alright so i'm gonna cop a microsampler and a sp. i had the sp-303 and loved it but had to dump it off for 75 bucks because the line outs were busted and someone was willing to pay that much for a broken model, guess he'll be recording through the head phone jack. anyway i DON'T want the 303 due to lack of pads (32) or the 202. if you have used multiple SPs, which should i get? please state which ones you have used.

I own the 303 and the 606. I had the 505 but sold it for funds and the 202 was a loan from a friend for a year before he took it back and moved to Florida.

The first SP was the 505, I really loved that machine because it can chop auto and manually and you can adjust the start and end points, can pitch samples and tune them like a keyboard. It had a 4 track sequencer but very precise whether you had quantize on or off. I loved making drum patterns and play them while I manually hit pads to add bass and other samples on top. Patterns can be shorten or lenghthened before and after recording. Coming from an MS-1, the 505 was an amazing tweak and mangle machine. What I hated was the timestretch and it had no pitch tuning to stretch samples to fit. All it needed was pitch tuning, I could've adjust the key to restore its original pitch with the pitch shift effect. Timestretch is like a delay and slice effect and the debris get annoying.

I copped the 303 later just to see if the pitch tuning was in there, but its the same as the 505 but without Chop and Pitch shops and screen. The sequencer is a one track type but can infinitely be overdubbed. I used to love building songs that way because it was like running laps and at every lap, the beat would just get more thick and complex. It felt like work but the rewarding kind. My technique to prevent overlaps and drifts were to put samples in the same or double the BPM. So if the sequence is at 80bpm then the samples should be 80bpm and/or 160bpm. And you do that by chopping until the sample is precise. Tedious, yes, but never a drift on my watch.

606 came and I was a bit disappointed. Chop and Pitch shops were gone, can't adjust the length of patterns after is recorded, limit to 32 bars per pattern (505 and 303 was up to 99 bars). Auto Chop only and clipboard got limited to one sample per copy (505 had 16). But the upside was the D-beam, very good gimmick by Roland where you actually turn it into an instrument with hand movements. 45 effects. Manual chop can be accomplished by clipboarding a sample to several pads and adjust the start and end points nondestructively of each pad. Can be an audio interface for computers. Velocity pads. Mastering and great sound. Less white noise than the 505/303 models...hardly any in fact. Sound is unique.

The 202 is a stripped 303 with no sequencer and only 6 effects and 4 polyphony. The sound though is incredibly dirty and thick as a SP1200.

Never touched the 404 or 555, but looking into a 555 later in the future.

had a 505, 606, and an MV8000. Now i have a 404sx and a 555. Id say get the 555. It does it all, all that sp's have done in the past besides the dirty quality of the older machines. 404 cant resample patterns or record the external in while sampling, 555 can with the loop capture. 404 is really dum when it comes to setting a tempo in a simple way (which controls the delay tempo). The 555 has a metronome on and off and easy to set the tempo. I have my 404 midi'd to my 555 so i can set the tempo quick and send that timing info to my 404 instead of having to start a pattern to set the tempo. Maybe i missed something in the manual but i gave up on the 404 tempo setting. Nice to have a metronome too when you resample to make beats. The 404sx doesnt allow you to turn the metronome on when you play with pads, has to be pattern recording. I wouldnt recommend the 505 or the 606, both felt like toys, all plastic and a bunch of alternate sample chopping (auto-crap) techniques which never worked the way you wanted them to. Otherwise they are just 404's that look different. The 555 at this point is all inclusive and the filter works like a real filter should, 24db cutoff. The 404 has like a 12 db cutoff so you cant filter the sound too much. I like a filter that allows you to filter the sound do much there is no sound. The 404 only gets like a third close to that, just eliminating the highs and some mids. That super filter on the 555 cuts the shit out of sound and is a fucking gem. And it has a notch setting which make a nice subtle sound of your samples kinda like the c.canceler.

Id say get a 555 if you can afford it. I got mine used at guitar center for 340 bucks. Had to get it mailed to my local guitar center but it was worth it cause on ebay they are all like 500 and up. If you cant get one, go for the 404 or 404sx and figure out all the work-a-rounds. Still a dope machine with amazing effects. The 505 and 606 effects dont contend.
Have fun!

have a 202, 404 and 505.

202: limited. no sequencer. super dirty & noisy. best filters of any SP.
404: total workhorse. super limited sequencer. bouncing seq. (the "fly-lo" technique) is a pain, but a workaround. great effects. love the pads. tons of storage. batteries.
505: intuitive. easy to use, not a lot of menu-diving. limited seq. but 4-tracks. good effects. screen for edits. like the pads, but would prefer bigger chunkier ones.

i find all SPs require you to be creative - no one unit does everything you need and each person relates to each SP differently. i really like all 3 i have.

hi
had (in order) 303, 404, 606, 505, 202.
now i have a 303 a 505 and a 606 (this last one rebought on an "couldn't-say-no" occasion).

i totally agree with mr Green when he described the 505 and also the 606: this machine is a roland paradox; it's pioneeristic (think at the NI maschine), it could have been a real mpc rival and more...BUT...a lack here and a lack there makes this sampler/soundcard a sort of "misunderstood" of the sps...the dbeam is ok but is not necessary; you can play with it in live situations: it seems like a roland present to say "ok we have tried but we didn't succeded, so please take this present for excuses"; plus: on the mc909 also from roland (it's from 2003, the 606 from 2004) the dbeam is way more useful: you can assign also other function/cc messages other than filter/synth/trigger...in reality the 909 got 2 dbeam (assignable), but that's another story/price...
anyway, in my opinion you should above all know what way you want to use an sp: if you're more live/tweak then go for 303/404/555; if you're more build tracks/seq then go for 505/606/808...

