It’s true… and I only mentioned because it’s a “technically it works”… but a terrible solution 
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your channel is the first i search through if im wondering about a feature on the 404 
, such a great resource
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Another SP-jam: Chopped jazz from Youtube. Minilogue XD for bass.
Today’s new technique: The groove function. Programmed a beat, resampled to audio and then adjusted it with the groove function.
(must have messed up, sounds like the drums are double-hitting somehow?)
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Are you just using the groove feature with the tonal stuff, or did you put it on the drums too? I’ve found it gets pretty wonky on full drum loops, but can sound pretty nice on just top loops (stuff like shakers, hats, small percs, etc…)
It’s also pretty fun to duplicate a pad with groove, pan those pads in opposite directions, then pad-link them. It makes a cool pseudo chorus effect
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Thanks for the tips! I’m in a learning phase and grateful for any feedback. Due to the nature of Jamuary and the time constraints I leave a lot of my mistakes in – and try to make a note to self on how to plan ahead next time.
Only on the drums. I resampled the drum pattern to audio. And activated the groove function on the new sample. I kept my settings quite low. “16>”, low humanise and rate 3 (as far as I remember).
(Big note to self: Lower the volume of the melodic sample and make sure the drums knock in the final bounce.)
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I’m a fan of your videos, great work!
Why was looking at these ‘paid’ courses is because they are a linear format like in the order you would read a manual.
I learn much easier from watching videos than I do from reading manuals. With reading it just doesn’t sink in as much, probably because of the very dry content.
Just realising that you have written a Mk2 guide and had a scroll through.
THIS looks much easier to digest than actual manual esp as it’s in much more of a conversational tone like videos would be.
Going to have to put aside some time and get into this.
Thanks.
My SP-404 has been in my live setup since november 2023 and in that time I haven’t upgraded the firmware out of fear of bugs.
How’s 4.07 for stability?
Keeping things in order?
I’m sort of a naturally messy person. On the SP sometimes this might allow for happy accidents, on the other hand I could be a lot faster and have more fun if I kept my banks in order.
I sort of get a headache just thinking about the billions of bytes that can be stored in projects. For my poor head ten banks is already a challenge to handle.
Yet as I slowly grow more accustomed, I’m starting to get an idea of how to arrange things to make it easier for me to find my samples while in pattern mode etc.
It would make sense to have a few banks of sounds ready to go. A few drumkits etc. It seems also that it would be smart to have a separate bank where all my “found sounds” - sampling/recording goes. When I chop and assign to pads those chops could go to their separate pads. That way, before I rinse and repeat the “found sounds” could be saved back to my computer if I should like to revisit them some other time.
I very much like the idea of deleting things. But it also takes time to find stuff, so if I have a sound hunting session it makes sense to save founds sounds for later use.
I’d be interested to hear about your practice and workflow when it comes to ordering your sounds. Thanks!
= = =
Oh well, I asked Perplexity.ai to summarize
SP-404mk2 users have developed various strategies for organizing their samples, banks, and projects. Here are some common approaches and recommendations:
Bank Organization
Many users organize their banks based on sample types or functions:
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Bank A: Often used for “ALL” samples or primary drums (kicks, snares, closed hi-hats)
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1
-
Bank B: Frequently used for bass samples or tuned bass samples
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1
-
Bank C: Commonly used for chopped samples or chord samples
3
-
Bank F: Secondary drums (open hi-hats, cymbals, toms)
3
-
Bank G: 808s and miscellaneous samples (glitches, swells)
3
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Bank I: Additional instrument one-shots
3
Some users divide their banks into two main sections:
- Banks A-E for samples and sketches
- Banks F-J for drums and resampled patterns
3
Project Management
Users have different approaches to project management:
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Template Project: Some create a template project with their preferred bank organization, saved on pad 16, which they clone for new projects
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. -
One Beat Per Project: Some users dedicate an entire project to a single beat, utilizing different banks within that project for various elements
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. -
Multiple Songs Per Project: Others use one or two banks per song, allowing for 5-10 songs per project
3
. - Active Projects: Many users dedicate the first row of project pads (1-4) to currently active projects
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.
Sample Management
Users employ various strategies for managing their samples:
- Keep and Protect:
- Original source samples
- Favorite drum kits
- Unique or hard-to-recreate resampled sounds
- Rinse and Delete:
- Temporary chops or edits
- Experimental resamples
- Redundant or easily recreatable patterns
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Resampling Workflow: Many users resample their patterns and chops to consolidate and free up space
1
3
.
Best Practices
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Consistent Naming: Use clear, consistent naming conventions for banks and samples
1
. - Regular Backups: Frequently back up projects to avoid losing valuable work.
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Bank-Pattern Matching: Some users try to match sample banks with pattern banks (e.g., Sample Bank A corresponds to Pattern Bank A) for easier navigation
3
. -
Leave Space: Keep some banks empty for on-the-fly sampling and experimentation
3
. -
Project Copies: Create copies of projects with main drum kits pre-loaded for quick starts
1
. -
Use the SP-404MK2 App: Utilize the companion app for easier project and sample management
4
.
