I use audioshare on my iPad, plugged into the sp. My whole sample library is managed that way, and i can quickly zoom through all my samples and quickly record them in. I usually have "kits" prebuilt on the sp. I'll spend time matching kicks snares hats and such together, and each bank will have the drums already on it. And whatever music sample I'm using, I'll put it in the bank with the drums that fit with it the best. Workflow is pretty damn fast. But i always separate sound design and music creation. Creating drum kits and finding samples is separate from when I'm actually making beats. Keeps the left and right brain from steppin on each other
@@danielcarter3928 so my process is i manage things from my Macbook. And keep my sample library in icloud drive, in a music folder. So it syncs with my phone, and i can access it on my iPhone or iPad. Then you open audioshare, and import those folders into audioshare. It can be a little tedious to set up initially, but once you have everything in there, adding new stuff just takes a minute once you get the importing workflow down. You could just sample from the files app, but the preview function doesn't work that well. In audioshare it's super fast to preview and flip through sounds
I wish from day one i knew: 1. That the remain button toggles your selected effect from either all samples or the last sample triggered. 2. If you want to select a sample to edit without triggering it hold remain select. 3: Effect #12, compression, is your best freind.
It’s been cool to see your progression not just with how knowledgeable you are but also how you explore different avenues- especially cool to see you getting into a DAW workflow. I used to hit up the SPs for simplicity but as I’ve been learning ableton and maschine more I’ve realized that DAWs are the most intuitive/streamlined way to do most things
Definitely man. Old samplers etc are a labour of love that’s for sure - computer based beat making like you rightly say is incredible now and you have so much control! Still won’t lose the love for them but with the SP you can still get the sound out of it but use a DAW to build which is the best of both worlds
spvidz for sure! The 404 is timeless and the love won’t die anytime soon- found a nice sweet spot on MFX 14 after your video on how to sweeten up the Lofi button, got me exploring. And just like you said having the best of both worlds is next level, layering tracks from the sp into any daw has kind of a really cool feel to it as well- especially ableton where you can warp audio without changing the overall pitch or transient. Have you ever messed around with midi going from ableton to the sp, or one of your other machines like the 2000XL or the 555?
I've only ever done midi stuff once where I got my 2500 to act as the pads for tapping out beats which was cool but it took a long time assigning all the pads etc so I never got around to doing it again
Good tips. I definitely was frustrated by my first SP when I got it. I had to get through a painful learning curve and now I love it but I nearly sold it right after getting it. Glad I stuck with it.
Same here man, I had an MPC and went to the SX because I thought it would be easier but it took a long time to start getting a good sound out of it. I remember for a long time I wouldn't use hi-hats because I couldn't get them to sound good lol!
apropos of SD Card file transfer action: I recommend Audacity for editing samples beforehand. Simple DAW with lots of features and effects. ANDDD it's FREE. (mac, windows, and linux, too!)
Hey mate. Greetings from Canada. First video of yours I'm watching. I recently picked up one of these units used so im looking forward to watching your tutorials. I'm watching this video now and my wife heard your accent and said she thinks you're from solihull... she's originally from Birmingham 🙂
I just picked up one of these used today... because I got a Polyend Tracker... and then found out it doesn't playback stereo samples. So... I'm just going to load the SP404 with all the Samples that I feel work better in Stereo (pads, strings, drones etc...), and I'll have my Mono Samples on the Tracker... and I'll just trigger the SP via Midi.
Roland originally marketed the 404 as an entry level, portable sampler with basic sequencing capabilities. It's a sampler 1st. A DJ performance unit for fx, loops, and one shots 2nd. A beat making device 3rd. If you are trying to do any level of mixing, complex sound design, or sophisticated beatmaking you're making your life difficult for no reason. I have one but I don't try to make it be something that it isn't.
I'm largely in agreement these days especially since the arrival of the MK2. I certainly wouldn't go back to make beats on this unless it was just for a bit of fun. IMO Its best use is as a sample processing unit or a master FX box
I wasn’t even in the sp game at that point 😭 was about to buy an MPC and try and start making beats probably haha. Started with an MPC renaissance. I kinda wish I would have kept that now to be honest it was a beast of a machine I just hated the fact it wasn’t stand alone!
