Roland SP-404 mkII

NearTao wrote:wow, you're on it

I did made a few phone calls prior to the premiere. Sweetwater gave me the runaround saying they know nothing (meanwhile they produced a whole demo vid on it )and if I'd prefer the SP404A. Guitar Center were nice at least they told me a shipment of SPs are coming on Oct 19th but were panicky to say they were either the MK2 or the A. And Perfect Circuit were even decent enough to mention they have the listing ready to launch but awaiting for Roland to give the OK.

So I gambled on Guitar Center just for the Oct. 19th shipment, sure enough, they said its available

yeah ordered one early yesterday... was expecting a November ship... but maybe it'll ship sooner than that...

I might treat myself to one of these at Christmas. I sold my MPC Live a while ago so it’d be nice to have something tactile again.

Coz is back!!

Yeah, all I wanted was a simple sampler in my setup. As much I am a fan of MPCs, this checks all the essentials I need.

Just got an email from Guitar Center saying my pre order is now back ordered and unavailable until further notice.

I ordered within the first 10 min of it going live on there site.

Anyone else?

Yes, its an automated message when they do not have stock. I spoke to GC and they are scheduled to arrive Oct. 19th. Give it a week. Official worldwide release is around November anyway which is just around the corner.

This was the same when the Live and the X were released. Akai said by October, but MPCs were popping up in people's hands (including myself) around August and was a limited first batch. Thats why Roland says November, because by then, everybody will be able to get one when stock arrives in all stores.

Ill-Green wrote:Coz is back!!

Only to comment on this sampler!

I've been looking for something stripped back and simple to use for a while.

The effects are in a different league to MPCs.

Roland is superior in the effects department no doubt. Especially when BOSS is its brother.

If Akai stood in the guitar game with the MPCs, they would be a contender to Roland.

Listening to beats made on the SP404sx compared to the MPC 1000 or MV8000. The sample chops on the SP range usually sound wonky and imprecise. I'd put that down to the convoluted sample chopping workflow and the lack of a waveform display. The fact you can now accurately set your sample start & end points with a waveform display on the MKII is going to take away alot of that.

No way. You can get precise chopping with the SPs. I can play 3 loops at the same time of drum, bass and guitar and it'll stay locked and not drift apart playing for four hours. It takes skill to chop on the 303/404.

Ill, I’m assuming you’re using pattern mode for triggering then, and not hand setting perfect start/stop markers on your loops.

Ill-Green wrote:No way. You can get precise chopping with the SPs. I can play 3 loops at the same time of drum, bass and guitar and it'll stay locked and not drift apart playing for four hours. It takes skill to chop on the 303/404.

Yeah my experience is with the newer MPCs like the 1000 JJOS where its too easy to do clean chops. With JJOS you can zoom right up to zero crossings.

On the SPs they do chops manually by ear, doing things that way there is always a bit of swing, especially on drums. And I think eventually that became part of the style where beat makers purposely made their beats wonky, and then used the SP's FX to make things even more lofi.

NearTao wrote:Ill, I’m assuming you’re using pattern mode for triggering then, and not hand setting perfect start/stop markers on your loops.

I never used pattern mode on any SP, I used them all like the SP202. Even on the MV8800, I never used the multitrack, everything was straight to tape or resampling of live playing.

After the MS-1, I had a knack for precise chops, the 303 doesn't have a waveform or numbers, so I had to work it like an MS-1 by manipulating the mark points and the BPM to get good chops as well as counting bars in my head. And not so tedious either, it takes at least a good minute or two to get it down.

miscend wrote:

Ill-Green wrote:No way. You can get precise chopping with the SPs. I can play 3 loops at the same time of drum, bass and guitar and it'll stay locked and not drift apart playing for four hours. It takes skill to chop on the 303/404.

Yeah my experience is with the newer MPCs like the 1000 JJOS where its too easy to do clean chops. With JJOS you can zoom right up to zero crossings.

On the SPs they do chops manually by ear, doing things that way there is always a bit of swing, especially on drums. And I think eventually that became part of the style where beat makers purposely made their beats wonky, and then used the SP's FX to make things even more lofi.

I do leave the tails alone sometimes though. But the trigger got to be perfectly trimmed up front.

I was raised in the jagged mountains of sampling, training with just a Gemini DS-8 and a tape recorder. If hiphop didn't come out of it, you were thrown off the cliff and had to climb back up bruised and broken bones, if you made it back, you were able to try again, if not, you were left to rot. My master wasn't a producer but a DJ, and he demanded matching BPMs, great equalization and talent. He used to make us finger-strike a huge rubber tree too to the beat of his snare drum until our fingers sprang.