SP404-MK2 gets a POWERFUL NEW SOFTWARE UPDATE! (v.4.04 is here!) 

Check out my drum packs & merch here - bit.ly/2OIJ0zf

I can Loop with my SP Now!?!?! It's a dream come true!!!!

Koala and SP are finally friends! It’s super cool because you can use Koala to sequence your song parts.

The MERGE SAMPLE func is awesome in conjunction with loop sample. Now continuous seamless (where the end of a loop blends back into the start of the loop) drone or pad loops are a reality in the SP. Serious game changer for the experimental musicians out there who use the sp for making music off the grid.

Remember you thought it was doomed lol?? Roland surprised us all with this, and continue to listen to the community!🙏🏾✊🏾💚

Its 1am here in the UK So i'm not going to be awake for much longer to reply to comments. Can't wait to read all your reactions in the morning. Grab the new software here: www.roland.com/global/support/by_product/sp-404mk2/updates_drivers/bead022d-5349-4aab-9608-90ec718d47b0/

Thanks for making this video so I don't have to 😆♥ After years of wanting this feature, I've learned to love my SP for what it is but this is a welcomed update for sure, the Sound Generator was definitely a surprise. Nice to see you still rockin' it 🤘

You can make hats and snares with that noise generator

Fixed length recording is my favorite new feature. This is really perfect for me since I usually will play a 4-8 bar sections on keys or synth to create my compositions. It looks like the looper maxes out at 4 bars. I can probably use both depending on the scenario. I pretty much stopped using my SP but I'm gonna try to use it again for the portable scenarios I need it. Pretty excited.

Holy shit i didnt expect this. Amazing, love the support from Roland for this machine

it's still sp403 day for me 🙃

I really need to start making a guide of all the key combinations; I still have to look for some of the past two updates . Thanks for the video! Happy 404!

There is some room on the bottom on the device to glue some cheat sheet there:-). Wonderful update and wonderful video introduction into what it offers. As an ambient guy, I think that the built-in synth offers some very exciting possibilities. I can't wait to try it out. Cheers!

long time coming 🙌🏻 🎉

Great changes. I was driving myself nuts with resamples that weren’t looping right because of the length so it’s great to see there are two ways around it now. Being able to import while in DJ mode is what I’m most excited about but haven’t updated to try it yet

Thanks for sharing the update. Great content as always!

I can’t wait till tonight so I can get my hands on all the new features. Thanks for a great overview, mate! I'm very excited about the looper feature. Should add a lot of flexibility to my techno sets🎉

Thanks for your video! I am so hyped about the new update. Looper, sound generator and multipad export are absolute game changers to me 😍😍😍..especially multipad export is a big thing for me, cause exporting all the single elements from a sequence was often times a killer for me. I am also happy to see they put the project number in front of the stems.

Love that you are the first one on the internet on this. Outstanding.

Wow! Finally looper and export stems in 404. That is amazing! Thank you for the great news sir🙏🙌

Awesome news! I've just upgraded my sp404 and can't wait to test out all the new updates. It's going to be a blast! ❤

As a person that doesn't own a 404 but wants one but was on the fence because it lacked a few features. I can say the new update sold me on getting one. I can see myself using the new features first (after learning the basics) and learning everything else after.

Fixed resample is so helpful to me- I resample guitar, or vox on top of beats- keeping mix off - and now both loops will be the same length. 🙏

Stem separation for patterns?! FINALLY

Very cool with a drum machine and some good samples to overdub. The Drumbrute Impact with the pads to play live is a good choice. I'm eager to try this with my mixer and Serato/ midi. I'm hoping there is a way to sync the speed of loops with midi.

Wonderful video, so so helpful, thank you very much 🙌

This is huge. I may have to go back to using my SP a lot more now. 💯

Thanks for the video, this got me over the line on the 404, I was really looking at the EP133 as a travel device but I think realistically with this update this will be a much better proposition for making stuff that all will actually then be able to use Back in Ableton and make full tracks. It seems like Roland is really on the ball with updates and will probably do more in the future.

Yo that Neo Tokyo shell is FIRE

great post, loving the looper

looper looks cool... i wonder what the workflow will be to add vocals to a pattern playing....(separate looper pad with just vocals).. are we back to bouncing a pattern to audio so looper will be able to be used?

