Well if you didn’t keep handing me your beer I wouldn’t have drank so much!
@Leptic Project remains, I meant last used sample bank.
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I’m more and more impressed with this box the more I dig into it. I got mine thinking I wanted to move on from the MPC as a sample chopping / mass storage box, but it just keeps revealing ways to make itself essential that I hadn’t even thought about - only just started plugging a mic and guitar in. A real Swiss army knife. Tbh I’m not even finding the shortcuts that bad, it all makes sense once you get into it.
I think I’ve found a solution to putting together a DJ set that can be recalled from SD while retaining cue points and not clogging up the internal memory with full tracks. It seems like if you load the project with the tracks from SD - press the sub pad during project load - then the project behaves more or less the same way as one saved internally. So markers/cue points recall correctly when you go back to the project and there’s no need to save it, everything updates as you go along. I still need to test a lot more to see how reliable it will be, but so far so good.
One thing I’m wondering about is using it as an end of chain in a DAW - effects are handy, but mainly to skip back and grab audio. I find the vst a bit glitchy and afaik you can’t run audio into it? So I’ve set it up as an aggregate device with my main sound card and using it as an external effect on a channel. Route everything else into it and keep the app open to drop files to and from when needed. Seems to work fine, haven’t really bothered with latency compensation because usually isn’t critical in the contexts I’m using it like this in. Not sure is there an alternative / better way of doing this?
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Ah yes. The sweet sound of another intense SP affair growing toward a more committed relationship. Possible matrimony?
I guess I understand why some people belabor SP’s complexity but I’ve always loved it. For me, the many paths it can take you to Enlightenment are what makes it seem almost alive—as a partner in what I’m creating with it. The latest update 5 has expanded this as exponentially as the last major update. It’s why I love unapologetically Japanese gear. Many manufacturers race toward super simple UI/UX to the point they can border sterile—Roland says F that….lets make our boxes ripe with hidden wonders like Hogwarts.
Complexity for some is a simple right of passage for others.
I digress. Lately, I’ve been using SP at the very end of chain. Primarily, I use Rodecaster Pro 2 or Mixerface by Centrance as my soundcard with or without a DAW. I run output to SP so it’s my Catch-All (skipback). Sometimes that’s just a headphone jack depending on how many devices I’m using so never any latency worries.
Eyeing one of those new tiny Zoom L6 for more inputs so I can route SP back in/out(?). The possibilities of this little box are endless. The more I use it, the more solutions—and questions I find indeed.
A hallmark of genius, ever inspiring more curiosity and areas to explore making SP one of the few essential pieces of gear imo.
Last night, I was using it end of chain with MPC in place of DAW, Roland MV-1 for vocals, DN2 as main melodic/harmonic/sequencer module.
I think I’m in love. Again.
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I feel like most people that struggle with the SP404 mk2 tend to have a vision of what they believe it should do and how it should work with them. The mk2 really just has a few set ways to do things, so you really have to come to it and work with it the way it was intended to be played.
It’s tough to sit down with the mk2 and drop some great sounds out of it from the jump, and this seems like where most people get hung up… it’s a device that absolutely rewards time spent with it, and while most of the most important features are surface level and quick, you’ll want to take the time to learn how to do some of the less visible things with it.
I’m not sure about other folks, but I do value the overall lack of menu diving for nearly the entire product. Personally I’d rather have a few more button chord combinations than have to pop up a menu, scroll through a ton of menus, and eventually get to what I want. The P-6 does this a bit too much in my mind, and makes it harder for me to get into it (for me).
Glad people are still finding fun to be had with the mk2. It’s a nice little device!
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If a person with no signs of intelligence like myself can use the SP, it’s not complicated! It’s the easiest sampler out there when it comes to its core features!
The MK2 killed all my thoughts that I need more gear, it’s perfect!
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Agreed. I meant to convey that I never personally found it complex. However I’m a Roland guy. S1, Aerophone, MV-1, 707 have all gotten their fair share of criticism for being overly complex by a very vocal minority of users. I can understand why people say it, the devices can do so much, but it isn’t my experience.
From first touch, SP has always been really simple and immersive to me. I think the key is to begin with simple use cases and grow with it. I also think people just want to skip steps and be maestros of all of the things and that just isn’t a rewarding approach imo.
