hi all,

what is the sequencing like on the 505? Is the sequencing more advanced than the pattern sequencing on the sp303? ( I have a 303 and am considering picking up a 505 from a friend..)

tks in advance.

Of course it is more advanced than SP303 sequencer!

You have 4 tracks where you write your notes into. You can mute them when you want and store their mute status with the pattern. When recording you can switch between the current recording track. Usually you use TRACK1 for drums, TRACK2 for bass, TRACK3 for instruments, TRACK4 for various stuff like some percussions or other stuff.

You can adjust quantize when recording pattern. You also have a powerful SWING feature which is a KILLER! You simply goto swing menu and turn swing on a track (1-4) you want (you can turn on all tracks if you like) adjust it's percentage and note offset type.

But the most useful thing is the MICROSCOPE edit which is basically a list of all notes stored in a selected track. It shows which pattern, at what time, with what accent (sample volume/sort of velocity) and how long it will sound. Of course you can edit, add or delete anything you like here and quickly preview the beat using sequencer play, stop, rewind etc. buttons. I like the feature that you can start to listen your pattern right from the note you have selected in the microscope edit screen thus you don't have to wait for the pattern to play the part if it very long.

The sequencer is quite powerful. I like it a lot + it is very easy to learn and operate. I would like to connect something like AKAI S-900 to it and sequence AKAI's samples using simple but yet powerful sequencer hidden in BOSS-SP505.

There is also a SONG mode which is basically the same thing as the microscope edit but the difference is that is used to combine previously recorded patterns into long chain making a complete song. Also very simple and straight forward to learn. You can give a whole song single BPM or use each patterns own tempo, thus this is very flexible also. Only one bad thing is that if you have a long sample that goes beyond the length of your pattern if will be cut off when the next pattern start playing, but it easy to fix this by increasing the length of the pattern in pattern record screen. (Yes you can change length of already recorded patterns - you cant do this on 303\404)

Cheers,
Olby

Olby - just checked the beats you have on your Myspace - they sound sick! especially that Latvian Old School.

Thanks for the detailed reply Olby. 505 sounds really good.

Thanks,

Have fun w/ it - 505 and 404 are all very dope machines!

The SP-505 also has the ability to play your samples chromatically at diferent pitches across its pads, and it does that all on the machine itself.

this is why i like the sp-505 alot

whats the polyphony on the 505?and can you set how many bars you want on the sequencer?

8 note polyphony. The one bad thing about the sequencer on the 505 is that it only lets you set up to 8 bars on the sequence. Which is normally enough for most people. The sequencer is essentially the exact same sequencer thats on the 606. Its got full editing and 4 tracks, adjustable swing and a full song mode.

is there a cut off function where it cuts off the pad with another pad? (Mono on the mpc) on 505

no there isn't. but there is gate triggering which is a similar feature you just need to manually do this w/ it.

You can do this on the 303. Hit pattern select, record, press whatever pad the pattern is (it will be unlit), then hit length and you can adjust the pattern's amount of measures using the control 3 knob.

Yo i didn't know that but on 404 ya cant do this - i once tried. Guess still there are some differences between 303 and 404. Besides 505 has core that is more similar to 303 coz BOSS developed both machines.

The 606 uses 'mute groups' to do this - you can even cut a sample off with itself - useful for basslines etc.