Roland SP-404 Mk2 (Part 1)

The Lounge Other Gear
#3043

IIRC, one little-known hack to get perfectly synced loops on the SX and A was like this:

Say you have two samples, both are labelled as eg. 120bpm, but they obviously aren’t both exactly 120, b/c they go out of sync. Well, press TIME/BPM button (I think on the MK2 this has become PITCH/SPEED, in combination with the correct setting to only affect tempo, ie not vinyl mode) and use the appropriate knob to change the bpm value, but then change it back to 120. You have to change it back to 120 manually with the knob to the correct position, not by removing the bpm edit (which would be done by either turning the knob all the way to the left, or I think pressing TIME/BPM again so it’s unlit—either of these undoes the edit and reverts to the inexact “120bpm” again). This has the effect of editing it to exactly 120bpm. Then repeat this process for any other sample you want at that exact TIME/BPM value…

Okay, having written all that, I have no idea if you can implement this hack in the MK2 since clearly the whole data structure is different/more complex, but there it is. I might be misremembering this hack; hopefully not.

BTW I know I’ve gotten loops to be in sync enough (like, for minutes straight, certainly 10s of reps) on the SX even without this hack, just with some trial and error fine adjustment of START/END.

Edited for clarity.

7 Likes
#3044

dunno if you guys had an 404og, but to me it seems like the workflow is a bit different from before. still in the same kind of mindset, but a bit more tedious.
i mean i’m still learning my new mkii. this past few vacation days had some actual time to play around.
impressions: love the new fx, and the extra controls, the envelopes, quick chopping, the memory recording thingy and ofc the pitch.
but still i find that the fx affecting all the samples in default is confusing me sometimes. and that exit button that is used to go out of every mode, is tiresome to think about. just changing modes with pushing a button like before is not yet possible right?
the recordig starts as you select a pad, making me record silences, but i’ll get used to it.
and there is so many menus now! wow its making my simpleminded head hurt. lol
anyone else being annoyed by stuff like this?

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#3045

still waiting for mine, ordered on launch day and getting green with envy at everyone playing theirs :frowning:

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#3046

Ja, takes a moment to get used to it/work it out (and I’m not an OG 404 user). Have you worked out yet that you can direct pads to one of the busses or choose to have them unaffected. I think the combo is hit BUS then press Remain + pad to cycle through the Bus the pad should be affected by. Orange is Bus 1, blue is Bus 2 (I think), and white is no Bus/FX. You can do the same with a whole bank if I’m not mistaken. That gives you a bit of control over what gets affected by what and when.

Changing modes by pressing buttons is possible (eg from FX to pitch/speed to envelope), just exiting a mode to the BPM count isn’t.

You can change that behaviour in settings! Not sure what the menu option is called exactly (I’m away from my studio for a few days) but it’s something along the lines of “wait for signal”. You set it to that, then when you record/resample, you pick the pad and you’ll see “WAIT” on the screen - it now waits for a signal before it triggers recording (this also works for Ext Source sampling).

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#3047

thats for the reply!
yes i got around to the buses. its super actually
i think its just that i’m so used to the og way, after 10 years of buildup muscle memory: if you hit fx it affect the pad that u are on.
thinking about it maybe its more tedious the old way actually heh
gonna look around the menus to find the recording mode you say. thanks! still gonna take a while until im used to not hit the REC for a second time after i select the pad.
about the fx… this is what i mean. its not really universal how you change from one thing to the other. like you you go into menus then you need to exit right? you cant just change from menu to something else quickly. and then in some menus when you select something, it goes out again, which is not what seems logical to do.
or lastly the master fx are like super tedious to change their params and its not easily switched from on to off… heh maybe i’m too spoiled or something. i want everything made easy for me buhuhu.
"mom!!! come fix my sp4040mkii, its acting strange!!! "

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#3048

Yes they were! User error! All good :woman_facepalming:

#3049

I found a setting that is perfect for my playing style and totally eliminates the double triggering - Curve Type: Fix; Threshold: 40; Gain: 0; Trig Span: 1

But I couldn’t find a sensitivity setting. Is that somewhere else? Or is that the same as Threshold?

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#3050

Easiest way for me is to hold SHIFT and hit pad 10 (count in). As you hit it it cycles through all values. “None” means you’ll have to hit record twice to start recording, as you’re used to.