It’s been years and it still feels like I learn new things with each session.
*edit lol@“no signs of intelligence”. Make sure you sample the sound of your pants on fire.
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What I thought I was getting: stripped back chopping without all the MPC bloat that I can use to grab samples and maybe do some off the grid Low End Theory resampling stuff.
What I actually got: that, plus it’s in a utility box that has a way to contribute in any given musical context. And sounds really good across the board. Becoming my only piece of hardware that’s hooked up for every session, no matter what.
A lot of the stuff I didn’t really think would be for me, e.g. the mic/guitar pre and looper, or stuff I thought was a gimmick that I’d definitely never use, e.g. DJ Mode and the amp sim, or even the Serato integration for a more recent example, have turned out to be really well implemented and useful. It’s almost like these Roland guys … actually know what they’re doing.
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i think shortcuts are faster than like 7 screen taps on the mpc live lmao, beyind loading samples and adjusting setting im so happy to not really have to menu dive anymore
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SP-404 Mk2 (and an OP-1 field) siting in this Tiny Desk Panda Bear vid…
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Got another Sp404 again, can I ask what is the best way to integrate this with Ableton. Using ASIO for drivers on Windows, and as the main soundcard. But not sure what other settings I need to adjust or advice for workflow?.
Cheers
I’m on Mac so I have an aggregate device with the 404 and my main soundcard, I tend to use it as an external audio effect on my master or in a channel with all my other stuff routed through it. Mainly just to have skipback available at all times. From there you can sample and resample back and forth from the SP and Live with no real fuss. No idea how that might work on Windows or using the SP as a main soundcard tho. This is a bit different again and in Logic but might be useful:
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Appreciate it, any Windows users chime in please?
If you’re using it as the interface, and you have asio drivers set up, you just need to enable in the inputs and outputs by clicking them beneath the driver selection in the menu and making sure they are lit up.
Obviously that means everything will be going through the 404 all the time.
I’m just in the process of sorting out running mine through my audio interface as an external effect in Ableton Live, but that needs an interface with four outputs and two inputs at a minimum. I’ll have my main outputs of my interface to my speakers as usual, then a second pair of outputs to the 404, and the 404 outputs to the interface inputs. Then when I want to send something from live through the 404 I’ll throw the external effect instrument on the group or track and send it out and back that way.
So, you are using your main soundcard to go to your monitors correct, and then using there 404 with the aggregate ins and outs to use the 404 in one channel of your DAW? Does the Mac OS have a way to know which device is the chosen “main” soundcard? I want to do this setup, but I’m worried that my MacBook won’t know which device to use. I’ll have to give it a shot I guess.
I have a focusrite 2i2 which I was going to sell because I have the sp. So you wouldn’t recommend it as a primary soundcard but instead what you suggested so as external instrument?.
An aggregate device is treated as if it was just one soundcard - like I have one aggregate of Apollo / 404 and another of that plus my ES-9 - depending on which one I choose Ableton shows the inputs and outputs. But, it is a pain in the ass to keep track of which inputs and outputs you need to select in the External Effect device and make sure they’re all activated in Live. Generally leave the 404 to the end to make it easier. It’s not the biggest deal though, if in doubt you can go in to audio/midi setup and check the numbers it’s assigned to the inputs/outputs.
One possible hack for this is that if you have the VCV Rack plugin, it allows you to address individual sound cards so you could do the routing in there and never have to create / select an aggregate.
Bitwig is better at this - like a lot of things to do with integrating hardware - lets you do the aggregate thing in the DAW and has clear labels for what’s what, also does this in Windows.
For me the external effect method works really well, but I think the stuff in that video above is with the 404 as a main soundcard - even though it’s Mac/Logic, it should be pretty similar.
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Depends what you want to be able to do.
Can you highlight some examples for an idiot like me if possible please.
Well, like I said above, if you use the 404 as an audio interface, all audio is going to be going in to the 404 all the time. If you turn on an effect on the 404, everything that is going through it from your DAW is going to have that effect on it. That means if you only want to apply delay, for example, to one track, the only way you’re going to be able to do that is to solo that track in Live and you won’t be able to listen to everything else at the same time.
Take a look at this.
If you are wanting to do other things between a DAW and a 404 you need to figure out what it is you actually want to do first.
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Thanks that makes more sense, do appreciate the help.
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