That's exactly why you need to look into the stuff I mentioned and customise your SP-808 Effects setup! If you've not noticed yet, I'm sure you will soon enough, that the parameters that Roland have assigned to the knobs are a complete mess, and in some cases I'd go as far to say completely bloody retarded!

Take the Reverb for example, they've assigned a bunch of parameters to the knobs for it and left out one of the most important parameters of all, that being the ability to dial-in the dry signal. They have it set up so that you're in a complete wash of reverb with no knob so dial-in the dry signal. I noticed this oversight before I realised you could do all that customisation stuff, and I very nearly went into a cursing session with myself ... what the fuck were they thinking etc.

Thankfully, you can completely wipe-out Roland's chosen Reverb parameters and make your own, and of course that includes the all-important Dry Effect Level parameter. The weird knob assignments from Roland don't stop with the Reverbs, either. Pretty much every effect has a knob assignement that is idiotic in my opinion, and they even feel random. For example on the Flangers and Phasers, they have randomly placed parameters that control the LFO with paramaters that do other things. Much better would have been to group the LFO controls of a Flanger or Phaser together, and group the other stuff together.

In short, if you don't take the time to create your ideal Effects System before you start working with it, it will slow you down dramatically in the long run, because there literally is not a single effect that has the knobs assigned in a sensible manner. It's so bad I suppose it might even be intentional to encourage you to make your own!

Another thing to bear in mind is the 'Effects Location' setting that lets you place the effects block in various positions throughout the system. And here's the thing, that was actually a very good decision because what they also did is make that setting a part OF your effect preset!

In other words, you can, if you wanted to, completely avoid ever having to look for that setting again. Let's say you'd created a custom Isolator and named it "Isolator". You could go further than that and create multiple versions of that same Isolator, where the only difference between them is the 'Effect Location' setting, for example:

- Master Isolator
- Send Isolator
- Insert Isolator
- Resampling Isolator

That way, when you want an isolator, you not only get your own custom isolator, but one that has ALSO been preset to the specific location you're planning to use. So just imagine how much menu diving and frustration you save looking for parameters when you have taken the time to create and name your own Lo-Fi processors, Compressors, EQ's and other 'Custom Crazy Stuff' etc!

That's what I like about it, I hate computers, I love knobs, and I love it even better when those knobs do exactly what I want them to do - and that's exactly what we have here! You will appreciate it too, so you really need to dig into that stuff and build yourself a bunch of Effects Systems that you can call-up at the touch of a button!

It's dead easy as well once you understand the way it's thought out! When you consider that the hands-on knob-controlled effects of the SP line are what attract a lot of people to SP, just imagine the joy of using one after you created an effect to your own spec!

Not buying the microKORG, at least I doubt it. I do think it's a fantastic synth though and to my ears it's easily among of the nicest I've heard. For now I think I'm going to buy a Roland A-49 to connect directly to the SP-808 via MIDI DIN, and have fun playing and sampling the built-in Analogue Modeling Monosynth which I hear is pretty damn epic!

I really cannot wait to get fully absorbed into sound design on this thing, it has it all, it has all the essentials and much more, but most essential of all is that the parameters are a sound designers wet dream. Even something as simple as being able to dial an Effect LFO to Zero is a BIG thing because on most synths and workstations they limit you to 0.01 minimum which is not good enough, it needs to be able to slow to zero, and on this beast, you can!

Regards the beat tape, bruh, not you as well

I literally have never completed a track in my life, never-mind a Hip-Hop track, and Hip-Hop is a new interest to me. I have to get my head around the machine before I can do anything. I have the effects system learnt now, so today I'm moving onto sampling, resampling, and testing out the various trigger types. Then I'll move on to the Multi-Track, the sequencer, the step modulators etc and then I'll finally be in a position to start making some noises with it!

At that point, my adventure in making complete tracks begins, but not until then. There's no point me trying to make a track on a machine until I know what to reach for, how, and when.

I think perhaps the joking around I do with Zindan has made people think I have some talent at this stuff. Well I don't, and convinced as Zindan is that I am LoopmantrA, I ain't no LoopmantrA, and I certainly do not have his beat-making skills - LMFAO!

