This wouldn’t normally be news, but for whatever reason, the Roland AIRAs went flying off the shelves – missing any MIDI documentation. Ahem.
We covered a number of these details before, including a Max for Live patch for the convenience of those of you integrating with Ableton. The good news: the hackers were right, and got more or less the entire implementation via trial and error. So, this is still a good resource:
AIRA Secrets: Here’s How to Take Command of Roland’s TB-3 and TR-8 with MIDI
The TR-8, then, holds no surprises. I’m just hopeful we see extra functionality via a firmware update. Fingers crossed.
TR-8 MIDI Implementation Chart
The TB-3 is more interesting, particularly as I (keep) advocating it as a sequencer. As far as notes, it’s pretty limited – only 24-60 are transmitted, so you’ll have to do some transposition on your synth if you want something other than bass. But the Control Changes are all sent over MIDI:
MODULATION
11 PAD Y
12(ENV MOD) PAD X
13 (ENV MOD) PAD Y
16 ACCENT
17 EFFECT
71 RESONANCE
74 CUTOFF
TB-3 MIDI Implementation Chart
Clock is sent and received, too. So, for a bit of extra control and notes – with pitch bend – for monophonic lines, this thing should be rather nice. Also, the TB-3 you can use on its own, battery-powered, so you can jam away, then take the same line and plug it into another synth later. I saw one of the AIRA engineers working on his basslines while in a corner of the visitor space in a corner of Musikmesse.
Thanks to Miami’s @3REV on Twitter for the tips, among other folks who sent this in. And 3REV earns extra cool points for founding a roller derby. That should be fun with some acid techno.