I have uploaded version 0.36 of the guide. Go check it out at Roland SP-404 mk2 Guide v0.36 – NearTao's Blog
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I was watching the Caribou set from Boiler Room that they just released the other day and Dan was using a 404 with line in from his mic to control some vocal effects and do some other things throughout the show. Was fun to see!
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I think that was me talking about something my old art history processor had said. I saw someone taking the piss in another Roland thread so glad somebody appreciated it. Haha.
I’ve never even tried it! I really need to remedy that soon, especially since I often find myself needing a bass line.
And luckily this just popped into my YouTube thread.
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I’m starting to get there:
For this weeks’ Disquiet Junto, based on creating a track out of an ever present recording of an indicator from a car.
This is just a stereo grab with a little eq and a limiter in Live, but I’m going to be working on it some more outside of the time limit for the event.
That little Moukey mixer I got is a godsend. Made grabbing a bass line from the Analog Keys and a few chords from my PreenFM2 a really quick job, and it made me even more glad I went with a couple of sets of rechargeable batteries. I just switch one cable to go from hearing my 404 output in Ableton mixed with anything else I’m doing, to sampling something to the inputs.
Everything else other than that comes from some foley sounds from freesound which I processed on the 404 itself. Oh and a couple of bits made from the internal sound engine and some resampling artifacts.
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There are still quite a few of the later features I’ve never used, and thought I’d mention the humanize function as something you might want to give a go for sound design. This guy has a nice example of it in here on drums and on a pad for sound design. I’ve also never messed with the TR-microscope. Gotta give that a go as well as I barely use TR-rec mode.
I’m slowly working my way through all of this guy’s videos to get some more workflow ideas. Lots of gold.
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He does some serious work. I appreciate his lowkey vibe.
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I just found a SP-303 in good shape for under $300 and it’s all I can do to not order it. Also found a SP-404A for $289 that is tempting me as well.
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Halloween sp forums arena battle this week!
It’s kinda gnarly haha
SP 404, SP 303, SP 404 MKII
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Do it. 
I’ve been looking as well. Haha.
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I’m very tempted!
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I’m only casually looking, but would only want one that comes with a decent size card. I don’t want to have to track down one of those.
To be honest, the card is the thing that puts me off it the most. I swore after my Korg ESX-1 (my first sampler!) that I would never buy anything with SmartMedia again. I hated those even when they were still being used.
Also be careful about the outputs. I’ve seen a number for sale here in Japan that have failed outputs, and you have to run them through the headphone jack or try to get it repaired.
Just writing all of this makes me realize why I’m only casually looking. I should probably just stick with the 404mkii - P6 combo, but something tells me I’ll probably own a 303 and 202 some day.
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@DimensionsTomorrow “Gotta give that a go as well as I barely use TR-rec mode.”
I’ve found myself using it a lot, in combination with the ‘one shot mode’ thing which only allows a pad to retrig if it has already finished. Lets me easily line up a bunch of samples to play in a loop with only 1 or 2 measures actually sequenced in. Then when I know where I want things to vary against the longer samples, I duplicate the sequence to the length I want and then jump to the measure I want to edit and make a few changes.
Very different to how I use step sequencers in my Elektron gear, but it’s a really effective way to try things out.
Then I can either resample it to a pad, or leave it as it is for exporting later if it’s busy. I imagine it would be a good way to arrange drums against longer material too, and then use the pad mutes to only resample the drums as one track. Could be good for effects work.
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All drums where made with the TR-rec mode in Firmware V2:
TR-rec mode is really fast, and i really like it, but in firmware 2.x there was no possibility to edit velocity or shuffle-parameters of a step when once set. is this possible with the actual firmware?
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I think that the shuffle value is set at the pattern level, not the step level.
You can now use the ‘microscope’ function to edit the timing of a trig on a step, and the velocity and some other stuff.
For velocity and ratchets, I find it easier to just remove a trig, change the velocity and ratchet/timing and then put it down again.
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404 is so much fun to tune out the nonstop outrage and make nice mellow music!
Guitar, bass, and DN with 404 looper and resampling!
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I got the 303. It comes with a 64mb card.
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Very nice music, also the other tracks. Why don’t you record another EP or longer snippets?
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Thank you for the kind words!
Time! I have lots of ideas, not enough time to execute!
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Great deal on both! I would choose 303 it has really pleasant character.
I believe I’ve got all of my sps for around 200eur.
I got 606 for hundred but some of the tact switches requiered lot of presses to function and as I was lazy to have them replaced I just returned it back to seller. 606 is such a great machine. If I was looking to buy old sp again that would be it.
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