Roland Aira TR-8S Professional Rhythm Performer Drum Machine with Sample Playback

Born of the most famous and influential drum machines ever made, the TR-8S combines the best of its Roland heritage with modern production techniques and professional sound design. The result? A forward-thinking, performance-tuned instrument unlike any other. Build your dream kit from the most iconic drum sounds of all time, plus the finest selection of samples from our vast library—or import your own custom samples. Tap, tune, and tweak with hands-on controls and production tools that make your patterns move and groove. And why keep this kind of percussive power confined to the studio? The TR-8S was literally made to play live.

The TR-8S comes loaded with the largest, most authentic collection of TR drum machines available. The powerful new processor gives Roland’s next-generation ACB models a whole new level of detail and nuance, giving you that classic Roland boom, snap, and sizzle. And now you can incorporate preset and custom samples, creating unique hybrid and layered kits, and enhance them with specialized effects that inject professional sound design into the TR formula.

The TR-8S has every sound from the most sought-after TR drum machines, with detailed circuit-models of the 808, 606, 909, 707, 727, and even several modified versions. These are not sound-alike sample-packs or mere recordings of TR drum sounds. Each machine is a detailed, down-to-the-circuit-model that sounds and behaves exactly like the original hardware. All these sounds are yours, at your fingertips, and ready to use in your own productions and performances.

Today’s rhythm tracks require a diverse set of sounds and production techniques, and it’s harder than ever to sound truly unique. While authentic TR sounds are vital for producing drum tracks, mixing and layering sounds opens a world of modern styles and the exciting potential to craft your own signature sound. Pull from the extensive collection of preset samples, or import your own mono or stereo sounds using the SD card slot. Like the TR sounds, you can deeply manipulate samples with immediate hands-on control. Adjust decay and tuning and alter sample start points, speed, and direction. You can create a kit entirely from samples or mix and match with TR sounds for genre-defying drum tracks that demand attention.

The right effects can make a drum part stand out by creating depth and space. Whether it’s delay on a rim-shot, overdrive on a kick, filters on toms and cymbals, or just the right amount of reverb on select instruments, the TR-8S has percussion-tuned effects that simply sound great. In addition to the Master FX knob, each channel has a customizable CTRL knob, placing all this sound-shaping power within easy reach. The attack of the kick, the snap of the snare, phaser depth, distortion amount—whatever parameter you need direct and immediate access to—can be assigned to the CTRL knob or Master FX knob and saved with the kit. Both Instrument and Master Effects, along with their precise settings, are also saved with each kit, making your productions always performance-ready.

Pattern creation on the TR-8S feels natural and intuitive, thanks to the Roland “TR-REC” step sequencer that’s been the beating heart of electronic music production for decades. And now, it’s been enhanced and modernized to be better than ever. You can program on the 16 TR-REC buttons or use the velocity-sensitive performance pad to play live, or record into the sequencer. And you can move seamlessly between either, playing and editing – reshaping your drum parts without ever interrupting your flow. Create intricate grooves and detailed fills using velocity, accents, flams, and adjustable sub-steps for modern rolls and ratcheting. Get experimental with unusual polyrhythms and complex meters by adjusting the length or “last step” of each drum part.

Keep things fresh and exciting, even during extended live sets. The TR-8S can store 128 patterns—each with eight variations and three kinds of fills—and patterns or variations can be triggered individually or chained together for evolving sequences. In performance situations, you can copy patterns on the fly and even stay ahead of the beat and work on patterns that aren’t currently playing. Each pattern can include the tempo and the kit, along with its knob positions and effect settings. This gives you instant recall and enough storage and flexibility to play an entire set without ever repeating a measure in the same way.

Well-placed fills can create thrilling moments in a track or a live set. Each pattern in the TR-8S can contain two fills which you can customize or create from scratch. There’s also an adjustable “Scatter” fill which will slice and dice a measure into short bursts of cool and controlled chaos. But at times, your hands may be too busy to trigger every fill manually. That’s where Auto-Fill comes in. Automating fills every 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32 measures keeps your hands free, but also adds interesting dynamics to your performances.

Professional sounding drum tracks require detailed production techniques. The TR-8S not only makes crafting this detail possible, it makes it fast and fun. Locking parameters to steps or recording motion into patterns can give you everything from subtle movement to dramatic tonal shifts. Automate bass drum tuning, snare pitch, panning, effects…whatever you want. You can create melodies and bass lines, or change the sound of a kit for different song sections. Motion recording is immediate and effortless, and motion playback can be instantly enabled or disabled.

Features

• Design kits with authentic TR drums, sampled sounds, and effects
• LAST STEP controls the number of steps per instrument, or per pattern
• Create two, three or four SUB-STEPS per step in a pattern
• Record live instrument and master knob movements with MOTION REC
• Eight VARIATIONS for evolving patterns or fills. Chain A-H for up to 128 steps
• Full or weak variable beat ACCENT for all instruments in a pattern
• Independent stereo REVERB and DELAY send per instrument
• Effect all instruments simultaneously with performance-tuned MASTER FX.
• Automate FILL-IN with by set measure, manual intervals or SCATTER
• Each instrument channel has variable TUNE, DECAY and assignable CTRL
• Visualize and organize channels and groups by customizable color per fader
• Velocity-sensitive INST PAD for live expressive performance
• Notes, and length, of variations are displayed in the 16-STEP TR- Sequencer
• 6 x Assignable or trigger outs
• External input (1 x stereo or 2 x mono)
• Independent trigger out
• SD Card slot for Backup / Restore, Sample import, etc…