Roland SP-404 Mk2 (Part 1)

No I was talking about stereo pathetic soul manure. But a couple of those Ciccone youth songs we recorded in a record booth, at a mall.

This is just anectodal, but limitations helped me make more music than I ever did before. I went from FL Studio to the Digitakt. The limited set of tools on the Digitakt made me focus on building patterns and arranging them into a full track in a way that FL Studioā€™s limitless tracks and channels and plugins never did.

That said I always record my music into a stereo track in FL Studio and run it through an FX chain on the master channel.

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Chess: 6 piece types; one move type for each. Still the most revered strategy game in history.

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Yeah I read that. But they were all taken into the studio to be processed properly. Even a home 4 track of a small band can be mixed and processed to good results. Not true of resampling and resampling and resampling again of multiple instruments/tracks bounced to a single stereo output.

Thatā€™s true, but the only thing that matters is the end result, and if you master that method; get all your levels straight, and make a few versions of each resampled phrase, an artist can generate greatness. Pollock didnā€™t have the ability (nor desire) to remove or rearrange previous layers.

As far as ciccone youth is concerned, have a listen for yourself. Anyone w/ an SP could end up w/ a cleaner, more polished sound, via resampling, than whatā€™s found on that record.

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Thatā€™s a great way of looking at it.

But if he actually couldā€¦ā€¦

Something to ponder.

Rhinestone Cowboy by MadVillian was completely done on a 303. I choose to not fret about limitations but instead embrace them. Ive been producing music a long time and spent a lot of time with other guys in the studio during mix downs and learning about their (typically simple) process was eye opening for me when I was starting out.

Itā€™s amazing what can be done with just a little.

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I doubt he would. The urgency and expressionism of his technique was the point.

So well put

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Cool Iā€™ll look this up

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Iā€™ll be honest. As much as I enjoy this discourse, I really wish we could go back to ranting about ship dates! WHERE is my MK2?!? Wah.

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Of course, but due to the discussions on technique, choice of gear, etc it just makes me wonder, what if he actually had the option to do so. If he were here now. But Iā€™m more than happy to believe heā€™d refrain from doing so. I get comfort from that.

But yeah, come on Roland! Ship our effin units already!!

I think the existence of the SP subculture is evidence enough that an expressive, performance-based process is preferable to certain artists. They exist. Itā€™s not like all the SP resample-head users are unaware of (or have no access to) other options. Personally, I have a far greater time making music on an OP1 than w/ Logic, or with my MPC Live. They all have their place, but Iā€™m just far more productive w/ the OP, because I play out my mixes in real time. To each their own.

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I just went onto YouTube and a trailer for Masterclass.com popped up.

It was featuring the Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who was completely unknown to me. I donā€™t usually watch ads on YouTube but I left it playing.

There was a moment very fitting with some of the above, recent discussion.

He said he came to a moment during a concert where he decided to ā€œdevote his life to human expression versus human perfectionā€

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The thing is, on the MPC I can do that straight on the pads - just set it to scale mode and I have a bit more than two octaves of notes at my disposal.

On the Digitone, Iā€™d have to grab those midi cables, find a USB charger and cable for the Keystep 37, plug it all into the Digitone and then program the notes. This is the difference between capturing a creative idea and getting lost in programming hardware to me.

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Yeah, with being able to sample over USB from a PC or iPhone, itā€™s going to be perfect for that, particularly since there are effectively no sample time limitations to worry about and so many banks of pads (unlike the DT). Iā€™ll just park it next to my DAW, and when I come up with interesting sequences or stuff, Iā€™ll sample it in and then have it to mess around with for remixes or whatnot. Seems like a lot of fun, and very little fuss.

Also, YouTube is an endless source of sample material and you will only need one cable to sample in from your phone.

Iā€™m also in my 40s and am not looking to do this professionally at this point. Just want to have fun and make some stuff I like. Like people that just do oil or watercolor paintings to relax.

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I think a lot of the effort that is required to produce high quality results is a full time job in itself. As someone who recently produced two sample based tracks for the first time in 15 years, it simply made me more irate the longer they took to finish - but I got there and it felt good (MPC2500 and Ableton)

I need machines for fun, for experimentation and building ideas.

I own a DT and an SP404a, alongside an MPC2500 for these purposes - the least productive experience is the DT - step sequencers donā€™t have much soul. On the other hand, the SP is literally a DJ machine as itā€™s so dire to sequence, but itā€™s such a laugh, filled with breaks and like Cookin Soul. Itā€™s all about tricks and stunts, like Iā€™m riding an audio BMX.

The MPC is so musical. Where Akai nailed it is that you feel like a musician when you use it, not a programmer! You become a drummer, regardless of whether you can drum, or even have any rhythm and that connects to your soul - thatā€™s hard to beat.

Im excited because the SP404mk2 should be the one. All the wonderful musical features of the MPC (mute groups, chopping) but with those fabulous musical effects. And I can sit on the train with it?! :fire: :fire:

By the way I have an Allen and Heath Zedr16 - I can track out all 16 inputs to Ableton in one go. If you own an older MPC and get sick of tracking out, this is what you need. I jam most of my ideas into Ableton using all 10 MPC outs and tidy up from there. Side chain, multi band compress, effects - it can come together so well.

Peace

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To polish a stone to match another takes days of minute labor, but any stone will do. To polish a unique stone can be done in minutes, but you must search for the stone for years.

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Keeping the GAS high on this one:

Wanna see some cool musical history?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNvAUobb1y4

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