Roland TR-6S User manual

© 2020 Roland Corporation 01
Owner’s Manual

2
Panel Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
:Top Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
:Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
:Bottom Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Installing the Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
:Rear Panel (Connecting Your Equipment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
:Before You Begin Playing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Turning the TR-6S On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Turning Off the Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Formatting an SD Card (SD CARD FORMAT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Overview of the TR-6S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
:What Is a“PATTERN”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
:What Is a“KIT”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
:What Is a“MOTION”?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Main Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Playing Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
:Playing Patterns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
:Selecting a Pattern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
:Changing the Length of the Variation
(Setting the Variation’s Last Step). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Changing the Length of a Specific Track
(Setting the Track’s Last Step) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
:Generating a Random Pattern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
:Copying a Pattern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
:Deleting a Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Clearing a Variation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Clearing a Track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
:Copying a Variation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
:Selecting a Fill-In Variation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Inserting a Fill-In (Manual Trigger) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Inserting a Fill-In at Regular Intervals (Auto Fill In). . . . . . . . . 13
:Muting a Track (MUTE). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
:Adjusting the Reverb or Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
:Master Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Assigning a Parameter to the [CTRL (MASTER FX)] Knob. . . 13
:Assigning Parameters to the [CTRL] Knobs
(CTRL SELECT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
:Assigning a Different Function for Each Instrument
to the [CTRL] Knob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
:Adjusting the Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Tap Tempo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
:Finely Adjusting the Timing of Notes (Nudge Function) 14
:Recording to a Variation That’s Not Playing. . . . . . . . . 14
:Returning to the Beginning of the Pattern. . . . . . . . . . 14
:Checking the Value of a Knob or Fader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
:Reloading the Value of a Knob or Fader
(Reload Function) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Recording Knob Movements at Steps (Motion) . 15
:Recording/Playing MOTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
:Clearing Motion Data of a Selected Target. . . . . . . . . . 15
Editing the Pattern Settings (Pattern Setting) . . . . . 16
:PTN SETTING Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
:Saving the Pattern, Kit, or System Settings (WRITE) . . 17
:Copying a Pattern or Kit (COPY). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
:Deleting a Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Clearing a Variation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Clearing a Track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Reloading a Pattern or Kit (Reload Function) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Step Recording (TR-REC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
:Entering Sub Steps or Flams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
:Inputting Weak Beats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
:Inputting Alternate Sounds (ALT INST) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
:Specifying Accents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
:Deleting a Recorded Step from the Track . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Realtime Recording (INST REC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
:Performing/Recording Sub Steps and Flams . . . . . . . 20
:Playing/Recording Weak Beats (WEAK BEATS) . . . . . . . . . 20
:Playing/Recording Alternate Sounds (ALT INST) . . . . . . 20
:Deleting a Recorded Step from the Track . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Playing the Pads (INST PLAY). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
:Performing Sub Steps and Flams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
:Performing Weak Beats (WEAK BEATS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
:Performing Alternate Sounds (ALT INST) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
:Performing a Roll (ROLL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Looping a Specific Step (STEP LOOP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Holding the Loop Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
:To Cancel Step Loop Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Editing a Kit’s Settings (KIT Edit) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
:Saving the Pattern, Kit, or System Settings (WRITE) . . 24
Editing an Instrument’s Sound (INST Edit) . . . . . . . . 25
Importing or Exporting a Pattern or Kit . . . . . . . 26
:Exporting a Pattern or Kit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Exporting a Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Exporting a Kit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
:Importing a Pattern or Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Importing a Pattern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Importing a Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Contents

3
Contents
Assigning an Imported User Sample to an
Instrument. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
:Importing a User Sample (SAMPLE Import) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
:Assigning a User Sample to an Instrument (SAMPLE) 30
:Editing a User Sample Tone’s Settings (SAMPLE Edit) . . 30
:Deleting a User Sample (SAMPLE Delete) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
:Renaming a User Category (Category Name) . . . . . . . . . . . 31
:Optimizing the User Sample Area (OPTIMIZE) . . . . . . . . . 31
Convenient Functions and Settings (UTILITY) . . . 32
:SYSTEM Parameters / UTILITY Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Initializing, Backing-Up, Restoring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
:Returning to the Factory Settings (FACTORY RESET) . . . 33
:Backing Up Data to SD Card (BACKUP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
:Restoring Data That Was Backed Up to SD Card
(RESTORE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Synchronizing/Recording with Other
Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
:Synchronizing with a DAW (TR-6S as Slave). . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
:Synchronizing with a MC-101 (TR-6S as Master) . . . . . . . . 35
:Using the TR-6S as a MIDI Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
:Connecting a Computer via USB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
:Using a Computer to Manage the Connected SD
Card (STORAGE MODE). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Error Message List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
List of Shortcut Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
:Switching Screens and Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
:Showing the Value or Parameter Name of a
Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
:Inputting Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
:Editing Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
:Editing a Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
:MOTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
:Inputting Sub Steps, Weak Beats, Alternates, and
Dynamics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
:Playback/Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
:Tempo/Nudge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
:Copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
:Deleting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
:Editing an Instrument or Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
:Assigning Parameters to the [CTRL] Knob . . . . . . . . . . 38
:Reloading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Main Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Before using this unit, carefully read “USING THE UNIT SAFELY”and “IMPORTANT NOTES” (the leaflet “Read Me First”). After reading, keep the
document(s) where it will be available for immediate reference.

