Yep as I said they are often optomistic. To be fair I’ve also gotten things sooner than expected from them… so maybe it’s more just that it’s not accurate.
Seems like end of August is a good bet.
I find it annoying too, wish the screen would just stay until I press exit
On the OG 404, you pressed REMAIN to see how much sampling time remained for you to record to. That’s where it got its name.
But it had a secondary purpose of assigning FX to pads or presetting FX values. And while seeing the remaining sampling time isn’t important anymore (due to the gobs of RAM) assigning FX to pads and tweaking FX values is (just a little different because of busses and the screen, respectively).
So they needed to keep the button. But I guess they kept the name, too, because previous 404ers are used to using “remain” for this? That and a better name for this job isn’t readily apparent.
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Thanks the recap!
I love that they kept the button label even though it isn’t relevant anymore 
Usually standard terminology and descriptive words are the way to go to avoid confusing people. Not familiar with the machine but for example FX, or Pad FX.
*Anyways, I’m sure it would stick after putting some time in 
Props to Roland, or at least the 404 team, for not simply resorting to menu diving for the new functions, given that they have the new push encoder right there. I expect third-party udpated skins will appear quickly enough, and it seems pretty easy to arrange your own. Maybe they could work a few more on-screen hints into future updates, too. The system of a lit button reminding you of a function doesn’t really work if you end up with just about every button being lit.
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Agreed! Although I sort of have it in my mind that the modulator keys are [Remain], [Shift], [Roll], and occasionally [Mark] …so that sort of takes out a lot of complexity for me
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What might be a reason for pattern length being limited to 64 bars and does anyone with any ideas on this ever see that increasing with a future update?
I don’t mean to bash OT in any way but IMHO 404mkII is way easier to get used to its workflow for me. It’s like a similar level of easiness old vintage mpc had.
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My last hurrah with v1.14:
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Isn’t “more of an instrument” just code speech for “it’s hard to make it sound good”? 
Edit: that was a tongue in cheek joke but I forgot to also ask: in what ways do you feel it’s more of an instrument?
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Wasn’t me that made that comment, but I could see someone arguing that devices that are less about programming/step editing (or menu diving) and more about real-time performance (and hitting buttons or combinations of buttons at the proper time) are more “instrument like”.
I play a few instruments, primarily guitar and flute, and those definitely involve a lot of finger dexterity, and you have to feel the rhythm internally. I loved my Digitakt, but that felt a lot more like programming than playing something. The SP, particularly before this step sequencer update, involved a lot of real-time takes and time keeping (plus a bit of pressure to nail the timing), so I suppose in that respect it’s a bit more instrument like than some other devices.
I stopped with MPCs after the 1000, but that had a bit of both worlds (and I loved it).
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Is this how much these things cost? Perfect Circuit says different
Definitely a nice feature and easy to use.
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I’ve made the “SP = instrument” point many times here and I can confirm that it is code for “it’s hard to make it sound good.” 
just joking, the SP404mk2 sounds ace no matter what I do! 
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Naw, I got one off of Ebay from a Japanese reseller very close to retail, like around $570 after taxes I think.
This is also a good example of programming vs real-time playing with the new MKII update. I think it highlights why playing in real-time can be quicker and sound better for certain applications, like this loose drum style. Even though offsets are possible with the new step sequencer it’s really time consuming and ultimately doesn’t sound as good IMO (still lacks the human feel).
I think the step sequencer will be much better suited to cases/styles of music where you want everything right on the grid, although I think there are cases where I might use it in conjunction with real-time playing, for instance to get certain hits (like the first kick) right on the grid quickly, without messing with quantize.
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saw some in Los angeles craigslist that were more than that, they were new and hadn’t been used though but perfect circuit is out of stock right now
what’s an instrument really depends on the user ultimately cause if you’ve ever watched Mario or Cenk flow over a digitakt it definitely looks like an instrument in their hands but this is more than not the case for any instrument i guess
what I really want is for roland to nick the sample freeze feature from the mpc, love roland fx
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That’s very true. I think all the performance stuff is cool but what I like best is just programming everything out. So in my hands, the Digitakt and Digitone are usually machines that you program rather than an instrument you play.
If I had the 404, I’d probably go that way too. Though it would mostly wind up being a module for my Digitakt.
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Yeah, for me this would work fine. I would prefer to be able to edit notes after the fact. But I tend to be pretty consistent with my microtiming so it works as more of custom grid than like off grid
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