It's funny cause all I have to do is end my post with "Peace!" and Zindan thinks I'm LoopmantrA. It's far too funny for words, and sometimes it's just far too tempting to play with his paranoia! Can you imagine if LoopmantrA suddenly got an SP-808 as well? Zindan would be completely and utterly conviced that I am LoopmantrA, and nothing you could tell him would ever convince him otherwise!

So nah, it's just a joke homies, I'm honestly completely clueless at this beat-making lark, you're just gonna have to take my word for it!

Peace!

Send me some of your sounds, if you're a sound designer. I'll make a track out of it.

Sure, I'd love top whip-up some sounds for you to use, I'll enjoy that and will do!

BTW, a few more tips regards the Master Filter and Isolator:

1 - You can have the SP-808 remember the settings you leave each of those effects at when switching between them. Can't remember the name off-hand (sorry, I just unplugged it all about to get some supper and can't remember the exact name) but I believe it's in the System Settings screen and is called "Remember ..." something or other, can't remember what exactly.

2 - You can also edit the Master Filter and Isolator parameters and Min/Max settings in the same way you can the other effects. The difference being that those two are set up as two different effects with three knobs each instead of one effect with six knobs.

3- The Master Isolator actually does have some boost on it, 4db to be exact, which I noticed when I spotted the above settings.

There's something that's really puzzling me though and I'm hoping someone can explain it. They call it a "Master" Filter and "Master" Isolator. And while it's on the Master Output, I don't really see the point in it even existing, because unless I'm missing something you can only use the custom effects OR you can use the 'Master Filter' OR the 'Master Isolator', but not use them at the same time (unless you were to create such a custom effect of course).

So considering only one can be used at a time anyway, and that you can create those exact same effects using the custom effects knobs and put it on the Master in the exact same way, what on earth is the idea behind it, know what I mean?

Sorry, it's a bit weird trying to explain what I'm getting at.

I assumed the point was that they expected those two to be the most used, so made them the most readily available.

Sure but what I mean is you cannot use the Filter and Isolator together when in that mode, because they've split it into two effects of three knobs each whereas the same thing can be achieved anyway, and both at the same time, using a custom effect using six knob assignments in a single effect.

It keeps making me think that maybe you can use it as a "Master" effect over the other effects, but I don't see a setting for that, so the decision seems a bit weird to me since they could just as easily have loaded-up the custom effects with the same setup out of the factory, and you would benefit from being able to use both features instead of one at a time (cause you can do that when using it as a custom effect).

Weird

As cool as the editing of effects parameters is in the 808, the downside is that after all your hard work customising your setting, the minute you pop a new disc in all settings revert back to factory. I.e. there is no way to save edits over multiple discs.

All the more reason to get an SD solution then.

I sure hope you guys are not hyping the 808 too much! I would hate to see them become popular, actually. Or see the price go up. I want them to remain as obscure and niche as possible!!

It's a god-awful machine and not worth your time.

Totally agree bro, people should give it a wide berth or it'll frustrate the shit out of 'em


Ah man, I hadn't reaslised that, but I do have some good news on the Zip replacement front. I have secretly been making enquiries and I have it on very good authority that a solution to the SP-808 card issue is in development and can be expected this week!

I'm led to believe I should check here during this week for a working SP-808 solution
https://bignoiseradio.com/product-category/accessories/

Yeah, I messaged them too and was told to check back at the weekend but decided to go for t'other one.

biggest problem is zip drive

second biggest problem is you can only sample phrases or you can't do shit with it, 2 beats at least, one bar and up works better

this is what i've heard as the general consensus based on my research so far, that it can only sequence phrases

all that being said, if there really is an SD solution available soon, i might just snatch one up to work with in tandem with the 202, but i've had my eyes on a waaaayyy more obscure way more budget sampler lately so i'm torn

I've read lots of comments and watched lots of videos, and trust me when I tell you that there is a lot of misinformation out there. Until you actually own one you will never really understand why that is so. I think the SP-808 was designed with a more professional production workflow in mind than the other SPs, it certainly feels that way.

