this is the PERFECT video. i spent the last 3 weeks listening to my boom bap + lofi vinyl records and playing along with one earphone in my sampler. i recommend the technique. this video made everything so much EASIER!!!!!!! thank you spvidz. watched your videos before i even had a 404, so entertaining to watch. -samplehead
I think I learned this from watching you on another video, but I play the kick, snare and hat with my right hand, and then come in with the left index finger for the double kick effect. I can't believe how good I've gotten at this in such a short period of time. It feels fluid and I can play with so much variety. Love the videos! I've had my SP for only two months and I've already released tracks thanks to you :)
Nice man! i do some weird finger stuff when Im playing samples at the same time, my finger on my left hand drops down to add the doubles. I never remember consciously figuring that out I just seem to have developed it somehow! Glad the videos have been useful, thanks for the support!
Great video man! This definitely is gonna help me improve my finger drumming grooves on the SP. One thing I’ve found that helps for laying down eighth note hi hats is by counting like this “ 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. “ instead of just “1 2 3 4” so snares are still on the 2s and 4s but the hi hats are all being counted. Also I’ve Found that instead of counting with my voice it can also be helpful to beat box my beat out loud as I finger drum it. Hope that helps🙏🏼
I would love it if you'd do an updated video for the SP404 MK2. I'm trying to learn as much as I can about it, so that I can do a live performance next month. Not sure if you have the time, but I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
This is cool stuff hear. Great to see finger drumming tutorials out there for complete beginners. I would just like to add that I feel like finger drumming has a lot of potential in really any kind of music. I mean, I'm certainly not against using it for things like hip-hop and electronic music; it certainly can add the feel of playing an actual musical instrument into a genre like hip-hop or techno that doesn't necessarily require the physical skill of playing an instrument, and as someone who enjoys physical instruments, I'd much rather hear people playing instruments and not just "DJing" or just playing pre-programmed sequences if you know what I mean. However, if you consider the fact that finger drumming can be used to even play samples of real acoustic drums, and if you consider the many different tricks that finger drummers have come up with over the years, I think it would be awesome to see it used even in jazz, or heavy metal or even country music, even more so than it already is. Seams like there aren't really a lot of people (at least on youtube) really trying to apply it to a whole lot of different genres, and I'd love to see the day when finger drumming is just as common and as accepted as "real drums" for use in rock, or jazz, or reggae, or any other kind of music that normally uses acoustic drums. I don't see finger drumming being that much different from hand percussion instruments like bongos or congas for example, and those are used extensively in many genres of music. Plus, imagine how practical finger drumming could be for things like concert tours and things like that; finger drumming instruments are a lot more portable than actual drums, which could be great when actual drums are completely out of the question but yet you still want to sound like a real drummer with a full drum kit. The technology has gotten to the point where you can fit an entire finger drumming setup straight into a backpack! I remember hearing about the Akai MPC One, and that's an example of a machine that seams small enough for a backpack. I can't actually see it with my eyes due to my visual impairment, but maybe even the SP404SX shown in this video is portable like that. And if you can load samples of acoustic drums into it... perhaps you could use it in a heavy metal band and ditch the drum kit altogether! :))) Now, I am certainly not saying that real acoustic drums should completely disappear or they're totally outdated or something; if you have access to acoustic drums or if not having drums just isn't an option for some reason, then by all means, use them. However, some live performance spaces might have strict policies on drums and drums do take up space and they're also heavy. and let's face it, even electronic drums that you hit with sticks can take up a somewhat large amount of space. So if you're gonna perform live but you're really that short on space, but you still want to sound like a full drum kit, and you're skilled enough to do it with your fingers, I think finger drumming is the way to go. Add to that the fact that you can keep the volume low and therefore play your music without noise complaints, or you could even do your performance in a "headphone concert" type of format. Sorry if this comment got a bit long, I guess I'm just a bit passionate about this stuff :))))
@@kurisuchiinathecrocodile333 Yeah, I can see how finger drumming could be somewhat similar to tapping on a guitar. You could use your finger drumming to practice those kinds of exercizes when you're not near your guitar :)
hey mate, very interesting video once again ! i've been finger drumming since years now so i didnt really "need" a tutorial but i found it cool to see how you you practiced to reach your actual level. as you said being a drummer is very useful at the begining, but i think that the point when i really started to progress (and you talk a bit about it at the end) is when i've started jamming on other tracks (jazz, hh or even rock), because it really pushes you to be on times, and it's way more interesting than doing it with a metronome or counting in your head haha. another thing i could add is that now i can make all the patterns i want with one hand and it's so much more pratical ! i used to make the firt kick of the "double kick" with my other hand so when i wanted to play a choped sample on one hand and do drums with the other one it became complicated. anyway i think your advices are perfect for people who wants to learn or just progress, much respect bro ! greetings from france
Thanks for those tips man, I think one thing I forgot to mention was that the more you jam along with other music the more feel you will get in your beats. Doing everything with one hand is definitely a bonus too, i've ended up learning a very strange method for playing samples at the same time where other fingers on my left hand come down to add in the extra kick. Will definitely practice more with one hand now though thanks!
