Roland SP-404 Mk2 (Part 1)

The Lounge Other Gear
#6017

Editing wouldn’t work. There’s a large caveat for above:

So far this doesn’t really work how I would want it to, at least for time based effects. I can send sounds from the SP to the DAW and record the affected signal back into a pad, but the affected signal is live-mixed into the SP, so you end up applying effects to affected signal itself, which is really noticeable for e.g. delays.

You could of course sample the SP into the DAW and then resample the affected sound back into the SP, all over USB. No issues there.

2 Likes
#6018

Hmm, food for thought. Thanks for the comprehensive reply!

#6019

Luckily the SP is dead simple!
All you need to learn are the key combos and you know it’s deepest secrets.

2 Likes
#6020

ok, well since I already have an Octatrack and Squid Salmple, for me the only real benefit of the Roland sampler would be if I needed a portable battery powered sampler.

#6021
7 Likes
#6022

Great beats! Are they all done on the SP exclusively?

#6023

he doesn’t say

#6024

I’ve been learning the workflow of the 404 for the past few weeks, today I cabled everything up and then hit what I thought was poor audio quality when using the line in from my Pro2. I played a bass sound with a a solid thump at the start but through the 404 it sounded flabby and lifeless.

After much head scratching the cause was the default -12db noise gate. I suppose that’s great for sampling vinyl, not so great for punchy one shots from your favourite synth.

Gear really can make an arse of you!

3 Likes
#6025

Is there a way to have resample wait to begin recording until it receives audio via the ext-in like in recording mode?

#6026

I don’t think so. Unfortunately there is no count-in when resampling - be it a bar or two of metronome or “wait”, when resampling.

That’s too bad, makes recording an instrument over a playing pattern less than ideal.

1 Like
#6027

My thoughts exactly. I’ve found that a lot of the time I’ll be resampling over a loop that’s already going and it’d be super helpful to be able to just play it in on the beat rather than needing to hit the pad while playing it in. Might seem minor but definitely impacts workflow.

2 Likes
#6028

Yep. Count-in for resampling would open a lot, for recording inputs over music that’s in the box! Hope Roland is reading :blush:

5 Likes
#6029

i hate that!

i’m totally capable of makin an arse of myself myself

2 Likes
#6030

That’s some forced out-of-time head nod right there.

1 Like
#6031

Quick question, in chromatic mode, is there a way to toggle between effects slot 1 and 2 without leaving chromatic mode? I’m not finding any obvious button combinations, but just wondering if there is a button combination I’m not thinking of or something obvious I’m failing to see.

#6032

Don’t think so, but it would be nice to have.

There is more than enough room for Roland to give the MKII more power with a nice firmware update. Hope it will come before end of the year.

4 Likes
#6033

Did you try triggering via midi?
CC 19 (0-63=OFF 64-127=OFF)
Channel 1 is bus 1
Channel 2 is bus 2

1 Like
#6034

Cool. Not that big of a deal really, but I figured I’d ask. I was thinking the same thing about an update after staring at those empty effects slots. I’m hoping for a simple, nice sounding reverb (something a bit less quirky/grungy).

Also, I really like the scales in chromatic mode and would like more of those. I’m sure a lot of people would like them to beef-up the step sequencer as well. Sequencer upgrades would probably be the best way for them to attract a broader range of people to the SP. While I’m wishing, some basic Koala-style graphics for the sequencer would be super dope. I better stop now…

Cheers. I haven’t, but I don’t really use midi with the SP for most of what I do with it, so it wouldn’t really work for my workflow unfortunately. Cool that that is possible though. It would be a good option for people doing live sets maybe.

3 Likes
#6035

Can’t you use Input Threshold to start recording when audio gets to a certain level?

#6036

Bought one today on sale to jam with my Roland TB03, TR-08, OP1 and pocket operator. Should be fun change from using the Octatrack.

1 Like