I know what you like about the SPs and why you like them, so here is my 'Zindan Tailored' break-down of what the SP-808 is. Read carefully and you will be able to spot false information even before you own one. I hope you appreciate this cause it's gonna be a long one!

I'll use the term 'Slots' to simplify explanation of its architecture and how it's rigged:

- The SP-808 is made up of four slots.
- Each of those four slots are stereo.
- Pads can be assigned to any of those four slots.
- Tracks can be assigned to any of those four slots.
- The four stereo slots make-up the total polyphony of the SP-808.
- You can resample pads to pads.
- You can resample tracks to tracks.
- You can resample pads to tracks.
- You can resample tracks to pads.

- The SP-808 has just one effects processor.
- The effects processor contains different arrangements of multiple effects.
- The effects processor can be inserted into various positions of the audio path.
- You can place it after an input.
- You can place it after an output.
- You can place it on the pads output.
- You can place it on the tracks output.
- You can place it on individual tracks output.
- You can resample with effects by placing it accordingly.

- Individual Pads can have different play modes.
- Individual Pads can have different Mute Groups.
- Individual Pads can have different Level settings (and Pan through Resampling tracks).
- Individual Pads can be edited right down to single-sample accuracy.

- Effects can have any six of their effect parameters assign to the knobs.
- Effects can be completely renamed and customised.
- Effects customisations are saved to the disk.
- Effects customisations can be copied to another disk.
- Effects customisations can be copied as 'Single' or 'All' effects.

Hey l i f, check-out those last two

- The sequencer is a non-destructive audio-event sequencer.
- Events can be recorded in real or step time.
- Events can be moved around with single-sample accuracy after recording them.
- Events can auto-glue regardless of size.
- Due to the polyphony, you have up to four tracks of stereo audio sequences.

Now that I've explained it like that, I'll explain a bit more about the sequencer stuff. Each time you hit a pad, it places the audio contained in that pad onto the timeline. When in step recording mode, you are instantly given a screen where you spin the dial to set the resolution of the timeline that can be changed during recording.

Example:
- Start step recording and and screen pops up.
- Turn the big encoder to set a resolution.
- Hit a pad.
- Audio from that pad is placed on the timeline and playhead advances at chosen resolution.
- Hit the same pad again.
- Audio from that pad is placed on the timeline and playhead advances the same resolution again.
- Turn the big encoder to set a new resolution.
- Hit a pad.
- Audio from that pad is placed on the timeline and playhead advances at the new resolution.
- Keep hitting that pad and it will continue to lay them at that resolution.
- Stop the recording.

Everything you just did was placed into one 'Slot' of the SP-808s polyphony, because you recorded it all onto a single timeline (track), and the SP-808 has a separate timeline per track that all run in sync - that's some powerful, creative stuff bro!

Now the thing to remember is that each time you hit a pad, it placed an audio event on the timeline. This means you can go back and select those audio events once it renders them, and move them around.

And there's more, because there are multiple ways to treat an audio even that is being placed on the timeline. You can have it placed at specific intervals as described above, or, you can switch-off the intervals altogether and instead have it 'auto-glue' one sample to the end of another.

To do that, you would enter step record, switch off the quantization intervals and use the 'Sample Length' function instead ...

- Hit a pad
- The sample is placed on the timeline wthout quantization.
- Hit another pad.
- The sample is placed directly after the previous sample finishes.
- Hit another pad.
- The sample is placed directly after the second sample finishes.

If you're following this correctly then by now you will have realised that it's so powerful you could even do Wavestation-style wave sequences using that mode, and when you're happy with it, resample it all back to a single pad. The power is truly IMMENSE bro, I don't know of any other device like it!

There is a price to pay though, for all this power, but that price (frustration) will subside the more you use it. For example, you might start looking at the vinyl simulator-type stuff and think to yourself, what the fuck is wrong with it?

What you need to remember is that this thing is DEEP. For example, off-hand here's just some of the settings that comprise the 'Vinyl' or 'Cassette' simulator.

