@Danswift
Bruh, you had better not be lying about the D-Beam, cause if I don't get laid after buying one of these, I'm blaming you and the Roland Video Manual bloke!

There was another coment in there which went something like ...
"The decsion is yours, grasshopper, so choose wisely!"

Well what can I say?

I saw a "Mint-In-Box" original going for £295 and snapped it up without hesitation. Unfortunately for Girru, me being known as "The Donkey" here in Blackpool isn't just due to the size of my penis, it's also due to me being a great Gunslinger, allowing me to pull the trigger just before Girru did (sorry Girru)!

@Girru
Glad to hear your SP-808 arrived safely and in one piece, and I hear you, I wouldn't use Hermes either, not even with a gun to my head.

I felt really bad after buying it and then seeing your post shortly after, lol. If it's any consolation it's not actually "Mint", in fact the seller advertised it as "Near-Mint", and there's unfortunately a noticable scratch on the wrist-rest that can not be seen in the photos so to hazard a guess I'm guessing it got done when he was packing it up, which is extra unfortunate since he clearly went to great lengths to pack it well.

Other than that it's a new machine, has the patina of a new unit, no tarnishing, no shiny patches, no discoloration, perfect display, and the encoder and pots feel like it just came out of the box for the first time. Damn shame about that scratch though ... DAMN!!!

This is why I usually avoid buying second-hand gear, especially on ebay, but in this case the scratch doesn't matter as it's on a part of the body that I intend to remove/cutomise anyway. I'm planning to give it an old-school boutique look, and will be replacing that scratched part with either a padded leather insert, or a chunk of piano-polished burl walnut (like you'd see on the dashboard of a Rover SD1 Vanden Plas). Gonna add some classy knobs and custom chromed parts to it as well. I'm good at doing stuff like that and to factory standards, so believe me it'll look sexy as hell, decadent and very bling - like a gigolo's penthouse!

It's worth doing because it's an original SP-808, and that means it was the original flagship of Roland's SP line - makes it special.

That's a way off though, I need to move out of this flat into a house before I can do stuff like that, so it's not a priority. The main thing is I have one now and I'm damn glad I bought it. My appreciation goes out to Danswift and TGN for their gushings, without which, I wouldn't have even given it a second look.

As for Vari-Pitch, what can I say, I tried it for the first time last night and it is indeed a global sampling-rate adjuster! I'm absolutely amazed at how nice it feels to adjust, how smooth it is, but the icing on the cake was when I realised that even when you monitor a live incoming signal, you can adjust the Vari-Pitch and actually hear what it's doing to the sound quality even before you sample it (just wait until Zindan gets to experience that, he'll be in his fucking element), it's perfect and it's something I've always wanted to see in a sampler.

The only negative thing I have to say about the SP-808 so far is that I'm not entirely convinced that hitting start and stop on a separate pad to what you're actually sampling to is as intuiative as sampling on the 404. I also don't like the message that pops up after sampling telling me to check the result. I'm wondering now if there is an option to switch that warning off because surely they don't think the user needs to know about that every time they sample something.

So my initial imression is that it's awesome (and it absolutely is a keeper), but unless there are settings to change the behaviour, the sampling feels a little more convoluted than on the 404. The 404 felt more immediate to me in that regard from what I remember of it.

Speaking of the 404 though, one thing for certain is that these pads are much nicer to use than on the 404, they feel kinda softer, less travel in them and just way more pleasing to press.

Haven't tried the synth yet, apparently I need to order a MIDI cable to run it from MIDI OUT to MIDI IN so that I can play it from the pads. That's another thing I don't like but no biggie, it's just a cable running from MIDI OUT to MIDI IN therefore triggering itself.

Regards the Zip drive, I'm not exaggerating when I say that I am astonished how good it is. The noise it makes is I suppose equivalent to one of those weedy little fans on a laptop or something, but the performance it top-notch and I'm buggered if I can even detect any lag whatsoever. I can do a sort of 'rat-a-tat-tat' using two fingers on a single pad and it fires flawlessly, without delay and without getting any disk message!