@@spvidz Yes I bought it long time ago, my plan was to use it more as a performances/effector, tool. I was very slow to discover its potential, as you may know the manual is almost useless, and very few people were making videos. Now is my main creative tool, thanks to your videos and others. And I keep discovering new posibiliites day by day. Thanks so much mate.
Great video! Thx for the advices. Could you do a video on how to use the SP inside ableton? If been trying so many driffrent ways to integrate the sp effects but I always had problems with feedback or with the work flow/ resampling. Probably it’s just some routing issue I didn’t figure out yet but I’m sure there must be a way to join these forces.. Btw I’m using your drum sounds for a while now and still not getting tired of them. Cool stuff 🤘
How to mute samples - use the fx 22 and put that fx to the sample or sampled and turn the 2-3 knobs the opposing ways and then use knob 4 to mute volume in and out
Yup I’ve basically covered that already. There’s a video in the archive which shows people how to use either the isolator or DJ FX looper to add pauses in beats. Using it on individual samples is a cool idea though so could maybe do a video on the same topic at some point as a follow up! Thanks for the Idea 🙏
Great videos, you are doing an amazing public service! Somewhat of a newbie here. One question that I've wondered through a lot of your content - are there any pros and cons to the order in which you layer MFX? I'm thinking more of EQ, Isolator and Compression here rather than the more obvious noise effects that get baked in. I have it in my head that you always add Compression last for some reason, but obviously you don't....
Can't remember what I've mentioned in this video but I do probably compress at the end of the chain in most cases. That just seems to be a natural thing to do for some reason. I do the same on Ableton too. I think the rest is just a case of trial and error with no set formula really!
Fantastic content. I would really appreciate you summarizing the key points of your videos like this one (what the 5 things are) in the description. Gonna go and dig into even more of your content now!
Thanks man, unfortunately it’s a lot of work doing vids and adding the time stamps is even more work but I will try and find time to add them in the future. Thanks for watching! 🙏
@@spvidz Totally get that. When I make mine I don't bother with the time stamps etc. I'm talking more just about, what are the 5 things? I watched the whole video so I know what they are :) But it makes consuming the content that much easier when you come back to the video to have the quick summary in the details.
Great tips, you should consider picking up an TE OP-1, they're a little expensive usually but I use one alongside my SP-202 and it's a grouse little combo. I could imagine having even more potential pairing one with the 404.
I looked at them for so long man but in the end I copped a 2000xl and a 555 and still had change so that made my decision. I would like one one day though they look like a lot of fun!
Yeah the synth side of it looks really cool, be good to be able to make beats without samples thats what made me so keen to get one but yeah just the price....haha
Im wondering if theres a big difference in sound when you import your samples and exporting the beats to the sd card. Because this means you bypass the AD/DA convertors which I believe are largely responsible for the sound of the SP. Would be interesting to hear a comparison.
It will certainly do something as its not going through the circuitry from the SD card but I can't imagine its enough to get excited about. It would be interesting to do a comparison though yes. That might be a good idea for a future video!
@@spvidz if this really works as i suspect it might give us the ability to make beats within the mk2 and run it through another SP its convertors which sounds very exciting. Good video idea indeed!
Ay bro I have an Ableton effects rack that has a few of the SP404 core effects. Once I realized I could build 1 or 2 effects racks with those effects and map them to a midi fighter twister I saw I had the same thing as a SP with the world of a DAW. Changed the game bro.
Pretty cool man. I’ve tried one plugin and thought it sounded nothing like the sp tbh you can’t beat the real thing. Can you not just route your audio through your sp (not sure if you have one)? I’ve managed it on mine recently and it’s dope being able to run stuff through it even if it’s just the whole beat after you’ve finished making it
@@spvidz yea you can route the sp so that the effects on their work on the ableton track. I don’t happen to have one though so for me it was a choice of which piece of gear to get and what worked best for me. I knew I wasn’t gonna be making beats on the SP so the twister was the better option for me.
