Roland PMA-5

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.