How would you integrate the performance possibilities of the version 4.04 update into your setup? Tell us in the comments below, and drop by Sweetwater for an in-depth look at the exciting features in the Roland SP-404MKII 4.04 update 👉 sweetwater.sjv.io/Roland_SP-404MKII_4.04_Update
Y’all need to put Dustin on the thumbnail because anybody with Roland gear from the past 5 years knows he’s often the only person doing product demos who is competent and actually knows what he’s talking about. For a few of the boutiques he’s literally got the only decent overview that isn’t just scrolling through patches.
I thought that the 404 was already strong on the performance side, but had some gaps in the toolkit for composition. This update helps a lot with that. The Loop Capture and sample measure length features that you demo nicely are great for making the process of creating meaningful musical phrases as samples. I think the pattern edit functions are useful too - they mean you can be a bit more experimental when you record a pattern, because you can now make changes and corrections afterwards. There's still a bit of a disconnection between creating samples and performing with them though, because you can't create a sample and have it immediately play back - that would be true live looping. It's a shame that you still have to split the creative process into two parts: creating samples and patterns as one part, then performing them as another. It's still not quite seamless enough to be able to create improvised sampled music in a truly "live" way, which would be my ultimate musician's tool - a free-form recording device which can capture and manipulate my playing in real time. That's more than a looper, which can't relaunch the recordings with different timings, and more than a groovebox, which makes you structure the music into a limited number of tracks or parts. It's also not a DAW, which is a blank canvas that you need to configure before you can start creating music, and that means making decisions about what's going to go where, before you even start, which means you're being steered by the DAW's design and structure, rather than your musical intent.
This is one of the greatest tutorials I have seen on UA-cam. Pure quality production and straight-to-the-point instructions. I am still exploring my SP and you helped a lot. Thanks.
This is an amazing update! I think the only other thing that would make the SP404 one of the best affordable sampler on the marker right now is the possibility to have a band pass filter per samples like the one on the Digitakt, in order to avoid destructive filtering resampling and to be accessible like the Start/End tweaks
Thank you very much, great video. I love my SP-404 MKII. and I'm still learning new and more things with him. The possibilities are almost endless with this handy little tool. Peace ✌
i'll be super glad if in a upcoming update, the sp 404 mkii alow us launch a sample thru headphones output only. that would be super helpful to have a clue track for introduce the sp 404 in a music band envoriment.
Yes, is possible already in "cue mode" but in momentary way, and it can't be linked with other sample. i meant, would be awsome, trigger a linked couple of stems samples, one with bass, drums, etc about the whole song, and the other with metronome audio also about the whole song, both in sync, but the first one sended by main output, and the second one sended by headphones output only, just as you would do in ableton.
@@KevinGarciamusico That would be super nice. A work-around would be to sacrifice stereo output and use the left channel as the main output and the right channel as your monitor output for the band to hear only. That way you could pan samples/pads to be only audible for the band.
I just saw that in the general system settings, you can change pad mute settings from Master+Phones to only Master. That way, you should be able to mute certain pads from the master that would then only play via the headphone output.
Thank you! Now, I am starting to understand 404 after years of my own hah. Menu diving is sucks. In the worst-case scenario, we need an undistractable palette with hotkeys plz
Is there a way to listen to an external input only in headphones and simultaneously prep a loop while another prerecorded loop plays? This would be in a performance situation where it wouldn't be ideal to copy one loop to a pad. Being able to transition between loops would be the next step.
Exactly! The way the looper is shown in this example is more like an overdub recorder rather than a live looper. It would be god to be able to record different loops on a continuously playing pattern and assign the different loops to pads witout interrupting the playing pattern.
Hi Dustin. Great update for an already great machine. Unrelated to the update, I'm enamoured by the orange knobs. What brand are they? Another question, you're using the IR-2, which is a great pedal as well, but the SP404MK2 has integrated amps as well. You like the IR-2 better? I'm looking into the pedal but am on the fence since the SP has the amp sims as well. Thanks in advance. Kind regards DD.❤
Idk why a company doesn't corner the market here. Many guitar players just want something super simple that has built in sounds already organic sounding that they can plug into and loop like this. Could make something way simpler I'd think with less menu diving geared towards the instrumentalists. For now I guess this is the best we have but the learning curve looks intense.
