P-6

The main 'change the number' dial. On the home screen it speeds up or slows down the beat; inside any menu it scrolls through options and dials values up and down.

tip: Hold [SHIFT] while turning it to fine-tune the tempo in 0.1 BPM steps. Hold [KYBD] and turn it to set the master probability that affects how often notes trigger.

A performance dial that tweaks the first setting of whichever effect is switched on — for example filter cutoff, loop length, or pitch amount depending on the effect.

tip: Hold [PATTERN] and turn any CTRL knob to see its current value on the display without changing it.

The second effect-tweaking dial — its job changes with each effect (feedback, resonance, speed, and so on).

tip: Hold [SHIFT] while turning CTRL knobs to reach a second layer of hidden effect parameters on some effects.

The third effect-tweaking dial, again mapped differently for each effect (drive, balance, loop on/off, etc.).

tip: CTRL knob moves for the MFX effect are NOT recorded as motions — only [PITCH], [START], [END] and [LEVEL] moves get recorded.

Makes the selected sound higher or lower. Turn it up and a drum tightens or a voice gets chipmunky; turn it down for deeper, slower sounds.

tip: During recording or step input, hold a step button and turn this knob to lock a specific pitch into that one step (a 'motion').

Trims off the front of the sound — move it up to skip past a slow attack or silence and jump straight into the meat of the sample.

tip: Hold [SHIFT] and turn it to set the volume of BUS A while on the mixer screen.

Trims off the tail of the sound — chop a long sample down to just the part you want.

tip: Hold [SHIFT] and turn it to set the volume of BUS EFFECT while on the mixer screen.

Loudness of the selected pad. In sampling mode this same knob becomes your recording input level.

tip: While sampling, adjust this so the -3 to 0 dB step-button meter segments only occasionally light — that gives a strong recording without distortion.

The main play surface — tap them to fire your sounds. How hard you hit changes the volume if velocity is set up.

tip: Hold [PATTERN] and tap a pad to select it without hearing it. Hold [SHIFT] and tap a pad to mute it in the playing pattern.

A special pad that turns any sample into a cloud of tiny fragments — great for drones, pads, and glitchy textures instead of a straight one-shot.

tip: Hold [PATTERN] + [GRANULAR] and tap a sample pad to choose which sample the granular engine feeds on. Its settings are saved per pattern, unlike the regular pads.

The 'hold this and press something else' key. Almost every menu, save, mute and setup shortcut lives behind it.

tip: Hold [SHIFT] + [C] (EXIT) to instantly stop all currently playing samples.

Press it to browse and load patterns. Held down, it becomes a modifier for silently selecting pads and grabbing effects.

tip: Hold [PATTERN] and press an effect button for 'effect grab' — the effect stays on only while you hold it, perfect for quick fills.

The play/stop button for your pattern. Press once to start, again to stop.

tip: Hold [SHIFT] and press it (COPY) to copy patterns, double a pattern's length, or copy a sequence between pads.

Gets the sequencer ready to capture your playing. Press it, hit play, and tap pads to record a beat.

tip: Hold [SHIFT] and press it (QUANTIZE) to toggle recording quantize, which snaps your live taps neatly to the grid.

Turns on a stutter/scratch-style loop that repeats tiny slices of sound; you can slow it, speed it, or run it backwards for turntable tricks.

tip: Use the CTRL knobs to set LENGTH and SPEED live — negative speed plays the loop backwards.

An effect that adds one or two pitched copies of your sound for harmonies or octave-up/down layers. (Different from the PITCH knob, which retunes the raw sample.)

Adds echoes that repeat in time with your beat. Also used with [MFX] as a modifier for routing sounds to BUS B.

tip: Hold [MFX] + [DELAY] + a pad to route that pad to BUS B instead of BUS A.

Sweeps away high or low frequencies and can add grit — the classic 'wah/sweep' build-up effect.

tip: Push RESONANCE and DRIVE up together (via CTRL knobs) for a squelchy, aggressive filter sweep.

Chops and rearranges the loop on the fly to add glitchy, stutter-style movement without you doing anything.

The master switch for effects. Hold it and press a step button (or turn TEMPO/VALUE) to pick from all 20 effects, not just the five with dedicated buttons.

tip: Hold [MFX] and tap a pad to toggle that sound between the dry BUS A and the effect bus, so you choose exactly what gets processed.

Your record button for making samples. Press it, pick an empty (blinking) pad, press again to start recording, and again to stop.

tip: In sampling mode the step buttons act as an input meter, and pressing [DELETE] mutes the built-in mic.

Adds crunchy, gritty, low-resolution character to a sound. In sampling mode it instead chooses recording quality (44.1k down to 11.0k).

tip: Hold [SHIFT] + [LO-Fi] to set exactly how strong the degradation is, or to check a sample's current sample rate.

Decides whether a pad sound stops when you let go (gate) or keeps going on its own (one-shot). Good for choosing between sustained notes and fire-and-forget hits.

tip: Hold [SHIFT] + [GATE] to switch a pad into polyphonic mode so you can stack up to 16 copies as chords.

Erases a sound from a pad so you can free the slot. In sampling mode it silences the mic instead.

tip: You must delete a sample before you can re-record over an occupied pad — occupied pads won't blink for sampling.

Makes a sample repeat continuously instead of playing once. Great for turning a short grab into a sustained texture.

tip: Hold [SHIFT] + [LOOP] to switch between forward, reverse, and alternate (back-and-forth) playback directions.

