Roland PMA-5

The PMA-5 is a blinding piece of kit even in the most in-experienced hands,the only niggling problem with the unit is the collision detection when using the stylus and on screen keyboard(i.e. the start point of the note D bleeds slightly into the C before it and so on)but this is easily solved when using a master board.
This unit is a slightly trimmed down and portable version of the MC-303/505 which are good beginers pieces of kit in thier own rights though a little flat sounding at times but all the menu navigation and basic control seem largely the same- simple but a few too many sub menus.
programming songs is fun but only with external control as find the collision isues with the stylus causes some infuriating mistakes.

MC-303/505-U 220 Sound set,customary helicopter door slamming girl screaming car crashing sfx,very usable but only realy for dance music by numbers.the saving grace is the tb-808/909 sounds wich give you an excellent portable drum machine(the biggest problem when jamming at 3am is not being able to turn the drummer down!)
The sequencer though quite basic is also quite competant and what you would expect from a unit of this size and price and even in 2004 the features don't look that jaded though the polyphony is seriously lacking by todays standards.

as i mentioned in the features the sound set seems to be a very common Roland set used in several units and racks,very early 90's but some great bass and stabs which tend to lean the unit to bedroom dance music but coupled up with a juno 106 you can cause some serious disruption to the neighbourhood!and set of a few car alarms.Effects wise you are better editing through external units and a compressor is a must especialy with some of the speaker shredding bass effects you can create.

Never had any problems with my unit yet but i own several pieces of roland gear,my keyboards have been back to the shop a few times namely for the keyboard membrains to be replaced and the service has been quick and surprisingly cheap about $20 a time,though trying to get replacement sliders for the juno has been a long drawn out task but then god gave us e-bay!
In regards to the pma-5 dc adaptor is a must as these eat batteries like fat men eat pies!
Also a sonic detector for the stylus would be a handy feature especialy in a dark room.

not had to use them for this unit yet and i've had mine three years(2nd user)my friend had it since 98 from new without fault
All my dealings with Roland UK have been brilliant and the support base in the uk seems second to none.

A breath of fresh air kids got the gameboy,teenagers got the mobile phones, mum got the i pod and the rest of us get the pma-5
PLEASE PLEASE ROLAND update this product it's been nearly ten years.
overall a competant little box of tricks which still holds it's own in 2004 if only it could be expanded!and writing to smart media or memory stick would be a great idea for the next gen if we get one!

YUYO M.C
www.yuyomc.com
First of all the Roland PMA-5 believe it or not is the most and the best instrument I have ever owned I make traks with it and also were ever I go the PMA - 5 go's with me I'm an Artist and also a DJ .
take it from me PMA-5 was the most best thing in my life it is a verry helpfull instrument and I would not ever give it away for nothing in this world.

the Sinthetek bass and the violins sounds like a real person is actually playing it.
the tr-909 and tr-808 drums as long as you add more bass and a little effects you have a booming sound.

yes. verry realistic. I love this product. the state of the art as many of my people in the studio say it.
I have my guy's freaking out because of the magical things you can do with the PMA-5 I'll always give it a 10 to 2 thumbs up!

always I love the PMA-5

trust me if you dont have a instrument in the studio that your original keyboard has the PMA-5 will take you by surprize.

yes I would .

Presets Sound are good. Editing is simple. Manual is big.

No really keyb - touch screen. But thru Midi keb is OK. This item is ideal for Portable Master Keyboards. Have SQ and it is flexible!

Good instruments. Effects good but limited to basic Roland Style.

N/A

It is a toy dedicated only for musicians. Others sorry - buy a portable MP3 or CD player.

Ive been producing Hip hop for a few years using the MPC2000 now with this PMA It makes it alot more adaptable plus I use my Vestax PDX2000s with it and they all line up well. It need a back light for gigs and more drums but I enjoy evey moment I have with this handy take anywhere out of date device. http://www.webspawner.com/users/276k/
I want an updated version when it comes out definately

MIDI in and outputs.The style tracks are usefull when you erase all of the others and you could produce loops and mix them at will the song track is not as good as the loops it produces. I guess I need to find out how it works. There is one problem the stereo output is either stuck in a Mono output or I just dropped it one too many times? ohwell Ive made over 30 songs with just that PMA and my turntables and that is money in the bank iight peace

Some sounds are distorted MAY EVEN BLOW YOUR UNIT UP WATCH OUT FOR THAT!

I would not use it at a gig unless i had midi or digital back up of tracks cause they could get lost DANGER

Im about to call em and have take a look at mine cause of my stereo output is MONO I hate MONO

I would buy a new one for travelin and chillin its like a gameboy for producers

It's a bit difficult to learn but once you have done with it, it's ok.
Navigation is easy and I think it's awesome for a small device like this.

Not too many features but some very useful. You can do songs or loop.
You can change tone and modes in your loop and I think that is very cool for someone learning jazz.

