Just some methods/tips I use on the SP555
-High pass filter your drums that are not the bass to free up room.....EQ / LPF/ sub your bass to get it heavy
-You can use sub-bass like a bass line, by using it on a drum break (for example)...tweak threshhold to get just the notes you want, then tweak pitch. Loop capture this. Add fuzz, vox changer, etc to get it less like a pure sine wave.
-Some random FX that are cool: reverse (the one with reverse delays afterwards), pan/tremolo (some good stereo panning to be had), Auto-wah (can do pretty good Dub bass, or make anything sound like a wah guitar with enough tweaking). Vocal changer (or whatever its called) can beef up drums or make sort of an FM/Sync/formant sound on instrumental stuff , and can be dialed to almost "tune" with the key its in.
-The SUB pad lets you switch patterns instantly rather than at the end of the bar...this is very useful for breaks, quick switch ups, ambient sections, rolls.....consider making 1 bar patterns for these.
-SUB pad is also great for making your own non-quantized snare rolls...turn off fixed velocity and get rolling....
-Use effect memory; set up isolator, delay, fuzz etc and remember where they are. You can do some really fast changes between effects and flip them on and off fast this way. Try flipping between switching patterns and effect memory to keep it interesting.
-Once you have a pattern you like, copy it to a couple other spots.
Modify the patterns (drop out bass, etc). Now capture those patterns in loop mode, and drop each to a pad. You can have entire patterns on one pad that way, only using 2 voices up
-One you have some patterns on pads, you can play them like samples with rolls, stutters, off time stuff etc. Now sequence those pads
-use roll to get your hi hats tight, then add a filter/vinyl flutter/delay to make them evolve (save on a pattern, then as a loop to pad)
-Use all that pad space to make variations of bass/snare /hh etc
-Vinyl FX and BPM looper can be very cool and stuttery, or sound terrible (I'm usually in the middle). Play with the knobs to learn the sweet spots.
Vinyl FX can also be used to dial down the pitch (sometimes better than the pitcher) but you are limited to 10% increments basically
-Delay/Tape Echo keeps going after a pattern change, can be very useful for build ups/dubby parts/disguising a weird change - then you can dial it back/shut it off based on the new pattern
-Loop capture is not perfect, but if you set the BPM and the bars and record silence first then dub over that (w/ metonome still going) you can get it pretty tight.
-Watch out for peaking....a sample that plays that makes the display flash red has peaked. When resampling leave a little headroom; you can go up in volume but you can't fix a peak afterwards.
-The D-beam synth will make you sound like a douche
EDIT: idea, if you resampled the notes (individually) and put some good effects, might be ok played from pads.
but yeah you are right. I have gotten some cool sounds out of resampling some synth stabs with different effects. 