Author: dawless

  • Roland J-6 Review

    Roland J-6 Review

    The Roland J-6 Chord Synth is part of the AIRA Compact series, a line of portable and powerful instruments designed to bring classic Roland sounds to the modern musician. You can check out our reviews of other synths in the series like the Roland Aira T-8 Review. Quality Sound The J-6 delivers rich, warm sounds…

  • Roland S-1 MIDI Control

    Roland S-1 MIDI Control

    The Roland S-1 is a tiny 4 note poly synthesizer, that has a great deal of functionality packed into it. Straight away the demos on the device sound impressive and hint at what is to come. Trying to unlock that power and actually use the thing to create new sounds I like, I found to…

  • What is a DAWless Jam?

    What is a DAWless Jam?

    The term DAWless Jam refers to making electronic music without using a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). So, instead of relying on computer software like Ableton Live or Logic Pro, we use hardware such as drum machines, synthesizers and sequencers to create and perform the music in real-time. This means mistakes might creep into the performance,…

  • Analog Cravings with the Behringer Crave

    Analog Cravings with the Behringer Crave

    The Behringer Crave is a semi-modular analog synth that offers a wealth of sound-shaping possibilities for a very affordable price – currently retailing around £140/$165. Although this synth is inspired by the classic Moog Mother-32, it brings some unique features to the party too. You will often find it has a central role to play…

  • Roland T-8 with a MIDI Controller

    Roland T-8 with a MIDI Controller

    The MIDI implementation chart on the Roland Aira T-8 is quite limited, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. So I setup the T-8 with an Arturia Minilab 3 MIDI controller to see what works and what doesn’t and finish with a jam. The MIDI implementation of the device is shown at the back of the T-8…

  • Roland Aira Compact Cheat Sheets

    Roland Aira Compact Cheat Sheets

    The Roland Airas Compact series pack tons of functionality into tiny boxes. This usually means that many of the advanced functions are buried in the menus. Compounding this with the incredibly cryptic and unnecessarily retro 4 digit LED display can then make desiphering these functions difficult. Therefore several users have put together Cheat Sheets, that…

  • Roland Aira T-8 Solo Jam

    Roland Aira T-8 Solo Jam

    DAWless jam with the Roland T8. So much fun having the 303 bass and a drum machine squeezed into this tiny portable box. There are a few shortcuts to jump to some menus like sidechain, but its still a bit fiddly to perform on!

  • Dawless Light Industrial Techno Jam

    Dawless Light Industrial Techno Jam

    Brining the noise this week with a more industrial flavour. The Microfreak is used for percussion alongside the Crave has the Mix control dialled to Noise. Combined together with the drum machine and only adding in minimal melodic elements the track starts to build to a satisfying drone and rhythm around the 3minute mark.

  • Dreadbox Typhon Review

    Dreadbox Typhon Review

    At the heart of the Typhon are two analog oscillators that produce rich sounding tones. This is what first drew me into purchasing the Typhon was the all importand sound quality. There is a 4-pole low pass filter adds depth and character to the sound, while the multiple analog VCAs allow for precise control over…

  • DAWless Jam #4

    DAWless Jam #4

    New Synthesizer jam on the DAWless you tube channel. A melodic improvised DAWless Jam with the Microfreak, Typhon and Crave, all sequenced by the Keystep Pro.