just upgraded from a 404 to a 606. i was considering all kinds of machines, mpc 1k, rs7000, mc 808 909 etc. etc. but i ended up going with the 606, despite some harsh criticisms ive heard...

got it off craigslist good condition for 300 no manual, and i am a manual guy...i am not, i repeat NOT the trial and error figure it out on my own type...embarrassing as it may be to admit, i've sold many a machine because, even with the manual, i couldn't figure the damn things out...

i needed to kill some time last week, saw the new 606 sittting there, and figured i'd give it a whack, fulling expecting to be confused/frustrated instantly...much to my shock and amazement within 5 minutes, no manual, i was making beats...for someone like me, this is nothing short of incredible. imo this is simply THE most user-friendly intuitive drum machine i've encountered thus far.

606 pads aren't perfect, but LIGHT YEARS beyond the 404...the sequencer is also imo LIGHT YEARS beyond the 404...or maybe its just that the pads are so superior, sequencing is so much easier.

ive only sat down with the thing for maybe a total of an hour so far, still no manual, and im totally blown away. just discovered you can TRIGGER pads via the D-BEAM! this makes sequencing on the 606 so much more like PLAYING an actual instrument rather than tapping and button pushing...awesome. so god damn fun.

like i said, i haven't logged any serious time yet, and i haven't tried the p606 software, (the amount of bashing out there for the p606 software is astounding btw) but so far the 606 is surpassing every expectation i had.

most of the reason im writing this is because in my research prior to picking up the 606, i found that this thing is pretty slept/hated on; probably more than any other machine out there. it averaged a pathetic 6.9 out of 10 on harmony central reviews and i see it being bashed in forum after forum. this really caused me some concern, and i almost ended missing out on a GREAT machine.

if you're thinking about the 606, DON'T SLEEP...particularly if upgrading from a 404...people love to talk ish on the internet and complain for some reason about this machine, but imho, the 606 is the shit. this is the box ive been looking for.

ups to elhuana teewok ill green and anyone else on this forum who answered my ?'s about the 606 and encouraged me to pick one up
one!

Glad you like the machine. I myself upgraded from the 303 and love the machine. Dont worry about not having the manual it is not the best one out there.

yeah, i briefly checked out a pdf of the 606 manual and wasn't that impressed...it's weird because imo the 404 manual is actually quite good...really clear. but 606 manual seems kinda confusingly written...

makes me think there should be manuals for all of the sp's written by sp forum users on here...

Word up man. It's dope machine and if anyone hates on it probably means that he spent with it just few moments, disliked some things/limits and sold it right away. After getting deep into this machine I really loved it. Hope you gonna love it too.
It's all about the limits!!

I had mine since the day they were released and I had fun with it since.

Enjoy, you've chosen wisely.

Excellent choice indeed. The SP-606 is without a doubt my favorite SP series sampler. I'm still somewhat sad about having sold it about a year ago, because now it's value nearly doubled apart from being just a very good and fun machine.

I think many people that are critical about the 606 totally underestimate how certain feature limits won't ever limit your creativity if you don't let it. It's why people can make excellent beats with the RS7000, even though it's limits for today's standards are crazy.

I believe the biggest reason why the 606 is slept on, is the domination of the MPC brand. To bad I'd say, as the 606 is much faster to work with, less menu hassle and still that classy old-school sound. Even has a really good swingable quantize in there to make it truly a serious competitor.

Too bad it only has a 4-track sequencer, or the entire world would have been madly in love with the 606 for sure.

A short rant on the review stuff::


A lot of those reviews aren't honest at all. Take the very first. The guy probably never touched an SP-606, as for example those 'flashing lights' are incredibly useful and do not tax the processor at all (come on, they are just LED lights!?! It clearly doesn't even have to calculate anything for that).

That same reviewer also bashes the 'sound' for no reason whatsoever.
"Expressiveness/Sounds : 5
It's a sampler, pads could be better, effects are okay. "

I'd easily rate the expressiveness and overall sound a phat 8. The effects give you enough control to really push the sound to the next level and the pads make it a joy to mess with. In a sense it has the best SP pads I've ever worked with.

