For the latter half of 2015 I knew I needed some sort of MIDI sequencer. My laptop was getting woefully old and obsolete by the day (A 2008 MacBook Pro). I was tired of problems with updating the OS and updating Ableton Live. I simply couldn’t afford to keep up with the Joneses. The only way to avoid this was to make a rig that could be frozen in time, separated from the DAW, but could be sequenced and recorded using MIDI. Unfortunately, devices that had MIDI sequencers in them either had a horrible graphical user interface or a horrible price tag, or in most cases, both. You’d be lucky to find one that had 16 channels/tracks.

After much researching, the solution was to get a workstation. My first choice was one of the new Korg Electribes - those grey ones. I wasn’t sure if I could sequence easily. Hell, my EMX *technically* has a sequencer in it, but it maxes out at 8 bars and I still haven’t really figured out how to chain those into a full song. Also, each EMX “part” is also monophonic. I’d have to use three parts just to get a triadic chord.

My next choice was to go ahead and get a workstation. The Korg Kross was relatively cheap (around $599); I could save up and ask for gift cards for my birthday/Christmas. In addition to a 16 channel sequencer, I’d get a bunch of sounds, a crude audio input recorder, and a keyboard controller all in one. The two problems I had with it were, 1) It had an ugly LCD display, and 2) I hated the cheap plasticky key bed.

Then I thought, “well hell, for $300-$400 more I could get the Korg Krome”. The Korg Krome had more sounds, a big color touch screen display, and a fancy piano-roll type sequencer. What else could I ask for?

I spent a long time watching YouTube demos, and reading the PDF manuals. I soon discovered it was missing things. The biggest was it had no audio support. No audio in, no recorder. It was a pure MIDI sequencer/rompler. Also the key bed was cheap and plasticky like the Kross. Ugh, I thought.

This is were my greed got me.

I saw the Roland FA-06. It was beautiful. For $300 more than the Krome, it came with a Sampler with light-up pads, a built in audio interface, a “Daw Control” button, a D-Beam, and the ability to export tracks as 16 audio waveform “stems” to be brought into the DAW of your choice. Wow. I devoured the YouTube Demos and the PDF manuals. I didn’t want to miss a thing.

I worked my ass off to make some extra cash, and dropped the major hints to my wife and family on gift cards towards it. The FA-06 was going to be mine.

Then reality crept in.

The first thing I caught, was that the pads weren’t velocity sensitive. Bummer. Still seemed like a better buy than the Korg Krome.

There were other little things that I caught on to, but I’ll save them for the actual review. Christmas came, and the keyboard was delivered. I got to open it a day early. The first thing I did was make a sequence with one of the preset “Studio Sets”. It seemed pretty easy.

Then reality kicked me in the nuts.

Starting from right to left are my thoughts on the Roland FA-06:

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