Hi all!

Just cannot figure out what machine to choose.

SP-555 has:
+ 2 GB CompactFlash card support
+ 12-voice polyphony
+ It's new - year 2007, gentlemens
+ Nice look

SP-606 has:
+ Only 512 MB CompactFlash
+ Just 8-voice polypony - As small as 4 stereo tracks
+ It's granny - year 2004 is in the past
+ Too Large box - you can crack nuts on it, or kill somebody

I want a small machine for loop-based music composing/jaming at my home studio. I like Roland, its quality, look & feel.
Please, owners of both, share the thoughts!

Thank you!

that pretty mutch makes you speaking about a Roland Sp-404=)

you never know, it might come in handy. got beef with someone? find them at the club and clock them with the 606. a job well done. no gun powder on your clothes or anythng. a nice, clean kill.

but if you had a battery operated 404 you can sample the whole thing, chop it up and make hip hop of it afterwards:P

SP-404 looks like a CD/MP3 player - not much like a serious machine. But the main thing - it has no USB port on back. SP-555 has USB + Audio/MIDI interface that's pretty much advantageous - I can simply upload loops & samples to it. In addition, I can connect my Roland Juno-D via this box to my PC. Yep, it's shame but Juno-D has no USB - only vanilla MIDI In/Out.

i hear you on the usb port, you can just use a card reader though.. if it was up to me, i'd go with the 606.. if only the 606 had some more polyphony it would be a dream machine!

the 555 looks like only an expensive 404 with usb and interface and some fx... i would say the 606 is better, it has 3 difrent fxprosessors that can be used at the same time.

but then again, i don't have any of them.. just love my 404=)

watch it buddy... that kinda talk'll get you scalped around here. =)

Agree! However, some people says that even this' no problem - since you can resample a few pads to one - saving some voice space. The same trick can be used with effects on SP-404/SP-555 - just resampling a pad with FX will leave FX processor alone and ready to use. Anyway, better if we have some room for voices/experiments - for example, my average track can contain:
2 to 4 stereo drum loops (most of them a live recorded and/or ethnic sounds, so making mono will kill the sound)
1 baseline
1 to 3 leads
1 to 3 sound effects
Better if we can enable/disable each of them, without resampling. So SP-606's 4 stereo tracks polyphony is a problem.

Just watching online video I've found that SP-606 has some advanced features like BPM-sync and Chop function, most likely SP-555 has no such stuff.

Another question is a CompactFlash card. Does anyone tried to insert, say, 1 or 2 GB CF card to SP-606's slot? What will happen? I've found that it's really hard to find a 512 MB CF card today, 1 or 2 GB is a minimum capacity that can be found nearby. Also, does all CompactFlash Type-I cards compatible with such samplers (555/606). For example, SanDisk has a few card models with different access speeds (Ultra, Ultra II, Extreme. etc.). Obviously, it's better to get the fastest, however, will the sampler work with it?

I thought i would chime in really quick about the compact flash cards: I was at Guitar Center about a week ago and they had 128MB, 256MB, 512MB and then 1 and 2 GB compact flash cards. I've heard a few different people say that the 128/256/512MB cards are hard to find, but I see them all over the place... I'd rather have a bunch of smaller cards then one big card...

ya !...lol... but ne way... I wouldnt worry about the amount of storage...believe me... you will never use even 512 I use 128mb cards, fill up every pad and make about 12 backups on my 404. Me, I like the 555...why ? because I prefer the 404 to the 606. The 555 takes everything I like from the 404 and the 606 and puts em together... plus a couple extras. Both machines are good. I would say the 555 is a more simple machine... the 606 is a bit more in depth.

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

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

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-banks... Maybe 2 gigs is just a commercial trick, since in practice, SP-606 can handle even larger number of samples. Furthermore, I just think to myself, with SP-555 it's impossible to exceed the 2 GB with such number of pad banks...

Anyway, SP-555 is about deejaying - It's what I'm searching for. I have a PC, A few synths, Pro-soundcard, mixer, but I'm missing real action - controlling loops and effects in real time - touching and feeling the sound.

The devil in the details. Will further read specs to find another hidden stuff like pad-bank number...

I like the 606 better... but then I would, wouldn't I?

The 606 is more at home with live performance with its extra effect engines, but it has no live-looping like the 555.

The 606 has the best computer integration of any sampler, so even though it was released in 2004, it is very forward-thinking in terms of modern computer-based studios.

Finally, the 606 has proper instrument connections instead of RCA. Things like the screen are not that important because once you get used to any machine you don't actually look at the screen much. 512mb cards are more than big enough in practice - Everyone's got 500 gig of samples these days! You don't use 'em all at once.

^co-sign. I have used all three. The 606 is the way to go. Only having 4 tracks and low polyphony, to me, is an advantage. I own an mpc which has 64 tracks! that many tracks seems to throw me off cus it always has me thinking " what if I added this or that", sometimes causing it to sound cluttered. Ultimately making it take A LOT longer to finish a beat, and getting off track of the original concept of the beat. Especially if you are making beats for that is eventually have vocals over i. The vocals is also an instument and in some cases the most significan instrument. BUT, if the 707 someday does exist... I'll rock all 8 of them tracks! Fuggin' A, I always got money set aside for samplers, it's a serious addiction but a good one. Sorry to ramble, I just fired one up.