Hell Yeah, SP808GANG!

Time for an collaborative sp-808 Mixtape!!!
What do you say?

@SP-USER:
When i hit [SAMPLING] twice, the 808 immidiately starts sampling. When i hit it a third time, the sampling process ends. In the display the message "Completed" appears, but disappears after 1 second or so. I do not have to confirm anything. Maybe because i have the SP-808 EX-Operation System installed?

I would recommened you to update to this OS, because of the additional efx and synth-patches. Maybe the OS is better in diferent ways, too. TheMidiManiac has a lot of good tutorials (different playlists):
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVeZ ... GP6iPEKU2k
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... BXsIuKZuDZ
https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PL ... o4VVgEckqo
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... soQeN0hIJl
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... DPFZjcx5hU
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... BXsIuKZuDZ


This is a video from him about updating to EX-OS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSt42Rz ... qo&index=2

EX-OS, Original Demo Zipdisk, Samples and more you can find here:
https://www.themidimaniac.com/roland-sp ... ovesampler

Don't really understand what you mean here. If anything I think the placement and size of the sample button on the 808 is much more user-friendly than the tiny record buttons on the other sp's. Is here an sp that doesn't have a separate sample start/stop button?

I also think that with time you will learn to appreciate the 'keep sample' message, especially when resampling or resampling with line-in. Even more so when bouncing these samples to another sp - you capture a sample and get all the benefits of pad-sample line-in, but then don't have to save it to the zip drive.






I agree the pads are nicer, more playable like an instrument rather than something you smash like an mpc or 404.
Have you noticed how the hold button works yet? A held sample is retriggered when you hit the pad again. I remember being super-disappointed when after purchasing 404, 303 and 555 that none of them have this feature.




The lag will happen if you try to cram too many small events into the multitrack sequencer. There are workarounds for this, however - check the 808 tips and trick subforum.

The zip-disks themselves have a definite lifespean. They don't like to be written/erased/rewritten too many times before they start corrupting. The effort to read a half-fucked disk will fuck your drive, so my rule is to chuck a disc the second it starts behaving strangely. This I learned the hard way. The replacement iomega zip-drive I sourced was never as fast or responsive as the original. That sp808, is now a glitchy box I still use for some special occasions, but I was overjoyed myself to find another 808 in unused condition 5 years ago. I'm being more careful with this one!
I would too love a cf replacement. Zip disks themselves are hard to find!

Nah, that's alrite, silly billy. I missed it and only decided to get one for definite the day after you nabbed that one anyway. I paid £220 for a "mint" (stinks of smoke, and not the kind it's going to smell of after I've had it for a bit, lolz) EX, so I'm happy.

Indeed, I was surprised at the zip (first time I've had a sampler with one) - functions great and the whirring sound isn't too bad. However, I just dropped £150 on a replacement solution, so hopefully I won't have to worry about failures for much longer...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYdAEDZJxCM

https://shop.tattiebogle.net/product/pr ... v3Tk2Trxhf

I believe that's the one that MIDIManiac wasn't sure about...but I've talked to a couple of users of it, and the developer, and they say it functions just as the zip. I understand you can't use the Roland program to transfer samples in from a PC but that's no skin off my nose as I always sample through the converters of whatever machine anyway. The bugs it was having was with the USB side of things, but SD is fine. After 5 years of having very low RAM samplers, 256mb storage is waaaaaaaaaaay more than I need, so that's no limitation for me either. The dude has made 3D print caddies for them too. I figured £150 was better than waiting for an MCD to come up and then getting outbid at £489.67. Altho I'd already set my retro computer bloodhounds on finding an Addonics anyway.

Seems a bit silly talking about all this today of all days, but there you go.

Email from the dev...

I'll be the group guineapig and report back, lolz. Should have it in a couple of weeks, assuming no WWIII.

