The SP-404MKII is my Favorite Musical Sketchpad!

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The SP-404MKII is my Favorite Musical Sketchpad!
I've talked a lot about the SP-404MKII recently, but it's all been in relation to my live rig and how it fits in there. Today I want to show you how I've been using the 404mkII as a sketchpad, and why it's become my absolute favorite. The portability, the flexible IO, and skip back sampling have removed a lot of friction from my workflow, which has always been a big pain point for me. Enjoy the video :)
My favorite gear in one list, courtesy of zZounds.com:
www.zzounds.com/share--freebe...
GEAR IN THIS VIDEO
Roland SP-404MKII: amzn.to/3xK2Gvd
Roland TD-17kv: amzn.to/4aJ9mIy
Zoom Livetrak L-12 (audio recorder): amzn.to/4aFhRnX
Zoom H6e (portable recorder): amzn.to/3U5AU3R
Questions? Ask them below!
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Bandcamp: free-beat.bandcamp.com/releases
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Опубликовано:

18 апр 2024

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Комментарии : 85

@Gazmatron82 3 месяца назад

Just to jump in here about external batteries, the SP404 MK2 can plug into an ipad with USB C and the ipad acts as an internal battery, as well as audio of usb! So good!

@FreeBeat 2 месяца назад

Good information for all the iPad users out there!

@gibsongk 6 дней назад

So you can sample to Pad

@01kmacias 3 месяца назад

There are a lot of button combinations. It’s ALMOST silly. But would I rather them be there and ignore them if I’m not ready to use them? Absolutely. It you want a daw, then use a daw? If you want a daw in a box, get an mpc

@666.pastel 3 месяца назад

almost too many i feel this

@GrennXBlizzard 3 месяца назад

What is an mpc..?

@alexmorado2182 3 месяца назад

Well said!

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

Yeah, you don't have to memorize every single function, but they're there if you want them!

@diavlo_chris Месяц назад

@@GrennXBlizzardthe akai mpc one, its like a sampler but it has a screen and a daw, still standalone gear but not a dawless thing

@osvos3278 3 месяца назад

Totally agree, such a versatile beast. So many work flows, some easy access but with depth if you want to get deep with it.

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

Definitely, thanks for watching!

@Sammy-B 3 месяца назад

I enjoyed watching the workflow. Always get new ideas when I see how other people use the gear.

@FreeBeat 2 месяца назад

Thanks so much!

@krazywabbit 3 месяца назад

Super sick! Fantastic demo.

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

Thanks a lot!

@dmanh5144 3 месяца назад

Keep up the good work! We need more demos of using this beast in its different modes of operation: looping tracks, live sampling, pad copy/paste/delete during composition, etc.

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

I admittedly haven't played with doing those sorts of things live yet, maybe I will!

@necrotictrust 3 месяца назад

cool, quite helpful to get the idea of different workflows and so on. thank you

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

Absolutely! Thanks for watching :)

@damelos4039 2 месяца назад

Normally, I have a hard time following along with these "build a track" videos but this one was easy to follow and fun! Thanks. You went a little fast but I can always slow it down. hehe

@Muldvarp_ 3 месяца назад

Its so great, and the update really made it future complete, i honestly cant think new of features it does almost everything!

@saggygnaw 3 месяца назад

It doesn’t wipe my butt! Get it together Roland!

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

The *only* thing I want is the ability to assign MIDI note numbers to each pad for easier external triggering. Outside of that I think it's absolutely fantastic.

@towerrunner4675 2 месяца назад

Track-based song mode is on my wish list.

@rexcellencemagee6729 3 месяца назад

I do agree it is so awesome you can’t remember all the button combinations. I have ordered the Yamaha Seqtrack as well,

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

Curious as to what you'll think of the Seqtrak :)

@nomad1517 3 месяца назад

I believe that any producer can benefit from a hardware sampler. Especially if you are producing electronic music. The 404s are famous because of how fast you can make a beat and perform at the same time. It's great for DJs because you can fit it in tight spaces and as a stem launcher. There is so much you can do with it. Plus you can make it unique with all the skins and knobs. Well worth the money.

@FreeBeat 2 месяца назад

Definitely!

@wiggesobk 3 месяца назад

Nice Workflow!

@FreeBeat 2 месяца назад

Thanks!

@gagealbright 3 месяца назад

i like the drums and bass you came up with

@FreeBeat 2 месяца назад

Thank you!

@tomb6576 3 месяца назад

I hated it at first cause I expected a groove box but once I let go of that notion I realized how versatile it really is! The 404, an MC-101, and a midi keyboard in combo is honestly all I'd really need for the rest of my life! I'm very thankful for all the diverse functions but I do wish they'd take some time to further flesh out the current ones. If they got midi interfacing and sequencing together it'd be a near perfect device.

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

Thanks so much for watching!

@jaydeepalmer 3 месяца назад

Yeah the 101 goes deeeep

@CreamOfBeats 3 месяца назад

The 404 MKII does so much, it makes no sense for any producer to not own one. Easily the most versatile piece of gear I’ve ever owned! 🙌🏽

@FreeBeat 2 месяца назад

Agree 100%!

@TokyoScarab 3 месяца назад

I have no idea why Roland ever got rid of the Skipback Sampling feature in their line of Fantom workstations. It's so incredibly useful!

