Roland PMA-5

I bought this device as an in-store demo, and it did not have any instruction book. I'm trying to figure it out, and some things seem fairly straightforward, but others still elude me.

I really like the fact that it is small and yet MIDI. The small screen is a little trouble, but I dig the stylus entry.

I've used it to work out several song writing ideas. The voices sound fine.

I cant seem to find any way to obtain a copy of the owner's manual, which would help me a LOT. Roland's web site didnt seem to offer much help.

Well, I got it really cheap, so I guess I cant complain too much. If I could just get a manual so I could figure out all its functions I'm sure it would become my best friend in fairly short order.

Fairly straight forward. The only limitation in use is the size of the screen, which makes programming and editing a bit laborious. Still, it won't take you long to be flying around this baby, and it does a lot!

I loved working with this machine. 28 voice polyphony does mean that you have to orchestrate carefully and avoid the richer sounds (a lot of my faves, unfortunately) which use two voices per note. Offsetting drum notes and leaving the odd note out of chords can help with this. Decent FX and some really nice styles.

As a drummer, I found the drums sounds quite good for a unit that does all that the PMA-5 does. Some of the horn and electric guitar sounds aren't great, but they're workable. For guitar players, I think the Bs/Dr/Pno accomaniment you could get from the pre-sets alone is worth twice what you'll pay for this. I used my PMA-5, primarily as a "sketch pad" and as a secondary sound source in my computer set up. Some of the sounds are great. Hey, it's Roland.

I've had this thing for 6 years. It's been all over the road, and on and off hundreds of times and it's worked EVERY SINGLE TIME!

Haven't had a single concern, so I haven't tried to get a hold of them at all.

My favorite piece of gear. My loud-mouthed cheerleading has probably sold a half dozen of these to other players that I've met. You're probably not going to program the next Christina Aguilera album with it, but then you're probably not going to do that any way... :-)
I love it! Buy it.

Ihave been using the PMA-5 since Oct.1996, when I purchased it new. The manuals are clear and easy to follow - there are some typos and poor English, but much improved from other manuals. There are 100 presets, consisting of an I-intro, A-verse, 1-fill, B-chorus, 2-fill and E-ending. Quality is typical Roland, very good.

Maximum polyphony is 28 voices, with 306 instrumental tones and 6 drum sets. Effects: 8 types of reverb and 8 types of chorus. Tracks: 4 sequence and 4 style. Capability of inputing 20 songs, with a total of 21,000 notes. Midi IN and OUT connectors. The PMA-5 does not have expansion capability. However, songs can be dumped to a PC or MAC using the appropriate communication kit.

Input is accomplished with a touch panel and the supplied pen. Since I am a brass player, I will be critical of the brass instruments; they are not very realistic. The other instruments are good, which is typical for Roland. Special effects are something else - WOW !!

No problem with the PMA-5, so far. Reading the screen in poor light conditions is a real problem. Viewing angle is approximately 45 degrees. Six AA batteries provide on-board power for about 5 hours. I purchased the Boss 5-watt 200ma AC apapter for use near a 120VAC receptacle.

The customer service number for the PMA-5 is 323-890-3700; they were able to provide me with a copy of the PC conversion software recently. The PC connection cable and the driver for the PMA-5 is available from Edirol (a Roland company) at 800-380-2580. Both people were very helpful.

If this unit were stolen or broken, I would do whatever it took to find another. The PMA-5 is one of my favorite toys; you can take it anywhere. If I were re-designing this product, it would have a back-lit screen with an on-off switch. And that is it.

THE PRESETS ARE PRETTY GOOD CONSIDERING IT BEING SUCH A SMALL UNIT. IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO REALLY USE THE 5 WITHOUT REFERRING TO OWNERS MANUAL. I ORDERED THE INSTRUCTION VIDEO FROM ROLAND BUT IT WAS NOT WORTH $30.00

THE POLYPHONY ISN'T THE GREATEST. YOU GOT TO KEEP THINGS SIMPLE OR YOU MIGHT END UP SHORT. SOME OF THE EFFECTS ARE GOOD SOME SUCK.NO EXPANSION IS A NO NO!

