Yes, for synthesized drum sounds, the TR-6S is superior to the MC-101/707. I love the sounds enough that my GAS for Syntakt was eliminated. The ACB modeled analog drums, FM drums, and the newest FM drum models all sound so good to me. The FX are also pretty good to me. The complaint that the TRs sound too polite may indicate lack of experience with the FX, which includes various flavors of distortion.
The MCs drum track sounds are sample-based only, with only 4 velocity layers at most. There are some synthesized percussion preset on the MCs but you have to use up a whole track for one sound, and forget about having a whole kit of sounds.
Thereās no parameter locking from what I can tell - just motion sequencing.
Each pattern can be set to its own kit. For example, can have one pattern playing a slow beat with an 808 kit, and have another pattern playing a fast beat with an FM kit.
MC-101 drum tracks have kits that appear to be pre-mapped to TR-6S kits, so if you have, say a kick pattern (Clip) on the 101, it will play the kick on the TR-6S without any programming required on the TR-6S. This is convenient for off-grid sequencing using the 101, because thereās no off-grid on the TR-6S.
That said, if you donāt want to use a Drum Track on the 101 and just want clip changes on the 101 to trigger pattern changes on the TR-6S, you can do that - if you have all the MIDI settings correct. Itās not super hard to set up but can take some menu-diving.
candlewax poured over mine the other week by my crazy, abusive ex. amazingly my 16yo daughter, who is better at electronics than i am, was able to open it up and very patiently get all the sliders working again
I feel like turning motion motion on, (and not touching the effects knobs, but just) holding down the step you are working on and adjusting the parameters for that step by hand is kind of like doing p-locks, just with a bit more menu diving to get to the parameter you want to adjust.
Wish there was then a way to copy and paste āp-lockedā steps? i still have a lot to leanr on this little beast
However, I donāt think you can switch out one drum instrument for another just for one step, like what you can do on the true p-locking machine. I think thatās what the other person meant by sound lock.
Iām sorry you are having such difficulty. My ex and I managed to split mostly amicably, and still it was painful as hell. I hope you can move past this, and reclaim the TR-6S, the innocent bystander that didnāt deserve any of it.
Yes! I keep not using it because some stuff (effects among others) is less than obvious.
Also, I keep accidentally editing the default drum kits. Does anyone have a good workflow to avoid that? I presume when starting something new I need to make a new kit (copy of an existing one) every time.
I bought one of these very shortly after a TR-06 (both came up at bargain prices, & impulse control wasā¦ lacking). Iām surprised that Iāve used the TR-06 far more. It just feels more intuitive, at least for banging out quick beats. Also, the audio in is a godsend; being able to plug a 303 in & have some fun without any other kit involved is brilliant. On top of that, the hardware has a nicer feel than the 6s; the buttons are far more satisfying.
Having said all that, the 6S is still a decent box, just more fiddly than Iād expected (despite all the warnings that are out there).
I guess it matters how you use it. For me it is a sample source. I do program loops in it as well, but just being able to dial up classic roland drum sounds very quickly and sample them into a charcter sampler like a Sampletrak or Pocket Operator or old Akai quickly has enabled me to build my own sample collection that has itās own character. For example sampling a 909 open hat into an Akai sampler and then pitching it down is gold to me.
I could do the same with a collection of samples but the Tr6s just makes it immediate since I pull up the sound I want and then adjust pitch and decay, maybe add some overdrive and I have the core sound ready to go. Plus it is battery powered so I just plug a mono cable out of it into the sampler and I am off to the races. Plus the sound coming out of the Tr6s is super clean which makes sending it into a lower bitrate sampler sound fantastic and not too grainy or noisy.
Anyway thats how I use mine. Of course you can just make beats on it straight up and record those as well, I know producers whoās drum sound is just Tr8s/6s going into the DAW.
I could see myself using it that way with the Polyend Tracker, but I tend to be a one box at a time sort of a guy.
Iād really like to do a pattern with motion sequencing etc and then sample it into the PT, but itās really annoying that it doesnāt allow you to record and play.
I guess an SP404 would probably be a more natural partner.
Canāt say itās the best workflow but I use the software editor for editing instruments.
I got mine during a recent price drop, which was around the same time I was getting frustrated trying to tweak snare sounds on the MC-707 to sound a little more dynamic, by way of velocity switching. ACB and FM modeled drums are much livelier. For the time being, Iām just layering TR-6S drums with MC drum parts, because I havenāt felt a need to reprogram entire patterns just for the TR-6S.
What works for me is Iāve made about 5 kits that have a good variation of sounds and fx. And I just copy and paste one of those into each new pattern I work on.
Treating it less like a memory based box and more like a real-time live box. Whatever is loaded is what I make work. That way I donāt have to reference the manual again!
But it helps that I use it in conjunction with other gear. So it isnāt doing a lot of heavy lifting. Iām usually only using 3-4 voices at a time.
These two small boxes complement each other nicely. Very happy to finally own both.
However, I have some questions:
As I understand it, I first have to assign the parameter I want to automate to one of the three knobs. Can I skip this assignment and automate any instrument parameter directly selected from the menu?
Is there a kind of quantize setting for the FILL IN TRIG button? I have the impression that the fill starts immediately as soon as I hit the button.
Could anyone share old firmware (up to version 1.51), please? Trying to sync TR-6S with Octatrack, there is an annoying issue with pattern changing. Advised to try old firmwares, and there are no firmwares on the Roland website.
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