yall are right, i guess it is different. technically you have a kind of count in on the first recording when its waiting for audio but i guess its not possible for overdubbing? but at that point i guess we need to just wait for it to loop around, then the recording is the count-in, yes?
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That will work! That said, the traditional count in would be very handy. But as in life, weāll make it work somehow someway!
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maybe thats why they made the 4 bar limit, Roland logic dictates that that is the same as a 4 bar count in!
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Starting recording like this is one case where I find having the foot switch really handy. Plus, if you screw up, itās easy to hit stop, undo, and start recording again with the foot switch and not get out of the flow. After using it, I canāt imagine using the looper without it.
(I havenāt tried using the foot switch with Logic yet, but I imagine it is going to greatly improve my recording workflow there as well.)
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I have to get the boss foot switch asap. Finally playing around with the looper and wow!
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first chillin beat with the looper flow, i found myself switching between the looper and skipback to make longer 8 bar parts, was a decent system for the time being. i should have put an eq somewhere between the casiotone and the mix but thats a lesson for next time. i am also hitting the āresample and crashā hiccup, heres hoping we get a 4.0404 soon
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Fun jam.
Today I used the SP intensively and only one minor thingie went wrong: placing a sample on a pattern took me a couple of times until it āstickedā, but everything else worked a charm.
Because of finishing a track I did not use new features though.
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I had something like that as well. A had a long 20+ bar pattern that I had been doing lots of work on with the TR mode and new microscope function, and at some point some samples stopped triggering. Thankfully I had bounced that down to a pad as a sample before it got wonky, so I didnāt have to go in and try to figure out what exactly happened, but itās a reminder that periodically backing up your work by either making copies of patterns or bouncing patterns to pads as samples might be a good idea.
Thankfully thatās the only bug Iāve run into and I spent a large chunk of yesterday using the SP.
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Anyone have any issues with MIDI clock sync from Digitakt to SP-404MKII? The BPM jumps like 1-5 BPM on the SP on playback. Iāve seen fractions of BPM when sync over DIN to other gear, but the jumping is pretty extreme with this combo! Iāve been using Digitakt sequencing to trigger samples on SP, but wanted to see if I can trigger patterns and have them stay in sync.
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I totally agree with you on this. This is a case where the designers have been hamstrung by the legacy of a hardware design, that the advancement of its software is choked by that choice. Itās a hard choice, veer too far away from the original spirit of the 404 and they will be flamed by the purists.
With the 4.04 update, it almost seem they may have hit the limits to what more they can introduce in this current hardware format, and may stop further advancement given that the physical limitations have become too obvious with key combos that have become absurd.
Perhaps itās time to take that brilliant software and launch a new hardware device format that can grow with it.
Meanwhileā¦ is anyone else experiencing this issue?
Iām using the latest SP-404MKII App (standalone and AU/VST3 plug-in) version 4.04
Logic Pro version 10.8.1
macOS Sonoma 14.4.1
Interesting that in the Finder, the SP-404MKII App is version 4.04 yet within Logic Pro the version is 4.4.0
Great insight, thank you for taking the time. Yeah, the Syntakt, P3SA, and even my EP-133 KOII are instant gratification machines, the learning curve for the SP has always given me pause, especially the very vocal and consistent chorus of the maddening button combo issue.
Maybe it would actually be an interesting experiment to not use it with a sequencer type workflow and maybe something more atmospheric and textural with my other gear.
But then considering my other machines, I really donāt even need this at all. GRR GASā¦
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OK, hereās kind of a silly little track I did to learn the looper and some of the other new functions like microscope. I played guitar (using my new Boss Katana GO), and connected a Shure SM7 to the 404 directly and played a little bit of flute. I also added a little bit of Rhodes using the Yamaha Reface CP. Only samples used were some drum one shots I sampled previously from Addictive Drums 2.
I didnāt intend to make weird Twin Peaks ambient new age music, but sometimes the 404 just takes you down a path you donāt know where it is going, and there is no turning back. lol. 
All done directly on the SP, never opened the DAW, just bounced from the app and threw it into Final Cut.
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Yeah it should be a new sp 606mk2. Add more buttons, better sequencer, and plenty of people will buy it.
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New to this device, so apparently the bus 1 and 2 effects donāt save to the pattern?
In other words, if youāre playing a pattern that has some bus 1/2 effects turned on then switch to a new pattern and then go back to the 1st pattern the bus 1/2 effects will no longer be on. 
So are bus 1 and 2 effects mainly for sampling and resampling? And I guess DJ mode as well (thought I read they work in DJ mode).
If anyone can share some insights here regarding bus 1 and 2 effects, it would be appreciated, because the manual doesnāt really say much about them.
Yeah, the effects arenāt saved to the project or sequence pattern. They are always just master effects essentially that you turn on and off. Best use case is to use them to resample and to perform over your beat with (plenty of examples of this on YouTube).
EDIT: the above information is partially incorrect. You can save the FX to the pattern using motion recording. Press Mark while in TR-mode.
Bus 3 and 4 are best used as master effects. I basically always just have a compressor and EQ on mine (more accurately the 303 vinyl effect for its compressor).
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Yeah, it sounds like youāre on the right track with your thinking here.
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Hello and welcome. Check out page 81 of the updated (v4) Reference Manual, which is currently only available via pdf.
Recording Effect Operations to a Pattern (EFX MOTION REC)
Hereās how to record your effect on/off and effect parameter ([CTRL 1]ā[CTRL 3] knob) operations to a pattern in real time.
Press the [PATTERN SELECT] button.
Pads to which patterns are assigned light up purple.Press pads [1]ā[16] to select the pattern to which you want to record the effect operations.
This plays back the pattern.Press the [REC] button.
The pattern begins recording in real time.Press the [MARK] button.
The message āMOTION REC STARTā is shown (EFX MOTION REC). The effect operations now begin recording.Operate the effects along with the pattern performance.
Your effect operations are recorded to the pattern.Once you finish recording, press the [EXIT] button.
The same effect operations you made when recording are played back along with the pattern (EFX MOTION PLAY). Use the [START/END] button to enable/disable playback of the effect operations you recorded.
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I have a S-1 midi synchronized by the SP and its sound output goes to the SPās ext input.
When I launch a pad on SP, the sequencer of the S-1 starts, in rythm, which is ok for me.
But when I launch a sample record, the sequencer of the S-1 doesnāt start after the count-in. I would like to record a S-1 loop perfectly synchronized to the SP tempo of course.
A matter of transport control I suppose but I didnāt find how to fix it.
In that case I had to have the metronome (SHIFT-9) on WAIT.
Then start the sequence from the synth. The sampling begins, even with SP as sync master.
Have not used it with version 4.04 and itās new pre-set measures.
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