There's a lot of very exciting music technology flying around at the moment, from boutique brands like Teenage Engineering, to bouncy balls which play sounds. It can be hard to know what might suit the demands of the classroom and, given often limited budgets, what might prove itself valuable in multiple areas of the music curriculum. One option that covers several bases is the compact Roland T-8 beat machine.
The T-8 includes sounds from the famous TR-808, TR-909, and TR-606 drum machines within a sleek, modern and portable package, alongside bass sounds from the legendary TB-303. Its small size, rechargeable battery and USB C connectivity make it particularly hassle-free when passing between students or transporting it from classroom to classroom.
A 32-step sequencer
The T-8 is part of Roland's compact and versatile AIRA series that has captured the attention of educators, producers and hobbyists alike. It features six drum parts derived from some of Roland's most recognisable drum machines, including bass drum, snare drum, clap, tom, open hi-hat and closed hi-hat. At its core, you'll be using these sounds to populate a 32-step sequencer, creating beats and manipulating the different voices with tuning, decay and volume parameters. You can record in or sequence these sounds along with the TB-303 bass lines while applying decay, reverb and overdrive globally (or individually) to your grooves. This small box sounds amazing, helped by its ACB (analogue circuit behaviour), and you can plug your headphones, or any other speaker/device into the 3.5mm stereo in the top right corner of the T-8.
Ways to use it in the classroom
1. An intro to electronic music production
Electronic music (and music produced electronically) has become a mainstay of the ‘popular music’ genre and the T-8 can serve as an excellent gateway into that world. It is very user-friendly, with all of the main features clearly labelled on the front. Any students with a little experience of sequencing will be able to intuitively start creating right away. With that in mind, the T-8 is also a fantastic tool for introducing students to the fundamentals of electronic music production, especially as a way of investigating house, hip-hop or techno. Its step sequencer provides a hands-on way to illustrate rhythm programming and goes on to demonstrate how sounds are layered and manipulated in a mix, giving students a practical understanding of sequencing and sound design. Students can also experiment with delay and reverb as ways to enhance their compositions through effects processing, emulating the sounds of professional electronic music tracks.
2. Practice tool for rhythm and time
For instrumentalists, the T-8 can double as an advanced metronome. Students can create dynamic and fully customisable backing-tracks to play along to and practise with. This could be explored in many ways including:
- Fun metronome games, playing to super-slow beats, playing grooves and continuing in pre-programmed silences to check timing;
- Creating a drum groove/bass line and asking the student to figure it out and play it;
- Odd time signature practice – the T-8 supports time signatures from 1/32 to 32/32, so there's plenty of practice available.
3. Composition
The T-8 is an intrinsically creative device. It's willing you to experiment and programme it in different ways, exploring the entire range of its sounds and patterns. You can programme up to 64 patterns, which can be saved and recalled at will. Experimenting with playing back different patterns one after the other is fun and engaging. Students could take turns in changing or adding one sound each before passing the device on, and after 10 to 20 iterations, your first and last pattern would sound quite different from one another. It's a great exercise in density of rhythmic phrases, and the importance of the bass routing the harmonic structure depending on its placement, length and volume.
There are bound to be plenty more applications for this small but mighty instrument, and the AIRA compact series also includes other devices such as the J-6 chord synth and E-4 voice tweaker if you want to expand the line-up later on.
From teaching the fundamentals of music technology to inspiring the next generation of electronic music producers, the T-8 empowers students to engage with music in a hands-on way and is a compelling addition to any music classroom.
