Hi, in the manual it says that gate on/off (playback type) and effect assign is possible to select for each pad separately. But what happens to the same pad when I switch to other pad bank? Can I for example have a gate on and insert effect only assinged to pads of banks c-d and for others not?
Also, if I assign insert effect to more than one pad, how is the effect inserted into the signal chain? Is it just the single instance of effect to which the pads are routed to or each pad gets its own instance? The reason I'm asking is because I'll have clean el. guitar samples (each note gets it own sample/pad) and woud like to apply the guitar amp sim effect to them. Now if I play polyphonicaly (more pads at a time to play chords) and if each pad gets its own amp sim effect instance it will sound horrible. Is it the case?
Thank you!

Hi, first question's answer is yes the gate function is seperate for each pad. Yes you are able to apply effects to certain pads and not others by hitting effect assign and hitting the pads you want to effect (they light up). Third question's answer is yes it is just the single instance of the effect applied across the pads. If you change the effect it will effect all seleced pads in the same way. You should be good getting good sounds out of chords as long as your not maxing out the 12 voice polyphony.

That's great news and thank you my friend for a prompt and informative reply!
Just one more thing. I think prices for the sp555s have gone up. Now we are looking at 690 EURO (I am from Europe) for the new one. Is there a reason for that like has anything been improved over years? If I go for an older second hand one, will I miss something quality or function wise?
Thanks again!

I think they just went up in price when they got popular...in the US they were 699 new I think then jumped to 799. You'd be fine with an older one, but make sure the pads aren't "double firing", mine does this sometimes and it can be annoying.