As a guitarist, I can understand where you're coming from. But as someone who has gotten deeper into sampling, synthesis, and electronic music, I must advise that a LOT can be gained creatively from learning how to use stuff like samplers, synths, DAWs, etc. The SP404 is an instrument in its own right and through decades of music making and iteration (taking into account customer feedback), has arrived at the place you see it today. There are good reasons for a lot of the features. Yeah, there's a learning curve, but that's also the case with guitars and any other instrument. If you're just after simple, no-menus looping for your guitar, I'd recommend any kind of amp sim pedal (Strymon Iridium, Boss IR2) and a looper like Loop Station or Line 6 DL4 mkii. Otherwise, if you take the time to learn this type of sampling, you'll probably start to see why the SP404 is the way that it is and has the features that it has
@@jakestewartmusic Thanks for the reply. Yea I've tried so many of these. Recently the ep133 ko. That was the most intuitive I've used so far, but I wanted to be able to plug in and loop which it doesn't have a quarter inch plug. I might give it another go and not just return it instantly. Make myself learn for two months or so on the SP. Just the FX alone are pretty outstanding it seems! I use reaper and am a solid mixer and recording engineer, but for some reason whenever I spend time with these boxes I've instantly been like "man I need to practice my actual guitar instead of being bad at this" hahah. Anyways thanks again! I'll have a look.
7:10 is there a way to program the MIDI channel for a more basic footswitch? Seems like this footswitch isn't available and I was thinking about looking at a simpler one.
Hey thanks Dustin. They're great updates. More than many could have hoped for. There are a few bugs though, and Roland have taken down the 3.0 firmware from the website, which makes me nervous about doing the upgrade. Is there any way 3.0 could be made available to do a firmware rollback if necessary?
Hello, great question. It would depend on what exactly you’re trying to do, and what DJ controller you have, but you would in theory be able to sync the bpm over MIDI I/O if your controller has that. Thanks! Jason Filloramo, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1281, Jason_Filloramo@sweetwater.com
Hi Dustin, I’m really interested in purchasing the SP404 MK2 . I have a question regarding routing outputs . I have a group of external FXs on my board , ie Blooper, Mood , Strymon Volante etc etc . Can I assign say via midi one of the tracks to my board from the SP404 ? I love the idea of creating ambient soundscapes whilst maintaining a dry signal say my drums or bass. If everything went to my board it would quickly deteriorate into a mess . Would I need to purchase additional hardware / unit to achieve this ? Thanks Martin
Hey there! The FS1 is able to send MIDI or keyboard commands. So, you can switch between 2 different devices for control. One via MIDI, and the other via keyboard commands. Regarding different patterns or pads just with the SP404, you have 3 dedicated footswitches that you can assign to separate parameters, pads, or patterns on the unit. Feel free to reach out if you’d like to discuss further! Nick Pasquino, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 3230, nick_pasquino@sweetwater.com
Multipad export doesnt works for me. I tried export pads to sd card and also via usb cable using the app and it gave me just a few tracks of many. one pattern has 19 samples and it export just 4 of them. Anybody has same issue?
Is it necessary to name the files before multipad export stems ? If I don’t give each sound a unique name, and keep the default name for the recorded samples, only one sound get exported. Is this a bug, or is my unit faulty? Or is it suppose to be like that?
I wish naming on devices defaulted to a random phrase. The Push 3 Standalone does this. So if you just want to save a quick jam, just hit save and unless you change the name it will be called something like "follow the trail", or "magic winds of the north".
Ah, my wish is that all mfg. of the SP404Mk2 and all similar devices would simply support use of a bluetooth QUERTY keyboard (or usb) to make easy typing in track & project names and editing, and entry of typical ID3 embedded metadata in WAV or other files. It’s not that hard!
nice video. I am having problems updating. When I place the sd card in nothing happens. I downloaded the update onto the card from my computer. Is this the only way to update the 404. ?
It isn't visible with human eyes. It has to do with the refresh rate of the screen almost lining up with the shutter speed/angle of the video camera. It's a common video issue with various LCD screens.
Good news for sp404 users! Roland has decided to continuously update their product to develop it to its maximum potential. Probably because it's making good sale numbers, who knows... I don't understand it myself since I think the interface is as terrible as it gets in a musical instrument. A calculator interface? I got the mc707 because I love the inmediate interface, the sound of it, the connectivity, .... it has so much potential. But for some reason Roland has decided to abandon this product before developing it to be at least professionally viable live. The clock is terrible still. The looper function is a joke. The sequencer didn't get any advanced improvements, many fx parameters are not modulatable... Such a pitty.
