Roland SP404A

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#65

So yes, what Bradley said, all samples are stored on memory card.

12 voice polyphony when using sequencer, which is 6 stereo samples (or 12 mono)…
I don’t know tho, that’s what I’m seeing on an advertisement, but it feels less than that. I’m sure effects play a role, but only 1 effect at a time (resample to add more effects).

When resampling you can only sample 2 stereo sounds or 1 stereo 2 mono or 4 mono sounds at the same time other wise it goes over its polyphony limit and the recording stops.

Yes, midi would trigger sounds on the pads.

No mute/choke groups (above I posted a little trick to get mute groups, but you would have to record to a different sampler/piece of gear).

If you trigger the same pad it WILL cut off, they’re not poly (if you put it in gate it only plays while holding the pad, take gate off it continues to play, but again samples will cut out when triggering the same pad, but not other pads because it doesn’t have mute/choke groups).

It’s limited, but there are work arounds. You will either love it or hate it. But even if you don’t like making beats on it, it has other uses like an effects box & I think it goes well with other gear like MPC’s (or the Digitakt) for example.

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#66

I see what you’re saying now, I’m not sure how it deals with polyphony in the sequencer, it def chokes sounds out once it hits the polyphony limit, but I’m not sure how it decides this.

Check out www.sp-forums.com alot of good info

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#68

Great point, I forgot about that!

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#70

ok , seems fine , i think its mostly for easily triggering stereo samples that are pre prepared in ableton , some real time mangling / loop stuff (hopefully better than kaos pad3+ which isnt good at triggering in sync).

the 12 voice / six voice stereo isnt very obvious on the roland site. they seem to focus on linking it with tr8 , using scatter and side chaining. … scatter has very little actual use for me … its too obvious.
neither is the limit of how much can be played in order to resample , but i guess it all comes down to 12 voices in total (2 for each stereo , 2 to record , some used on fx )… I’ll pick it up .

would’ve been great to trigger fx types externally via note on / midi cc … shall i type the most popular phrase in synthdom maybe in a later firmware … totally not waiting for anything other than what comes with it.

#71

whats a manual and midi implementation chart ??? , isnt it much easier to just post questions on a forum and have other people do the hard work.
i’ll also ignore the fact that its quicker to type into google / youtube than post on here and wait.

p.s . ive been looking through the manual , watching vids and had a quick glance through sp forums … thanks everyone for helping out.

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#72

eeehhhh… I’m not sure about triggering the effects in time, supposedly the tap tempo button helps with this, but I think it’s up to you to get the effects to play in time (all though the effects DO play in time when using the sequencer)… I don’t think you can set it up via midi to trigger effects in time either, but I could be wrong, it should say in the manual or maybe someone else can chime in.

Too be honest I use the KP3+ for all “in time” real time effect play. I’m used to doing things myself tho… I don’t midi it up I just watch the tempo light on it & hit play on the sequence in time, it links up perfect that way, I’ve never had it go out of time… I could be misunderstanding you tho…

I’ve had the sx for about 3 years… only a couple firmware updates fixing bugs… I only know this because I just looked… for some reason never thought to even look it up. Guess I like it just the way it is :blush:

I don’t know tho… I have a feeling you’re not gonna like it… especially if you prefer others to do the work for you :wink: Gotta put work in with an sp.

Edit - I just remembered something, the effects play in time with the sample in the bank you are in, that has the fastest bpm. So if you are using resample mode (or using it to play beats you made on other devices :o) the effects will play in time with the sample that has the fastest bpm in the same bank. I don’t mess with setting up the bpm of the samples tho, so not sure how to do it, I don’t think it accurately sets bpm’s, but you can set the bpm of samples & loops yourself.

#73

i just found the kp3+ better for live hands on stuff , trigging it to sample and playback the loop doesnt end very well , it records ok just doesnt trigger quite in sync with the incoming audio.
its ok for textural stuff / drones , not for tight percussive loops… but i do like it for the delays/vocoder stuf.

and although it can be midi triggered , receives midi cc , i only use that if i’m organised , which is not very often.

i saw a vid earlier where it was paired with a circuit , so that may be a good partner as well as effecting incoming audio… sometimes convenience outweighs the spec sheet.

#74

Aaaaahhh, I see what you’re saying with the Kp3+… samples, not effects… that makes sense. I’ve only used it a few times with respects to sampling, mainly just for 1 shots. Played with looping some beat boxing a few times, but never synced it with a sequencer. I think the sp404sx/a has really simple midi implementation, but if you were using Ableton to trigger sounds in the 404 it would work fine. Syncing up the sequencer, I’m not positive.
& yea, I mentioned above that you have to put work in with a sp, but at the same time, like you already mentioned, you could chop all samples in another machine or DAW & dump them in the memory card. There is wave converter software that allows you to put samples on each pad (should work for the 404a)- for windows (not sure about Mac):

The effects are not only good for live play, but can be used for sound design as well. There was an sp battle where we had to make a beat using only 1 drum kit & 1 synth sound which were preselected from free apps & the sounds were really bad. I wanted to see how well the sx handled sound design…making sounds better, not just fun live effects. I was impressed by how much I was able to improve the sounds with the sx. Like really impressed. So if you don’t like making beats on it, there are def other things you can use it for (sound design, live play, effects box, I also save all my beats on it, so I can listen whenever while playing with effects & can put together little mixes)

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#75

I’ve had a few hours on it , its seems fine … more limited than i thought and the loop masters content is a bit ’ rubbish’ except a few drum hits.

i thought the pads might be more rubbery but i made some basic patterns and it didnt seem so limited by the polyphony as i thought.
the editor looks like it was made in the year 2000 , they haven’t even updated the graphic.
its a blatant attempt to cash in on the aria brand , but maybe the simplicity will help , it seems like a popular little box with a lot of good reviews.

its brand new and was a great price i couldn’t resist , i’ll hook it up to midi and see what goes on , its got plenty of memory for nice pre-prepared samples to run along my other stuff.

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#76

Out of curiosity is the loop master logo a sticker?

#77

i think so , more of a metallic sticker/badge though , not thin plastic sticker.
all the samples are in Bin files , i guess they have some compression on them as it sounds like mess when played in audacity… they wont last long as i want to organise things better.

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#79

First thing is never buy the sp404A just get the sx

#81

And once you have the sx you might gas for the og or the 303/202. sx is convenient thanks to the SD card but the older units have the original effects and sound.

#82

I got the A personally, it’s the same as the SX aside from the paint job. I didn’t pay full price though, $500 is way too much. If anyone gets the A they shouldn’t pay any more than like 350-$400 at the highest.

#83

I love the SP series :sunglasses:
image

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#84

Im getting a 202 or 303 next. Love how those two just fit perfectly.

#85

I know this is a bit old but in case anyone else stumbles along, I just got a 404A and yes it is a sticker that can peel off with no evidence that it was ever there :wink:

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#86
#87

this makes me wish i still had my 202 and 404 :weary:

#88

No joke. I was halfway excited to check out the sounds but when it arrived I was sorely disappointed in the “expensive” Loopmasters sounds…what a joke.