Switch between your groups of six sounds. Press once for banks A–D (lit); press twice for banks E–H (blinking).

tip: Hold [SHIFT] and press a bank button to mute every sample in that bank at once during playback.

Your grid for building beats — light up steps to place hits, or use them as a mini keyboard. They also double as the letter/menu buttons printed beneath them.

tip: Hold a step button and tap a pad to set that step's velocity (strong/medium/weak); hold a step and turn a knob to lock a value into just that step.

Turns the 16-step row into a little piano keyboard so you can play a sample melodically instead of just as a beat grid.

tip: Hold [KYBD] while pressing a pad to latch that pad on (HOLD). Hold [KYBD] + [OCT+] to reach the reload/initialize menu.

Drops the mini-keyboard down an octave so you can reach lower notes.

tip: Press [OCT-] and [OCT+] together to reset the octave to 0. Hold [SHIFT] + [OCT-] (MOTION) to clear recorded knob movements.

Raises the mini-keyboard up an octave. Its main second job is opening the settings menu.

tip: Hold [SHIFT] + [OCT+] (MENU) to open the big menu list — tempo, MIDI, gain, reload and initialize commands all live there.

Joins two steps so a note holds longer. Its crucial second job is saving your work.

tip: Hold [SHIFT] + [TIE] (WRITE) to save — choose ALL, a single pad, all pads, one pattern, all patterns, or effects. Nothing survives power-off until you do this.

The 'go back / cancel' button when you're in any settings screen.

tip: Hold [SHIFT] + [C] (EXIT) to stop all playing samples instantly.

The 'OK / confirm' button that dives into a setting or commits an action.

Adds swing to your beat so it feels less rigid and more groovy.

tip: Hold [SHIFT] + [D] and set a value around 10–16 for a pleasant, natural shuffle feel.

Decides how long your loop is — how many steps play before it repeats.

tip: Hold [SHIFT] + [D#] to make patterns longer than 16 steps (up to 64, across four pages).

When a pattern is longer than 16 steps, these flip you to steps 17–32, 33–48, and so on.

tip: Hold [SHIFT] + [E] or [F] to jump between pages; you can't page past the LAST step you set.

Lets you make a sample's pitch swoop up or down over time, like a rising zap or a falling drop.

tip: On the P.ENV screen the [PITCH], [START], [END] and [LEVEL] knobs become Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release for the pitch sweep.

The deep sound-shaping menu — retune, set loop points, chop a sample into slices, and control how the volume fades in and out.

tip: This is where the granular grain controls (Spread, Grains, Grain Size, etc.) live when the GRANULAR pad is selected.

A tone-shaping filter attached to each sample — brighten it, darken it, or make it resonate.

tip: Set a filter type here, then also map filter cutoff to velocity so harder hits sound brighter.

Sets each sample's volume, stereo position, which bus it feeds, and how much echo/reverb it gets.

tip: Use Output Bus Select here (or the [MFX]+pad shortcut) to decide whether a sound gets effects at all.

Controls the shared echo and reverb that sounds can be sent into for depth and space.

tip: Set Global Delay/Reverb SW to On here if you want the echo/reverb tail to carry over when you switch patterns.

The little number/letter readout that tells you the tempo and whatever setting you're currently adjusting.

tip: A dot in the lower-right corner means the current pattern has unsaved edits — it disappears once you WRITE (save).

Your master volume for headphones or whatever you've plugged into the output. It does not affect the USB audio level.

tip: To lock USB output at a fixed volume regardless of this knob, set the USB Direct Out parameter in the menu.

The on/off switch.

tip: Hold [C] (EXIT) while switching on for 'battery-only mode', which stops it drawing power from a connected phone/computer. Various other held buttons at power-on trigger backup, restore, import and factory-reset modes.

The battery light. Orange while topping up, green when done. If it glows red while unplugged, charge soon — the unit powers off within 30 minutes.

tip: A blinking green-and-orange means a charging fault — contact Roland support rather than continuing to use it.

Lets another gadget keep the P-6 in perfect time. When something's plugged in here, the P-6 always follows that external clock.

tip: Use a MONO mini cable only — stereo mini plugs will not sync correctly. Never plug audio into it.

Sends the P-6's timing out so it can be the master clock for other AIRA Compact or sync-capable gear.

tip: Use a mono mini cable and never connect an audio device here — doing so may damage the unit.

Plug in a phone, another instrument, or a drum machine to hear it through the P-6 and to sample it.

tip: Use a STEREO mini cable here — mono plugs won't work right. If it distorts, lower the source or the Ext. In Gain setting.

Your main output for headphones, speakers, or chaining to another unit. Plug in a phone-style headset and its microphone becomes a sampling source.

tip: For headset mic input, use a CTIA-type (four-conductor) mini plug — other types won't pass the mic signal.

The single connector for charging, moving samples and patterns to a computer, and streaming audio/MIDI to a DAW or phone.

tip: Use a real data cable — charge-only USB cables won't transfer audio or MIDI. No driver is needed (USB Audio Class 2.0).

Lets you play the P-6 from a MIDI keyboard or sync/control other MIDI instruments.

tip: Play note numbers 48–95 (C3–B6) on the Sampler MIDI channel to trigger pads bank A #1 through bank H #6. Don't plug audio devices into these.