- Dust Level
- Hiss Level
- Scratch Level
- Disk Type: SP LP EP
- Wow Level
- Flutter Level
- Flutter Rate
- Randomisation Level
- Total Level

That's just a small selection of one of the algorithms that handle that type of stuff, and even that can frustrate you until you realise that the Total Level is a separate one just for the Lo-Fi aspect of the algorithm, separated from the rest of the algorithm. This means for example, that you might have Flutter turned all the way up, but not be getting much satisfaction from it. The reason is because the Total Level is not high enough. So you really have to examine the effects very carefully before you go assigning those parameters to knobs, or thinking that they're not doing much.

In this case, I always keep the Total Level on maximum and just use the individual levels of the various parameters to dial in how much lo-fi I want. Because that parameter always needs to be at maximum, there is no point wasting a knob on it, just leave it in the menu on maximum. It's a similar situation with the reverbs, which are completely retarded by default since they all seem to have the Dry Level set to minimum.

So what I'm getting at is that it WILL frustrate you, VERY much so when you first get your hands on one, but when it does, just remember the stuff that has been posted here, keep calm and eventually it will all start to fall into place, you'll start to respect the design decisions made and you'll be MAJOR pleased with it once you get used to it. I was playing with the sampling rate reducer effect last night and even that is deep. In this algorithm alone you have stuff like Sampling Rate, Bit Depth, but also other VERY important things that apply to emulating the sound of other vintage samplers such as Pre-Filtering, Post-Filtering, and guess what, even gain to get that all-important "HOT" signal you talk about in your signature.

And of course, all of these effects can be resampled on top of each other, and that's not even taking into account the Vari-Pitch which is basically a global sample-rate adjuster for the whole unit.

Oh, and you should see the gating controls on the reverbs, oh man, fill this baby up with some Linn Drum and DMX samples, pair it up with a Korg opsix, slam those drums through the gated reverbs and you have all you need for instant Japanese City Pop or some other cool 80s music (I'm not surprised TGN intends to produce an electronic album on it).

Tellin' ya bro, I'm tellin' ya - just shut-up and buy one before the price becomes unaffordable, and I can see the prices rising once an elegant solution to the drive is released.

If it turns out you never get along with it, you should have no problem selling it.

swear to fucking god who is this douchebag bruh i need to know his main persona lmfao so curious what his work sounds like when he goes off like this

...

You can be a truly ungrateful little rat at times bro. I took the time to write all that because I genuinely wanted to see you own one of these. I wanted to see you own one because I think you'll like it and make good use of it.

I didn't want to see you get discouraged by the Zip drive or the stuff I pointed out in the post. You might think the Zip drive is the sole reason behind it going for cheap, but I'm telling you now, it isn't, hence why I bothered to point all that stuff out in the post (and even previous posts).

It's not the sort of device you can switch-on and learn over-night, in fact it's the polar opposite, and I reckon a large part of the reason people sell them on is because they don't know or realise half that stuff I pointed out.

If you think you're gonna pick one of these things up and thrash-out beats using muscle memory like you do on the 404 - think again - you are not. The SP-808 was clealy designed with a very different goal and to appeal to people with a more 'production-focused' mindset.

I could remove the post out of spite over your dumb-ass reponse to it, but I'm not going to. It will hopefully serve others in the future and encourage them to stick with it instead of selling it on.

Yo, you have done a real deep dive into this machine... the kind of backend exploration I havn't engaged in despite using this machine almost daily since I purchased my first one in '99. I'm impressed!

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know the limits of what the machine is capable of in totality, though I can assure you it does all that I want it to in terms of what I know and expect from it... that said, to hear that I was wrong about transferring edits across discs/sessions.. that's big! The amount of time and effort that goes into customisation, to do it from scratch, every-single-time, was offputting, at best.

Now, I'm really curious as to how Girru and you are getting on with the replacement drive options? Girru, your 808 is on the market with the extra drive as an add-on, but did you get it to work? SP-user have you made any headway on your solution?