ps : i think it's a bit wrong to call your swing ryhtmic a 4/4 patterns, because it's basically a 3/4 rythm, as you can count between every time 3 beats (1-2-3 / 1-2-3 / 1-2-3....). i dont know if im clear, but it's a bit wrong to do a 4/4 rythmic on a 3/4 sample like most of the 60's/70's records that lo-fi producers often sample ! obviously it can be meant, some beatmakers also mix 3/4 and 4/4 rythmics and it's lit, but i think it's important to know about that to develop your way of listenning/playing music (imo). not talking for you especially of course !
not sure I agree with that - the feel is changing yes, but the actual time signature remains the same thats what the swing does. If it was 3/4 the beat would be a waltz which would sound completely different. Like you mentioned it would be 123,123,123 with kick hitting on every 1 and snare hitting on every 3 There are still 4 beats in my bar if you count a long with it, its just heavily swung
spvidz i got you but I’m not talking about bars but times. what you do is « kick-2-3 snare-2-3 kick-2-3 snare-2-3 etc. » so there still are 4 times in your bar (not like a waltz), but that same bars are divided by 3. I hope I’m clear, talking theory in English is a bit complicated haha
thanks for video. i still prefer mpc or touchscreen for very quick pads, but your videos inspires me to go back to 404sx (which i mostly use as fx/recorder nowodays)
Same here really. I don't really like the SX as an all-round beat making machine, its much better for collecting and processing samples IMO. Its pretty good for out and about as well as the battery life is strong!
but overall i think its fits good as "connecting" piece in your setup, kind of. For me its its the device i plug into my synths, guitar, drummachines etc.
Love the content, Im about to get a sp404 but currently I use a machine mk3. I feel like this a universal issue (might just be me but anyway) I really struggle to find the right parts of samples to chop, any techniques you use for chopping samples?
Hey mate this video may help - ua-cam.com/video/_BKlqt5zLis/v-deo.html other than that try and find notes, you want to try and turn your sampler into an instrument which has several notes you can choose from. I always tend to trim at a note then use the pads to arrange it in a different way which sounds nice! Hope that helps
Lots of experimentation but if u count shit out u can get perfect chops and just about loop any thing.. it won’t even matter. But ya other than that I’m always catching bass notes and interesting sounds on the one. Got ya keep it funky it’s all about the one
Great tutorial. And I really enjoy your content. I just got my SP-404a and my question is on how to setup Drum Samples. Due to lack of scrollable library of sounds, How do you load your drum samples. Do you have certain banks loaded with different kicks, snares, claps and hats or are you just using same combo of sounds laid out on a couple banks to use for jamming? I’m probably over complicating this...lol
Hey man yeah basically I reserve my A bank for drum sounds. So I have got 4 hats, 4 snares and 4 kicks on that bank then I just copy them to other banks when I’m making a beat. I usually transfer them by using the software on the Roland website and hooking my SD card up to my laptop. Hope that helps!
Thanks a lot man! I’ve been using it a fair while now. Owned it maybe 4 -5 years but had quite a big gap in that where I didn’t do much beat making. Overall it’s probably been about 2-3 years of using it properly
if you can make it work for you then go for it man! Personally I don't use it for drum loops but I'm sure it could be in some way. The only danger is that it only plays the last pad you hit so you would have to work a lot on your timing to make sure it does a double kick and not trigger the other sounds you are also drumming out
Hey man well noticed! I got gifted them from Pavel Powers. if you want to find out more I explain what they sent over in a previous video - ua-cam.com/video/AS3w3F-Dr1Y/v-deo.html
Nice man, what sort of stuff have you been looking at, interviews etc or is there any literature? Would be interested to do a bit more research into dilla myself
spvidz hey bro if you look up Dilla swing there’s a couple helpful videos talking about septuplet swing which if I’m not mistaken is the technical term of the swing to to Dillas groove. Also I’m not sure about exactly replicating dillas swing but I find that laying down my snare a little early really impoves the sound of my drums. hi hats late snares early
Thanks for the info man! I find it a lot easier on Ableton where I can see exactly where everything is hitting and love to bring that snare forward yeah, gives the beat a nice bump to it. I've actually started using Ableton more in my workflow recently for making drum loops. Since owning a working MPC again i've found it really difficult using the 404sx pads.
thanks, just got my sp 404 month ago, leaned a lot from your videos , very helpful !
