Yea except now I want a stereo pre amp from them lol
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@InTheAM
You really like the Tone Beast ? I have been looking for an external pre with lots of character. I keep coming back to the Tone Beast, I just purchased an RME UCX II now looking for a stereo pre to run samples through and regulars duties as well.
Do you have other pres that you can compare it too ?
Thanks !
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I do really like it. Unfortunately, the only things I could compare it to are Focusrite and MOTU–certainly way more character than those, although for purely utilitarian duties I think the MOTU pres on my 828 MKII sound great, nice and clean. The TB has a ton of clean headroom that I can only describe as “opening up” a sound or making it more “3D” and both those don’t feel quite right as a description.
I like the saturation of the vintage (not clean) mode but I find it pretty subtle. Its not an obvious saturation/overdrive/distortion device. It is trying to emulate vintage pre-amps that were as clean as they could make them back then, right? And from my research they’ve done a good job of achieving that sound.
I’ve been very careful when discussing it with people because I now think if you have the budget, owning some good pre amps is worth the money. But it is one of those situations where you are paying good money to squeeze that last 10% out of something that is already sounding good (a good synth patch from a good sounding synth).
With the Monostation it already has its own overdrive and distortion so the Tone Beast helps flesh those out a bit.
The Tone Beast is also mono and does not include stereo linking. That doesn’t mean you couldn’t use two of them on a stereo signal, but AFAIK you’d have to be careful to dial the same settings on each channel as closely as possible.
A friend of mine had an SSL SiX mixer for a while and I liked the what he was getting out of it. It costs about the same as a couple Tone Beasts or a stereo pre from Warm Audio. It has a lot more going on for the money but might not get you as much character as you are looking for.
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A few days in with my SP-16 and I’m really enjoying myself. I didn’t realise how capable it would be with loops. If you have “perfect” loops (e.g. exactly 1/2/4 bars long) then you can make the start, end and loop start points lock to the grid (however many slices you choose) so if you move them around you can immediately make variations from drum loops and other material, and even shift them around live as a performance.
You can also make the sample loop indefinitely so if you loop part of the sample, say 3 16ths long, then place a single trig and then immediately remove the trig once playback has passed that trig then it will loop indefinitely without any retrigger. So you could have one 3/16th loop, one 5/16th etc and get polyrhythms. It’s not independent track length but it’s an easy way to experiment with loops and rhythms playing independently of one another.
Also having fun playing the delay with long feedback and then tweaking the time. It’s not the most versatile delay in the world but you can get pretty wild with it pretty quickly and make walls of sound. Fiddle with sample start, loop length etc and you can do some fun sound design and jamming.
It’s a more versatile machine than I had anticipated.
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Listening to a recording i made earlier when i had a SP ,last night after a blunt.Sound really good,rich and clear.got me thinking it might be the overall best sounding box (modern sounding) ive owned.The step parameter type locks really bring a recording to life….
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I started a topic a while back about DJ mixers and potential use for production and performance (DJ mixer vs Octatrack (fx and looper)) and I’m revisiting the idea in context of the SP-16.
I’m really enjoying this machine but in some ways it isn’t so performance friendly. switching between the different tracks/pads can be a bit cumbersome and you can’t hit a pad without triggering the sound (I don’t think). The FX are fine but, again, in a performance/jamming context you can only control so much with those 6 knobs and you have to switch between screens a lot.
I keep coming back to the idea of a DJ mixer that has FX, something like the Allen & Heath Xone PX5 or a Pioneer DJM-750 mixer. My only real complaint is their size - they seem massive to me and I have limited space. I can probably stomach the cost (about a grand) if they add a decent amount of value and flexibility. The FX on the Xone PX5 look pretty fun and the analogue filter and EQ look nice. The SP-16 has 8 outs so I could get 4 stereo pairs into the mixervand be able to apply those lovely Xone FX, do crossfades, preview/cue different sounds and loops with the headphones and even stream the tracks into a DAW (I think) with the built-in audio interface (10 in, 10 out) . If you set up your patterns and tracks in the SP-16 in a sensible way then you could have e.g. each column of 4 tracks into the 4 channels of the mixer and then be able to crossfade and do transitions between your “tracks”.
Any thoughts on this? Massive overkill to buy a huge and expensive DJ mixer?! I feel like the SP-16 has so much potential and with a decent DJ mixer it would be somewhere between a DJ performance and a “live” performance which is something I have always aspired to but never quite nailed. I’m not in a position to have a room full of gear so I need it to be relatively compact and, as many have said before on this forum, any more than 3 boxes and it gets hard to sensibly perform anyway. I only have two hands!
Thanks !
It seems like you view the Tonebeast the way i see the SP-16 very open hifi and “full” but not muddy or cloudy. Funny enough I have an 828es and just purchased and RME UCX II. I really like the 828 pres , the RME’s are very clean ( I like having some character) some people might call them harsh. 8282 has send /returns so i am thinking I might be better served getting a “character” compressor but reading your post definitely considering the TB, wish they were stereo linkable.