404, 303 and 505 for me.

404 - I have bought this unit twice now and I don't think I'll ever part with it. I enjoy using it to bounce into from my 505, using as a big "mp3" player with good fx and to be most productive I midi it up my Roland mc307 or my iPad. Built in mic, battery power and decent build quality are a plus. Shitty pads and poor sequencer is a negative. There's always resample. 404 definately makes a good sketch pad while on the go.

303 - My girlfriend has two of these and I borrow one on occasion. It is by far the best looking SP IMO. Great sound and easy to use. Pads are nice 'n squishy. 32 sounds is lame. Smartmedia is lame. The machine is slow unless you use small cards.

505 - my favorite SP out of them all. Good sound, good fx, graphic wav chop, pitch to key, chop lab. It has 8 poly but the 4 track sequencer makes track mutes and switch ups easy. One of my favorite aspects is also the track edit section. It is basically a step sequencer based on hex values. Another plus is the file management. You can name patterns and unlike most of the other SPs you can have a sequence be xx.x values instead of whole number bpms. I enjoy the plastic casing as it makes the unit light to carry around and it doesn't dent up like the 404 does. Spdif in and out is nice since my turntables have this output option.

I also have an mpc1000 with jjos, but I enjoy using the 505/404 combo more. My advice would be to get the sampler that best fits your budget and needs. In the end "you" still have to put the samples into them no machine does the work for you.

man are you sure of that? that would be very cool!
i remember that unfortunately the 505 just got digital ins (instead of the 606)...who knows...

forgot about the 808. Id totally recommend an 808 over a 404. Most dont use the pattern sequencer anyways and the 808 is set up for multitrack recording in the box. As well as a million effects with more parameters to fux with 2 different inputs for a turntable and an ipad or some other wound source. As well as mute groups and a nice chopping thing that allows you to listen to the sample and hit a button for every chop you want to make, kinda like the mark button and and mpc slicing mushed together. I grab a long sample and just play it, slice, play it slice...all day. Get 16 slices, clean up the in and out points, add em to the same mute group and its like an mpc from there without all the deep menu diving and million editable possibilities that makes me never able to make anything on an mpc unless i wanna do the same thing everytime, chop, sequence, add drums done. Effects is where it gets interesting, and workarounds lead to random good possibilities. SO!!!!!!!!!!!! sP555, or an sp808 or an sp404.

My turntables are older Stanton str8 with spdif out and a built in pre amp as well. When I sample into the 505 I use the spdif input and I don't have to worry about incoming audio levels. It's a good feature IMO. Nobody ever seems to mention it.

i've had the 303, 404, 404sx, 505 two times and it is my current SP, 555 three times.

Which one to get is a good question. as far as cranking out beats fast, they all do that but the 555 may be the best. being able to record patterns is great. it can really open up ideas with that feature. i always hear about people using two SP's bounce patterns back and forth but with the 555 you can do that in one box. i probably made more beats with my first 555 i had, then all of my other equipment put together.

the 505 is dope! it can do everything you really need. IMO i love it. i just got one again and it is so refreshing to me to have it again.
Chop, Pitch,Wave Edit, Microedit (which will help get the end results of "mute groups"/ mono triggering), resample....etc. i know it has all the pattern features and being able to dig deep into the pattern but i can always do some resample beats on it too.

but after reading what Springwater said about the 808 and its cool chopping feature and the mute groups...using those and then resample... that may be the way to go too. i never knew that about the 808. i might have to try that one out.

404, 404sx are dope too. i would go for the SX out of those two.

303 is a classic but too slow for me. it takes a few seconds to delete samples. probably like those pads the best.

just rock the microsampler and save a buck or two, i know SP's are the dope and very popular but you can get down just on the microsampler. That thing is a beast! I've had that before too and many more other samplers.

Good Luck!

I sold my MPC 2000xl for an SP555 and I think it was the best thing I ever did. I had an sp 303 I loved it but i needed pattern sequencing and more pads. The sp555 is great easy to use and very fast (production wise). you can layer your sounds quick with Loop Capture and it still has that sp feel to it. Might be a bit pricy tho

ellaguru wrote:
in my opinion you should above all know what way you want to use an sp: if you're more live/tweak then go for 303/404/555; if you're more build tracks/seq then go for 505/606/808...


probably the best advice possible.

probably the best advice possible.

are there any sps you CAN'T do 303 style resampling on?

404's can't resample ext source if that was the question.

owning the microsampler and a 404sx i'd say it's a really dope combo.

I build alot of beat around keygate sampling random track, then jamming them in the 404. also the microsampler sequencer can be your best friend to build tracks. you can mute sample really easily with it aswell.

you gotta keep your microsampler, esp. if you bought it for like 250 bucks, cause now it's backj to like 500.