How would you integrate the performance possibilities of the version 4.04 update into your setup? Tell us in the comments below, and drop by Sweetwater for an in-depth look at the exciting features in the Roland SP-404MKII 4.04 update 👉 sweetwater.sjv.io/Roland_SP-404MKII_4.04_Update
This is an exceptional example of a company designing a product with the customers in mind. Very cool. Good job Roland's product team!
I requested the loop feature and they added it Wow! Thanks Roland!
It was all you. They did it all because of you.
@@uncoiledfish2561 ya it was all me thanks for pointing that out l appreciate the attention lol
thanks! The fact that they added midi cc's for the looper is brilliant! (imagine that, roland doing something well with midi implementation!)
Y’all need to put Dustin on the thumbnail because anybody with Roland gear from the past 5 years knows he’s often the only person doing product demos who is competent and actually knows what he’s talking about. For a few of the boutiques he’s literally got the only decent overview that isn’t just scrolling through patches.
Happy 404Day. Roland 4Life🧡
I thought that the 404 was already strong on the performance side, but had some gaps in the toolkit for composition. This update helps a lot with that. The Loop Capture and sample measure length features that you demo nicely are great for making the process of creating meaningful musical phrases as samples. I think the pattern edit functions are useful too - they mean you can be a bit more experimental when you record a pattern, because you can now make changes and corrections afterwards. There's still a bit of a disconnection between creating samples and performing with them though, because you can't create a sample and have it immediately play back - that would be true live looping. It's a shame that you still have to split the creative process into two parts: creating samples and patterns as one part, then performing them as another. It's still not quite seamless enough to be able to create improvised sampled music in a truly "live" way, which would be my ultimate musician's tool - a free-form recording device which can capture and manipulate my playing in real time. That's more than a looper, which can't relaunch the recordings with different timings, and more than a groovebox, which makes you structure the music into a limited number of tracks or parts. It's also not a DAW, which is a blank canvas that you need to configure before you can start creating music, and that means making decisions about what's going to go where, before you even start, which means you're being steered by the DAW's design and structure, rather than your musical intent.
been asking for a simple tone generator forever. awesome.
This is one of the greatest tutorials I have seen on UA-cam. Pure quality production and straight-to-the-point instructions. I am still exploring my SP and you helped a lot. Thanks.
This is an amazing update! I think the only other thing that would make the SP404 one of the best affordable sampler on the marker right now is the possibility to have a band pass filter per samples like the one on the Digitakt, in order to avoid destructive filtering resampling and to be accessible like the Start/End tweaks
chapters;
0:00 intro
1:10 sp-404mkii overview
2:47 connections
3:12 loop capture set up start
4:12 skipback
4:40 swapping skipback to looper
4:50 looper screen -free looping
6:13 looper add footswitch contol - hands free operation
8:30 set time looping
9:46 export loop to pad
10:22 patterns
11:40 tr rec mode
13:10 preset measure length start
14:02 bass fx
14:55 setting length to 8 bars
17:40 export to DAW
excellent overview and walkthrough. What a fantastic piece of kit, well done Roland!
Superb features and I love the track noodle - let's have it finished and released !
Great update to my beloved 404 - thank you Roland!
Excellent job of illustrating the potential of the new features. Equally as impressive is the track you created.
Tight work Bro!
Superb demo update Dustin.
Ordered mine this morning on the back of the new update! Excited for it to arrive tomorrow. :)
The looper is truly fantastic, especially useful for guitarists. Great demo video!
Thank you very much, great video. I love my SP-404 MKII. and I'm still learning new and more things with him. The possibilities are almost endless with this handy little tool. Peace ✌
The Sp 404 sales about to go up!
I wish we could stem out the Looper takes.
this would be incredible to have agreed!
Only saw portions of this update, but will the new multi pad export work for you?
@@bedlegs that only works in Pattern Mode. The Looper is different and really is its own thing. The looper is quicker for laying down ideas.
I'm buying it soon.
So many useful tips and tricks! Thank you so much!
so so rad! LFG!
this is a great update !!
thanks for the video !!
i'll be super glad if in a upcoming update, the sp 404 mkii alow us launch a sample thru headphones output only. that would be super helpful to have a clue track for introduce the sp 404 in a music band envoriment.
