Roland SP404A

I gotcha :slightly_smiling_face:

Just curious, what do you love about it?

Oh boy lol. I for one LOVE the fx. I know a lot of people say the FX are over used and sterile but I did a back to back with the same FX in Ableton, and imo the SPā€™s FX sound much more natural. I love lofi hip-hop and there are no better machines to accomplish that sound than the SP series in my opinion. I love that itā€™s battery powered and has ridiculous sampling times. Itā€™s great for loading beats onto and playing them live without a computer. I love how easy and simple it is to use even though it can be frustrating at times. I also love that it is what it is; no waiting for updates, no extra bells and whistles, it does what itā€™s description says and does it well. I mostly use mine as an external effect in Ableton or Maschine, then sampling in all my beats from that week and mess about trying to get live sets ready. Personally though, I enjoyed using it with the DT much more than the Circuit but thatā€™s all just personal preference. Just as an FX box alone itā€™s worth every penny. Lately too Iā€™ve been using it more as a tape recorder than a sampler/sequencer. I use it with my H4N to capture and process found sounds for sample packs Iā€™m building.

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Great answer! I think the effects are great as well, it can actually be a great sound design device. I did a battle in the sp forum where we could only use the free vstā€™s posted for sounds, it was 1 drum kit & 2 synth sounds, thatā€™s it & they sounded like crap. I really got to see how great the effects are, not even just the crazy kind of effects, but simply making soundsā€¦ better. I had to do a lot of resampling, but you can do a lot to a sound by layering the effects.

I think of it as my swiss army knife, itā€™s always in the signal chain no matter what gear Iā€™m using. It has a lot of uses.

Iā€™ve never played with a Circuit, too be honest it didnā€™t interest me, so I would prefer the Digitakt as well :grinning:

& again, I do agree that the Digitakt isnā€™t as limiting as the 404. A lot of people that own a 404, donā€™t even use it to make beats/songs, which I DO understand. I just so happen to love making beats on it.

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Haha, donā€™t panic, guys: digitakt is not out yet, I have some other gears to sell first. Like I said, Iā€™ll focus on the SP for now, then introduce the Circuit and see where it goes. I also love my DT so Iā€™ll see if I get the urge to bring it to the party soon enough.

But seriously, thereā€™s an awful lot you can do with a Circuit + SP combo. Plus I have a Short, the midi expander for Circuit that allows to program the synths computerless. And soon, the new update will bring microstep to the synth partsā€¦ Double the tempo and you now have 12 substeps by step, which is plenty enough for subtly loose beats.

All in all, what I would miss the most on the DT is the sound shaping abilities. Seriously, it can turn even the dustiest drumbreak into a necksnapper. That and the options when sampling: summed, dismiss left, dismiss rightā€¦ itā€™s kinda a huge deal for me as I always sample in mono.

BTW, is there an mfx that allows to isolate one side of the stereo field on the SP? I thought I could abuse the center canceler to shape the stereo field but without much success for nowā€¦

To isolate 1 side, I hear the center canceller is the one to do it with. A guy posted on the sp forums stating it works really well, hereā€™s his post (actually it looks like he is isolating frequencies)-

ā€œIā€™ve been messing around with an sp sample bass technique I kinda stumbled upon the other night, I think itā€™s awesome and recommend giving it a try, works on any sp with the c.canceller effect.
You start with a sample with a bass part that you wanna chop (doesnā€™t matter if thereā€™s other instruments over top of the bass). Record that into the sp in STEREO with the c.canceller on it, which you set to boost the low end a little and cut the highs a little, use the left/right control to cut out as much of the high part of the sample (piano/vocals/strings or whatever) as it can.
You then resample this in MONO to a new pad and chop it up however you want.
Iā€™ve found that the conversion from stereo to mono on a sample that has the c.Canceller on it really brings out the bass for some reason, and it sounds super sick when you put the bassy sample under some drums.
I tried it on a bunch of different samples from different genres of music and it seems to be a pretty solid technique. Takes some practice and experimenting to get the right setting on the Canceller but when you do it doesnā€™t sound as flat as a sample with just bass boosting/high cutting with the eq or isolater.ā€

Hopefully the above helps!