@TGN
Thanks for he links bro, will definitely be checking all of his videos out. I'm afraid you're out of luck if you were including me in that beat-tape suggestion though, at least for the time being. I'm guessing it will be a while before I even enter beat-battles, nevermind be good enough to contribute to a beat tape collaboration (I'm really new to Hip-Hop). That said, I would definitely love to do that some day if I get any good at it, so it's not impossible!

BTW, don't need those files, I have the original disk

Regards the firmware, mine's on the original V1.0 firware, and although it would be nice to have the extra effects, I'll have to give that a miss for a short while at least. I have to ensure that the unit I've bought is fully functional before I go doing stuff like that. Once I'm happy that it's 100% working (and I feel very sure that it is), then I'll take a look at the EX firmware as long as it can be flashed back to the original firmware if needed.

BTW, what model is yours, is it the black one or the clear one? Also, do you know if it's possible to flash the black one back to the original firware after flashing it with the EX firmware?

I notice in that video by MIDI Maniac, that when he got excited about that card reader, he was using the same model and firmware I have, or at least I never saw an "EX" logo when it booted so I'm assuming it was the original firmware. If that is so then I guess it's safe to say that the old Firmware can be flashed back to it, cause I can't imagine MIDI Maniac had never flashed that thing to the EX firmware at some point before he had made that video, but like I said, I need to know for sure.

The main thing for me is that he got that card reader running on what looked to me to be the original firware, so I'm happy either way.


@l i f
Regards the sampling, I mean it feels like you select a pad and then start and stop sampling by hitting another pad, but on the 404 (as far as I remember) you would hit 'Sample' and then choose the pad you wanted to sample to. I only spent a very short time with it last night and haven't even touched it today so far (been feeling a bit too stressed-out today) so I'm probably doing it wrong. I wasn't aware of that secondary 'Hold' feature you just mentioned either, cheers bro!

I've basicallly been winging it without reading the manual even though I have a printed one right here in front of me. I was doing that intentionally to see how far I could get without referring to it. The only thing I've failed to find so far is how to resample and bounce with the effects engaged, but I know it can be done so I'm currently enjoying the challenge of figuring it out - hahaha!

But there you go, that's another example of what I mean about feeling a bit more convoluted than the 404. Resampling with effects on the 404 was a no-brainer whereas here I'm currently scratching my head over it, trying to figure it out (even if I am thoroughly enjoying doing so). I get the feeling though that it's just down to me, I'm guessing there's such a simple and obvious way to do it that I'm looking too hard.

I will say that in other respects at least, they have really thought it out well. I love for example that I can bring up the "Big Time" display when working with the multitrack. I love that all the transport, faders and track selectors are phyiscal. I love that Shift-Turning of the encoder works in sample accurate increments, and I love the 'Shift Button' functionality across the whole machine in general. For example, when was playing with Vari-Pitch, drooling at how smooth it felt when spinning the encoder dial, I noticed on the display that it was changing in steps of 10. I immediately though, man, that's cool but imagine how cool it would be if you could adjust in even finer increments after the decimal point. It was then that instinct told me to hold the Shift-Button while turning the encoder, and sure enough, that awesome Vari-Pitch started incrementing in steps of 1 instead of 10.

NIIIIIIIIICE


@Girru
Sounds like you got a better deal than me then. Nicotene can be removed through cleaning so it sounds like you did well there! Mind you I was determined to get the black one, so I'm still glad I bought it, and since I'll be customising the bodywork, it's only the insides that count and at least I know I'm alright in that respect, the bloody thing looks like brand new other than that scratch!

Even the offical Roland Zip disk that contains the demo sounds is completely mint, there is literally no sign of use, no signs of insertion wear at all and the label is pristine!

Since it's the original disk I'm going to clone it using that Amiga-style back-up thingummy it does, and use the back-up instead.

It's a relief to hear there's already a solution out there even if it is a bit pricey, and actually, I prefer to store to SD than CF anyway. I'm not buying one yet though, I get the feeling MIDI Maniac is already up to something and will announce a more refined solution soon.

