The long avaited "How to copy patterns on computer" tip

Olby · Post by **Olby** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:00 pm

some peeps lately asked me a lot about this. i know i promised to make a video for this but i don't have opportunity anymore so ill try to explain it here.

basically this is file copy and rename process on your CF card.

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1) click on "My Computer" and open removable drive that appears when you insert cf card into your card reader.

2) then open ROLAND folder and there will be all your pattern files currently saved on cf card (in the root of ROLAND folder). they are named like this: DCOPTN[pattern_number].BIN.

this is real simple. if you record your pattern to BANK C pad number 1 then the pattern file should be named like this - DCOPTN024.BIN because it is 24th pattern in SP.

(Note: Patterns from 0 to 24 are stored in SP's internal memory so you don't have access to them.)

3) so if you want to copy pattern 1 from bank C to pattern 2 bank c. simply copy DCOPTN024.BIN and rename it to DCOPTN025.BIN so when you start 404 if everything was done correctly it should appear next to the first pattern.

real simple. just remember that pattern numbering goes like this:

BANK C: Patterns 24-35
BANK D: Patterns 36-47
BANK E: Patterns 48-59
BANK F: Patterns 60-71
BANK G: Patterns 72-83
BANK H: Patterns 84-95
BANK I: Patterns 96-107
BANK J: Patterns 108-119

so as you can see players can have up to 96 patterns stored on SP's cf card.

(another example. pattern 1 and pattern 2 in bank G are named like this: DCOPTN072.BIN and DCOPTN073.BIN.)

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i hope this helps anyone!!!

p.s. if you ask me nicely i might even come up with a special pattern edit tool, so you can edit your patterns on computer and polish them more easily!!

your dog,
Olby

Plexx74 · Post by **Plexx74** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 5:59 pm

Thanks for writing this down to everyone. I've been also dreaming about a nice SP-404 copy/edit/organizer -tool on a computer. 15 years ago on my golden computing-days it could have been possible. This could be my change to re-learn but let's go the easy way and ask Olby nicely!

kristoffer1989 · Post by **kristoffer1989** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:54 pm

that would have been INSANE! it would have been really usefull! are you so skilled on a computer that you can make a tool that can help uss all polish our patterns it would be great!

Olby · Post by **Olby** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 6:56 pm

i'm not that computer skilled i just try to do it using trial and error method, coz none of us know internal data structure of 404's patterns and samples. so i just need time to poke around with those and see with what i can come up to.

i already coded basic tool that will let you manage patterns on SP. it just scans your CF card for all available patterns and then you can quickly copy, remove or move them.

later as i will fully understand pattern file layout ill add the option to view all notes stored in the pattern file so you will be able to view and edit them -- if you used SP-505 microscope edit you will understand what i am saying.

currently i do not plan on ability to listen 404 samples directly because it is too complicated, but who knows maybe if i will be a killa smartass i can do a full pattern and sample edit tool. just like SP-606 COMPUTER EDITOR.

just give me some time...

Flaco · Post by **Flaco** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:44 am

Thanks alot man that shit is so much better! Genius!

kristoffer1989 · Post by **kristoffer1989** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:14 pm

yeah that would really have rocked!

kristoffer1989 · Post by **kristoffer1989** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:37 am

to everyone who's not to keen about using that computer therre is a videoguide on youtube how to copy patterns on the sp404 without using pc.. it works fine to..

pt3r · Post by **pt3r** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:00 am

You're refering to the video discussed here? :lol:

kristoffer1989 · Post by **kristoffer1989** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 8:11 am

i'm guessing so. it is a good video so it can't be said to many times..

Olby · Post by **Olby** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:59 pm

ok I already managed to create simple pattern manager tool and will be adding functionality to view and edit pattern data soon.

I did not even started looking into sample data tho. I doubt i can code a tool that can play Roland SP sample format. Coz it is way too complicated for me ATM.

drewzle · Post by **drewzle** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:11 am

Olby wrote:ok I already managed to create simple pattern manager tool and will be adding functionality to view and edit pattern data soon.

that's awesome man
getting better connectivity between my PC and 404 has long been a priority for me

Lopar-XL · Post by **Lopar-XL** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:24 pm

Thanks for doing this, Olby. Looking forward to it.

Jacobacl · Post by **Jacobacl** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 10:35 pm

save this

ColeRockLee · Post by **ColeRockLee** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 12:21 am

Sounds pretty nice. I look forward to this. I guess I really should go ahead and get a card reader.

Jim Y · Post by **Jim Y** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 9:47 am

For Olby and anyone interested...

I'm pretty sure the samples are compressed with R-DAC, which is Rolands own version of mp3, ATRAC etc. R-dac has different data rates like mp3, but they have names - MT1, MT2, LV1, LV2 of which MT1 is the highest quality (excepting the 24bit version on more recent Roland VS recorders but the 404 is 16bit). MT1 is about 50% compression which matches the size change you get when you import a .wav into a 404 sample.

Unlike an mp3 or .wav, an R-dac file doesn't have a "header" that tells anything how many samples there are, how many bits and what sample-rate. The VS recorders use a "songlist" file that provides that info. It's likely that the 404 has a similar file.

So is there a file converter program for the 404 samples? There might be. There's Rolands BR8wav converter for the Boss Br8 recorder that can convert R-dac (both ways), but it relies on the songlist file which is probably in a format particular to that recorder.

For the shareware multitrack DAW program Reaper, there's an R-dac plug in that's intended to work with most VS recorders R-dac files.

You can maybe find out more by poking around the VS-planet BBS or some of Yahoo user groups for VS recorders.
www.vsplanet.com

I don't think directly converting 404 samples on the card (which can already be done with the extra step of having the 404 convert the files) would be as useful as being able to import and export 404 patterns to and from standard midi files though - that would be something to have.

Jim