Another reviewer compares the SP-606 to the groove-box series, which is completely and utterly nuts. It's unlikely that he ever really used an SP-606. The SP-606 is in no way similar to any of the groove-boxes. I had the MC-808 and MC-505 and those are definitely different in how they work. He also mentions the bpm sync feature that can't keep up with more than 2 samples, but that's not true, you'll either need better samples, less extreme time differences or you'll need to set it up properly. Bpm syncing three sample loops won't automatically make it clear to the SP-606 which one should be the 'master' to sync to.

The third and also bashing reviewer talks about how he supposedly used it for live gigs, but I'm pretty sure he's plain lying as I never had a slowdown with my SP-606 when using stereo samples. In fact, I hardly ever had polyphony limit issues, and if he knows which stereo samples he's going to use in his songs anyways, he might as well make sure he resamples his shit properly so it'll be on the safe side for live gigs or resample to mono. That's what I would have done. If he wants the SP-606 to be more stereo, he should use the MFX properly.

It's sad, but those bash-reviews kinda make me mad knowing they're mostly just plain wrong. I agree the polyphony for today's standards are low and the 4-track sequencer doesn't sound like much compared to the MPC series, but dang, bashing gear when you never really used it is so lame. :p

i appreciate the thorough reply phemox

all of the sp's especially the 606 are so intuitive. the ease of use for me, is a feature that makes it head and shoulders above any other box.
and i love the guy who bashes the backlit pads of the sp's. those 'flashing lights' makes sequence editing so much easier than on an mpc...eliminates guesswork.

i don't know i think just like alot of other places in life people can be pretty sheep-like...they jump on a negative or positive bandwagon without even thinking about it or investigating things for themselves...but whatever, that just means i can get a 606 for $300 while mpc 1k's are going for 5-600 because people buy the name, not the product.

I think the 4-track sequencer and 8-voice polyphony are fine for making beats (and anyway, if you run out of voices, exporting the whole mix to the computer and then to one pad is really very straightforward). And if you intend to use it for gigs, you'll mostly sample loops and phrases, not a huge bunch of one-shots, and definitely in mono (who the hell uses a stereo system live? The sound has to be the same on all the spots in the dancefloor).

Also, an absolutely great feature of this box for making your drums are the 32 banks, 16 of which can be accessed immediately by pressing the pad bank button and its corresponding pad (beat that, MPC!), which allows you to have loads of drums and breaks ready for chopping and sequencing. I think the aim of this machine is a powerful and intuitive sampler, not the centre of your studio (maybe Roland made a mistake calling it "sampling workstation" ). If people pretend it to be so, they're obviously gonna get frustrated with its limitations.

I just wish Roland made the SPs with a pitch function that speeds and slows samples like a turntable. Thats why I haven't sold my MS-1 yet. It'll sure be nice to use one sampler for all my needs. MV8800 here I come...someday

the mc 909 has a feature just like youre describing ill green...a pitch control just like a turntable...soo dope...if only theyd come out with an sp that had it

Really?! I thought the MC lines were just synth modulators, but they're samplers too ??

We gotta email the shit out of Roland to get that feature in the new SPs for the sake of mankind.

Yeah totally! In fact, believe it or not, but it's one of the few things I would have loved to see on my MV8800 too! Now I need to open up a piano roll screen in the sequencer, hits pads to come close and then after a few hits I can pinpoint which sample I had used somewhere.

With the SP-606, it'll just light up, instantly revealing which pad you have been playing with.

Some may argue it looks like a Christmas tree, but it's very functional.



Yeah, it's a bit sad, especially because people like that tend to define a certain brand whether wrong- or rightfully.

I still come across folks that claim the MV8800 sucks and their MPC1000 can do more. :p It's pathetic how far such blind pro-brand behavior can go.

MC-808 and MC-909 can sample, MC-303/505/307 can't.

All those are based on the corresponding JV/XV-Line engines, which basically consist of a 4-part subtractive synth engine - each part consisting of Sample -> Filter -> Amp.

Oh, and last but not least the oldest of the bunch, MC-202, is an analog synthesizer with a simple 1-track step sequencer.

Yeah, I checked the MC 808s and 909s when they first came out but they were $800. So I checked the other MCs and was under the impression they were synths. So I always thought that.

most definitely a dope machine but for some reason my pad bank button only works when it wants to does any body else have that problem