Roland SP-404 Mk2 (Part 1)

The Lounge Other Gear
#3534

I am intending to do stuff that is, while containing some elements of hip hop, not typical lofi beat stuff the sp is known for. For me, one of the big draws is the guitar input (With the added amp sim effect). I am not sure I am looking to do any particular genre at all but being able to sample my own instruments and mangle them through the effects is going to be my starting point. It’s exciting to not have a specific sound I’m trying to go for but that the experimentation Is going to lead to results I could not have imagined. I will post something in the 404 music thread once I’ve had a little while to get my bearings. I did a whole studio rearranging/cleaning in preparation for the sp’s arrival. It’s kind of like when expecting parents ‘nest’.

My SP is supposedly arriving today (though I have been burned by Fed Ex more than once on this point).

1 Like
#3535

I ordered with woodwind and brasswind and they called to say they were hearing early March from Roland but no firm guarantees.

#3536

I’m pretty confident it can do anything. Just up to your imagine and how much effort you want to put into it. It’s got a workflow that’s quite different from a lot of other samplers though, so you’ll have to spend time figuring it out.

I’m interested in doing more dub stuff, and also some psychedelic rock and jazz/funk stuff. I’ve done a bit of jungle on the MPC1000 and Digitakt in the past, and I think it could be done on the SP. I’d actually like to try something glitchy along the lines of Prefuse 73’s Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives. It seems to me it would excel at that type of stuff. I think it would be great at BoC-type stuff as well, sampling synths.

If jungle is the main genre you make, I think you should have no problem.

2 Likes
#3537

…and to follow up, my order was just mysteriously cancelled…

1 Like
#3538

image
image3024×4032 2.1 MB

Here we go! So excited.

9 Likes
#3539

Mine too. :frowning:

1 Like
#3540

Ok, there’s a better-reviewed 3rd party seller (98% vs the last one was 75%)-- “The Midi Store” selling them on Amazon now, saying they’ll ship around Feb 27th… I hope I’m not wasting our time here…

Edit: now no longer available, 3 hours later. I’ll leave this link here for now, since the product page seems kind of hard to find searching Amazon, and it’s the same product page that some people were able to put in a few orders for, from Amazon’s official Roland store, I think, further up the thread… so for now it appears this might be worth checking from time to time in case other sellers getting a bit of stock list them here.

1 Like
#3541

I’ve been thinking about Prefuse 73 a bit lately. Great records. It seems like he’s kind of slept on a bit these days. One Word Extinguisher was also fantastic.

6 Likes
#3542

That Mikah 9 track was mind-blowing when it came out. I remember reading that he painstakingly did that on an MPC.

10 Likes
#3543

Very early days with the Mk2 but right out of the gate Skip Back is where it’s at. Because you can have the metronome going you can just sort of mess around on whatever instrument you’re on until you hear something that you like and it’s right there recorded. I’m sure this is not news to people but in practice it is really useful. As a bonus it alleviates that anxiety that can sometimes come with trying to get a “take”. I can see how this feature could prompt a bunch of different workflows.

7 Likes
#3544

Totally, I even got some pretty wild results sampling skipping through my folders previewing samples. I so much love skip back! Definitely my killer feature!

6 Likes
#3545

Sounds like that would be an extremely convenient way to sample/slice multiple drum hits from the same collection too.

2 Likes
#3546

DT 770s (80 ohms) Incoming!!

#3547

Just got confirmation from Amazon that my unit should be in on the 3rd of this Month. Thursday can’t get here soon enough :slight_smile:

Anyone have any suggestions on SD cards for the SP? Is 32GB the largest size it will take?

2 Likes
#3548

After trying out 3 different Amazon cases, I found a really nice small carry bag for my SP-404 MK2! I got the BLACK color.

Electronic Organizer, BAGSMART Accessories Organizer Travel Double Layer Electronics Bag Large for 10.5 inch iPad Pro, Adapter, Cables, Black

IMG_8949.HEIC
IMG_8949.HEIC4032×3024 3.39 MB

IMG_8950.HEIC
IMG_8950.HEIC4032×3024 3.78 MB
IMG_8951.HEIC
IMG_8951.HEIC2016×1512 1.35 MB
IMG_8952.HEIC
IMG_8952.HEIC4032×3024 3.84 MB
IMG_8956.HEIC
IMG_8956.HEIC4032×3024 3.61 MB

I was having a lot of issues with my Analog Cases PULSE Case, it seemed too big for MK2 and I could hear the MK2 bouncing whenever carried the case around. I know some people carry the AC adapter with their SP, but I just use batteries so I had no use for the extra space. Also my headphones and usb cord would constantly fall out of the inner pocket whenever I opened the case up again and was worried they’d scratch the screen when moving around a lot. Here are some images of the Analog PULSE case for reference.

IMG_8953.HEIC
IMG_8953.HEIC4032×3024 3.35 MB
IMG_8954.HEIC
IMG_8954.HEIC4032×3024 3.96 MB
IMG_8958.HEIC
IMG_8958.HEIC4032×3024 3.83 MB

YMMV but I’m super happy I found the Bagsmart bag!

12 Likes
#3549

New SP404 MK2 effects… I’m finding the new Zan-Zou and the Ko-Da-Ma effects to be effective for dub style music. The delays can be modulated to produce some cool sounds and texture. I’ve been using the 404MK2 more as a dub style instrument. Record 80% of a track in the box using the resample method, then use the MK2 as an audio interface to record vocals into a DAW and also fire off samples from the MK2 on separate tracks in a DAW. A hybrid approach has worked well. This beast was made to create King Tubby inspired sounds and dub reggae ambient altered state jams.

11 Likes
#3550

That’s pretty neat! I think this is the same one in the UK…?

The pulse is good but you do need the PSU in there to stop it slopping around…

1 Like
#3551

32gb is the largest you can use. No real recommendations on SD cards. I just had a couple of 8gb cards laying around I’m using. So far so good though.

1 Like
#3552

What would even make Skip Back better is if you could select which pads it recorded. As of now, all you can select in the routing section is “mix” and “ExtIn” but if you could select individual pads you could have a loop running on another pad and play to that on the pad you selected for Skip Back recording. As I mentioned in an earlier post, you can play along with the metronome but being able to play along with a loop on another pad would be a cool feature.

2 Likes
#3553

Can the power supply fit in the Bagsmart’s cable organizer section ok?

2 Likes