SOME OF THE SOUNDS ARE GOOD BUT THEY COULD BE BETTER (SAX, ECT.)JAZZ IS ONE OF THE BEST STYLES ALONG WITH COUNTRY. FOR THE SIZE & PRICE YOU CAN'T REALLY COMPLAIN TO MUCH.

SO FAR I HAVE HAD NO PROBLEMS BUT SCREEN HAS NO BACK LITE AND THIS IS PROBALLY THE #1 FAULT WITH THE 5. THE SCREEN WILL PROBALLY BE UNREADABLE IN THE FUTURE.

I TRIED TO ORDER THE PC COMMUNICATION KIT AND FOUND THAT IT WAS NO LONGER AVAILABLE FROM ROLAND. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN KEPT IN STOCK LONGER THAN 3 YEARS.

I WOULD NOT BUY THIS UNIT AGAIN FOR THE PRICE I PAID. I WOULD INVEST MY MONEY INTO A KEYBOARD WITH PMA-5 FEATURES. I HAVE OWNED THIS 5 FOR 3 YEARS. I HAVE A QY300 AND THE PM5 HAS BETTER SOUNDS AND STYLES. I HAVE A KORG i5M AND IT HAS BETTER SOUNDS AND BETTER STYLES THAN THE PMA-5. FOR AUTOMATIC ACCOMP. I HAVE FOUND THAT THE YAMAHA PSR740 IS THE BEST. IT CANNOT BE BEAT AND CAN BE USED IN LIVE GIGS.

After a tour through the "Quick Start" guide, I was able to put down my first composition. The full-blown manual can be a little intimidating for some, but if you are a quick study on techno-gadgets, it really ain't that bad.
There are plenty of presets and sounds to choose from. I'm sure there will be some that I'll never use but then again ya never know!

I haven't hit the polyphony limit yt, but for those who compose those lush keys with pads, it could happen. The ability to copy the presets to user presets is quite easy. Also, the touch panel ala palm-pilot functionality is nice.

The sounds are solid enough for the most part. If you try to get too busy though you may end up clipping or hitting the 28 voice limit. The bass and percussion stuff is awesome as usual for Roland. More work on the efx end would be nice. I workaround this by processing the sounds prior to recording.

The manual says 5 hours per battery set (6 AA). My first go around was closer to 8, but what's 5 miles anyway? The unit likes to eat batteries so I highly recommend rechargeables, two sets and an AC adaptor. You're going to need them once you get cranking on the unit. It's kinda one of those things where it's like a good book, you just can't put it down once you get started!

No need at this time for CS.

Being a rogue guitarist, it has been very difficult to find others with the same mentality as me, musically speaking of course. This unit gives me the freedom to create, jam with and innovate beyond my wildest dreams. If you know music theory, that's cool. But this unit really don't care about that. If you got an ear, this unit can make your day when it comes to songwriting and having a backup band to try it out.

I have several basic pieces of gear, nearly all of it happens to be Roland. The PMA-5 has been getting a lot of use as a sound module.
I personally don't use any of the back-up band presets, though I think they're really good, and very plentiful. I like the fact that if I go on the road, it travels so easily, and I can alway work on writing some music -no matter where I am. Batteries last a long time, though I use rechargables. It's editing is kinda clumsy, and I wish it had some kind of "undo", but I recommend it for the person who wants to get some musical ideas down the road.
Just in case your interested, I use a Roland keyboard controller to push the PMA-5, and record on the VS-1680. Sequencing by Atari ST.

Peace, Keith

When I first bought this thing, I was daunted by a manual that dwarfed the actual gadget. It took me about three hours of reading/messing around to feel comfortable with the thing. Actually I never finished reading the manuals because I got distracted writing music. The PMA-5 is relatively easy to learn, using the "mess with it" method.

Now that I am familiar with the workings of the PMA-5, it's pretty easy to use. Truly, it seems programmed from a programmer's point of view, not a user's point of view... but luckily that doesn't get in the way of the flow very much. Overall it's about as intuitive as it gets, shy of being a miracle.