It took me a little while to realize but actually some settings have a direct access like that, count-in, metronome for example.

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#3051

I was mistaken regarding the names of the available parameters, I don’t have my SP 404 with me currently. the equivalent to Sensitivity is “Trig Span” - higher number will make it less likely to register double trigs (see attached jpg from manual). Also, bringing up Threshold as you have done is great if you struggle with double trigs (usually that’s a finger drumming technique question, increasing threshold will require you to hit the pads harder, thereby eliminating accidental trigs from bounce backs etc). In general you wanna strike with a loose hand and a stiff finger and release immediately (let the finger bounce off and withdraw)…a bit like right hand technique for flamenco guitar…my teacher used to say “imagine a jolt of electricity/a lighting shooting through your finger for a mere instance”, ie a brief moment of tension and then immediate release, allowing the finger to return to its natural position.

Jeremy Ellis has a good course on this stuff on askaudio, I think (it’s labelled as a Maschine course but is actually a finger drumming course).

Not suggesting you specifically have bad technique, just putting this here for anyone who may struggle with this/may be interested in this information :slight_smile:

image
image1284×2778 386 KB

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#3052

Day 3 of my four-day weekend and I made some serious strides with the SP today. I’m absolutely LOVING this thing.

For a while I got caught up just jamming with guitar and bass and didn’t really make much progress with making a track because I was just having so much fun (hell yeah!), but then this afternoon, BOOM it’s like it suddenly clicked, and I’ve got the makings of something that I think sounds really great. It’s going to take me a while to get it finalized as I want to use this track to experiment with lots of different things, but I’m developing a good workflow and I’m confident this is going to work for me in my setup, and much in the way I was envisioning.

Despite some small bugs and quirks, I think Roland knocked this one out of the park.

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#3053

very cool video watched that straight through. thanks for posting. raises the question that if someone were to take this approach having an awareness of the niche that would no longer be considered outsider music, what would that be, post-outsider? just experimental? theres something deeply fascinating about these misfits who fit together coming from the sheer quantity of people in the world

#3055

I’ve also received it (through a friend) here in Brazil, probably one of the first units in South America.

I replaced the old OG and SX with this one and it’s definitely an evolution in every way. Perhaps the only problem compared to the old ones is the shorter battery life.

Furthermore, one of the classic “problems” is still there: the headphones input on the front of the panel, which hinders the use in some positions. Does anyone know of any solution for this?

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#3056

That’s indeed a problem. I use this kind of adapter, it helps a little :

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#3058

I used these as well for the SX. Perfect for the lap or on a lipped surface.

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#3059

FYI, I brought my SP and mic into the music shop today to get the proper mic cable (Amazon returned my money for the bad one), and they were freaking out about how lucky I was to get my hands on one. They said they’ve still not seen one out of the box yet, and that the current wait time for new orders is 6-7 months.

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#3060

Can you loop pads independent of each other? At like different time lengths?

This seems like an ambient dream when combined with effects.

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#3061
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#3062

These techniques made me fall in love with SPs when I first got into them back in 2007. My workflow was all based around creating drones with Paul stretch. Then looping them all independently by hand and let them phase out and create new combos and Melodie’s. Then would layer on top of pitched down chopped breaks, like some poor man’s Odd Nosdam. So much fun. That was one cool part of the mark button functionality.

Dope read, should have caught this during the first run!

6 Likes
#3063

More for the knowledge base, XLR to TS 1/4” works great with my SM58. Confirms that the cable I bought on Amazon was a dud. Lesson for me is don’t buy cheap Chinese mic cables on Amazon.

The vocal effects are kind of great! I’m not a singer/rapper, but I can actually see myself putting vocal snippets in my tracks. The auto tune thing sounds surprisingly good. I like my voice a lot more as a baritone. Haha.

The overdrive effect also reminds me of The Beastie Boys So What You Want.

Lots of fun. Should have waited until my wife left to go shopping as I probably sound like a maniac. :laughing:

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#3064

I’m pleased to hear this! I’d been wondering about trying out vocals for a bit. An easy way to make music your own I think, after all your voice is unique. I’d been wrangling with pre-amp and fx ideas but the mk2 does all that in one box actually.

I love this sound :fist_left:

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