Thanks G I updated as soon as I seen this video :)

Cheers 🎉 Did I hear you correctly, infinite pattern lengths 😮😮😮

Fat... big up man and thanks for keeping us up to date... bless

Happy 404 Day, brotendo! Can't wait to get stuck in to some 404ism in the morning!

just updating now. cant wait to see what the update brings shame i have to go to work now will sit down with it tonight cheers for the video

This is SO AWESOME! I didn't know Roland was going to release a new firmware!

Now that's just freaking awesome! Thanks for the update! :)

The sp404 mk2 is the best. So user friendly from beginners to the advanced beat makers, this machine has enabled me to finally make complete beats with relative ease and is extremely fun to sample and play with. With the fan/user base and Roland keeping an ear to the streets this unit is updated extremely concisely and blows the other products out the water with support and does so much for the price. Id recommend it to anyone and with channels such as spvids you cannot go wrong and will be able to easily navigate all the ins and outs with a supportive bunch of like-minded beatheads helping and encouraging you to up your game and take full advantage of the ever growing mk2 sp404 all in one powerhouse.

Massive update as the ones that preceded it on the mk2. Kudos to Roland for that level of support. Side-chain and arpeggiator is the only missing. Also begging for DJ mode FX to be routable on the channel level. But man they're so close to perfection.

they did expand the amp envelope controls too it appears.

Great update and explanation

yesss. the tone generator is a game changer for me

more magic powerssss! thanx 4 the vid! ;)

Columbus Ohio, USA....we see you family....Great Vid

Very nice update, although in the 555 you dont have to set the bpm for the looper. This is a huge difference imo and makes it not as versatile as a real looper (in the same way they crippled the mark button now that i come to think of it). It still offers some welcome functionality though.

I've installed 4.04 today but if I remember in FW 3 you can in pattern mode chosse a certain number of bars like the looper and loop over these bars with the pad samples. I don't know whats the difference with the actual looper...

Thanks as always for your great video! 😀

Am I missing something in my default settings? I copied a simple 2 bar loop to a pad and I still need to Normalize the sample to bring the volume of the sample closer to 0. It didn't seem you had to do that in your video.

2 things I really wanted, Merge Patterns and a simple Ducker, I guess I'll wait till the next update

The noise generator is actually a good source for hats but it would need a very short envelope.

Well well well! And per step edits! Yes thank you

The best feature of this entire update for me is the update to the step sequencer mode, and no one is talking about it enough. Micro timing, and full per step control makes it an incredibly good step sequencer now. Especially given it can have 1024 steps per pattern.

When trying to use looper function, metronome switched on, rec on, but as soon as I play a note (on Roland j-6 connected externally) the metronome skips a beat and messes up my rhythm… any idea why this happens?

This is fantastic. They keep updating. This thing was a great investment into enjoyment.

Hell yeah!!! 🙌🏽

Wow great job roland.

WOW! This updates frankly blown me brain cell! So partly its become possible to emanate sort of RC505 autolooping operation. I do have a question about updates. I havent really kept my SP mk2 up to date (slapped wrists!) but what do i need to do to get up to this new version? 1. Update incrementally up to v4? 2. Just download n install v4 cos its got all the previous updates within it? Muchos grazias for your help Jonboy x

Finally, now it's an Sp Mk2!

have anyone tried to use the looper while a pattern is playing? is that possible? lets say I have a drum loop done with the pattern mode, can I keep hearing that pattern while I use the looper functionality to record a 4 bar loop of an external source like a guitar?

how do you merge samples? i saw it in the patch notes but havent found it in the manual yet.

I'm guessing the groove works better with a quantized beat

thank you for sharing, you saved me lot of time

I love the workflow I was able to get with the 3.03 update.... I was already used to it, I can use it even with blind and blindfolded. but in this version 4 many things change, no doubt the ''real time loop'' is a very powerful update... how I like my swiss army knife brother... good smokes over here smoking some bubba kush watching the sunset from my home studio. I hope I don't have trouble adapting to this new one, I haven't seen the video yet but as soon as I have time I'll enjoy watching it!!! I just came to comment to help your channel grow brother spvidz, a hug.

Does the new looper can be externally midi synced ? Or does it have a Midi cc control possible ?

