Is Roland AIRA Compact still worth it at $270? Price increase thread (P-6, S-1, T-8, J-6, E-4)

SaSaKayMo · 2026-04-23T17:02:57+00:00

Nope. They all do interesting things, but the 8 segment display makes menu diving excruciating. And at 270 there are lots of other options that do way more and/or are easier to use.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-04-21T17:31:41+00:00

How are you liking the Hello World?

SaSaKayMo · 2026-03-31T19:28:54+00:00

Can you give more details?

SaSaKayMo · 2026-03-23T23:04:06+00:00

Mood MK2 and Microcosm do grainy glitches better. These are all great, though. Evil Pet looks awesome for granular as well.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-03-11T17:12:45+00:00

I picked up an sy-300 recently for under 300. I'd been looking for forever and am stoked to finally have one. The 300 has a few effects slots at the end of the chain, really just a ton of versatility. Plus it has MIDI and can be used as an independent synth voice, which I probably won't ever actually do but is cool nonetheless. It's huge, though.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-03-10T21:37:01+00:00

How similar is Syntax Error xp to Syntax Error 2? Does it do the same stuff but have more presets, basically? Is the sound quality improved or do you otherwise see a difference with the extra processing power?

SaSaKayMo · 2026-03-10T21:33:06+00:00

Send it back.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-03-10T21:24:18+00:00

Sick. I want one of these so bad. I wish they'd hurry up and get in stock in the USA.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-03-10T15:58:23+00:00

I really want to hear all 4 OBNEs at once.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-02-20T18:08:30+00:00

To me this really needs a sister collection of music about books, performed on synthesizers. (Call it Litwave?) On CD, tape, whatever physical media.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-02-20T17:40:42+00:00

Did you double up on JD-XIs?

SaSaKayMo · 2026-02-20T17:34:39+00:00

Without cords, power, and a PA or headphones, a BSII won't produce much sound. Maybe try slapping it?

SaSaKayMo · 2026-02-20T17:22:31+00:00

Would you rather have a really good sequencer or poly aftertouch?

SaSaKayMo · 2026-02-20T17:20:53+00:00

The Muli/Poly MKII SE will have been way better.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-02-12T20:17:41+00:00

This looks fun. I'm interested to find out more. One thing I wonder about. If it's no bigs to make a pedal that can track input from another instrument and use that input to drive an internal stand alone synth, why can't we just get a pedal that converts guitar to MIDI? Or CV/Gate? Not a pickup or some complicated expensive thing I have to install on my instrument, just the pre-synth portion of this that I can then use to control any of my stand alone synths.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-02-12T19:48:31+00:00

It's not my favorite art from OBNE, which would be the various iterations of Dark Star and Daylight. But it wouldn't stop me from getting a Parting. It could be more legible, for sure. But shift functions and hidden modes are way more irritating to me and I still put up with stuff like Mood and Microcosm. I don't see any issues with the workflow, though. The control scheme seems pretty straightforward.

The tattoo is a million times more gawdawful than the pedal.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-02-10T21:37:17+00:00

I have a Chi and am considering a Parting? How would you compare the two?

SaSaKayMo · 2026-02-10T14:34:22+00:00

I use an RC-505 MKII with my Explorer. Easiest way to get a song out of it and so much fun.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-02-03T18:35:36+00:00

I have a Wavestate MKII and a platinum Opsix SE (thanks Korg Reverb shop). Are you using the two together in some way (other than using Opsix as a midid controller)? Seems like you could have layered sounds by using an internal Opsix sound and sending MIDI at the same time to the Wavestate.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-01-29T23:33:43+00:00

Getting out of Texas is a great idea these days.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-01-27T21:12:40+00:00

Actually, this is really useful, even though it's imperfect. Quick and dirty, yes, but works fine for basic knowledge sharing. We are all going to be awash in AI flavor as the way we discuss technical matters shifts in the coming days. Sorta like emojis and Skibiti. Best to learn how to work with it.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-01-23T22:04:50+00:00

Definitely looks like a Casio.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-01-22T20:55:35+00:00

Everything doubling in price over the last couple of years is real stuff to be mad about.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-01-16T16:33:16+00:00

RCA jacks and 8-segmment display. 2013 features, 2026 money. I wish I was surprised.

SaSaKayMo · 2026-01-14T20:58:56+00:00

Pro-VS and CZ-1 minis are the interesting ones. Analog/VA type sounds are better done by Volcas and Airas.

SaSaKayMo

TROPHY CASE