Roland Aira J6 Chord Synth Songwriting Hack

Welcome back everyone. This is the Roland J6 and in this video I want to show you how I've started using this to really speed up the process of songwriting. So the J6 is part of

songwriting. So the J6 is part of Roland's IRA mini range and it's got their ACB chip from the Juno 60 in here.

So it's literally a tiny little portable Juno. So it sounds amazing.

Juno. So it sounds amazing.

[Music]

[Music]

[Music] Wow, there's 64 tweakable presets in

there with all the classic Juno sounds.

But that's not all. The main thing that makes this super useful is that it contains chords, lots of chords, over 100 banks

of different chord progressions. Now,

these are listed in different genres.

And on Roland's website, the manual breaks them down for you. So, what's the songwriting hack? Well, songs are

songwriting hack? Well, songs are written around chords, around chord progressions. And the most common way of

progressions. And the most common way of writing songs is to come up with a melody first, usually for a lead, a lead vocal or a lead instrument. And then you find the chords to go around the melody.

So to do this, you'd normally need to be sitting in front of a keyboard in your studio or you'd need to have a guitar with you or at least some kind of portable keyboard or synth that allows

you to work out those chords. And that's

where the J6 comes in. So if I just come up with a melody, let's say I'm just going to come up with a melody now off the top of my head. So, um something I

can sing, uh da da da da da da da da da da da. Okay. So, normally what I'd do is

da da. Okay. So, normally what I'd do is I'd just repeat that singing round like that and strum a guitar or play a keyboard until I found a chord progression that goes with it. But as

we're here in the studio, I'm not going to subject you to listening to me singing the same phrase over and over again. So, I'm just going to put it into

again. So, I'm just going to put it into Ableton here and loop it.

[Music] Okay, so now we've got that melody looping. What I can do is use the J6 and

looping. What I can do is use the J6 and just find the chords.

[Music]

Now, here's the really cool part. Once

I've found the chord progression, because the J6 sends MIDI and audio over its USB cable, I can record those

fantastic Juno sounds right into the

[Music] computer. And if I don't want to use the

computer. And if I don't want to use the Juno sounds, it's already recorded the MIDI as well. So now I can replace that with any sound I want. Let's say a piano. So I don't know if that's a hack

piano. So I don't know if that's a hack that I've discovered or if that was the intentional way for the J6 to be used, but either way, it's fantastic. totally

streamlines the recording process and makes it completely portable because the J6 has got a rechargeable internal battery and it charges up every time you attach it to something with the USB port. There's loads more going on with

port. There's loads more going on with the J6. There's a really good sequencer

the J6. There's a really good sequencer on there. There's lots more stuff you

on there. There's lots more stuff you can do with the sounds. There's

arpeggios in there, but this isn't a deep dive. I just wanted to show you

deep dive. I just wanted to show you that quick songwriting hack and how I use it to write songs. So, if you'd like to see a deeper dive into the features of the J6, let me know in the comments.

And if you want to pick one up for yourself, I've put a link in the description. Thanks for watching. See

description. Thanks for watching. See

you next time.