.

so if you;re good with all that - p-6 is a cool option.

Or, the P-6 forces you to finish songs.

PMA. Positive Mental Attitude.

I personally don’t think it’s merely a “sketchpad”. It’s a very cleverly designed and capable device that can be very instrument like if you get creative with it. Also 48 pads that can include sample chains (step sampling) is plenty of space to do more than one track, although I like to focus on just one track at a time with both the SP404mkii and P6. YMMV.

Has anyone tried the keyboard MIDI out?

Yes me too !! Midi trs cable ...pulling my hair out trying figure how they communicate!!! No joy so far

I feel like its a great alternative to trackers (virtual and physical like Polyend Tracker). That it has limitations (limited sample count) like a tracker but with a different interface.

step sampling - seem very similar to the 16 samples/chops in a 'kit' on the pocket operator ko-33
greta idea to extend the number of samples available.

The 6 and the 62 shoot out:





More tunes:

Lo-Fi alternative:

Maybe ask in the comments here?

this is hard to follow with all those CC#, so for example the S-1 ADSR works also on the normal sampler in the P6? or just on the granular part of the P6? I saw a lot of hyden functions for the normal sampler (accessible with button combinations) that from my point of view were more obvious to be controlled by external midi, the workflow for sampler is the difference between a great or a forgettable one, you want to apply your ideas fast and I am ready to pay for for this if S-1 is doing it well at least for the ADSR of the normal sampler (without entering the menu)

I'm probably the wrong person to chime in as I don't own an S-1 (yet) and I just (finally) received the P-6 one hour ago. But the CCs listed in the manual and shown on the Frenchman's S-1 diagrams are probably a case of "what you see is what you get" unless there are some hidden/easter egg CCs received by the P-6. And while the S-1 does apparently send significantly more CCs than the ones listed on the P-6 CC list, it looks to me like the prime hands-on S-1 "real estate" (knobs without SHIFT) is already dedicated to the P-6 Granular engine. The whole thing was probably configured to make the P-6 "menu-divey" granular workflow more hands-on/knob per function and user friendly with the S-1 as a controller. Not as a substitute to the P-6 main controls. My best guess anyway.

For the rest of the regular sampler functions, you probably have to do it in the P-6, but it looks fairly straightforward to me. You have to learn the workflow obviously. Probably best to dedicate a couple days to learning the ropes, watching a bunch of tutorials, reading the manual. Keep the manual handy as you learn and experiment. It doesn't seem any harder than an SP-404 or any other sampler out there. They all seem to involve a fairly good amount of hidden functions where you have to use SHIFT or something else. And you can always order the P-6 and return it if it's not for you. Whether you gel or not with a device's workflow is indeed very important. From my experience, Roland's UIs always seem more intricate and complex "on paper" than they are in reality. Once you start using the device, things tend to take shape naturally. Or maybe I'm just a Roland-compatible guy. Since the P-6 is feature-rich yet compact, maybe learn and master one facet of it at one time. The video above is a good example of breaking down the learning process in smaller "chapters".

The UI looks well-designed to me from what I've seen. But like everything, it's not gonna be for everybody. And after all, I have yet to see if I'm really going to gel with it myself. Having a bunch of free time always helps It's the hardest thing to find these days

Any way, good luck, maybe someone who owns both the S-1 and P-6 can chime in and give you a more definite answer.

summary:
"I found use for the Lo-Fi feature on my Boss RC505 which can replicate one feature of the P-6. Regardless, I will be buying the P-6 in the future for sure, since anyone can see I have severe Gear Lust despite making my "use-what-you-have" video."

LOL.
* Incidentally the Boss RC505 has a nice 2-line dot matrix display.