Awesome to hear that man! Glad you found the channel!
this is the PERFECT video. i spent the last 3 weeks listening to my boom bap + lofi vinyl records and playing along with one earphone in my sampler. i recommend the technique. this video made everything so much EASIER!!!!!!! thank you spvidz. watched your videos before i even had a 404, so entertaining to watch.
-samplehead
Yo thanks for the comment! Glad the videos helped
bro you are a pillar in this sp community!!
Much appreciated bro!
I think I learned this from watching you on another video, but I play the kick, snare and hat with my right hand, and then come in with the left index finger for the double kick effect. I can't believe how good I've gotten at this in such a short period of time. It feels fluid and I can play with so much variety. Love the videos! I've had my SP for only two months and I've already released tracks thanks to you :)
Nice man! i do some weird finger stuff when Im playing samples at the same time, my finger on my left hand drops down to add the doubles. I never remember consciously figuring that out I just seem to have developed it somehow! Glad the videos have been useful, thanks for the support!
You really knocked this one out the park!
Nice one man. Hope it gave you some
Inspiration!
I learnt to count like one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and
Thanks for your videos!
haha nice man! No problem, I'm glad they help
wish i had these video's when i first got my 404.
Great tutorials mate keep it up!
Appreciate it mate thanks a lot! :)
This video is going to be a hit
Thanks a lot man! Very kind. Hope you found it useful
Got my SP404 Saturday - I've been glued to it since, really enjoy your videos, thanks!
Awesome hope you're getting to grips with it. Took me a little while!
Great video man! This definitely is gonna help me improve my finger drumming grooves on the SP. One thing I’ve found that helps for laying down eighth note hi hats is by counting like this “ 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. “ instead of just “1 2 3 4” so snares are still on the 2s and 4s but the hi hats are all being counted. Also I’ve Found that instead of counting with my voice it can also be helpful to beat box my beat out loud as I finger drum it. Hope that helps🙏🏼
Yo man, appreciate the tips will definitely try some of these out! Thanks for watching
I would love it if you'd do an updated video for the SP404 MK2. I'm trying to learn as much as I can about it, so that I can do a live performance next month. Not sure if you have the time, but I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
I will look into it but tbh in terms of finger drumming it wont be much different to this video! All the techniques are transferable
This is cool stuff hear. Great to see finger drumming tutorials out there for complete beginners.
I would just like to add that I feel like finger drumming has a lot of potential in really any kind of music. I mean, I'm certainly not against using it for things like hip-hop and electronic music; it certainly can add the feel of playing an actual musical instrument into a genre like hip-hop or techno that doesn't necessarily require the physical skill of playing an instrument, and as someone who enjoys physical instruments, I'd much rather hear people playing instruments and not just "DJing" or just playing pre-programmed sequences if you know what I mean.
However, if you consider the fact that finger drumming can be used to even play samples of real acoustic drums, and if you consider the many different tricks that finger drummers have come up with over the years, I think it would be awesome to see it used even in jazz, or heavy metal or even country music, even more so than it already is. Seams like there aren't really a lot of people (at least on youtube) really trying to apply it to a whole lot of different genres, and I'd love to see the day when finger drumming is just as common and as accepted as "real drums" for use in rock, or jazz, or reggae, or any other kind of music that normally uses acoustic drums. I don't see finger drumming being that much different from hand percussion instruments like bongos or congas for example, and those are used extensively in many genres of music. Plus, imagine how practical finger drumming could be for things like concert tours and things like that; finger drumming instruments are a lot more portable than actual drums, which could be great when actual drums are completely out of the question but yet you still want to sound like a real drummer with a full drum kit. The technology has gotten to the point where you can fit an entire finger drumming setup straight into a backpack! I remember hearing about the Akai MPC One, and that's an example of a machine that seams small enough for a backpack. I can't actually see it with my eyes due to my visual impairment, but maybe even the SP404SX shown in this video is portable like that. And if you can load samples of acoustic drums into it... perhaps you could use it in a heavy metal band and ditch the drum kit altogether! :)))
Now, I am certainly not saying that real acoustic drums should completely disappear or they're totally outdated or something; if you have access to acoustic drums or if not having drums just isn't an option for some reason, then by all means, use them. However, some live performance spaces might have strict policies on drums and drums do take up space and they're also heavy. and let's face it, even electronic drums that you hit with sticks can take up a somewhat large amount of space. So if you're gonna perform live but you're really that short on space, but you still want to sound like a full drum kit, and you're skilled enough to do it with your fingers, I think finger drumming is the way to go. Add to that the fact that you can keep the volume low and therefore play your music without noise complaints, or you could even do your performance in a "headphone concert" type of format.
