Difference between SP-808/PRO/EX ?

[otbt]

Can somebody tell:
- What the PRO version have except the expansion?
- Does the upgraded to EX have all features of the original EX?
- Does anyone noticed any changes in sound quality after the upgrade to EX?

Thanks!

[otbt]

Finally got my SP-808!)
Great machine, unique in it's kind! Combined with a groovebox or a midi sampler it becomes a beast, an artillery unit! Good effects when tweaked properly, the step modulator is a great tool, and the synth sounds pretty not bad! The cons are the limited 4 pad at once, this unit require a sort of "thinking ahead" approach in song construction, and require a lot of time with all that resampling.
The "drive busy" problem don't occur when recorded in step-rec mode, i think because the samples don't cover each other, and each sound is separated.
Looking now for upgrading the zip drive, hope it will work for me!
Conclusion: Great sounding machine, although a bit limited and requires patience and a certain approach in work, but combined with other gears it gives very good results.

Can somebody tell:
- What the PRO version have except the expansion?
- Does the upgraded to EX have all features of the original EX?
- Does anyone noticed any changes in sound quality after the upgrade to EX?

Thanks!

- same thing, only the expansion board already installed
- yes, but i returned to the original version
- I didn't noticed any changes in sound quality

p.s: excuse my English;)

[ellaguru]

what do you think about its workflow standalone? i mean, do you feel limited ,i reapeat , with the machine alone, because of the fact of lack of a real sequencer and that 4track recorder style approach? i have sp303 505 606 had 202 404 and i was always curious of this beast

[otbt]

what do you think about its workflow standalone? i mean, do you feel limited ,i reapeat , with the machine alone, because of the fact of lack of a real sequencer and that 4track recorder style approach? i have sp303 505 606 had 202 404 and i was always curious of this beast

To make a complete beat from scratch, the standalone workflow is very slow in my opinion. You can make good music with it alone, but i think you must know in advance what you wanna do, and be precise. I don't know how to explain that, but i will try.
You can have many different song in the disc, or you can use the disc to make one unique song. If compare it to Fruity Loops i will say the disc is the project, the song is the pattern and the pad is the sampler.
Now you decide from what to start.
I start from the beat, i record all my samples to pads (kick, hat, snares...)
now i make the beat, i record the kick to track A, the snare to B and the hat to C (you can record the kick and the snare to one track but there will the risk of the busy drive error).
I got my drums beat pattern and i resample it to a pad.
Now i can save the song and call it "drums pattern", if in the future i wanna change something (add FX, change the rhythm..) i load this song and make the changes. (The recorder section is self-contained, i mean you can record the pads to the tracks, then delete these pads, and the tracks remains intact. Same for the pads section, furthermore all pads are already loaded when the disk is inserted no matter what song is open)
Now i make the melody, new song "melody" record the samples to pads.
Then i rec the beat that i previously made to track A, then record the melody sample to track B. (There is no ADSR in this unit so you must think about it in advance, you can have that smooth transitions by resampling using the slider and FX like reverb and delay).
Then same procedure resample to pad the melody, resample to pad the melody with the beat...etc
Then you got a simple structure:
-only the melody, -melody with the beat, -only the beat, -melody w/ beat, -only melody.
So like you can see, you make all the stuff by your self!
It is more like a looper and the tempo is very important to match all the loops you create.
And yes, there are 64 banks of 16 pads so you must organize your samples, for example from bank 1 to 4 there are the 1-shots, from 5 to 8 there are loops make from 1-shots, from 9 to 12 there the combination of different loops.. etc So by resampling all the stuff you can construct the all song and arrived to something like:
pad 17 - into, 18 - verse, 19 - hook, 20 - outro...

Once again it is for a standalone workflow, taking the fact that you have others samplers and midi sequencers, this sp can serve as an "assembler" to connect all pieces from other units.

Hope it's help!

[ellaguru]

thanks for the review
this seems to me like a 4track recorder with sampler and fx, and maybe that was Roland aim when they made it. i came from using 4tracks tape machines since the end of 90s, i like that approach, but,as you say, it's maybe a bit limited to use the 808 alone, an external seq is needed (on paper)

[otbt]

4 track recorder with sampler and fx + va synth, step modulator and 2 dbeam that can control fx and synth... this is a great piece of technology)
sometimes limitation increase creativity;)
peace!

[ellaguru]

4 track recorder with sampler and fx + va synth, step modulator and 2 dbeam that can control fx and synth... this is a great piece of technology)

yes. it's cool.
ot
i have an mc909, wich got all that and more plus a very nice sequencer; with the MV serie, this is the best machine Roland done in the groovebox/sampler field.

[otbt]

Totally agree, the MV is a monster!