For now I'm gonna sit back and see what 'Girru the Guineapig' makes of it all

I'm just glad my purchase was safe. What I mean is that it was made safe by the fact that the SP-808 now has a guaranteed new lease of life and that's awesome, that's really all it needed. I can see the prices of these things going through the roof in the not too distant future, especially if MIDI Maniac puts a dedicated drive out there.

Either way, I'm never selling mine, the SP-808 is a definite keeper!

OH MY GOD!!!

The 202 (that I'm having to sell straight on, lolz) arrived today. Haven't had one in my hands since 2006 and, wow, what an amazing little box. I was using it just to test to either send back to the seller if faulty/know it was working 100% for the sale and I been fucking about with shit all night.
I think I've even discovered an actual use for Lo-Fi 2 - sample something and then apply the low pass all the way back to full high cut. What you got left? An AMAZING bass version of your sample! And coz all the highs have been cut, and they're what gets fucked up first with a shitty sample rate, it sounds like a clean sample, albeit a VERY bassy one. Would love to hear that through some proper subs! Sounds like the really inconsiderate teenage boyracer neighbour sitting outside your house at 3am with his 12" subs in his 2nd hand BMW with the doors and (tinted) windows shut. I CBA to try this but one could sample something on Hi-Fi or Standard, then sample the same thing on Lo-Fi 2, using autosample, so they're both lined up together, do that filtr thing on th LO-Fi 2 one and then trigger them both at the same time with MIDI. Wouldn't that make killer drums sounds?
I just didn't use it like this back in the day, lol. Just triggered loops off my DR202.

It's the same with the microKorg, something, again, recently purcahsed but being replaced by the even more recently bought 808. I played around on that for a bit to either send back if faulty/test for sale, and that was awesome too. Again, it just got me being inventive or creative in ways I'm not used to. And I've heard some really nice Boards Of Canada-type patches for download on youtube too. It's also got adsr too, which I thought might be handy as the 202/303 obvs don't, so you can't make your samples smoother or get fade ins/outs, so I was gonna sample through it.

But the whole point of selling the '60 was to make some cash to make a dent in what's left of debt from covid and get something simpler and cheaper as a replacement, so I really can't hang onto any of this stuff from Relacement Set Up MkI if I want Replacement Set Up MkII (the 808!) which, like I said, really is perfect (cheap, got loads of mojo, does everything I need pretty much, all in one box etc), so, alas and alack...

The 303 I won't actually miss that much. I owned one first about 6 years ago but didn't bond with then either, really, and sold it on after not long, and I should've remembered that. I can see that it is a great machine but, like I say, just didn't bond with it. That said, if I had the money to not have to sell it, I'd keep it just for the Isolator! I just love the way you can boost, and REALLY boost, those specific eq bands, they sound very musical. I noticed that the Isolator on the 808 doesn't boost, just cuts. Haven't tried the full eq algo yet tho, coz I didn't get round to working out how to change effects during my brief spin on it last night, lolz. The VS880EX Isolator defo boosts, so might not be a problem.

Fuck it. I'm keeping the 202. Might have to decide between it and the MS-1. Toughy.

No rush, take your time to explore the sp-808 and get used to it. It would be great to do a sp-fam-808-Tape sometime and i'd be pleased if you're on board then.


I have got the original 808 with EX-OS 1.0 . I think you can switch back to the original Firmware, but i am not 100% sure.


You can do it the same way - after hit [sampling] you can choose a pad where you want to sample to. What i also like is that you can copy a sample multiple times by one operation. Hold the sample pad you want to copy and then press [shift]+[clipboard]. Now you copied to clipboard. Now hold [shift] + [clipboard] again and press one free pad after another. Boom!


Yeah i scratched my head too the first times. Especially when you want to throw an effect on a track and bounce that to another one. Or bounce 2 tracks with send/return-effects activated. In the end it is not that difficult, once you understand the logic of signal flow and efx routing of the machine. But i shut my mouth now, so you can enjoy figuring things out by yourself.

Btw: This is worth reading... a manual from a long time user:
https://sp-forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=21688

I'll put my first 808 tune up for that.