The PMA-5 was intended as a musical "sketch pad", and that is just what it is for me. When I get a "song in my head", and I have the 5 with me, normally I have it inside the box within 60 seconds. It takes me about 5 minutes or so to define the style and chord sequence fully, but when you "have to go", this box is a pretty immediate answer.

The 28-note polyphony is something I exhausted on the first night. I'd like more, but 28 seems like a good compromise. The sounds are OK, in my opinion there are too many trumpets and flutes and CRAP that nobody seems to use. with 600+ sounds, there's enough left after the BS to remain functional. The guitars and synth basses are some of my faves.

About half of the built in sounds are layered, which means each note on that sound uses 2 of the 28 voices. The reserve gets eaten up pretty quick. There is a screen provided for optimizing what voices go where, which helps things a bit.

Overall, the built in FX are awesome for such a small machine. However, only one of the choruses (chorus 3) is really usable as a good-sounding thing, and the other 3 sound kinda crappy, at least to me. Too honky-tonk or something. Chorus 3 and a good bass can blow woofers!

One of the cutest things about the PMA-5 is the little mixer screen, complete with little sliders for panning, volume, chorus, reverb etc. on all eight channels. To change a setting, just move the "slider" with the pen.

In the MIDI implementation of this thing, Chorus speed and a few dozens of other FX/etc parameters are variable. However, they are only variable via MIDI, which is disappointing. There are no on-the-fly adjustments, only the presets.

I tried other "PMA" style gadgets, but they all had buttons which gave them a calculator-like feel. Roland's touch screen gives the PMA more of a palm-pilot elegance, which is a more comfortable style for me.

What sucks? 1. No memory expansions!!! 2. Everything's in ROM - this is a hard unit, no downloads, etc. 3. Hard-printed LCD screen - I wish the whole thing was dot-matrix, so there could be more text, flexibility, etc. 4. The touch surface wears out - is it replaceable for under half the cost of the unit??? (I've had my PMA-5 for about 1 1/2 years, the plastic has gotten a little cloudy with all the use.) 5. Some useless sounds. Who wants a bunch of plastic trumpets? 6. Advanced MIDI implementation is somewhat difficult. It could be more direct... 7. Power/headphone connections are not recessed, and will wear with lots of use. The solder has come loose twice, failing power to the unit thru the power jack - I've had to resolder this myself, which has undoubtedly saved me mucho $$. 8. Battery monster. Eats AAs. I use Li-Ion cells to remedy this, but the PMA doesn't recharge them - I have to fiddle around with this still. 9. It's been noted elsewhere - no backlighting. I have installed my own (using efficient white LEDs)... but it was a damn challenge, I tell ya!

What's cool? 1. Automatic chord sequencer - versatile and even helps inspire melodies. 2. Roland's legendary production of enormous bass (with chorus on, it really bumps even a pair of headphones) 3. Ample sounds and styles, even given the BS some of them represent. 4. Touch screens rule! 5. There are too many nifty little things the PMA-5 does, to mention them all here. 6. Suffice it to say... this has been one of my best purchases of all time! I now have a litter of way catchy melodies I wouldn't otherwise have, because I "paint" nature with music and that requires a portable synth/sequencer. I can't write well in a box. Kudos, Roland!

I give Features and Eight because everything's cool except the hardwired ROM and inability to upgrade.

Like I said, some of the instruments on the PMA-5 are, to me, hard-wired trash. I wish there were more sounds for dance, techno, etc. Who is scripting for woodwinds etc., on a portable digital device? Nobody, I think. Roland, wake up... it's 2000, baby.

Still, everything I write on it has a melodic techno/groove feel, so I guess it's enough!

The onboard FX are very satisfactory, though I do wish they were more flexible. I think music is about creation, not using presets.

I like the fact that one can "bend" or "mod"-control a note by "dragging" it off the little keyboard and back again. Dragging "up" bends up, for instance, dragging "down" does the opposite. I find this method easier to use than other keys of mine that have bend/mod wheels! I think this feature is great, and helps give expressive life to one's sound.