By the way a great place for info is the sp forums (www.sp-forums.com).

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Not exactly the answer you were looking forā€¦ I wonder if you only plug in the side you want to sample (left or right) then sample in mono (press record, then press the stereo button & it will unlit, that is sampling in mono) I wonder if this will workā€¦ might not workā€¦ Iā€™ll try messing with it tonight.

Iā€™ll let you know if I find a solution!

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I think Iā€™ve already read this post while lurking on sp-forums haha. Iā€™ll try to experiment with center canceller some more and report back.

I think you could sample with only one jack in, yeah! A bit less elegant, and Iā€™m not a fan of plugging / unplugging non stop, but yeah, could work!

BTW, is there still a secret password or some bullshit like this to create an account on sp-forums? 'cause Iā€™m def interested by the beat battles!

Are you guys using the midi out on the DT to sequence the SP404? Infind this to be a great way to integrate stereo samples into sets with the DT. This alone makes the 404 worth it for me.

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Yeah, still a secret password, I canā€™t remember what it isā€¦when I was looking for it I google searched ā€œsp forum secret passwordā€ & someone posted it in another forum. Itā€™s like smellypants or bananapants :wink: orā€¦ def something with pants (if it hasnā€™t been changed). I THINK itā€™s the 1 next to my wink face (sorry Iā€™m trying to be secretiveā€¦ sshhhhh). I would try that.

The sp battles are great, even tho I thought I knew my sp inside & out the battles turned me into an sp ninja! I was using it in ways I never thought was possible. I fell in love with my sp all over again. & the people on that forum are great as well. More artists & musiciansā€¦ spā€™s are extremely limited yet there are barely any posts with complaints.

There are 2 battles going on right now. There are a lot of battles on that forum & a lot of entries as well, which makes it fun. I hope to see you in a future battle!

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Thanks Sharris, Iā€™ll see you there for sure!

It used to be ā€œsp-forumsā€ I think

Of course Iā€™ve been a member for like 12 yrs so really donā€™t really remember

That makes way more sense then bananapants :grin:
Iā€™ve only been on there about a year, hopefully it didnā€™t change again.
When I struggled finding the password I got all mad about it ā€œthis is stupid!ā€ But once I got in I was like :sunglasses:

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Said it before but damn, I love my SP! After getting seriously bummed at the sequencer, Iā€™m finally starting to get the hang of it. Even have lots of post its here and there with various shuffle settings written all over it.

Love the resampling as well even if I cornered myself in a ā€œno more pads availableā€ situation once or twice haha.

Seriously, the isolator applied to an old drumbreak snare = instant boombap snap!

Tonight, Iā€™ve finally got my first beat more or less together, a simple 4 bar affairā€¦ yet I feel much more satisfied than with other hardware.

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Love my 404, getting dusty with the OT around but itā€™s not going anyway for a while. If anyone is interested I got my SX off Amazon new for $385, only difference is the printed manual is in another language.

https://www.amazon.com/Roland-SP-404SX-Linear-Sampler-Effects/dp/B002NJR7FW/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534268463&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=sp-404sx&dpPl=1&dpID=51DCmV-lU9L&ref=plSrch

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I had a really hard time with the sequencer myself, I donā€™t think I really used it the first year I had the 404sx, I just made beats in resample mode. Once I got the hang of the sequencer & learned itā€™s tricks it got easier & I liked it more (sounds like the same is happening with you). Sequencer trick I stated somewhere above - Turn gate off & loop off of the last sample in the sequence for a smooth transition from sequence to sequence.

