Roland SP-404 Mk2 (Part 1)

The Lounge Other Gear
#3167

The plan for that last track was to put it through the Portastudio, but last night when I went to record, the meters weren’t working and all I was getting was a really low volume. That’s when I said screw it and uploaded it pretty much straight off the machine.

Today, I reluctantly hooked everything up again and was having the same problem, and was thinking how much of a PITA it’s going to be to get this thing serviced. Finally, I unplugged it and that’s when I realized I stupidly had used the SP404 power adapter on the Portastudio! Doh!

When I plugged in the correct adapter everything works perfectly. Phew! I’ve been screwing around with a remix today using the Volante. I’ll probably spare everyone this one, but will definitely be bouncing to tape for future tracks.

(I just realized how weird it is that my two main machines now are the 404mkii and the 414mkii…perhaps I need a 424mkii next). :thinking:

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#3168

what are the filters like on the mk2? The sx one is…weird. Extremely harsh, drive distorts very quickly and doesn’t close nearly all the way. It has its place but yeah. I’m in love with the isolator though. is the isolator the same
on the new ones?

#3170

It’s my first SP, so I’m not sure if the isolator is exactly the same, but it’s my favorite of the filters. There are a couple of other ones. The main one that comes in the first slot is sort of weird and harsh, like you say. Then there’s another one called something like the Super Filter or something. It’s got a few different modes low pass, high pass, and band pass, but a bit like the isolator. Not super smooth, that’s for sure, and probably wouldn’t be good for shaping synths, unfortunately (which is something I originally hoped).

You can hear the isolator in my reggae track (shameless plug)

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#3171

Just got the machine a few days ago and it’s amazing. Only real workflow thing I’m struggling with is getting perfect loops when sampling/resampling, does anyone have any tips? A small bar marker in the start/end-point editor would be amazing. If you add the drums you can do probably do it by the kick I guess, or you can just use the pattern sequencer and restart the sample once it loops, but otherwise I feel like there is no way you can do it by ear and not have it drift out of sync if you just have the pad loop with Hold, unless you spend forever just nudging it back and forth to get it perfect.

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#3172

That’s how I see it as well. The only way I found to play loops without them drifting is by sequencing them to relaunch. Its not bad actually, for me.

I’d still wish to be able to flip the “end” marker to “lemgth in beats” given de sample’s tempo. Optionally. But if this doesn’t come I’m still a happy camper.

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#3173

Wait, can’t you just put that sample in a pattern and set the bars there? That works for me, assuming you can figure out the BPM.

#3174

Yes, that’s what I tried to say (poorly :blush:). That works and that’s the way I do it.

The wish is for an alternative, I like to play looped samples, simply, by pressing the pads, to jam (and resample maybe). Would I be able to set the length in beats time, I could do so without samples drifting.

Using the sequencer is fine, I’m happy with that but I suspect the other method would be fun as well and yield other happy accidents.

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#3175

Why not resample the pattern then after it loops perfectly. Then you have it as a sample on a pad? I guess maybe I don’t understand the workflow you are talking about.

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#3176

In every case, it’s about setting the sample end so that when it loops it’s exactly, say 2 bars. Not a hair more or a hair less.

Resampling the pattern is the same. As you end resampling by hand, you have to adjust the sample end for the resulting sample, and when you loop the resulting sample, it’s close to impossible that it’s exactly a 2 bars loop (for the given example)

Another way would be the ability to record/resample to a fixed amount of beats length (as on Push 2 or the Blackbox).

Again, I want to emphasize that I’m happy with the way it is and can live forever with how it is. This wish, I assume, could lead to fun mangling of looped samples and happy accidents

I also want to emphasize that I love the way looped samples get out of phase, in many cases, so the current way has its virtues.

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#3177

Yep I can live with the current way as well, it’s just it would open up possibilities of playing stuff live and messing about if I knew I had say a bank of 16 pads and they all looped perfect, so I could just start and stop them in Hold mode outside of the pattern sequencer.

I think one thing I’ll try is having the sample in the pattern sequencer, then resampling it over say 8 or 16 bars, and then just using that longer resample. Probably a decent workaround actually, with the main limitation being that it’ll “waste” memory and the sample will be needlessly long (which shouldn’t be an issue on the SP).

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#3178

Yeah, I’m not criticizing or anything, just honestly trying to understand how that works. So it’s like some kind of real time time stretch/pitch shift algorithm, so that if you play something in that’s not exactly a bar it will stretch it to the bar line, I guess?

The other alternative would be to prep your stuff with something like Serato Sampler. That would not only get everything in an exact BPM, but you could get your samples in the right key. I’m not a purist, so I’m happy to make use of any tools that make my life easier, especially for things like beat battles where you end up having to deal with huge varieties of source material. People like Cookin’ Soul use that method.

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#3179

well I haven’t received mine yet but I can tell you that I’d still like the option to have it resample in fixed lengths, for a company that implemented skip back recording I don’t think that’s too much to ask

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#3180

No problem, I’m also just trying to express an idea.

So no, nothing to do with time stretching. More simple than that.

Say I record a 2 bars loop from an app and the iPad. The wish is that I could either stop the recording after 2 bars exactly, or, set the end marker in the recorded sample to “2 bars”, given that I set the sample’s tempo to the right tempo. I know the tempo as I recorded from the iPad.

That way, I could play the looped sample and it wouldn’t drift.

This is possible by using the app on the computer I believe, or other software to cut the loop and load to the sp via the app or SD card. The wish would be to do that on the sp directly.

Hope it’s clearer! :blush:

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#3181

Is it the DJ Store in OZ im thinking of??

#3182

It seems like other people have been asking for this feature as well. Hopefully they will be able to do it. I guess I don’t know what I’m missing, but probably won’t be able to live without it when it comes. :slight_smile:

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#3183

At this point, you have to calculate and set the sample length manually like this:

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#3184

Yes thanks. At this point I find it easier to use other methods but this should work yes :+1:

#3185

Look out for a “mini Force” from Akai seeing how successful the SP has been for Roland :sweat_smile:

I’ve been using Serato Studio to chop and loop. Although I understand the SP is supposed to give one a freer form of music making, but it’s taking way too much time to just get it to loop in sync, and instead of getting frustrated with it, I’m just chopping it up in SS. :man_shrugging:t2:

#3186

omg been begging since day one, c’mon akai do it already!!!

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#3187

Serato Studio is sick for sampled based music making, I wouldn’t know of a piece of hardware that rivals its speed and quality of algorithms.

The SP404 is more an instrument than a production box I feel, hard comparison to make. I feel there’s too much gear out there that tries to do it all (mainly Akai’s stuff lol), I for one really appreciate the focus/limitations on the SP404.

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