One bug: If you are outputting to a MIDI recorder from the PMA's output jack, the MIDI controllers from ALL channels appear on ALL tracks. Muting tracks doesn't help. This makes MIDI downloads a PAIN to sort out all the controllers!! To get around it, I copy individual tracks to an empty song and play them one by one into the MIDI recorder, so they are isolated individually. Kind of a humbug, especially now that I have no empty songs left and there are no memory expansions!!

Velocity control is very responsive. Basic MIDI controllers can be inputted manually in step mode, as well, which helps tweak the sound.

I have dropped this thing more times than I can count. It's dented, scratched, I even bought it as a display model. I've banged it up for over a year now and it has not hit me back.

It's good to watch out for the power/headphone jacks... in normal use and bumping around they will withstand some strain, or worse, which weakens the solder connections inside on the power-circuit board.

There is an internal memory backup battery for storing the songs - it's not user-replaceable, and apparently it just lives for some years and goes dead, bye-bye songs. This is crap.... there's no meter for the backup battery, either. It's like digital roulette, I guess.

I am a tinkerer, so I opened my PMA up and added a huge lithium cell, which should keep things running for at least a decade. I wouldn't recommend that people try this, as it is very easy to zap the memory while doing this operation. If someone wants directions how to do it, you can email me and I will tell you how, with the necessary precautions.

So far, I give it a 9... just that connector loosening thing, which is mostly my fault. Otherwise, I'd give it a ten, for all the times I've let gravity get the better half of my PMA.

Roland's customer support is long-distance, there's no 800 number. How fun it is, to be on hold, on YOUR dime.

Roland corporation has NO EMAIL. You won't find it on their website, anywhere. That's flat out disrespectful in today's way of doing things, it's like they're too big and important to listen to the consumers that keep them in buiseness. Almost every other manufacturer (Korg, for example) replies to email quickly and courteously.

For these reasons I give Roland's customer support a

BIG FAT ZERO

(but the scale only goes down to one. Pooh.)

If this thing were stolen, I would quit music and take up the art of the sniper rifle. Until the work was done - then I'd probably buy another one and start all over again.

Beyond that, I think I've covered most of it. I am satisfied with this thing, what more is there to say.

Vary easy to use. The touch pen is quick and accurate, the interface is somewhat odd tho. I almost never use the touch keyboard on the pma-5 "except when im step programing" , but it responds vary well to a velocity sensitive midi controler. plus if you have cubase vst, you can use up to 16 tracks of sound by connecting the proper midi cables. compatible with both win95/98 and MAC. 600 differnt preset styles cut into sections like "rock-country-disco-house-jungle-hiphop-acidjazz-funk-many more". all sound good. theres 2 manuals, a quick start and usermanual. the quick start is useless, but the user manual "142 pages" gets right to the point and is cross-refrenced.

28 polyphony is all you really need with this unit becaulse of the way the sound layering is setup. works great with a roland pc-160 midi controler, sence both are GM/GS. Not upgradeable. it can hold up to 21,000 notes, songs can be 1-999 measures w/ 20 song banks. but you can port all your midi data into a pc/mac computer for unlimited songs and notes. the onboard 8-track sequencer is a bit tricky at first, but soooo useful its almost alien. MIDI in and out plus a serial connecter for pc/mac

Great sounds! nearly everything sounds good. 306 synth,instrument, and sound effects. 16 drums sets, all of vary good sound quality. its almost perfict for making dance music of varius types as well as jazz and latin. all the house, drum and bass, and experimental ive made can be mixed into dope sets.

The only thing that sucks about this thing is NO BACKLIT screen. almost imposible to use in dark rooms unless you have a light directly on it. the leather case protects it varry nicely, if you take care of it, and keep dirt off the touch screen, then it will last for many years. reliable.

havent had problems with the unit yet...