Sounds not too bad for a device like this. I mean I've so much synth who sounds worst than the pma. It s acceptable for sure but I don't suggest you to gig with that.

As I said, I don't think it sounds good enough to gig with. I use it in recording for a click.

Had no problem with mine yet.

I had a fantastic deal with the PMA-5 and I still happy about it. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to play better any instrument. I was a guitarist who switch to bass at school and it completely change my life. I improved so fast and I still can't beleive it. I use it now to play drums and play piano.
For sure, this product worth every bucks I've paid for.

This is what Roland is all about. The presets on this thing blew me away. I couldnt belive the songs and complex arrangements coming from this little box. editing is a pain sometimes but getting an idea down is a breeze. This is my only "SYNTH" and I have come to love it. I havent been completly through the manual I just learned the basics of the sequencer and now its quite simple to opperate.

Since ive only been using the 4 sequencer(Backing) tracks i havent really had a problem with polyphony. I was looking for more effects from this unit. but I have become happy with the several reverb and chorus effects because you can change the value for each track(very useful). I dont think it was meant to be expanded in any way. The MIDI i guess is very extensivesince there are several pages in the manual to explain it. but I just hook it up to match my sampler (SP-505)boss. The sequencer is great you can alter the effects for each track but you can only use the two effects You can change the Pan and volume for each track. It sounds great.

Not every sound is up to par.especially in the lower ranges. high pitch sounds great. There are alot of very usable sounds in here. I use the organ sounds very much and alot of the synth and string sounds. I would not mark off points for bad sounds the sounds are great. Any type of music that would need piano or string sounds or horn or bass sounds would like this box. this is the only sound module Ill ever need. All I need is a synth and a drum machine. and perhaps a better controller. I use it alot for hip hop and industrial and dance. It does react to velocity and aftertouch with a midi controller. the effects surprised me how good they are.

I hve never had a problem with break downs. I would use this on a gig without a backup

Ive never dealt with customer support.

IF I were dumb enogh to let this get lost or stolen I would definetly get this again since it is so cheap. I got mine on ebay for $200 dollars virtually unused in original box. but on ebay it would cost about 150.The only thing i hate about it is you can only use one drum track. but with my sampler it is very nice. I just need A DR-202 (boss) and a SH-32 Roland. and ill be set for quite a while. I was looking at the portable yamaha sequencer. but it costs way too much.

Preset are good, it comes with a little bit of everything. Editing is a pain. The touch screen is easy to use but navigation between functions is confusing... Once you spend some time with it, it works fine and is pretty versatile.

Features all the basics you would expect in a roland synth, including editable effects. The PMA-5 is a hand held portable (runs on batteries or power supply) midi synth music editor/composer and is fully midi programmable from the 2'x 3' touch screen. Very flexible but not so easy to use..

Drums, horns and synth sounds are great. Bass and guitars are OK, compared to some of the newer sounds I've heard. Overall sounds very good.

I've had this for 4 years, never had a single problem and I use it alot. You have to be careful not to loose the stylus for the touch screen.

Never had to use customer support, so that should say something Rolands Customer Support strategy.

I've owned for 4 years. When I replace the PMA-5 I would not buy another because I work most often from my PC. I would purchase a rack mount... I use it with Cake Walk.

Back in 1996, my home studio was destroyed in a fire, and I had to start all over again... from scratch. The first thing I bought was a PMA-5, to work anywhere at all while the studio was being fixed up (and that took months!). Next, I got myself a remote Roland keyboard and I had a laptop running Cubase. That was all I had for some time. Having been briefly through the manual at first, I quickly got a grasp of what the functions were, and it was all pretty logically laid out and I didn't have any sort of learning curve with the PMA-5.

The PMA-5 can be used in several ways... it can be a:

1) sequencer with auto-arranging and numerous types of musical styles, many being well-programmed and useful for a quick Tango, for example - just dial in the chord symbols, press play and sit back and listen. These styles can be basic construction kit bits that then can be tweaked further on an external sequencer.

2) it can be used as a notepad type of sequencer, but is best used attached to a remote keyboard.

3) As a notepad sketchbook, the stylus input is far from ideal, as you can't play chords with the stylus. But you can sit on a bus, train or a plane and tinker with things, plot in an idea and that sort of stuff which is probably why they called it a Personal Music Assistant.

The sounds are actually not bad at all, and I've used some of the sounds on records. There's a very good Rhodes that outshined a Kurzweil at a session some time ago... The drums are a little bit thin, too much bass drum in my opinion compared to the rest of the kit but nevertheless usable in a GM/GS kinda of way. This unit is really an all-rounder, however not really specializing in anything in particular.

This unit is very reliable - never had the slightest problem with it!

Roland in Scandinavia are usually helpful and fast... but as I never had any problem of any sort with any of my Rolands I cannot say that I've put them to test!