Hey man! This function was already there for a couple of years now.
Yes, is possible already in "cue mode" but in momentary way, and it can't be linked with other sample.
i meant, would be awsome, trigger a linked couple of stems samples, one with bass, drums, etc about the whole song, and the other with metronome audio also about the whole song, both in sync, but the first one sended by main output, and the second one sended by headphones output only, just as you would do in ableton.
@@KevinGarciamusico That would be super nice. A work-around would be to sacrifice stereo output and use the left channel as the main output and the right channel as your monitor output for the band to hear only. That way you could pan samples/pads to be only audible for the band.
I just saw that in the general system settings, you can change pad mute settings from Master+Phones to only Master. That way, you should be able to mute certain pads from the master that would then only play via the headphone output.
Best $500 i've ever spent.
Thank you! Now, I am starting to understand 404 after years of my own hah. Menu diving is sucks. In the worst-case scenario, we need an undistractable palette with hotkeys plz
Would've thought they'd at least mention the new sound generator, but guess they wanted to keep the vid focused and concise.
Is there a way to listen to an external input only in headphones and simultaneously prep a loop while another prerecorded loop plays? This would be in a performance situation where it wouldn't be ideal to copy one loop to a pad. Being able to transition between loops would be the next step.
Exactly! The way the looper is shown in this example is more like an overdub recorder rather than a live looper. It would be god to be able to record different loops on a continuously playing pattern and assign the different loops to pads witout interrupting the playing pattern.
Great video
Hi Dustin. Great update for an already great machine. Unrelated to the update, I'm enamoured by the orange knobs. What brand are they? Another question, you're using the IR-2, which is a great pedal as well, but the SP404MK2 has integrated amps as well. You like the IR-2 better? I'm looking into the pedal but am on the fence since the SP has the amp sims as well. Thanks in advance. Kind regards DD.❤
very helpful thanks!
Good stuff!
Love this thank U can we have stem separation at some point please 🔥💯
Koala has it... So now the SP has it.
You can with this update, exporting specific pads within patterns
Idk why a company doesn't corner the market here. Many guitar players just want something super simple that has built in sounds already organic sounding that they can plug into and loop like this. Could make something way simpler I'd think with less menu diving geared towards the instrumentalists. For now I guess this is the best we have but the learning curve looks intense.
As a guitarist, I can understand where you're coming from. But as someone who has gotten deeper into sampling, synthesis, and electronic music, I must advise that a LOT can be gained creatively from learning how to use stuff like samplers, synths, DAWs, etc.
The SP404 is an instrument in its own right and through decades of music making and iteration (taking into account customer feedback), has arrived at the place you see it today. There are good reasons for a lot of the features. Yeah, there's a learning curve, but that's also the case with guitars and any other instrument.
If you're just after simple, no-menus looping for your guitar, I'd recommend any kind of amp sim pedal (Strymon Iridium, Boss IR2) and a looper like Loop Station or Line 6 DL4 mkii. Otherwise, if you take the time to learn this type of sampling, you'll probably start to see why the SP404 is the way that it is and has the features that it has
@@jakestewartmusic Thanks for the reply. Yea I've tried so many of these. Recently the ep133 ko. That was the most intuitive I've used so far, but I wanted to be able to plug in and loop which it doesn't have a quarter inch plug. I might give it another go and not just return it instantly. Make myself learn for two months or so on the SP. Just the FX alone are pretty outstanding it seems! I use reaper and am a solid mixer and recording engineer, but for some reason whenever I spend time with these boxes I've instantly been like "man I need to practice my actual guitar instead of being bad at this" hahah. Anyways thanks again! I'll have a look.
@@crosbycofod5052 of course! I liken this stuff to learning slide guitar or songwriting- gotta sound bad for a while to get to the good stuff lol!
7:10 is there a way to program the MIDI channel for a more basic footswitch? Seems like this footswitch isn't available and I was thinking about looking at a simpler one.
Hey thanks Dustin. They're great updates. More than many could have hoped for. There are a few bugs though, and Roland have taken down the 3.0 firmware from the website, which makes me nervous about doing the upgrade. Is there any way 3.0 could be made available to do a firmware rollback if necessary?
