Roland TR-08
Lesson 6: Saving and managing patterns
Goal: never lose a beat you like, and know where everything lives.
The TR-08 works the other way round from most modern gear: there is no save button. Whatever you write goes straight into the selected pattern and stays there when you switch off. The risk isn’t forgetting to save, it’s writing over something good. So the skills here are choosing the right slot, copying before you experiment, and backing up.
How memory is laid out
- 16 banks. Hold BANK and press step 1 to 16 to choose one.
- In each bank, 12 basic rhythm patterns (steps 1 to 12 in MANUAL PLAY) and 4 intro/fill-in patterns (steps 13 to 16).
- Every pattern has an A and a B variation.
That’s 192 basic patterns and 64 intro/fill-ins, each with two variations. Plenty of room, so be generous with slots.
Load
In MANUAL PLAY, press step 1 to 12 to choose a basic rhythm. This works while playing: the new pattern takes over at the end of the bar, which is how you switch between beats live. To change bank, hold BANK, press the bank’s step, keep holding and press the pattern’s step.
Copy a pattern
Copy before you experiment, then wreck the copy.
- Turn the mode switch to PATTERN WRITE 1st PART (or 2nd PART).
- Select the pattern you want to copy to.
- Hold TAP, and keep holding it until the end. Letting go cancels.
- Press the step (1 to 16) of the pattern you want to copy from.
- Press START/STOP to copy.
Copy A to B (or B to A)
- Turn the mode switch to PATTERN WRITE 1st PART (or 2nd PART), with the pattern selected.
- Hold TAP.
- Turn FINE (VALUE) until the display shows A-b (copy A to B) or b-A (copy B to A).
- Press START/STOP to copy.
This is the quickest way to make a variation: write A, copy it to B, then change a few steps in B.
What is and isn’t stored
| Stored in the pattern | Not stored |
|---|---|
| Which steps each instrument plays | Every knob position, including LEVEL, TONE, DECAY and TUNING |
| The accent row | The tom/conga, rim/claves and clap/maracas switches |
| Pattern length, PRE-SCALE, 1st and 2nd part (Lesson 7) | Tempo and shuffle (rhythm tracks can store these; Lesson 8) |
| Sub steps (Lesson 7) | Menu sound settings, which apply to the whole machine |
Because the knobs aren’t stored, photograph the panel or jot down knob positions for any kit you want to recreate.
Back up to a computer
Do this before a factory reset, before lending the TR-08 to anyone, and every so often anyway.
- Connect the TR-08 to your computer with a USB cable that carries data (charge-only cables won’t work).
- Hold START/STOP while switching on. The step lights show progress; it takes about a minute.
- A drive called TR-08 appears on the computer. Copy the files from its BACKUP folder somewhere safe.
- Eject the drive, then switch the TR-08 off.
To restore, open the drive the same way, copy your backup files into its RESTORE folder, eject it, then press TAP. When the lights stop blinking, switch off.
Plan your banks
A layout that works:
- Bank 1: your live set. Patterns 1 to 4 are variations of one groove (main, busier, breakdown, outro), 5 to 8 a second groove, 9 to 12 a third. Fills in 13 to 16.
- Banks 2 to 15: one bank per style or project.
- Bank 16: scratch space for experiments.
Exercise 6
Write your Lesson 4 beat into pattern 1 of bank 1. Copy it to pattern 2, then change pattern 2 into a breakdown version with no kick. Switch between them in MANUAL PLAY while playing. Then make a backup on your computer.