All user reviews of 4/5 for the Roland PMA-5

Everything is said, is infinite.

UTILIZATION

Thanks to a styleur, not to lose (kind of small slylo) it has easy access to the heads office.
I'm not technical at all, sincere, and I quickly understood the operating instructions.

SOUNDS

I found my components for all the sounds and effects I needed.
and is the choice! and they are still current today.

OVERALL OPINION

I mean (and I repeat myself)
I originally bought this camera in the 90s (3300 francs), to return an accompanying agreements, to play the saxophone.
I was initially a little scared to learn how to use it and have relied on the vendor who told me not complex but complete. I am not yet a technical round but the record is so clear that I quickly began to understand the possibilities.

leading to another, I recorded my styleur improvisation by walking on the keyboard of the display during playback and it's easy, it is always in the key of the agreement posted.
with the step I used to write me arrangements.c is crazy palette of sounds that has! brass, guitars, synths, percussion and even vocals and others.
I think these sounds must be for the most part, still on top. Moreover, I also served as expander, on stage for an external master keyboard (which therefore had no sound internal).
about to do step by step it is better to know at least the music theory (rhythm), it helps, but what satisfaction! I who felt so bad in components and in sequence, I started to like and I made a 12aines pieces of diverse styles and it is not lack of choice with the variety of rhythms.
In addition it is ideal for the musician on a trip: sitting on a bench in a train or a bus or a plane etc since it works on battery and sector. 18cmx13cmx4cm and a few hundred grams, you can not do better and I say bravo ROLAND.
of course you can connect PC to copy his songs at the time but I was too poorly equipped.
the two complaints I have about PMA5 is primarily the touch screen not enlightened enough (but it's a small detail) and especially its lack of internal memory capacity (which can be solved with a PC or MAC ). so I note - 2 points (hard drive!)
I used it about 5 years and now he is sleeping, or I use in my drum machine of my pieces to work. but how to sell it? Y does best in this practice? ROLAND why did he not change? About us neophytes?
Note: I am not commercial but the argus 100 euros (above) seems to me fairly weak, the price of a small drum machine secondhand.
I conclude by saying that this device has given me great satisfaction since it taught me: to compose, to seek and create sounds and rhythms, to add effects and others, especially to mix alone.

The Roland PMA-5 (Personal Music Assistant) is a unique portable MIDI device. I don't know exactly for what years this was made, but it has to be at least twenty years old. It's a Palm style device that sits right in your hand and contains a variety of MIDI sounds, a sequencer, rhythm patterns, and an arranger. Of course something like this is a bit outdated, but it's still a cool thing. The PMA-5 needs power from a nine volt power supply and consists of both a MIDI input and output jack, and a 1/8" headphones output. I believe it can run on batteries, but I'm not sure what kind since when I've tried it it has been with a power supply.

UTILIZATION

The Roland PMA-5 isn't the easiest device to use, but it was pretty forward thinking and is probably a little strange to use just because it's older. It's still not incredibly hard to use, it's just going to take a little messing around with. The screen is a touchscreen, which is pretty cool for such an older device. I haven't looked at a manual, but if you wanted to learn everything about the PMA-5, I'd say it's going to be required reading.

SOUNDS

Most of the sounds on the Roland PMA-5 are general MIDI, which is in general pretty cheesy. Having said this, I don't know what more you'd expect from something like this that is of it's age. They do make portable sound modules today and I'm sure there are some devices out there like this one, but this is the only one of it's type that I've really seen. It definitely does have a nice collection of general MIDI sounds and otherwise, as well as a ton of patterns to choose from which is cool. It would definitely be possible to conjure up a little all in one track here, which is the point after all.

OVERALL OPINION

I don't know how easy it would be to get your hands on a Roland PMA-5 nowadays, but I would think there would be some of them floating around out there. The studio I work at has one of them floating about, but it certainly doesn't get used, or at least I haven't seen it used by any client. I've really only messed around with it just to see what it was all about, but haven't used it for any serious musical purposes. If you're after some cheesy sounding general MIDI stuff only, there are easier ways to achieve it than this. I would really recommend seeking out a Roland PMA-5 as in general it's not going to be worth much. If you can get one cheaply or just happen to stumble upon one, it's fun to play with but I don't think it's going to be a viable music making tool in the modern world.