Hello all,

I have just bought an sp-555 and am having lots of problems getting the loops to sync properly.

To test I have been using a kaossilator thats running at 120 and made sure the bpm/end points are all set correctly on the SP-555 before recording, I have been using auto start to make sure its all tight going in.

Once the loops are in I have been trimming the end points as far as they will go before the bpm changes so they are as tight as possible.

Even after all this the loops seem to drift very quickly, especially if they are of different lengths, they sound tight for the first round but then drift wildly even on the second pass.

Trying to match things loops on the loop capture against the pads also seems touch and go.

When I have tried playing samples back against the metronome inside the machine there also seems to be wildly varying results... there seems to be a million shades of 120bpm and I cant find the best way of making it all match up.

Has anyone else had these problems? Any advice or possible solutions would be HUGELY appreciated....Im currently tearing my hair out!!

Cheers

the answer is

dont use autostart.

and

set the measure length and use the loop capture. if you already marked up loops run them through the loop capture to make sure they stay in sync

any time you run loops into the loop capture they will always stay in sync, but if you have to change the tempo on the loop you have to run it through the capture again or it will drift.

Thanks very much for your swift reply!

Im sat here now and will give it a go, What do you find is the best way to get tight loops in loop capture?

I have been trying to do that but there usually seems to be a little glitch in it....I can get rid of that by assigning to a pad and shaving the end point again but then im back to square one with uneven loops (even though they are all "120bmp").

Is it a case of just practise dropping things in against the metronome? Can you get loop capture to do a count in like the pattern play to help?

Its a shame cos its a great machine, the effects are incredible, but it seems to be very mysterious about how to go about getting a bunch of loops going round in a tight and orderly fashion, which is what you want from a sampler really!

Cheers

honestly its not that hard, you just got to make sure you dont hit rec after you hit the sample if anything hit rec 1 ms before the sample


and DONT cut off the end points, you are making the loop shorter and thus faster.

get in the groove of the beat when you work

OK I will power on with that.... I have been practising doing it over and over, but more often than not it ends up being a bpm out, or even when I hit it, there is a glitch....

Is this the only way of making tight loops on the SP-555? It seems a bit weird that you are relying on having a quick trigger finger and a good sense of rhythm to get a couple of loops going round tight...You would expect an element of editing to be available in a machine of that calibre.

If thats the only way though...I will have to continue! I cant afford to go and buy something different!

Hello Again All,

Been trying to get the 555 to be kind but still having problems! Does anyone else have any other tricks up their sleeve? I have been trying Hurling Dervishes "punch and pray" technique with limited success....

I notice that its an issue that has arisen on the forum quite a few times, has anyone come up with a good solid work around or have people been using software to edit then using the 555 as a groovebox?

Any other hints would be greatly appreciated....

Cheers

i think you are adding a step somewhere and making it more complicated than it is.
as long as the sp's tempo is correctly set to the loop you are recording and you designate the measure length, all you need to do is mark the start of the loop. if you are marking the end of the loop it is going to drift.

1.kaossilator 120 bpm?
2. Sp 555 120 bpm?
3. measure length set to 1, 2, or 4?
4. hit record on the downbeat?



as long as you have the loops on the SP recorded with the loop capture with measure length not on FREE there should be no drifting whatsoever, its the reason the feature is there.

maybe you should upload an audio sample

what you are doing:
auto-start loops drift
http://www.box.net/shared/58rq88z722

what you should be doing:
if you dont use auto start they dont drift
http://www.box.net/shared/l2epm6pfs6

Hello again,

I totally get the process, sync the 555 to 120, put the 4 measure on, punch record at the right time.... thats what I am doing, but the loop is still baggy.

I know its cos I might not be as sharp in punching in...however, you would have thought that a sampler would come with the functionality of editing your loops? Even simple fine tuning of an end point.

That is what I am asking... is there a way of editing loops that are a bit off? As the editing function inside the machine seems to work on individual samples, but when you try and get a couple rolling together they do not work for longer than one round.

This would be useful as I may want to sample loops longer than 4 measures, or fine tune loops once inside for example, just using two measures of a four measure loop.

I have tried resampling and building up patterns as a way around this issue, but each way end up with a glitchy loop.

I dont seem to be the only person who has hit this wall by a long way.... is the only way around it by the hit and hope method?

ta

did you listen to the second loop? it plays without drifting

get the loops right first and you don't need to edit them.

or if you really want to edit them use the usb audio in/out.

you have all the tools you need to make correct loops and full songs on the 555 just go listen to one of Jaylosts tracks

http://www.myspace.com/jaylost

it takes more effort than just dropping loops in fruityloops but if you give it the time its better and will improve your groove overall

if you recorded a 4 bar loop and want 2 bars of it, set the measure length to 2 bars in the loop capture and play the 4 bar sample through it so it cuts off at the place you want.

so basically you are saying....there is no way of editing loops inside the sampler?

You need to hit the button bang on or the loops wont work? I just think this is pretty shoddy for a sampler...any sampler!

Being tied to the loop capture also means that you cant make any loops longer than 4 measures or 15 seconds... this is also pretty limiting.

I dont use any software, I buy hardware as I prefer using it, and I kinda expect that functionality on any piece of kit that calls itself a "creative sampler"!

I would be interested to hear of any different ways of making and editing tight loops.... if there are any that arent software dependent!

if you want longer loops glue them together with the pattern sequencer. you can do this by turning off both gate and loop mode and quantizing them in the sequencer. there you can have up to 127 bar loops i think.

i think its hard to see why the 555 is so great at first, i didnt and i avoided it for a long while, but trust me, the more time you spend with it the more you will love it. but focusing on what it cant do isnt going to help you any

Oh Im certainly going to spend the time with it...the effects are out of this world and I am eager to get it bedded in with the rest of my set up.

I am amazed that the best way of making it work seems to be operating it as a loop pedal. Thats why I posted on this forum, to see if anyone has any tips, cos I had worked through the manual am still having problems.

Seems to be that nobody has anything better than punching in and out though right?

On a similar note...Is there any way of listening to the saved samples while trying to record a new one? So you can play over a loop you have already saved.

If you do this in loop capture it is going to be slightly out as the loop capture and internal loops use different internal processing according to the manual.

So I have been trying to do this in the sampling mode, but it just cuts off the loops being played when you enter it...I cant even find a way of keeping the metronome going whilst sampling, so how can you play a loop in time with samples already saved?