While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, the key is to develop a system that works for your specific workflow and stick to it consistently. Regularly reviewing and organizing your projects can help maintain clarity and efficiency in your music-making process.
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I have had pretty good luck with it. Nothing weird is coming to mind.
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4.07 is solid.
There’s a lot of change over the year+… so don’t be afraid to just ignore some of the new features as you get acclimated to what is going on. I’ve updated the quick reference to 4.0x, which should help you find your way through the button combos and I tried to list out common workflows.
get it for free here https://www.patreon.com/posts/neartaos-sp404-4-110349500?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
I probably should make a couple small tweaks to say 4.07, but I think it’s all good… or nearly all good
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@NearTao thank you for everything!!! I found your channel while ago and today I sat down with the book - plan is to master 404 and use it together with MC 707. Love the intro to the book and the way you talk about mastering a device - complete opposite to gear jumping of these days. Constant demand for (Billy Idols voice): more more more, without using / appreciating what we already have. For me 404 is mind blowing - want to do deep dive into it right now & plan to pair it with Faderfox UC4 for some proper fader action in both dj sets & production.
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Ok hear me out. Instead of the delay FX button we get a preset button. It’d be set up like the MFX where when you hold it you can tap a pad to recall one of your presets. Just dreaming here.
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Only three HM-2 (plus two clones) here… 
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That’s the spirit!
I’m very bad at keeping my samples organized. And once you start building out patterns, which I always do too soon, it’s too late to move samples around without messing up your patterns (bug or feature?).
Luckily, Roland seems to have accounted for this behavior, with lots of ways to customize the pad colors. So here’s what I do:
Organizing pads by color and/or FX:
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Open the PAD SETTING menu (Shift+14).
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Use the CTRL 3 (“drive”) knob to slide over to the LED tab
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At the bottom, select Pad LED Mode. You have the option of “Bus,” “Pad,” or “Sample.” It’s set by default to “Bus.”
- “Bus” means the pad LED color is based on which FX bus that sample is routed through.
- “Pad” lets you customize each pad’s LED color individually.
- “Sample” is like “Pad,” but if you swap a sample or copy it, the color will swap/copy along with it to the new pad.
So the reason your pads are all amber when you first start using the SP404 isn’t just a random color— amber is the color of FX BUS 1!
So, let’s use that knowledge…
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Exit out of the menu to go back into Live Mode. Then make use of the “REMAIN” button like so…
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Hit BUS FX to select FX BUS 1 or 2, and then hold down “REMAIN.” From here, you can hit any pad/sample to change which bus it’s in.
- BUS FX 1 is amber by default.
- BUS FX 2 is green by default.
- NO FX is white by default.
Since most of my projects either have samples going through only BUS FX 1 or BUS FX 2 (or none), this is a simple way to keep track of those 3 groups of samples
(e.g., almost all drum hits are white because they don’t get FX. Vocal FX are amber because they’re in FX BUS 1. Instruments are green because they’re in FX BUS 2.)
OR!!!
If I’ve done a really, super shitty job organizing my samples, as sometimes happens . . . usually because I run out of space in one bank and have to spill over into whatever free spaces I can find . . .
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Go back into PAD SETTING, set Pad LED to “SAMPLE” instead of “Bus,” exit to Live Mode, and then…
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Hit any sample and then hold down “REMAIN.”
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Still holding “REMAIN,” scroll down to “Color” and click the knob to edit it. From here, you have a choice of 16 different colors you can assign individually to each pad.
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Go thru your samples and assign colors based on whatever makes the most sense to you.
So for instance on the project I’m in now, all the drum hits are light blue. All my drum breaks are dark blue. All the basses are red. All my vocal samples are light purple, and all my music samples are dark purple, since they came from the same source as the vocals. And if I copy or move anything, the color moves with the sample.
(If Pad LED mode was on “Pad,” these colors would stay with the pad and not move around with the sample).
This way I can keep track of stuff across multiple banks.
So, depending on my project and how it’s set up, I either keep Pad LED on “Bus” and use the FX as my visual reference,
or I set Pad LED to “Sample” and get super specific.
NOTE: The Pad LED setting is GLOBAL and isn’t saved as part of a project. So when I go between two different projects, I have to remember which Pad LED mode I was using. Not that big a deal.
Hope this helps!
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Wow! Thank you, how generous. I’ll read this closely!
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Yo. I was just talking about maybe hosting battles again on here since my SoundCloud Next account is set to renew.
If @BlankFlag wants to team up, I could help run it.
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That’d be dope! I was just thinking how since I’ve never done a SP battle I might bring a fresh perspective. Not trying to imply that it’s about me in any way. As much as I love hip hop, I think it’d be cool to widen the gate a bit for those of us who do other stuff as well. Music was a communal experience and as portable listening devices got more popular it has become more isolated. I like the idea of continuing some of the communal aspects of it. Battles seem one avenue of doing that.
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Yeah. We can co host it, and since I already have the SoundCloud, we are all gucci!
Let’s take it to PM’s
We can get it planned and then we can surprise everyone with the announcement!
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