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The New Roland SP-404-A


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Not sure if it does Sy.

 

I use mine like its a piano anyway hehe so it makes no difference to me either way.

 

I also seriously doubt it has anything like the Vinyl Sim on the OG 404 judging by what Roland did with that particular effect on the 404-SX which is nowhere near as good unfortunately.

 

The new machines look pretty dope though regardless in my opinion and as someone who uses 404's exclusively i'll definitely be checking one out for sure.

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Looks dope. What's 'bit crash'?

Bit Crash appears to have replaced the Lo-fi FX setting that's on the original models by the look of it so I'd imagine that its a similar type of processing effect Joe.

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Yeah you can run a 30 gigabyte HDSD card on the new 404's,so tons of room, storage wise.

As I've previously mentioned the new 404-SX is a dope machine.

The original(and best) 404's run 1 gig (max) compact flash although I tend to just use the 512 meg cards as they're super fast which suits my own personal way of making tracks/ beats etcetera.

Speaking of beatmakers who do the shit Rock Well mentioned It's also cheating btw to load up full tracks onto individual pads and then profess to be playing live...so don't let me catch you bullshitting 'Mr Spontaneous'. :p

if you cant pull it off with your hands right there on the spot in one take don't even fucking attempt to call your shit 'live on the SP' while I'm within earshot hehe.

 

only joking.

do what the fuck you like.

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Lol.

It's only ever 'live' if you're moving your hand up and down over the 'D-Beam' Controller on an old Roland SP-808 while the samplers on-board multi track mixer plays your pre-recorded backing tracks to a bunch of unsuspecting pissheads out in public.

 

I miss my old SP-808... :p

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I take it still has the all important function of enough memory so that beatmakers can load whole tracks on to every pad and take it out to play whole sets "live on tha SP"?!

Yup one of the drawbacks about the Pioneer models is these are only up to 32seconds by pad so its a mix between remix decks and maschine.

 

SP series are unique but Roland doesnt seems to improve them far than paint coat.

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SP series are unique but Roland doesnt seems to improve them far than paint coat.

 

Agreed.

 

This latest 404 just has some firmware updates added as far as I know.

 

Plus the lovely new paint job of course with hints of this season's bile green and shocking pink .. :d

 

What would have been nice is if Roland had incorporated velocity sensitive pads and more advanced pitch shifting capabilities which are some of the things that users have been crying out for.

 

As much as I like the 404 series for the workflow,the fact I can mix the music I make live and the ability to apply FX in real time, it's a real shame that Roland don't seem to want to listen to the people who actually buy and use the products they manufacture.

 

The Pioneer DJS-1000 looks like a decent bit of kit but just 32 seconds sampling time per pad ,at a cost of £1200 rrp and in the year 2017 ?

 

That seems somewhat wrong in my opinion.

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For loops enough but for full songs Pioneer wants people buying their cdjs lol. Totally agreed about Roland and their no sense (sp555 had velocity pads with some calibration adjustment which more users uknown about it.)

 

The middle step between these seems to be the new mpc live or BM3/Launchpad app (with launchpad pro.)

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If Roland decided to be smart enough they'd revamp the Sp-808 and bring it bang up to date with proper digital storage capabilities like the new SP's have in them.

Instead they waste everybody's time by releasing boutique nonsense for people with the same sized hands as a 5 year old little Japanese girl.

The thing is,were Roland to actually get it right they could easily have a truly great SP series sampler and one that could go head to head, make no mistake, with the Akai MPC's.

The 808,(and even more so the 808-EX) was an incredibly powerful sampler at the time I bought mine in the late 90's..loads of sampling time,absolutely killer FX modelled on those lovely old Boss pedals and things like the Roland space echoes etcetera and a decent 4 track mixer to boot,it even had some wicked on-board synthesizer patches you could link to a midi controlled keyboard incorporated into the unit but which ultimately boiled down to nothing because of the flimsy

I-Omega zip drives it used which unsurprisingly became the machines Achilles heel.

I finally gave up on mine because of the zip's alarmingly rapid read and write heads deterioration and unpredictability,which was a shame as I'd done some of what I thought was the best music I had ever produced on that 808.

I still have the discs of those tracks sat in a cupboard somewhere,labelled 'An Innocent Breakbeat Head's Corrupted Dreams & Memories Destroyed By Roland Inc' hehe.. destined to lie forgotten in grey digital limbo for eternity,alas.

Thanks a lot Roland.

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I know and I agree. I will love to see a new remix box like that up to date.

 

Little OT... Did you see these people who managed to upload the A6 videocanvas firmware with hard disk support?

https://www.hispasonic.com/foros/roland-sp-808-actualizado-roland-a6-disco-duro/253778

 

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/SP-808USERS/ broke

 

http://sp-forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4353&start=15

 

http://www.angelfire.com/ca/wicket/

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A6 you lose most of the 808 features, if you want the 808 then the best bet is to throw down the £150 and get the MPC2000xl MD for it, and just use flash cards

I agree with the card approach but I felt it was hard to find compatible reader, almost by the guy who made the spanish howto.

 

Where do you suggest to get one of these? I look to these wonderful machines time to time and zip is the main drawback for my purposes...

 

Thanks a lot Flexinoodle.

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It seems that a lot of these companies, which still make samplers, have completely lost it. Roland just keeps on making the SPs based on late 90s mentality. AKAI/InDesign can't make a decent standalone unit. Pioneer keeps on throwing shit against a fan (only 2 stereo outputs, seriously?).

 

I find it absolutely impossible to believe that we had already reached the pinnacle of sampler design 25 years ago...For any single "new" sampler there is at least one alternative from like 20 years ago.

 

These companies need either to start from scratch and build something OUTSIDE the laptop/PC realm, or just called it quits and just make midi controllers.

Edited by kebzer
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For any single "new" sampler there is at least one alternative from like 20 years ago.

This is a good point.

 

TBH i'd still be using my SP-808 if the fucking thing still worked and it didn't run on zip discs because the machine was a joy to use ..I've tried various other samplers over the years and always preferred the feel of the 808 .

 

I've come to appreciate the limitations of the 404 in a way ,the simplicity of it is cool and it forces me to work on sampling shit that little bit harder and although it can be pretty tricky for pitching drums sometimes, I just remember what Pete said about the world being full of drums and find some others to use instead.. :8

 

I think the sampler i'd most like to go for would be the Roland MV-80OO or possibly an MPC of some description. i'm pure hardware to start with and I don't really need a computer except for uploading stuff to Soundcloud.

 

I much prefer old gear to make music with anyway as I've been a hands on musician all my life ..I just need something dope thats standalone and more to the point,something reliable that won't crash and ruin your shizzle.

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A6 you lose most of the 808 features, if you want the 808 then the best bet is to throw down the £150 and get the MPC2000xl MD for it, and just use flash cards

I agree with the card approach but I felt it was hard to find compatible reader, almost by the guy who made the spanish howto.

Where do you suggest to get one of these? I look to these wonderful machines time to time and zip is the main drawback for my purposes...

Thanks a lot Flexinoodle.

Those robbing bastards at MPC spares or whatever they are called have bought every single one and charge 150 + for them, pricks.
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