I love it mate omg 💥🔥😍💯

Yo. My sp cant find the updates. Just says “No updater” any advice?

Good stuff sir

Wow, I always wondered what those effects were like that they didn't add from the Sx, and other functions from previous models, I'm happy with the update :)

does it instantaneously record incoming external audio for live looping and autodetect BPM?

I've seen folks complain about resampling and timing issues. Do you have any thoughts on that?

I just got into KOALA so I'm excited for this update.

thanks brother!!! may i post this on my page?

I'm stoked!!!

What even is the diffrence of the looper and the pattern mode?

No variable sample rate 😢

Wow! Looks like a shed load of update

Soon it'll reach octatrack confusion levels. thanks for the video.

Beatmakers aside, the looper is now a powerful tool for vocalists making live beats

Whats is the Difference too rec??

Happy 404 Day, my guy!!!

Great time to be a beat maker :)

The Koala App collaboration is cool and weird, I'll explore it in details. maybe is the best of both worlds? (Eq for pads, Koala Fxs, velocity sensitive pads)

This is a real fun update! Thanks for telling me! And happy 404 day!

Anyone else in here thinking of v4.05 that automatically cuts the EXT IN signal after finishing a fixed length/measure recording (as not to send a double signal; and not have to TIME the recording stop manually). Probably a use case for synth heads like me who might be recording a LOOP into the LOOPER. :) Loop loop loop loop loopty doop loop - nice update! :)

omg it cant be true? waited two years for this.

Any USB-C to Lightning Cable Suggestions?

Thanks

404-2 has caught up with KO2 a bit in terms of usability teenage engineering will be bringing their next major firmware soon to bring the so far unused second processor online. Good times for sampler community

Yessssss! Happy 404 day!

The multipad thing didn't work for me. It exported some tracks, but not all unfortunally. It's messed up:(

@spvidz Question for you: The instructions say that after verifying 4.04 has installed properly, I should initialize the machine. Do you think this is important? I'd rather skip this step

I'm going to share some personal details that no one cares about: a few months ago I was looking for a looper for weeks because I borrowed my friend's guitar pedal that had a looper function and it was such a fun way to make music. I got fully into GAS mode and started buying different loopers ranging from low priced to high priced online and immediately got buyer's remorse after each purchase because 1) I'm somewhat poor and 2) I'm not really a great musician. So I was returning each one and decided, ya know what, I'm just gonna be happy with the gear I have (aka a laptop, sp404mk2, and a synth keyboard) and make music even if it takes longer and is not as fun as using a live looper. THEN, I go on vacation, leaving behind all my gear and forgetting all about this world of music creation, only to come back home and see all these videos about Roland finally doing something cool and adding these dope features such as a live looper. Yeah, it maxes out at 4 bars, but goddamn is it so much easier to make beats when you can just play in some drums and add layers in in real time. It's like the ultimate music creation sketchpad. Honestly the only thing I wish they would add at this point is the ability to change what external source the external input effects are being applied to. I really don't know how difficult that could be, but as someone that likes to rap/sing and also play the keys, I wish there would be a way to apply the external input fx to only the microphone or only the inputs in the back of the unit. I think Roland is listening to you bro so make it happen for ya boy. Anyways, thanks for staying true to the grind and making these videos. I do see your point about there being almost too many features for this small unit, but at least now we know for future iterations the base model will start with all this stuff and hopefully more buttons to work with (or maybe just a bigger screen to see what the hell you're doing lol). I'm satisfied, I think this might be the best music creation tool in its price class, frankly. Peace!!

Please help I can`t update to 4.04. My sp simple cant`t found app0 and app1 files on sd card.

can you choose key to the scale?

One thing that wasn’t clear from this video - the looper also loops external audio! I heard about the looper and saw this video, but was a bit disappointed when I didn’t see any external audio used - I thought it might mean that it only does samples. I checked the official vid and it indeed does loop external audio.

If you layer a bunch of stuff in the looper and then bounce it to a pad, is there any way of later separating those layers again? e.g. maybe you want a different treatment on the hi-hat vs. the kick

You are the gurú of SP404mk2! 🎉

What is the difference between looper and recording patterns in real time mode?

I'm having an issue with the SD card after the update. I press shift and pad 14, select import from SD card and everything just freezes. I can't do anything except for turning it off. SD card size is 512 GB