Roland T-8 Aira Compact Beat Machine

Absolutely great piece of gear. Addition to my J6. Easy to operate, tones of tweak features. Added 303 sounds are great. Basically you have a drum machine of 606, 808, 909 elements with added bass 303 sounds. Add overdrive to parts you want and it’s a gem. Sidechain compression? Yes! The only thing I am after is the price to remain the same as it jumped up after a week or so.

Excellent, portable, feature packed fun. Not the best sounding 303 clone, or drum sounds out there, but for the price, size and flexibility it's replaced a good deal of equipment for me! The reverb and delay are incredible also.

Acid beats anywhere!

This is a neat groove box. You get a selection of classic 808, 909 and 606 instruments plus a very good 303 bass line synth. Ready to go out of the box. Can be played anywhere using some headphones. Compliments existing gear with its sync in/out and midi in/out. Using the USB C to A cable (included) means it can easily be hooked up to a DAW with no drivers needed (it has audio through USB and standard audio in/outs). Plugs straight into the MX1 mixer with the Aira usb connection. If you use port number 2 on the MX1 mixer it’ll also keep the built in battery charged. Just remember to switch Aira link ‘on’ in the T8 menu for the sound and midi to work. I’ve also bought the J6 and have a TB3 connected via the MX1 mixer and they all sing together nicely. Well priced and ... MoreThis is a neat groove box. You get a selection of classic 808, 909 and 606 instruments plus a very good 303 bass line synth. Ready to go out of the box. Can be played anywhere using some headphones. Compliments existing gear with its sync in/out and midi in/out. Using the USB C to A cable (included) means it can easily be hooked up to a DAW with no drivers needed (it has audio through USB and standard audio in/outs). Plugs straight into the MX1 mixer with the Aira usb connection. If you use port number 2 on the MX1 mixer it’ll also keep the built in battery charged. Just remember to switch Aira link ‘on’ in the T8 menu for the sound and midi to work. I’ve also bought the J6 and have a TB3 connected via the MX1 mixer and they all sing together nicely. Well priced and easy to get started. Speedy delivery from PMT as always and great customer service. Recommended!

Cool little beat maker!

First of all, this thing is small enough to bring anywhere easily. It sounds great and is surprisingly powerful for such a tiny box. Roland has been on the forefront of drum machine design forever. I've owned more than I can count! This little guy is a welcome addition. The added bass synth is super useful and again, surprisingly powerful. The price is a steal. This thing ain't cheap, light weight plastic either, it has a nice solidity to it.

Mini Acid techno machine

It's a few drum sounds and an emulated 303 so it's essentially built to be a mini Acid machine. It does the job very well. Intuitive and easy to use. Lots of tweaking can be done on the 303 to get pretty much any classic acid sound you're after. The overdrive is very good and tuneable but surprised there is no simple hi lo eq cut I see in the menus of my other Roland gear which allows you to remove unwanted frequencies easily to better shape the sound for live play. Sure you could record only the bassline into a daw and eq it there but that's out of the question for live play and something I shouldn't have to do. The same drum sounds do become boring quickly, particularly the hats which are not 909 like I'd prefer. It does strike me a bit odd that there are only a ... MoreIt's a few drum sounds and an emulated 303 so it's essentially built to be a mini Acid machine. It does the job very well. Intuitive and easy to use. Lots of tweaking can be done on the 303 to get pretty much any classic acid sound you're after. The overdrive is very good and tuneable but surprised there is no simple hi lo eq cut I see in the menus of my other Roland gear which allows you to remove unwanted frequencies easily to better shape the sound for live play. Sure you could record only the bassline into a daw and eq it there but that's out of the question for live play and something I shouldn't have to do. The same drum sounds do become boring quickly, particularly the hats which are not 909 like I'd prefer. It does strike me a bit odd that there are only a few drum sounds when Roland are famous for many. personally I would have preferred all 909 sounds if it had to come down to memory limitations instead of a mix. Hopefully in an update there will be a few more to keep the unit fresh and less of a gimmick.

Review of Roland T-8 AIRA Compact Beat Machine

As you do, have a cupboard full of wires & a soldering iron. Little did I know the frustration that would be involved in reading a book that didn't come with the unit (some of us like ye olde paper) along with excessive ordering of patch cables.Granted, my experience thus far has been interrupted every 5 seconds by a nutty kitten, but the book out of the box could have been less "print it yourself" lazy.Difficult to work out required leads at order stage, so be prepared to get surrounded by leads you will never use, trying to find the stuff you put on the back shelf.That said, musical experience when you forget about all that & plug into a speaker, is total pleasure, minus the cowbell.I have to go now, I am all tangled up with wires.

Second best thing I've been able to put in my pants.

This thing is fun. In just a few minutes you are up and running with acidy type beats. I sat down to get to know the machine for a few minutes right after I got it and ended up jamming on it for over an hour without bringing in any other gear. Perfect little drum machine, though it would have been nice to have all 808, 909, 707, 606 sounds to swap through.

Small yet powerful

This is an excellent fusion of the old 808. 909 kits and the 303 bass line from Roland in a compact and easy to use box.It runs from usb C power which is really handy if like me you use a iPad I just take the one power supply, charge the iPad and the T8 from a single plug and unlike the Korg Volca’s this has a built in battery that lasts a good 4 hours so no need to waste money on batteries.Only reason I gave it 4 stars is it is limited in a few areas such as fewer sounds of the original drum machines and limited control over the bass sound which if included would have made this a 5 star product but all in all a great buy at its price and linked with the other 2 in the range makes for a affordable little portable set up.