6 Roland P-6 Tips I Wish I Knew Sooner

The Roland P-6 came out of nowhere last year, a tiny, budget-friendly sampler with way more power under the hood than its pocket-sized appearance suggests. But because it packs so many features into such a small box, it’s easy to miss some of its best tricks.

After a year of using the P-6 in my beatmaking workflow, I’ve rounded up six tips that will help you get the most out of this little powerhouse.

1. The Granular Engine Explained

One of the most unique features of the P-6 is its granular engine, and if you’re not using it, you’re missing out on a huge range of sound design possibilities.

To get started:

• Select your pad

• Hold Pattern + Granular and hit the pad number

From there, tweak the parameters to completely reshape your sound:

• Head Position: Sets the start point of grain playback

• Head Speed: Adjusts playback speed of the grains

• Spread: Randomizes the position of the grains for wider textures

• Grain Density: Controls how many grains are triggered — hold shift to go below the default of 8

• Grain Shape: Adds an LFO-like movement to grain volume

• Grain Size: Determines the size of the individual grains

• Grain Timing Jitter: Adds randomness to the grain timing

• Grain Time Key Follow: Lets grain speed track with pitch

Experiment with these settings to create textures that range from dreamy ambient pads to glitchy, rhythmic layers.

2. Resample on the Roland P-6 for Grit and Texture

Resampling on the P-6 lets you take any sound you’ve loaded and re-record it with added processing.

Here’s how I do it:

1. Load your sound.

2. Drop the sample rate for some instant grit.

3. Add an effect like Lo-Fi or Warm Saturator.

4. Hit Sample to arm recording, then hit Play.

Play your original sample and let the P-6 re-record it with the new settings. Resampling is perfect for dirtying up clean samples or adding a lo-fi edge to melodic lines.

3. Chop Samples Faster

Chopping on the P-6 is straightforward, but there are a few tricks to speed up your workflow:

• Hit Shift + Voice and toggle to Chop

• Choose your number of slices (I usually start with 16)

• Turn on Keyboard Mode for playback

• Adjust the pitch as needed — +12 for an octave up, -4 to warm up melodic samples

Pro tip: When resampling, chopping after adding grit and pitch-shift resampled effects gives your chops a unique, textured sound.

4. Use the High-Pass Filter Trick for Bass

This one sounds counterintuitive but works amazingly well:

• Load a melodic sample

• Add a High-Pass Filter

• Crank up the Resonance

• Bring the cutoff down to the lower end

Instead of cutting out bass, this creates a resonance peak that actually boosts the low end. It’s perfect for building a subtle bassline out of a sample, especially when you don’t want to layer in a dedicated bass track.

5. Take Advantage of Per-Step Editing

Per-step editing turns simple patterns into expressive performances. Here’s how:

• Hold down a step you want to edit

• press granular to change velocity, pitch, or micro-timing

• Add sub-steps (ratchets) for rolls or stutters

This level of detail helps you add movement and variation to sequences, keeping your loops from sounding static.

6. Know the Limitation: Send FX Routing

One thing you need to be aware of is how the send effects routing works.

Currently, the send effects are separate from the main bus effects, meaning if you apply a filter, scatter, or another effect to your main bus, the sounds routed to the send effects won’t be affected.

For example, if you’re filtering out highs on the main bus, you’ll still hear your send FX (like a reverb tail) high end playing unaffected.

It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s something to keep in mind when building your mix or performing live. Hopefully, this will be improved in a future firmware update.

Want to Make the most of everything the P-6 Offers?

These tips come from a year of experimenting with the P-6 and sharing clips, livestreams, and shorts on my channel. If you want a quick reference guide for all of the P-6’s functions, check out my Roland P-6 Cheat Sheet and Quick Start Guide ⬇️