SP-FORUMS

I easily can control my SP-404 with a MIDI keyboard/synth, syncronizing tempo and even sync.start and stop of a pattern. The only thing I cannot figure out, is - am I able to control FX knobs via MIDI? All standard wheels and knobs like pitch-bend and cutoff/resonance are happily ignored by SP-404...

The thing is, this faceplate is too shiny, like a mirror! Better design have a matte and dark surface. Anyway, I have an idea to make this damn faceplate a chrome-coated! Yep, not that junky vinyl sticker or something, the solid chrome coating!

and i thought it would stand up more than the plactic parts. maybe its not even really metal
It looks like an aluminum plate. Soft metal... I would prefer a titanium plate, or made from stainless steel at least...

Wait, if I understand correctly, an axe fell on your SP?
Or deoderant?
Deodorant ...

Just got my SP-404. It was really troublesome to get even 1GB CF card - mostly, the 4GB is the smallest available capacity. Finally got the Integral 1GB CF card. Looks like all works as it should. In addition, Drum&Bass should be written using British CF card... Anyway, while heavily jamming the AXE ...

Can I plug-in my synth to a SP-404 and, say, play baselines on that synth and the beat loops will come from SP-404? Meaning can SP-404 will play a mixer role - mixing itself with an external device such as a synthesizer or another sampler? Can I apply effects to the synth and(or) to the loops in ...

if this is the same encode im thinking of. he has some sick dnb videos on youtube on the mpc500.
It's me... :D

Just thinking about new additional hardware. However, yesterday I started writing a new track on MPC500, and maybe in this post I was too critical about MPC. I just directly compare ...

By the way, what do you think about this:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pGFSXEOT6GM

youtube.com wrote: Faulty SP-404
My sp-404 starts acting up after about 1 minute of pattern play.
And no It's not an attempt to make a crazy drumsolo...

Download the manuals from the Roland and Akai sites, they're free and give you a lot of info on the capabilities of the machine
I'm afraid of any manuals. Just like with MPC500 - I read one thing and get another... Too many hidden stuff. I'm here for owners opinion... :wink:
The previous post ...

I own AKAI MPC500 and want to get an SP-404. First, what I don't like in MPC500:
+ Flat sound, including poor effects. In specs you may read that the unit has three independent sound effect units - FX1, FX2 and MASTER. That's right, but each FX unit has limited set of actual effects - for example ...

where did you buy it from...I am currently hunting one at a good price :)

Well, I'm afraid it's outside US - I'm from Russia. Also it's not so easy to find the SP-555 here - I've found only a few online shops so far which sell it. SP-404 and SP-606 are widespread.

Average pricing tags:
SP-404 ...

is the 555 out yet?
It's funny, but I ordered SP-555 - just found a very good price! Card reader is not a problem and is very cheap. Akai is OK but has no real-time FX knobs and effects like super-filter. SP-606 is also should be OK, but price is considerable bigger than 555 one. The end of story ...

Akai MPC500?

A question to SP-555 owners:

Can I upload/modify pad banks via USB directly?

From manual, I can read only "connect a card reader to your PC" and so on. If SP-555 can only work via card reader - :cry:

SP-606 can import WAV/AIFF files directly from PC - much like an MP3 player, plug a cable and ...

Ops, it's a hidden stuff with so called pad banks.

SP-555 has 2 + 8 banks, whilst SP-606 has 8 + 24 banks. :roll:

I have about 400 GB of samples & loops collected during over 12 years of music composing, so even 2 GB is not extreme value. However, taking into account the number of available pad ...