Koala to P-6 Sample Loader
The Roland P-6 provides two ways to load samples: manually into external storage, or using the official P-6 SampleTool app. Now there is a third way! I have developed this app, which allows you to use Koala Sampler songs to manage your samples for import into the P-6. On this page, I will explain how to use it and what you can expect from this app in the future.
Why another application?
The sample loading process explained in the manual is based on a subfolder structure where each pad has its own unique folder associated with it. This makes preparing a setup with many pads tedious and time-consuming.
Still, I think Roland itself realised this and developed the SampleTool application for loading samples, where you can also prepare the samples first. It's great to have this app, but there are still some parts that don't quite work for me:
It forces you to have the Roland P-6 connected to use it; you can't prepare your samples first and load them later.
Related to the above, there are no ‘projects’; every time you use it, you start from scratch.
It is only available for macOS and Windows.
The above points were enough for me to want to create an alternative. But before explaining how it works, it is important to make two clarifications:
DISCLAIMER 1: The app is currently only available for Android. Although it has been developed in a multi-platform environment and it would be fairly easy to port it to iOS, compiling iOS apps requires a macOS computer. I am a Windows and Android user, so I am unable to compile the app or test it for iOS.
There are platforms that offer paid virtual machines for compiling iOS apps, but I currently have no intention of spending my own money on this, as I do not expect to make a profit from this app.
If you are interested in having the app for iOS, please consider commenting and subscribing to the blog as a paying user. If there is enough interest, I would use the subscription revenue to use these platforms to create the iOS version.
DISCLAIMER 2: This application is still in a very early stage of development. I developed it for myself, and my way of testing it is to solve the problems I encounter myself. I also have many more features in mind, but I do not have a roadmap for implementing them. The application is completely free and ad-free, so I do not earn any money from it. If, before or after installing it, you find that it is not good enough for you, simply do not use it.
How to get the app
The app is currently available on the Play Store as a closed beta. This means that you won't find it directly on the Play Store. To download it, you can join the beta by joining this Google group.
By doing so, your email will be added to the list of testers (it will not be used for anything else, and your email will not be made public). Once you have done this, you can download the app from one of the following links:
How to use the app
The first thing you need to do to use the app is to create a Koala song with the samples organised for import. The image below on the left shows how the samples should be organised. The first six pads in bank A in Koala will correspond to the six pads in bank A of the Roland P-6. From there, to make them easier to identify visually, the next two pads are ignored and the following six are used for the next bank. The app allows you to choose between two methods of sorting the pads: sequential and alternating. With sequential sorting, the lower set of pads in Koala's bank A will be assigned to bank B of the P-6, progressing in order for Koala's banks B, C and D. With alternate sorting, the lower set of samples from Koala's bank A will correspond to bank E on the P-6. In this way, each Koala bank will represent the two banks accessed with each button on the P-6.
Once the samples have been arranged (in the current version, any additional editing done in Koala is ignored), you can use any of the available methods to export the song to a .koala file. The image above on the right shows how to do this.
Now you can open the Koala to P-6 Sample Loader application, which is very easy to use. From its main window, you will need to:
Select the .koala file you have created.
Select the output directory where the new directory will be created.
Select the import order of the banks as explained in the previous point.
Start the conversion.
If everything has worked correctly, a message will appear indicating this. At this point, the application will have created a new folder with the same name as the .koala file, which contains the IMPORT folder with all the files in their corresponding subfolders ready for import.
Now let's see how to load these samples into the Roland P-6.
How to transfer the generated folders to the P6?
The app only creates the folder structure that the Roland P-6 expects for import, but it does not currently perform the import itself. In this section, we will see how to load samples onto the Roland P-6 directly from your phone.
Connect the Roland P-6 to your smartphone using a USB OTG cable. Depending on your device, you may need to enable the OTG function in settings.
Now turn on the Roland P-6 in sample import mode as explained in the manual, turning it on while holding down the SAMPLING button.
Depending on your device and Android version, your phone will automatically recognise the P-6 as external storage, and you will be able to load the samples from any file explorer. Simply delete the auto-generated IMPORT folder on the P-6 and replace it with the IMPORT folder you created with the Koala to P-6 Sample Loader app. Of course, you can also import only specific banks or pads if you want to do a partial import or mix between different projects you have generated.
If your device does not directly recognise the P-6, the process has a few more steps, but it is just as simple. The problem is that your phone does not have the necessary libraries and drivers to work with the P-6's storage, but these can be obtained through external applications.
There are multiple apps to do this, but after trying several alternatives, I recommend ZUGate, as it is completely free, available directly from the Play Store, and in my case, it has worked perfectly every time.
ZUGate only mounts the Roland P-6 as external storage so that files can be read and written, but you still need to use a file manager to move your samples. Not all file managers correctly recognise external storage, so I recommend two other options that I have tested: ZArchiver, from the same creators as ZUGate, and MiXplorer.
To use ZUGate, open the app where we left off (with the Roland P-6 connected for sample import) and the Roland P-6 will appear in the list of connected devices. Now you simply have to select that you want to mount the storage for reading and writing, and press the button to mount it. If the option to mount it for reading and writing does not appear, check that it is enabled in the application settings.
With the Roland P-6 mounted, all you need to do is use one of the recommended file managers to load the samples onto your Roland P-6. For me, MiXplorer is by far the best file manager, although you should bear in mind that to get it for free you have to download it from their website, or alternatively you can get it from the Play Store (MiXplorer Silver) as a paid app to contribute to its development.
F.A.Q.
In the app itself, by clicking on the top left button, you can access the ‘About’ section from the menu for more information on how it works and answers to some frequently asked questions. We have also included those questions here:
Q: Is this application developed by the Koala Sampler team?
A: No, this application has been developed completely independently and is not an official application from the Koala / Elf Audio team. However, before its release, we contacted them and they gave us their approval for the release of this app and for the use of their logo as part of this app's logo.
Q: Do I need to have the Koala Sampler app to use this one?
A: Technically no, the app uses .koala projects as input, so as long as you have that file (for example, if you generated it from another phone), you can use it.
However, if you want to create your own projects to export, you will have to do so from Koala Sampler. It is one of the best music production apps at a very low price, so it is really worth paying for it to enjoy it and support the development team.
Q: If I have edited a sample in Koala, will the edited version of the sample be exported?
A: Not in this version. Koala does not automatically consolidate edits into a new .wav file, so when you export it, the original is still exported. In future versions of this app, the main edits made in Koala will be taken into account, such as the ability to edit the start and end of the sample, as well as some additional features such as the ability to select the import sample rate for each sample.
Q: What is the sample rate of the exported samples?
A: According to our tests, regardless of the original sample rate, Koala stores samples at a sample rate of 48 kHz, so the maximum length per sample will be consistent with this. In future versions, we plan to integrate the ability to select the sample rate per sample.
A few final words
To conclude and reaffirm the initial disclaimer messages, I developed this application to meet my own needs and with the same philosophy as the rest of the blog, which is to be able to get the most out of the Roland P-6. I am publishing it because I think that just as it is useful to me, it may be useful to other users, and as a way of giving back knowledge to the community. However, as this is a hobby, I cannot commit to any level of support for the application, as it would cease to be a hobby.
If you think the application is useful to you or could be useful, consider subscribing to this blog as a paying user, where, to be honest, you will not get any additional benefits beyond motivating me to write more (both blog text and app code). 🙂
Happy sampling.