I feel more satisfied with the beats I make on it compared to my other gear as well. I think for me at least itā€™s because Iā€™m conquering challenges & putting work in. It has a lot of limitations & not a lot of crutches, so the beat feels more like mine (if that makes sense), Iā€™m more proud of it. Doing everything by ear makes me feel closer to the music as well. Going by feel, not by sight.

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Couldnā€™t agree more with the both of you! Exactly why I love using itā€¦ itā€™s just refreshing, in a way, and even if my beats are simpler for now, I like having to put a bit more craftmanship to make them sound good. No training wheels, you actually get what youā€™re willing to put into it.

@Sharris I remember reading that sequencer tip from you a while ago, it has proven quite useful, thanks!

Youā€™re welcome! I had a hard time using that trick at first because I never chopped end points. But I almost ALWAYS had a gap when transitioning from sequence to sequence & it drove me nuts.

Basically I make the sequence like normal, not worrying about it, but once I make the 2nd sequence, if it doesnā€™t transition properly from one to the other, thatā€™s when I adjust the last sample(s) in the sequence(s) until it sounds right.

Itā€™s crazy how many work arounds spā€™s have. Somemore tricks off the top of my head (throwing them out there for anyone reading this):

Muting: There are a few effects you can use to mute (DJfxlooper, voice transformer, subsonic, basically any effect that allows you to go completely wet so you hear only the effect, yet you can turn the effect down). Assign effect to all sounds you want to mute in the sequence. I normally just delete the samples in the sequence instead of muting, but itā€™s great for live play & also perfect to use for multi track recording (when multi-track recording you can also just turn the level down of the samples you donā€™t want recorded on the track, this takes more time, but it frees up the effects. Just saw this mentioned in sp-forums).

Mute group trick: This is a good trick when you have more than 1 sampler or when recording into something else. If you activate delete (press delete once), you can play with chops, only 1 sample can play at a time when delete is activated, so when pressing another pad it will automatically cut off the sample playing. Just be careful not to delete your samples (donā€™t press delete again).

Chopping: You have a song/loop you want to chop on a pad. Mark the start point (not the end point). Copy it to next pad & truncate. Mark the start point (not the end point). Copy it to next pad & truncate. Just keep doing this (you can make end points later if you want). This makes it so you donā€™t have to listen to the beginning of the song/loop over & over again & it really saves time.

This is a feature not a trick, but not everyone knows about it. If you hold down the tap tempo button you can just tap any of the effect buttons (mfx, filter, voicetrans, delay, ect), which allows you to more accurately apply an effect, for example delay or reverb on a snare. Hold down tap tempo, then just tap delay or mfx button whenever you want to apply the effect.

Another feature, effect limit, this makes some of the effects react different & it makes the Compressor useable on the 404sx/a. Press function & effect limit (pad 8), turn on (screen should show on, I think itā€™s the knob on the right that turns it on & off).

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Yeah, when I first got my sp I read the manual a lot, but once I got a handle on things I put the manual away, even tho it is just as useful (I should get my manuals back out).

But sometimes forums are more helpful than manuals :blush: Iā€™ve learned so much from forums I try to give back. Besides, I realized when teaching my brother the ways of beat making that me teaching him was actually teaching myself (if that makes sense). Trying to help him had me thinking of things more & I was remembering things I stored in the back of my mind. Like listing tricks & tips in forumsā€¦it reminds me of the tips & tricks.

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weirdly i bought one of these today , should arrive end of the week.
so i guess its can play 12 stereo voices and it streams them from sd card ?
midi is basically triggering the sound on whichever pad
couldnā€™t see any midi cc stuff for external fx control , which is fine as this is a hands on box.

it was cheap , i couldnt resist.

just another quick question.
how does is deal with 12 note polyphony ?

will pad 1 choke pad 1 , or does it just trigger noises until it runs out ?
can i do long boomy 808 sounds that dont get cut off instantly if i trigger the same pad ?