Yeah, I'm happy about that! I'll open a new thread about it under "Collabos & Projects". Maybe a few other 808-Heads will join in too! And maybe we can still persuade SP-USER.

@Girru
Personally I would keep the SP-202 and use it as a permanent connection to your SP-808 via the Send/Return function. That way you can use it as a sort of audio utility while still leaving your regular Mic/Line inputs available to your synth. Speaking of wich, yeah I saw some extremely nice patch collections on YouTube for the microKORG, they definitely do have that 'Boards of Canada' thing going on and I think it's a fantastic sounding synth, one of the best to be frank about it!

About a month back I even thought about getting a microKORG and pairing it up with a Microgranny. They both have MIDI DIN, you can play the Microgranny from the microKORG and have it feed through the microKORG's filter and envelopes etc. At the time I was going to buy it as something to keep me occupied until the SP-404MKII arrived, but never went ahead with it. I keep thinking about getting a microKORG even now (to feed the SP-808, but what pisses me off is I wanted the original microKORG whereas the newest one, the microKORG XL+ has a really nice effects section that is well-specced for sound design due to the key-syncing abilities on the Flanger and Phaser etc. That's a great thing to have for sound design when you plan to sample it note by note!

Speaking of effects, see what I'm about to say to TGN regards the SP-808 just in case you're not aware of what I'm going to point out, especially after what you said about the Isolator - you might be pleasantly surprised about what you're about to read!


@TGN
Bruh, I'm honestly really flattered you would even want me on a collaboration tape, and believe me that one of these days I absolutely WILL join in a collaboration with you, but there is no way that can happen this time. Once I get my head around it, I'll start by joining-in the beat battles, and if the homies here think my stuff is ok then I'll feel more confident about working on something for a collaboration. At the moment I am completely clueless, I've never completed a song in my life. I'm more into sound design and mastering than I am song writing, so much so that I literallly just spent all day feeding a Japanese album (on repeat) through the effects while playing around with them!

The effects on this thing are absolutely mind-blowing and it is perfectly viable as a one-stop standalone solution to create a track from scratch to finished master on it! I just discovered a whole bunch of stuff about the effects I had no idea was even possible, stuff I've never seen before!

I don't know if you're all aware of this but please read the following carefully, just in case.

- On the 404 we have three fixed parameters per effect on the knobs.
- Now double that to six knobs for the 808.
- Now realise that those knobs are just examples.
- Now realise that each effect has way more than six parameters.
- Now realise that ANY parameter of ANY effect can be assigned to ANY of the six knobs.
- Now realise that the influence and range of a parameter can be set for each knob.
- Now realise that you can change the algorithm used on the knobs.
- Now realise that you can mix parameters from multiple effects in an algorithm.
- Now realise what this means in the case of what Girru mentioned ...

Girru stated that the Isolator on the 808 is a cut-only version, in other words it doesn't boost. That in fact is how an Isolator is supposed to work, it is supposed to Isolate, not boost. But hey, we all like the Isolator on the 404, right?

Well, you can make your own Isolator when you understand what I wrote above!

If you look what Roland did, you have two sets of two rows of three knobs. The bottom most are what Roland have designated as a Filter and Isolator, and the thing is, the Bass-Booster is under the Filter bank of knobs, not the Isolator bank of knobs. That's unfortunate cause if only we had a way to put the Bass-Booster inside the same knob-bank as the Isolator, this would give you the Isolator we have right now plus the ability to Boost the bass.

So what's a homie to do?

Well you can do exactly that, because you can actually pick'n'mix algorithm parameters, and all you need to do is select an algorithm that has both an Isolator and EQ (or an Isolator and Filter) inside the same algorithm. It's very easy to miss but not only can you select an algorithm, you can individually connect/disconnect them and cursor over them to reach a page where the list of parameters is related to the specific block you selected.

If you enter the Effects Edit page and turn the dial you can see the various algorithms. You enter Yes to choose one and then you cursor down. Then, depending on the algorithm you chose it will allow you to turn the encoder dial again but this time on each of the selected blocks in order to connect/disconnect them. Pressing Enter while over one of them will bring you to a full paramater list that always changes depending on what effects blocks are contained in the algorithm you chose.