By now I'm fond of my PMA-5, and a musician I work with (who's also a tutor) bought one with my recommendation and has been extremely happy with hers. I'd buy one if it got lost, right off the bat! Some years ago BTW, Q Magazine gave it a rating as a "top Yuppie must-have gadget" and "perfect Xmas gift". It has a certain pose factor, I guess, as musicians invariably inquire "what's that??" (LOL).

So you realized, what's NOT possible: very intuitive, very easy.
Two exceptions: i needed neede 12 seconds more to understand the settings of the StyleTrack, another 23 secs. for the assembled ChordTrack. ;-))
Editors: these wonderful pen-touch-mode ... I'd like to have it on my computer ... VERY handy !

The combination of 4 Pattern- & 4 (free) Songtracks fits mostly, more would decrease overview (this is _no_ minimalism ;-)).
More tricky: envelopes !
The unit sounds clean, hi-fi-like, but if the (at least amplitude-envelopes) would be adjustable ... sometimes I need to chose patches because of their attack rate rather than their SOUND ... (unneccessary stupid ...).
Other lack-of-brain: you can use much more controlers in an 16ch-Multi-TONEMODULE-mode (i.e. sound canvas). Why can't I switch portamento or drag filters with this internal sequencer ?
Contemporary composer's micromalism ?
Mail me your ideas ... ;-))

see above: I don't believe in a software update, but it is not the place to discuss the general worth of GM boxes ... this unit does nothing more than GM, - but at it's BEST (I recorded two songs using the PMA only - & DRY, just added vocs, and done ! No re-arranging in well equiped stuidio / with surprising result: no-one realized the restriction to the box ... great !

Perfect. Never any loss of data, instandly availlable, great for each kind of notes,

Roland (in germany) is/was always extremly friendly, over the years. Although I did not ask till know, if ...
- it is possible to wipe some dust from the display's INside
- it is possible to MERGE dumps, 'cause I use the PMA-5 often as a funny add during my livesets ... (running the latest jokes or ideas while changing setups)

There's nothing compareble on the market, I think.
I love it's quick access couple with its safe memory; and I "hate" that the internal secueuncer has some undeclareble "holes" built in ...
A lot of non-musicians asked me: What's that ?!" or "How much ...?".
It's a very good notepad. THEY SHOULD HAVE PLACED MORE (different) DRUMS in its ROM.

Stylus entry is very intuitive. The lack of backlighting, already documented by other posts, really reflects the age of this unit. It was a trade off I'm sure in terms of overall cost and battery life. If/when they ever decide to come out with a new one, I'm sure it would include a backlight. I did purchase the Mac file exchanger and was very, very pleased with it. They threw in a lot of excellent extra styles which was a very pleasant surprise. At first I kinda grumbled that the file converter wasn't bundled with the unit, but I'm glad I got it and thought it was a good value.

Regarding the features. Again it is showing its age. New units have much greater polyphony.

I was disappointed that the stylus note entry is monophonic. (I too am a drummer. I bought an extra stylus and was hoping at least for two voice realtime input.) And the dynamic levels are not 128 separate steps but instead divided into 8 different levels. But frankly, I didn't notice it affecting the sound/performance in my application. I find the important sounds exceptional. (bass, drums, fx, etc.)

The design of the software is rock solid... (The MIDI aspects etc. flawless.) The main connections are surprisingly less than robust. This is the first unit that I have owned that the MIDI connection went bad on. (I use a workaround by using the serial connection.) Also, I saved potential problems with the line out going flakey by using a very thin mini extention cord. It is from this extension that I then branch out to RCA's or two headphones or whatever I might need. Doing that saves wear by reducing stress at the unit's mini input jack.

The few times I have had to deal with Roland tech support they were not helpful at all. But I never dealt with them with this particular unit. And as I mentioned i was very happy with the additional computer interface package for the unit that I ordered from them.

OK, I listed a lot of aspects that I wish were improved. And I actually have a few more. I wish that there was a way to enter PMA chord and style info from the computer and download into the unit. The SMF files don't allow as much interaction on the unit and take up more memory. (And I wish there was more memory!!) But I still have been overly satisfied with it. I have owned it for quite a while and I really enjoy most of the most important aspects of this machine. The essential rhythm section sounds are quite good. I like the piano and bass especially and there is decent variety in the drums. The stylus entry is great... soloing and muting parts, or loops- very quick and intuitive... I like that the screen prompts the chord changes a half bar ahead. Very clever and useful. There are some excellent styles.

The main competition at this point is the Yamaha, which benefits from more recent updating. And maybe the other competition is a laptop with Band in a Box and a Sound card. But neither of these options represent the instant startup and elegant and quick stylus navigation. I hope Roland sees fit to give the PMA-5 new life. If not, I'm sure many will continue to enjoy this unit.