I'm afraid that the more popular a forum gets the more chance there is that it will attract trolls and spammers and other clueless idiots who find their only reason for existence in fucking it up for every one else.

Yeah, kinda like being in the grocery store and looking at the things people do when they're gatherd in masses and seeing everyone bump into each other like lost ants and then you quitely think to yourself, everyone is fucking dumb.

I agree with everything else you said in this post, but that bit above isnt really true. .

Thefact that you cant play a sample chromatically up and down a keyboard is pretty much the opposite of "musical".

its a creative beat machine. . but music needs melody

You don't need a chromatic pitch shifter to play melodies, and music is not necessarily about melody, musique concrète is everything but melodies.
sp's are instruments, if the instrument does not fit your style of music then that is too bad, just get another instrument that fits your needs. After all the instrument is the tool not the mean.

It's a sampler, you should sample a melody or play different notes of an instrument with the pads, what's not musical about that?, or you could buy an asr-10 if you really need keys.

I think of a sampler as nothing but an empty canvas on which you can arrange sounds to make a composition out of 'em, and the sp with all the fx and resampling basically gives you an almost infinite different possibilities, the beatbattles are a prime example of that, just check all the different results different people get with the same machine and the same sound sources.
IMO the fact that there is no easy straightforward way to get a quick beat out of the sp-404 makes that everybody develops a slightly different workflow which contributes to differences in the end result. Sorry I'm rambling again, better get me another cop o' coffee.

Like Robert Plant said "Ramble On."

ROTFLMAO.

the 404 is a very musical machine mainly because of the interface. Everything is done feel and by listening. I probably wouldnt call it a melodical machine naturally due to its lack of a decent pitch control...but It still can be. In the end its all about what you put in it.

If I'm not mistaken, the SP-505, -606 and -808/EX can do that.

Edit: Sorry, I must've had too much caffiene.

When I bought my sp-303 I originally wanted a 606 cause it looked like a pumped up sp-303/mpc-killer, If I had some extra money I'd be pretty torn between the 606 and the 555.

When I said the sp-xox series are the most musical samplers,I meant because of the interface.The fact that theres no screen to look at makes your ear highly devoloped!The way the interface is set up shuts off the visual aspect and turns on the 3rd EAR!

Absolutely agree.I think that a lot of producers who use an Mpc and software get by programming instead of creating.With the sp-series and the sampletrak,it's like using a guitar or another instrument.Yes,those sequencers aren't like the Mpc series but why not work with it ?
And to Dr Sample 303,I feel you bro,a 606 would be a great companion to your 303(Madlib also use the 606) but the 555 looks like one sick piece though!!
Since I'm getting the 404 soon,I'd go with the 606 and maybe in 08,cop the 555

Yeah, samplers are one area where I'm usually not an early adopter, I like other people to be the guinea pig and find out if it sucks or not, but I do know that the 606 is off the hinges.