Roland AIRA Compact P-6 is a mini sampler perfect for lo-fi beats — but is it too complicated?£190, roland.com
There’s something appealing about carrying a cool-looking hardware instrument in your pocket rather than tapping away at a phone or iPad screen and being able to make music anywhere. The evergreen popularity of Korg’s Volca series, Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operators and Roland’s super-compact AIRA’s clearly attests to this.

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The AIRA Compact series is the brand’s attempt to distil the best of its hardware range into highly portable, affordable units — in a similar fashion as Korg with its Volcas. There’s definitely a demand for this type of instrument that’s fun yet, at the same time, does ‘proper’ music things, like hooking up to other gear and sounding record-ready.
The new P-6 Creative Sampler is not just a sample playback and sequencing instrument but also a capable sampler in its own right, with a bunch of sampling options that go beyond what you might expect from such a compact unit. And compact it is – it’s not much larger than a big smartphone.
Roland claims it’s ideal for beginners and professionals alike, but can that really be true? With opinions online seemingly differing about the friendliness of its interface, who is this instrument actually for?
Despite its tiny size, the P-6 doesn’t lack important hardware features. It has an internal rechargeable battery that draws power over USB-C, taking a rather lengthy three hours to charge and offering three hours of playback. When connected to your computer it keeps charging and also appears as a two-in, two-out audio interface and is able to sample audio from the USB-C port, for example when a phone or iPad is connected to it. The port also carries USB MIDI.
Image: Press
Elsewhere, the ports keep coming, with sync in and out jacks for connecting other units in the series and playing them together, mix in and out mini jacks (with the Out doubling as a stereo input for a headset mic) and MIDI in/out mini-jack sockets on the rear for connecting external gear. MIDI adapters aren’t supplied but this seems like a feature that only a percentage of buyers of this particular unit would likely use, and the cables are inexpensive add-ons.
Rounding out the live sampling options is a mono microphone embedded in the main panel. With impressive recording quality for its size, it makes the instrument truly portable – combined with the internal battery – meaning you really can use it with literally no extras, even if you’ll get a cleaner take with one of the alternative input methods.
The P-6 is capable of importing samples over USB too, using the P-6 Sampletool app for Mac or PC (though not iOS) with a simple user interface for assigning, editing and downsampling audio files. Accessing the instrument’s memory from a computer involves rebooting it into different modes, which is a minor inconvenience, and ideally could be streamlined in a future update.
Image: Press
And so, into business. Up to 48 samples can be stored internally, with a maximum mono sample time of 5.9 seconds at 44.1 kHz per sample, all the way to 23.7 seconds at a rather gritty 11.025 kHz per sample. These numbers are halved for stereo samples which will appear incredibly limiting for users of software samplers, though not for anyone who grew up with hardware, which is really the vibe that Roland seems to be going for here. Roland’s pricier SP-404MKII can handle much longer times if that’s what you’re after.
You can sample from any of the inputs mentioned and even resample internally for more layers, then build your sequences – 64 steps times 64 patterns with copy, paste and step or live sequencing across the tiny buttons and the larger pads – which incidentally are not velocity sensitive. There are cool tools available here including motion recording, probability, micro-timing and sub steps. Each sample can be edited, with samples sliced and mapped across the pads, or played chromatically in Keyboard mode.
Image: Press
There’s also a Granular engine inside, which is remarkable for such a compact instrument. This allows you to break sounds down into grains, conjure textures and tones from simple samples, and add a sort of second instrument into the mix. Plus, you get multi-effects that can be punched into pads and samples too; 20 in total, with delay and reverb as sends. Particularly fun are the Scatter, Filter and Pitch effects, which you can essentially DJ with, lending this tiny box even more kudos as a live performance instrument.
All this is excellent — but there are caveats. Firstly, the four-character LED screen is too basic and cryptic for the number of things it’s trying to do. Maybe Roland is clinging to the spirit of retro hardware but, while it’s fine for numbers, it struggles with text, making it hard to know what’s going on unless you’re already familiar with the instrument. Even a scrolling display would help, or better still, a small LCD like on instruments such as Teenage Engineering’s PO-33.
This leads us to a second issue; the ambition of the P-6 can’t quite be matched by its size. Many functions require shift button presses, various knob turns and menu dives. It’s difficult to keep track of which part of what you’re editing or working on, and the non-backlit parts of the interface – some of the text and buttons – can be challenging to read in anything other than strong light. The desktop app, which you might expect to relieve some of this, is actually rather. basic and mostly limited to sample transfer.

It’s telling that, of the reviews that have appeared online, the more consumer-oriented reviewers have struggled with its usability and design, while the more music technology-specialised outlets generally haven’t focused on this being an issue. Most gear has a learning curve, but here it is especially steep if you want to go into any depth, and you’ll find yourself referring to the manual a fair amount until your muscle memory for the interface has developed.
To be clear – it’s cool for all but the most technophobic of producers, and even just the curious will be fine eventually. Just be prepared to spend time learning. It’s a very capable instrument that will reward the time you put into learning it and its price and portability are appealing, for sure. Jumping up to something like the SP-404 MKII will give you more capacity and an easier workflow but pushes the cost close to £400. Teenage Engineering’s PO-33 can be had for around £80, which is great value but not as accomplished as the P-6.
Beatmakers with tons of experience in samplers and beatmaking will find its limitations pretty quickly — but bending those limitations can be a fun process, too.
Assuming you do invest that time, you will find the P-6 a remarkable device. Its sampling time is limited and there’s that interface to learn, plus sample management could be slicker. But it has superb in/out options, can operate completely free of extra gear, and incorporates a granular sound engine, mighty multi-effects and powerful sequencing features. It’s affordable too, making it a relatively risk-free purchase for most.
Key features

USB-C power, audio and MIDI
Rechargeable battery
48 samples, with up to 5 minutes of total sampling time (depending on sample rate used)
64 patterns x 64 steps
Onboard granular sound engine
Sampling from multiple inputs including onboard mic
20 multi-effects
Internal resampling
Sample chopping and editing
MIDI in/out mini-jacks
Dynamic sequencing features
Dimensions: 188 mm x 106 mm x 37 mm
Weight: 305g

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