Hi all

A short introduction - bought my SP-808 [version 1.0] in 1999 and it's been going strong ever since (pretty sure I've dropped it more than once, been around the world a couple times, only the zip discs wear out over time though and havn't yet sourced any new since probably 2002). Prior to that I was working on a Tascam cassette 4-track so going digital was a big deal, but I'll admit that the sampling and looping I'd done prior on pedals and with tape now seemed all a bit too easy, so if playing with samples I preferred to play them using what I now learn from these boards is 'finger-drumming'... all good.

Probably the main reason I bought th SP in the first place was for multitracking since a common (ab)use of my Tascam was plugging the outputs back into the inputs, manipulating the feedback with the tone-controls and looping with a sampling pedal... which burnt out two of the four channels. The SP doesn't have this problem handling a hot signal, and together with the onboard effects has been my staple instrument since I bought it.

For those who are curious, I've a number of releases on both my own and other labels, solo and in collaboration with other musicians. The most recent solo outing can be heard here:
https://isrdigital.bandcamp.com/album/kindzukuroi

In duo, including a final live performance captured in Berlin 2012 here:
https://isrdigital.bandcamp.com/album/h ... -to-beirut

And an earlier solo EP here:
https://idealstatenonumberseries.bandca ... stillation

My staple setup is based on the SP-808 with contact microphone in the mic-input, an RCA cable linking master-out to auxiliary-in, headphone jack runs a stereo cable to two L + R stereo channels on a Mackie 4-channel mixer board, which leaves two remaining channels free on the mixer to run several different combinations of cable-loops from its own control-room/aux-send/returns for different feedback responses, the master out on the Mackie runs back into the Line-in on the SP with the final step being the headphone out on the mixer running to speakers or recording device.

The machine becomes a highly sensitive, charged beast which responds to the slightest movement in sometimes grossly unpredictable ways... taming it and unlocking its unique sounds has taken the better part of a decade and is, of course, an ongoing process...

There is a YouTube video which has some footage of me using this setup - an interesting project in itself since I was invited to record/film a solo improvisation which was then played side-by-side another solo improv from a fellow based in Victoria BC -/ chance-music along the lines of John Cage since both parts were recorded independently without either of us knowing who we were to be paired with. The gear and my hands are somewhat visible in the resulting film, though the link between what is heard and what my hands are doing may be somewhat inscrutable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlXRqQi ... ature=plcp

Finding these boards has been great - I'm a longtime lover of beats (inspired most by Anti Pop Consortium and 90's era Rawkus) and hearing and drawing inspiration from the music I've heard here has got me back into playing with loops... but I'm pleased to have the opportunity to present a slightly different approach to SP and can recommend (subtle) feedbacking as an extra effect in the beat-maker's arsenal ..

thanks for yr. eyes and ears!

l i f