Throwing up my current setup in case anyone’s interested :
MOTU 828es ADAT expander into > Fireface UCX II >MPC One.
Virus TI2
SP-16
OTMKII ( but I may sell)
A4 MK I
MPC One in transit ( may replace the OT)
Various Soft synths
Tonebeast could be on stereo output of UCX II that way I can send any of the samplers/synths out to be processed and back into the MPC One or DAW.
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Yea, I think we are on the same page. I’m very much a newbie when it comes to recording anything with pre-amps despite having owned audio interfaces for a long time now. And I don’t want to mislead those in my same position to think that they will get instant gratification/super obvious coloration from what I consider to be an expensive, luxury product. I was admittedly a bit crestfallen the first few days using the Tone Beast. Cranking the saturation and using the vintage setting just isn’t going to sound good on everything.
I’ve not used any of them, but Warm Audio has a lot of compressors in their stable as well. I would love to have a signal chain of their gear at some point.
The TB does also have a send/return I believe.
That is a tidy setup. Not that the gear is the same but that’s about where I’m at–a few key pieces and “studio productions” get finished in the DAW. My live versions/tracks/beats just live in the SP-16.
I’d like to have one digital poly synth and have been obsessing over wavetable synthesis for that purpose. The Virus line keeps coming up, I may just have to go that route though I was looking at the Argon 8.
@InTheAM
You wont regret the Virus TI a very unique synth. Nothing like it.
I looked at the MODAL line as well, thought maybe it could be a substitute, great product and features but not a Virus ( may pick up one in the future as a compliment/addition to sonic pallete)
Like you a few key pieces OTB production and vocals/live instruments > DAW > mixing.
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You can if you use the touchscreen. But I agree, I‘d love to be able to do so using the pads themselves.
As for the FX, I think 6 parameters are plenty for live performance actually. You‘d have to setup the FX per pad beforehand, but once that‘s dialed in I think access to the parameters is just fast enough to be decent for live use.
Using midi some of the access can be accelerated further, albeit there‘s no „auto channel“ assignment where a CC message is sent to the track in focus, so that‘s another one that could be better.
I think what hits me most from a live perspective is that I can‘t trigger live loop recording via the step sequencer, thereby making it more difficult to get a perfectly timed loop.
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Since some of us are still gushing over the SP-16–working with it tonight again and I’m really not over how much I love it. I know, new relationship energy, will it fade? Even if I wimp out and never really use it in my DJ sets, worth every penny creatively for starting tracks. I’ve had a lot of groovebox samplers from the ES-1 to the Digitakt and none of them compare to the speed at which I can get an idea and arrangement down and ready for the DAW work.
I think the key to using it live will be to just live with the sonic differences between what I finish in the DAW and getting the patterns sounding as good as I can inside the SP-16. With a DJ mixer it’ll be easy to mix back and forth between the DAW version on a CDJ and whatever is on the SP-16.
Instead of doing a lot of work to reduce the sonic difference between the two version, I’ll just embrace it and see how that sounds. That’s working smarter not harder, I hope.
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I use the individual outs of the sp-16 with a djm750. That was my start set up and really fun. Wanted more options and added a few effects and synths along with two patchbays to be able to route the signal before the mixer. Also great for sampling and recording in the Bluebox.
Had to make it compact because of space limitations. It is a nice set up for jamming and sounds great. But I guess a big table and space would be better.
Still learning and quite confusing at times. With a 1.5yeard old who likes detaching cables from the patchbay… That’s not helping.
Also helps with sleepingproblems in bed.
I just have to start thinking of the optimal routing path and after two minutes I am out. 
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Wow, what a sweet setup - looks so much fun!
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I love this rig
Still my favorite demonstration- granted, No one has the sample collection Sneak has. So there’s that 
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Cheers for sharing that. I’ve seen it before but not in a while and picked up a good workflow thing he’s doing - arranging at a scene level using mutes (which get saved in scenes) as opposed to arranging with patterns which don’t save mute states. Nice one!
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Also. The DJS stores mutes per pattern. The SP-16 does not. So we’d have to do it by scene.
Ah I didn’t know that. I wish it was optional!
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As much as I want a DJS again, compared to the SP-16, the benefits don’t quite outweigh the cost.
On the DJS, there’s no send FX and no second FX slot. Granted the Master FX could be used as a send in a way. But then you lose the master FX (say, if you wanted a HPF or something)
Curious…
Anyone using one of these able to give any top suggestions for what to pair it with - looking for one ‘other’ device to run into this, both for live looping and sampling/midi sequencing etc.
Happy with the SP16 for drum duties so not looking for another drum machine (though it did play nicely with my TR8S and was thinking about a DFAM for a while) but decided to focus more on the melodic side through a couple of delay and reverb pedals.
Currently just have my TD 3 hooked up which is great but limited… any recommendations for a winning combo/good pairing. Looking to play largely improvised techno/house (for my own pleasure and occasionally for a willing audience or to record etc). Considered the Lyra 8 as well, I’ve owned it before but moved it on as it’s just a little too wild and limited… tempting though!
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