@@christianwebb6048 yeah man that’s fair makes sense. My workflow is definitively changing right now. Going more computer based and using the mfx to get the lofi sounds I want. The sp is an awkward little machine to make beats on and I enjoyed that for a long time but working in a DAW and being able to do everything you want to do is such a good feeling
You could just record your final beat onto a pad and then resample any FX that you want, or you could record the signal coming out of it to a DAW like ableton or garage band. Once you have that wave file you can import it into the device again using the Import feature. Got a video about import here - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-C_RkYHhbAww.html
Great advice! Just bought one to get out of using a laptop onstage(I had a crash once and it made me think about going dawless onstage). How stable is it for live use?
Its pretty fun yeah I've done a few live performances. Basically the way to do it is import your tracks onto the pads then you can play them while you jam out with FX!
This may help although part of it got copyrighted. The video should still give you a good idea though - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-S5AEkqTIVhk.html
HI, thx for this video ! I'm considering buying a SP-404A :) I have a question on the sequencer, if you have time... I like to program wonky hip hop beats, i use quite a lot the track "time shifting" (delay applied to a track) to mimic loose hats playing, bass at the back of the beat... You know, the classic "induce delay on some tracks" tip (while working on the step sequencer, cause that's how i like to work). Is there such a feature in the SP ? I know there can always be a workaround (use of a delay all wet feedback to 1, adding silence at the start of the sample, etc...) but i like this "track time shifting" to be implemented in my sequencers... I hope i am clear, scuse my english i'm French ! Have a good day !
The only thing you would be able to do is apply delay to the pads that you are sequencing I think. There isn’t an actual feature where you can shift things on the pattern sequencer as far as I know!
The OG is great for FX but not so great for everything else from what I can tell. Never felt the need to own one myself. One of its main downfalls is that you can't copy patterns! If you are just using it for MFX in a chain it would be dope but I think it would be quite painful as a full beat making device
Why, as the owner of two MPC units and a box of broken ones, do I want one of these so bad? Feel it in my bones. I want to bang out on one! Miss my 202, had to pawn it in 2001 and lost it.
lol I'm also the proud owner of a 2500 thats in bits due to all the pots going. The SPs seem a little more rugged imo apart from the pads. Had to replace mine after about 4 years but it wasn't too bad to do and now its fully functional again
Hey man so I just got my sp 404 a and the bank pads are not triggering, they light up when I hit remain but I just cannot get them to trigger and I couldn’t find any info on Reddit or anything, if you know what’s up I’d really appreciate your help man love your vids
@@spvidz I don’t have any sounds on the pads I’m trying to sample for the first time but the banks won’t even open up, this is a used sp btw but I believe it was hardware reset and all that. It came with an sd card but neither my computer or laptop have an sd slot so I was expecting to just sample manually
I have a sp404 sx I paid a little under $600 but I want about $1100 .....the machine works it's got a carrying case extra cords power cord phone and mic jack adapters ....
They don't make 'em new any more so second-hand market places etc are your best bet. I think reverb.com has a good one for gear! Either that or wait until you can get the new MK2 which has a ton more features but they are taking a very long time to ship because of supply-chain issues
Depends on which MPC? Generally, the MPCs are much better for pattern sequencing and building full beats imo. the main thing thats so good about the SP is the fx, its quite tricky building beats but you can do so much with the FX, its a lot faster for chopping and sampling as well but you don't get the accuracy of an mpc because you can't look at the waveform at all on an SP. Just a few ideas there for you
@@spvidz I’m ordering today If they are any stronger then the fat pads I got for my mpd, you shouldn’t have a problem, they are super good at taking a ass kicking P.s, Does the new pads still have the click like the old sp pads, I kinda like it for some reason ha
No they don't click and thats actually why I like them more lol - They feel a lot more like pads instead. They are a vast improvement to the stock pads imo, couldn't go back now!