So you couldn't record a guitar before the update?
can you hook up a dj controller in dj mode to scratch? and lock/sync bpm when mixing?
Hello, great question. It would depend on what exactly you’re trying to do, and what DJ controller you have, but you would in theory be able to sync the bpm over MIDI I/O if your controller has that.
Thanks!
Jason Filloramo, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1281, Jason_Filloramo@sweetwater.com
at 17:00 I can't figure out how you did that. I'm using an android, is that the issue?
Hi Dustin,
I’m really interested in purchasing the SP404 MK2 . I have a question regarding routing outputs .
I have a group of external FXs on my board , ie Blooper, Mood , Strymon Volante etc etc . Can I assign say via midi one of the tracks to my board from the SP404 ?
I love the idea of creating ambient soundscapes whilst maintaining a dry signal say my drums or bass.
If everything went to my board it would quickly deteriorate into a mess .
Would I need to purchase additional hardware / unit to achieve this ?
Thanks
Martin
Great thanx. Is the pedalboard able also to go to different patterns/pads?
Hey there! The FS1 is able to send MIDI or keyboard commands. So, you can switch between 2 different devices for control. One via MIDI, and the other via keyboard commands. Regarding different patterns or pads just with the SP404, you have 3 dedicated footswitches that you can assign to separate parameters, pads, or patterns on the unit.
Feel free to reach out if you’d like to discuss further!
Nick Pasquino, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 3230, nick_pasquino@sweetwater.com
Is there a different version with orange knobs?
Nope
You can buy the travel case and it includes those orange knobs. They look amazing irl.
You can buy the travel case and it includes those orange knobs. They look amazing irl.
which daw is it ?
Multipad export doesnt works for me. I tried export pads to sd card and also via usb cable using the app and it gave me just a few tracks of many. one pattern has 19 samples and it export just 4 of them. Anybody has same issue?
Is it necessary to name the files before multipad export stems ? If I don’t give each sound a unique name, and keep the default name for the recorded samples, only one sound get exported. Is this a bug, or is my unit faulty? Or is it suppose to be like that?
I wish naming on devices defaulted to a random phrase. The Push 3 Standalone does this. So if you just want to save a quick jam, just hit save and unless you change the name it will be called something like "follow the trail", or "magic winds of the north".
Ah, my wish is that all mfg. of the SP404Mk2 and all similar devices would simply support use of a bluetooth QUERTY keyboard (or usb) to make easy typing in track & project names and editing, and entry of typical ID3 embedded metadata in WAV or other files. It’s not that hard!
nice video. I am having problems updating. When I place the sd card in nothing happens. I downloaded the update onto the card from my computer. Is this the only way to update the 404. ?
Hold shift and then power on.
I figured it out. It was the sd card. Thanks
Orange knobs? Mine are black.
Ppl pay like 20 bucks for custom knobs
Back in the days i have to pay a lot of money to buy a sampler. Now it so every one can buy one.
7:17
His sp has some screen jitter. What’s the deal?
It isn't visible with human eyes. It has to do with the refresh rate of the screen almost lining up with the shutter speed/angle of the video camera. It's a common video issue with various LCD screens.
@@DaveMcCall so it’s not the sp?
@@rodneymcintyre8544- it’s not the SP. A lot of UA-cam vids make screens look jittery. Frame rates.
@@leftmono1016 yup that’s not it.
@@rodneymcintyre8544 - try one yourself then. Like all jittery screens on camera, it looks fine in real life 👍
I cant export projects anymore on SD card. Does it happen to you as well?
Good news for sp404 users! Roland has decided to continuously update their product to develop it to its maximum potential. Probably because it's making good sale numbers, who knows...
I don't understand it myself since I think the interface is as terrible as it gets in a musical instrument.
A calculator interface?
I got the mc707 because I love the inmediate interface, the sound of it, the connectivity, .... it has so much potential.
But for some reason Roland has decided to abandon this product before developing it to be at least professionally viable live. The clock is terrible still. The looper function is a joke. The sequencer didn't get any advanced improvements, many fx parameters are not modulatable...
Such a pitty.
you guys need to hire a regular person to explsi features, this guy is talking like this stuff isnt new to us.
Toooooo complicated sorry
It's not complicated. You're just dumb and lazy. Fix that and you can have a lot of fun with this thing too.
Takes 5-10 mins to learn. A lot quicker than learning how to play a guitar!