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

Yeah I absolutely love it, I wish it could go back even further! Thanks for watching :)

@bogard08 3 месяца назад

Right. Roland did an amazing job with the update. With the Koala app, you have a portable studio setup.

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

Thanks for watching!

@bjamminsincebirth3494 3 месяца назад

People complain about the button combos but most of the buttons that have a feature are lit on the pads. While I love my daws they too have key command combos or multiple clicks to do things too. It’s honestly more about do you wanna learn or not. I learned it before the recent update and it took me a couple weeks.

@TheChameleon2008 3 месяца назад

I think the button combo's give it a extra layer of awesomeness because it takes skill to master it makes it so much more awesome when it succeeds.

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

Yeah it's really not that bad, especially if you focus on learning the ones you use often.

@Creecher10 3 месяца назад

The sp404 is a beast! I absolutely love the new looper mode with the recent update. Made sampling things in much simpler and I got seamless loops no problem. Also, I thought SBS only went back 25 seconds? Must've missed it being 40 seconds, I'll have to dig through the manual again and see

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

Pretty sure I read it's around 40! Super handy haha. Thanks for watching :)

@JACKSTAY 2 месяца назад

In the menus, set it to SBS (long) for the 40 seconds

@mikezoltan3227 Месяц назад

I owned the old sp404. Didnt have any problems understanding it. I've owned this for about 5 months now. I can't even figure out how to use the website to update the device or drop samples on the pads. 😊

@FreeBeat Месяц назад

Oh no! Are you getting errors or something?

@mikezoltan3227 Месяц назад

@@FreeBeat Yes, it says I've downloaded what I need and then there is nothing there when I go to open it. I think maybe my operating system is too old. Windows 10?

@steveaguay 3 месяца назад

Even as a complete novice with these types lf instruments the button combination start to make sense and become second nature rather quickly.

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

I agree!

@dontwatch1227 3 месяца назад

That's what I was picking up on also. We're semi rural here and not many creative outlets. I need something that will be intuitive enough for a novice yet to keep them interested. Looked at Po-33 ect but seemed limited and possibly fragile. Expecting lots of us from a heap of folks

@james9789 17 дней назад

Is there anything i can plug my bass into just like what your doing but with less buttons less complexity.somewhere I can play to drums capturing the bass parts.?

@FreeBeat 10 дней назад

It's actually pretty simple to record bass/guitar into the SP-404MKII! Maybe I'll do a dedicated video on it :)

@james9789 9 дней назад

That would make a great video I think a lot of musicians like this product but are similar to me a bit daunted by the amount on offer.Youve got me more interested in it now using it on a basic recording level ,just need to not get distracted by the wealth of buttons.Ive had lots of gear over the years but never really got on with Roland menus and operating systems.Another option I'm looking into is the Yamaha seq track.

@jantuitman 3 месяца назад

It looks so appealing and I would love to noodle on this thing but I think I can better avoid it, since I am very much “design a non realtime sequence first, then arrange, then play or improvise with it” person and this is very much a “play or improvise first, collect fragments, arrange” workflow.

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

Yeah this is very different from a traditional groovebox, and it can certainly be a shock at first haha. Thanks as always!

@Sammy-B 3 месяца назад

What does it mean to design a non real-time sequence first?

@jantuitman 3 месяца назад

@@Sammy-B it means that I write music entering notes on a sequencer, before I press a play button 🙂. Much like writing sheet music and only after it has been written, performing it, but in electronic form.

@Sammy-B 3 месяца назад

@jantuitman ok. I'm just trying to work out if the 404 would fit that. You can sequence empty pads into a step sequencer, say 1 or 2 bars, and then drop different samples onto those sequenced pads. You can swap pads around, which would alter where they sat in the sequence. I think some people do use it that way. You can sequence in real time too, of course.

@jantuitman 3 месяца назад

@@Sammy-B ok, curious what that means? do you mean step sequencing on the SP404 itself or midi triggering the pads from an external step sequencer? And how would swapping pads work?

@tysonsaner2527 3 месяца назад

👍👍

@FreeBeat 2 месяца назад

Thanks!

@798beer 2 месяца назад

live looper is great you shuold try it with your guitar!

@FreeBeat 2 месяца назад

Idk if my guitar skills are good enough for that haha, maybe bass!

@ghostcoder3342 Месяц назад

so awesome but the sequencer is not working to me.. the tr style is bad.. and im not a finger drummer.. :( but with my polyene tracker it starts to work like it should! :)

@FreeBeat Месяц назад

Ah, to each their own. I absolutely love the TR style sequencer!

@Hakucho64 3 месяца назад

Newbie question, could you record your entire jam to a sample?

@TheChameleon2008 3 месяца назад

i think you can record up to 16 minutes to a pad.

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

Yup, 16 minutes per pad!

@alancalvitti 3 месяца назад

the display tho, why isnt it a xy pad like kaoss

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

What do you mean?

@PololiNuskil 3 месяца назад

Assuming your SP-404 MKII is on firmware 4.0.4? A big bug in it! Load a sample from sd-card and resample, instant crash. Roland will update the 4.0.4 firmware as soon as possible.

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

OH you might be right! I don't do a ton of exporting from the SD card anymore (most of my stuff is already on there) so I didn't notice that. Nice catch. Hopefully it's fixed soon.

@dontwatch1227 3 месяца назад

Well there goes my next check... Thanks😢

@FreeBeat 3 месяца назад

Make sure it's not just the G.A.S. talking! What're you gonna be using the 404 for?