4
Panel Descriptions
1 Common section 1
[VOLUME] knob
Adjusts the MIX OUT jack, PHONES jack’s volume.
[SHIFT] button
By holding down this button and operating certain other buttons,
you can access a screen for making related settings.
By holding down this button when you turn the [VALUE] knob to
change the value of a parameter, you can make the value change
more greatly.
[CLEAR] button
Erases the recorded content for an individual instrument, or deletes
a pattern.
[PTN SELECT] button
Select a pattern.
[TR-REC] button
Step-records a pattern.
[STEP LOOP] button
While a pattern is playing, you can loop-play the
selected step.
* Hold down the [SHIFT] button and press this button to specify the length
of the pattern.
[SUB] button
Inputs/plays sub steps.
[VARIATION] button
Switch pattern variations (A–H).
[INST REC] button
Records a pattern in real time.
* If you hold down the [SHIFT] button and press the
[INST REC] button, you enter INST PLAY mode, and can use pads [1]–[8] to
play in real time.
&“Playing the Pads (INST PLAY)” (p. 21)
[START/STOP] button
Play or stop the pattern.
* If a sample is selected as the instrument’s tone, the sound might not stop
automatically depending on the instrument edit settings. While a pattern
is stopped, you can silence all currently-sounding samples by holding
down the [SHIFT] button and pressing the [START/STOP] button.
2 INST edit section
Here you can adjust the tonal character of the instrument’s tone.
When the instrument select buttons are unlit, these knobs adjust
the effects.
[TUNE] knob
Adjusts the tuning (pitch).
[DECAY] knob
Adjusts the length of the decay.
[CTRL] knob
Controls the content specified by CTRL SELECT (p. 13).
* Depending on the tone, there might not be any effect.
[MASTER FX] button
Turns the master effect on/off.
Level fader
Adjusts the volume of each instrument.
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Top Panel
1
5
4
3
2

5
Panel Descriptions
3 Instrument select [BD] [SD] [LT ] [HC] [CH] [OH] buttons
During TR-REC, these buttons select the instrument that is
recorded.
In the INST screen or INST Edit screen, these buttons select the
instrument whose settings you want to edit.
4 Common section 2
Display
Shows pattern names and various settings.
[VALUE] knob
Modify values.
Press the knob to confirm a value or execute an operation.
The knob blinks in time with the specified tempo.
[KIT] button
Selects a kit.
[INST] button
Selects a sound (instrument’s tone) for the
instrument.
[SAMPLE] button
Selects a sample as the sound (instrument’s tone)
for the instrument.
[COPY] button
Copies a pattern/kit.
[UTILITY] button
Lets you edit or initialize various settings.
[EXIT] button
Returns you to the previous screen.
In some screens, this cancels the operation currently being
executed.
When you hold down the [SHIFT] button and press the [EXIT]
button, the WRITE screen appears.
[FILL IN TRIG] button
Press this button to insert a fill-in.
[SHUFFLE] button
Adjusts the amount of shuffle (bounce).
[TEMPO] button
Specifies the tempo.
5 Pad [1]–[16]
Mode Explanation
TR-REC For each step, specify whether the instrument’s
tone will sound.
PTN SELECT
Select a pattern.
Hold down the [PTN SELECT] button and use
pads [1]–[8] to select a bank.
Release the [PTN SELECT] button and use pads
[1]–[16] to select a number.
INST PLAY
5Pads [1]–[6](INST) play instrument’s tones.
5If you hold down either the [7] or [8] (ROLL)
pad (or both) and press a [1]–[6] pad, the
instrument’s tone plays a roll. There are three
types of roll ([7] 16th note, [8] 32nd note, [7] +
[8] 64th note).
Mode Explanation
INST REC During realtime recording, the pads record the
corresponding instrument’s tone.
STEP LOOP Selects the step that is loop-played.
Front Panel
A
A PHONES jack
You can connect a set of headphones here.
Bottom Panel
Installing the Batteries
As an alternative to USB bus power, you can use commercially
available AA nickel-metal hydride batteries or alkaline batteries to
power the unit.
* If USB bus power is being supplied, the unit uses USB bus power even if
batteries are installed.
1. Remove the battery cover.
* When turning the unit over, be careful so as to protect the buttons and
knobs from damage. Also, handle the unit carefully; do not drop it.
2. Taking care to observe the correct orientation of the
batteries, insert the batteries into the battery case.
3. Close the battery cover.
* If you handle batteries improperly, you risk explosion and fluid leakage.
Make sure that you carefully observe all of the items related to batteries
that are listed in“USING THE UNIT SAFELY” and “IMPORTANT NOTES”
(leaflet “Read Me First”).
Battery replacement indicator
When the batteries run low, an indication appears in the screen.
When this occurs, install new batteries.
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