I would buy it again. yamaha is trying to compete with its own pocket composer. no match for the pma-5 tho. I use the pma-5, my computer "rebirth and cubase vst", a two channel disco mixer, and a roland pc-160 midi controler. I can do so much with this cost effective setup, its mind boggling. all I need now is a good sampler and ill be set for a little bit. my next big buy is going to be a roland jv-1080 and some expanson cards. and a bigger mixer, like 6ch. throw in some turntables and about 10 crates of records. I would never do anthing else.

The PMA-5 is a breeze to use - it is a pen phrased based sequencer that uses a pen/touch screen interface or an external midi keyboard. It is faily intuitive to use and the various sections are clearly marked making navigation fairly simple. The present sounds are typical Roland - meaning most of them can be used in a live performance - but I do not believe that's what it was intended for. (Although I do use it to add a third sound layer for certain sounds on my synth - as well as use some of the phrases during liver performance.) The manual is all right - the quick start guide is all I read though... was all I needed. Might take some getting used to for others though.

It has 28 note polyphony. It has a 2 octave keyboard on the touch screen display that does understand a little about velocity, but this is not needed when using it as a scratch pad for new ideas. When polishing a phrase I generally use an external keyboard.
It has built in effects for reverb and chorus. But rememer, it's main purpose is not for live gigging although if you needed to use it - they are of typical Roland quality and are fairly easy to use.
Unfortunately it does not accept cards, new boards or more memory, but when using a Midi Data Filer, or external sequencer you can swap out user defined phrases fairly easily.
The PMA does have an onboard sequencer. I have played songs into it live from the keyboard (Which it interprets all on one track) as well as played into the four tracks that it provides then utilized it's merge function to add more tracks. It is fairly easy to use.
I opted to add this as a workstation instead of buying an upgrade to Cakewalk/BIAB or others. It was also an cheaper way to add workstation capabilites to my synth without trading in/buying another synth. Total package for synth and PMA-5 - both new under $800 USD. I have friends that are envious as the quality of sound that I can produce. Granted it does not have polypressure or aftertouch, but with patience these things can be faked!

Some of the strings loops are dirty, I was dissappointed that they did not add the Breathy Tenor Sax, but all in all most of the sounds are of typical Roland quality.
I have used it to create Speed Metal, Rock, Adult Oriented Rock, Pop Rap - but there are no really good rave sounds.
There are onboard effects, like chorus and reverb and they are fairly good.
It is fairly responsive playing through a midi keyboard and does respond well to velocity.

It is dependable so far. I am concerned about how the touch screen will be 3 years from now, but so far it has held up well and travelled well. I wouldn't want to drop it... but it is fairly compact and dependable.
I have gigged with it, but it is not my primary source of sound or sequeces.

Don't know yet.

I think I would buy it again... it was not an impulse buy. I looked at a lot of keyboard workstations first, ranging from the Ensoniq MR-61 to the Yamaha QY-300 as well as several Roland workstations. I also looked at other phrased based sequencers like the Yamaha QY-700 and others - but this provided what I was looking for. I would have paid more for it too! (Up to $500 USD)
I like its ease of use. Copying various drum patters and pairing them up with other bass lines... adding my own nuances and flair. It is a great personal backing machine/scratchpad/workstation.
I wish there was a way to have a backlit/sidelit screen - sometimes on a long trip when the urge to make music hits it it impossible to read what is on the screen.
I compared this with a few keyboards like the Ensoniq MR-61, the Yamaha QS-300 - but did not want to spend $1300 or more for another keyboard when I like the one I have. I also compared it with the Yamaha QY-700 - which was more expensive than some of the keyboards that I was considering. It was also easier to use than the QY-70 and did not try to replace/duplicate some of the synth abilities (like the ability to change attack/decay etc) I chose the PMA for its workstation abilities when attached to a keyboard and it's keyboard abilities while away from a keyboard.
I wish it had side lighting to enable viewing the screen in less than optimal lighting situations.
The PMA (Personal Music Assistant) helps make music and has actually taught me a thing or two!
SOAPBOX: Now with the advent of phrased based sequencers underway some one should create a web site to trade drum/bass/guitar riffs etc.