Hi,

I've had a roland sp-555 for a few years and never really used it. We just didn't click. I am really excited about getting the 606 and hope that's followed by a more productive period in terms of composing.

Things I can't wait to try on the 606:
*the d-beam synth - seems to be more programmable, but more importantly you can limit the note range so I finally might get some useable phrases out of it.

*the synth and envelope FX. This seems much more basic than the dbeam synth but has the bonus that you can control it from the pads and you would assume therefore via midi in also. Being able to write riffs, sample sequence and effect them, all from the same box seems appealing.

*2 simultaneous fx with a 2 band mastering compressor. This is much more like it. Makes the box a much more viable all in one solution.

*sequencer tracks. I can imagine this makes dropping stuff like hats in/out or other sub parts of beats much easier. I wonder if you can toggle this while resampling? no matter as i'll have the 555 as a master recorder, unless I decide to sell it later.

*mute groups. This will be much more flexible. more realistic drum parts. expanded programming options.

Things I will miss on the 555 (when it's sold..)

*loop capture - very cool being able to sample your live performances. Also swapping between different delay times assigned to effect memories has made some interesting beats.

*built in microphone.

*Quick backups / quick bank loading.

*expanded polyphony.

I'll maybe update this thread with other thoughts as I get used to the 606.

Mike

one cool thing for the sp606 (as for the sp505) is the microscope editing, wich let you edit pratically every position of a sample.
and yes 2fx simultaneously is very cool.

things i don't like on the 606 (vs 505):
-the clipboard button let you copy just one sample at a time (16 or more on the 505)
-no pitch function (cool function on the 505)
-no resample between different banks (this is possible on the 505)
-the soundcard: well this is actually a very nice feature (this machine pioneered the NI Maschine and the new Akai thing), but this is not well developped. i don't know for the sp555, but when you record a track on a software via usb if you try to record another one the audio of the first one come into the 606 and so you record also this. so, you could mute that track from the pc, but, for example if you would like to work 2 tracks "in tandem" (if you like to hear what's done on the other track to make variations and things), well this is not cool...
-This last is against Roland: they didn't wrote any driver for win7 64bit...i know there are drivers for the sp555 on that sense...so, what i think is, Roland, guys, you make a machine to work at its best with the pc (that's what sp606/555 really are) and you left it as is, without new drivers etc?!? i don't understand their politic...

i want the sp555 and i have the sp606 will give it +50 euro for an sp555 intressed ?

if you are interrested you can also contact me here: [email protected]

If I was restricted to using only one sampler ,then it would definitely be sp606...
Happy sampling year!

IIRC the 606 offers alot more midi control options than the 555, you can sequence FX parameters for example. I might be wrong on this, but I think you can take advantage of that for the synth too - don´t think it is assignable to the D-Beam though (if it is, that would be another plus).