Sorry if this comment got a bit long, I guess I'm just a bit passionate about this stuff :))))
Thank you for your thoughts man!
@@spvidz You're welcome :)
i think i got interested in fingerdrumming because i already was into "tapping" on guitar. dunno if its same for others
@@kurisuchiinathecrocodile333 Yeah, I can see how finger drumming could be somewhat similar to tapping on a guitar. You could use your finger drumming to practice those kinds of exercizes when you're not near your guitar :)
Hopefully this'll help me progress on mine a bit more now! Cheers!
Awesome man, definitely hope it helps. Thanks for watching!
Working on getting my first beat machine and this helps a lot . I don’t know how to make beats and this is making it seem not so tedious
Glad to help you out man, thanks for watching!
Clicked so fast when I saw you posted a video
my guy! appreciate that, thanks!
more finger drummin tutorials pls
sure thing man, thanks for watching!
hey mate, very interesting video once again ! i've been finger drumming since years now so i didnt really "need" a tutorial but i found it cool to see how you you practiced to reach your actual level. as you said being a drummer is very useful at the begining, but i think that the point when i really started to progress (and you talk a bit about it at the end) is when i've started jamming on other tracks (jazz, hh or even rock), because it really pushes you to be on times, and it's way more interesting than doing it with a metronome or counting in your head haha. another thing i could add is that now i can make all the patterns i want with one hand and it's so much more pratical ! i used to make the firt kick of the "double kick" with my other hand so when i wanted to play a choped sample on one hand and do drums with the other one it became complicated. anyway i think your advices are perfect for people who wants to learn or just progress, much respect bro ! greetings from france
Thanks for those tips man, I think one thing I forgot to mention was that the more you jam along with other music the more feel you will get in your beats. Doing everything with one hand is definitely a bonus too, i've ended up learning a very strange method for playing samples at the same time where other fingers on my left hand come down to add in the extra kick. Will definitely practice more with one hand now though thanks!
ps : i think it's a bit wrong to call your swing ryhtmic a 4/4 patterns, because it's basically a 3/4 rythm, as you can count between every time 3 beats (1-2-3 / 1-2-3 / 1-2-3....). i dont know if im clear, but it's a bit wrong to do a 4/4 rythmic on a 3/4 sample like most of the 60's/70's records that lo-fi producers often sample ! obviously it can be meant, some beatmakers also mix 3/4 and 4/4 rythmics and it's lit, but i think it's important to know about that to develop your way of listenning/playing music (imo). not talking for you especially of course !
not sure I agree with that - the feel is changing yes, but the actual time signature remains the same thats what the swing does. If it was 3/4 the beat would be a waltz which would sound completely different. Like you mentioned it would be 123,123,123 with kick hitting on every 1 and snare hitting on every 3 There are still 4 beats in my bar if you count a long with it, its just heavily swung
spvidz i got you but I’m not talking about bars but times. what you do is « kick-2-3 snare-2-3 kick-2-3 snare-2-3 etc. » so there still are 4 times in your bar (not like a waltz), but that same bars are divided by 3. I hope I’m clear, talking theory in English is a bit complicated haha
haha yeah no problem, Its very difficult to explain via text but think I understand what you mean. Thanks for the information!
best sp 404 tutorials on youtube
Yo thanks a lot man. Appreciate that 🙏
Can you make a video showing the mix process sounds levels etc?, and how do you export and master your tracks, thanks for amazing content of the sp!
Will add it to the list yeah
@@spvidz Thanks!
thanks for video. i still prefer mpc or touchscreen for very quick pads, but your videos inspires me to go back to 404sx (which i mostly use as fx/recorder nowodays)
Same here really. I don't really like the SX as an all-round beat making machine, its much better for collecting and processing samples IMO. Its pretty good for out and about as well as the battery life is strong!