And here's the beauty of it. Because once you decide on an algorithm, it then makes every parameter of every block in that algorithm available for you to assign to any of those six knob slots! In other words, I could quite easily create an even better Isolator than on the 404 by using an algorithm containing both an Isolator and an EQ - and why?

Because doing so will signal the SP-808 to offer you all of the parameters for the Isolator AND all of the parameters for the EQ, and allow you to assign them freely, in any order you want, to any of those six knobs, therefore giving you a customised Isolator design and even a customised knob layout!

I mean Holy Fuckeroni, this thing really is incredible!!!

And while you're on the page for assiging the controls, there's more! Just cursor to the right and you'll find a page for dictating the start and end range of every parameter you assign to every knob. If you wanted to create a sort of manual tape wobble for example, and say you didn't want the knob to have such a drastic effect on the pitch change, all you would do is limit the amount of pitch it can change by editing the range of the knob you assigned it to. You could set it for example so that the full travel of the knob only changes a few cents of pitch.

To create a custom Isolator for example, you could assign the usual Isolator stuff to knobs 1-3, and assign the Gain of the EQ to knobs 4-6, therefore giving you an Isolator with cut and boost control, that's six custom parameters to control it however you like!

Oh and anther thing while I'm all hyped-up ...

Don't think that because you have six knob slots that you only have up to six parameters per algorithm effect block. Hell no, some of these multi algorithms have something like 20-30 paramaters to choose from between them, and don't forget, you can mix and match from any of the blocks within a chosen algorithm, and there's not a single algorithm where any of the parameters have been forbidden. You can LITERALLY take ANY effect parameter of ANY block in the algorithm and assign it in ANY order you like and to ANY knob, I mean fucking hell, I've never seen anything like it!!!

Oh, and don't forget you even have two step modulators that can auto-control any paramater you assign TO those knobs, AND because no parameter is forbidden, that literally means that ANY effect parameter CAN be modulated. Same with the dual D-Beam, you can even use the left and right D-Beams individually to modulate - the D-Beam on this thing is a much more professional design than that on modern Roland gear, that's for sure!

BTW, big thanks for linking that PDF manual, I've had a quick look and it looks absolutely fantastic! Not reading it tonight though, gonna grab a long-needed coffee and something to eat and get to bed ready for another day at the 808 tomorrow - hahaha!

What a fucking beast!!!

PS: If Zindan manged to read this far, yes, that also means you can design you very own Lo-Fi effects processor with whatever parameters you want, and put your chosen parameters under whatever knobs you want!

Give it a name, save it as an Effects Preset and it's there whenever you want to use it

Oh crap, I just remembered something else as well!!!

You can even set the Flanger and Phaser to Zero-Speed for the LFO allowing you to manually control or automate the Flanging and Phasing effect!!!

Nah, I woke up this morning and decided I had still better sell the 202. It's great but...
MS-1 (utility functions) and SP808 it is!

Well, if you do want an OG microKorg, I'll be listing mine on eBay over the weekend...

I know an isolator is supposed to cut only, lolz. Point was, that's why the 303 one is great - it doubles as an amazing eq when it boosts, and those bands sound great.

The 808 send/return will be going to/from a 100% wet channel on the VS, reverb and tape echo, like I usually do. Basically using it as an effects box til I sync-record with it and then use the mastering effects at mixdown. Frees up the 303 for insert-type effects too.

Yeah, the effects are just like those on the VS, number of params etc. I haven't gone too far into them yet (see above - having a wet delay/verb channel on a mixer is as in depth as I usually get, lolz). I noticed you can assign the knobs to different parameters when I was flicking through this evening. It does look like it could do some super carzy shit! But, again, I'm not a details person, lolz. Part of the reason I hate using pooters - too many parameters! I feel lost.

Do a track for the tape, you pussy! Even if it is just sounds and weird effects, that could be cool, or could be remixed by someone else into a track. I started mine tonight...!