@@spvidz yeah, but a challenge e.g. to make the whole track with it is a good experience once in a while :)
but overall i think its fits good as "connecting" piece in your setup, kind of. For me its its the device i plug into my synths, guitar, drummachines etc.
Thank you for this video man 🙂
No problem! Appreciate the watch!
Love the content, Im about to get a sp404 but currently I use a machine mk3. I feel like this a universal issue (might just be me but anyway) I really struggle to find the right parts of samples to chop, any techniques you use for chopping samples?
Hey mate this video may help - ua-cam.com/video/_BKlqt5zLis/v-deo.html other than that try and find notes, you want to try and turn your sampler into an instrument which has several notes you can choose from. I always tend to trim at a note then use the pads to arrange it in a different way which sounds nice! Hope that helps
Lots of experimentation but if u count shit out u can get perfect chops and just about loop any thing.. it won’t even matter. But ya other than that I’m always catching bass notes and interesting sounds on the one. Got ya keep it funky it’s all about the one
Great tutorial. And I really enjoy your content. I just got my SP-404a and my question is on how to setup Drum Samples. Due to lack of scrollable library of sounds, How do you load your drum samples. Do you have certain banks loaded with different kicks, snares, claps and hats or are you just using same combo of sounds laid out on a couple banks to use for jamming? I’m probably over complicating this...lol
Hey man yeah basically I reserve my A bank for drum sounds. So I have got 4 hats, 4 snares and 4 kicks on that bank then I just copy them to other banks when I’m making a beat. I usually transfer them by using the software on the Roland website and hooking my SD card up to my laptop. Hope that helps!
Great video ! This is very informative. I’m going to practice everyday. 💎💎💎💡
Glad your found it useful man, yeah practice is the key! Thanks for watching
hope ur doing well man!
All good thanks man, how about you? itching to get to the record shops haha.
Hey man, I love this video! just wanted to ask how long you have been making music for with your sp404? It's clear your very skilled!
Thanks a lot man! I’ve been using it a fair while now. Owned it maybe 4 -5 years but had quite a big gap in that where I didn’t do much beat making. Overall it’s probably been about 2-3 years of using it properly
@@spvidz damn man, thats sick as. Your videos got me inspired to buy my own SP202 just recently
Nice! The pitching on the 202 is so nice. Need another session with that and the SX. It’s a great combo
@@spvidz please do!!!!! that would be AWESOME
What about using the sub pad for the double kick somehow?
if you can make it work for you then go for it man! Personally I don't use it for drum loops but I'm sure it could be in some way. The only danger is that it only plays the last pad you hit so you would have to work a lot on your timing to make sure it does a double kick and not trigger the other sounds you are also drumming out
I use a maschine but this is still helpful!
Good to hear that, thanks for watching!
Did you get new knobs? Where did you get them?
Hey man well noticed! I got gifted them from Pavel Powers. if you want to find out more I explain what they sent over in a previous video - ua-cam.com/video/AS3w3F-Dr1Y/v-deo.html
Another great video. My sp202 video going be like this that ok? Ima shout you out cool
Hey, I was wondering where you got those specific knobs at?
Google DJ Tech Tools 'Fatty Knobs' and you should be able to find some. They're really nice on the SP
Great vid! Just curious did you get that button fixed? :0
Not yet no! it is actually still working, just feels kinda weird. I think I'll have to invest in a new set of buttons soon though
LONG LIVE DILLA ❤❤❤❤
It's not the snare that's early, you do the hi hat late and you dont realise.
can see what you mean yeah. think its a combination of both to be honest but thanks for pointing that out
@@spvidz no worries man. Ive studied the likes of dilla for over 20 years. Never is the snare not on the dot of beat 2 and 4.
Nice man, what sort of stuff have you been looking at, interviews etc or is there any literature? Would be interested to do a bit more research into dilla myself
spvidz hey bro if you look up Dilla swing there’s a couple helpful videos talking about septuplet swing which if I’m not mistaken is the technical term of the swing to to Dillas groove. Also I’m not sure about exactly replicating dillas swing but I find that laying down my snare a little early really impoves the sound of my drums. hi hats late snares early
Thanks for the info man! I find it a lot easier on Ableton where I can see exactly where everything is hitting and love to bring that snare forward yeah, gives the beat a nice bump to it. I've actually started using Ableton more in my workflow recently for making drum loops. Since owning a working MPC again i've found it really difficult using the 404sx pads.