Couple of free bandcamp D/L’s

[SP-USER]

555 can do it using loop capture. 606 can do it too, apparently.

No interest in the SP-606 cause it's one of those 'menu' type devices, but man, the SP-555 is the SP to have, it is for me anyway and I'm sticking to those devices that have an LED display, I love those displays and it seems that gear designed around them is always better designed and nicer to use gear!

But yeah, wow, I've been reading the manual of the SP-555 and not only can you do that stuff via the Loop Recorder, it's also an official feature of the pads and sequencer in general cause here's a quote from the Owner's Manual:

"SOURCE SELECT Button
This selects what will be recorded. EXT ONLY will record only the signal from the mic, line input, or built-in sequencer controlled by the D Beam. EXT & PADS will record this sound mixed with the currently playing sample/pattern."

I mean Holy Fuckeroni, so there's that, there's also pattern sampling that the 404 OG and SX lacks, end even a way to select Phantom Power and HI-Z inputs directly on the device. The polyphony is higher than on the 404 OG and SX too, at 12 voices!

Man, talk about an emotional rollercoaster, I'm pretty pissed-off now that I waited all that time for the SP-404MKII when all along the SP-555 was already what I wanted!!!

FUCK the SP-404MKII

So decision made, the SP-555 is the SP I'm going for and will be using for SPBBs on here. It's also going to be perfect for pairing-up with the ES-1. It's going to cost me just as much to get an SP-555 as it would an SP-404MKII from the looks of it, but I could not give a fuck, I want that SP-555 so fucking bad!!!

BTW, I haven't found it in the manual yet but I was just watching a video where another plus is the effects are the same as on the SX, but also have a extra bunch of parameters that the SX hides from you! For example on the Reverb you also get to choose the type of reverb, and on the Lo-Fi Compressor you also get to choose the type of sound degradation the compressor uses!

It's an SX on steroids dear homies, and I'm really baffled why the homies on here don't seem to mention it much, lol, it has to be an upgrade dream come true for any 404SX user!

Oh and it even has velocity sensitive pads, a fixed velocity mode (which I personally prefer) and even the physical design of the pads are purpose-designed for beat-making unlike the 404SX (which were designed for triggering DJ foley), so again, really baffling why it doesn't seem to get talked about much around here, fuck, it's pretty much the perfect SP!!!

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fucking happy I looked into this!!!!!!!!!





I honestly cannot describe to you how happy I am right now

CHECK IT OUT!!!
https://static.roland.com/assets/media/ ... 555_OM.pdf

[Danswift]

SP-USER wrote

"But man, the SP-555 is the SP to have, it is for me for the next week or two anyway"...

Fixed that for you ..


Fucking hell...here we go again ...it's the SP 555 now!

[SP-USER]

Not gonna lie, I did laugh out loud when I saw that edit

BTW, Run Of The Hind, I see what you mean now, cause that button is located within the 'Loop Capture' area of the panel. Same thing though, cause you can sample from the Pads and Pattern Sequencer back to the Loop Capture while simultaneously recording an External Input.

[SP-USER]

Was just watchiung some more videos and I gotta say, I wish YouTubers would read the bloody manual before making videos that spread misinformation.

For example, so far I've seen videos that claim there is no way to copy and swap samples between pads. I found that hard to believe so I checked the manual and sure enough, they were talking bullshit, it's written perfectly clear in the manual on how to do it.

Another thing I've noticed are those who complain about the looper not being timed right. Again, this is bullshit and it states quite clearly in the manual that if you use the Loop Capture in 'Free Mode' then this will happen. However, if you set the amount of bars before recording, then it is flawless and indeed, I have seen a user using it flawlessly because he actually took the time to read the fucking manual.

Don't have the manual?
Well download the bloody thing then

So just in case my excitement got anyone looking at this thing, be aware that it really is as good as I said it was, but there's a lot of bullshit-talkers out there on YouTube who don't have the decency to read the fucking manual before "tutoring" others. As I've said many times, places like YouTube are absolute poison, it has the unaccpetable power to paint gear in a false light far too easily, and frankly, if the bullshit coming out of the mouths of some of these YouTubers is to be believed, then I'm not surprised the 555 is not as popular as the SX etc.

Shame I'm not a YouTuber or I'd change that unfortunate situation pretty damn sharpish!

Sorry 'bout the rant!!!

[Jaytreaze]

555’s and 505s have been known and been in the radar, here’s Dakim killing it with a 505 freestyle https://youtu.be/AmQ7AMnooj0

555s and 505s just aren’t always the easiest to come by and if I’m not mistaken they didn’t receive the same media pushes at the time of their release and have artists create novelties about the machine in the way they did with the 404 and 303

For example MF DOOM holding that 303 in his gold mask, the stories of PBW giving Dilla a new 404 in the hospital bed, stones throw records showing the pics of Madlib rocking a fisher price like toy record player and an sp303 to produce the bulk of Madvillainy. These are big names and big deals in the sp scene and they all share the 303/404 narrative, you’ll hardly find the same level of rep publicly for the 555 and 505 so what you get is hiphop heads looking at hiphop geniuses and what they use, and want to rock with that equipment instead

[Girru]

Was just watchiung some more videos and I gotta say, I wish YouTubers would read the bloody manual before making videos that spread misinformation.

SP youtubers can seemingly often be terrible. Even "SP Vidz" gets stuff wrong or doesn't know certain things. I'm like, it's your ONE JOB to know about the thing you're reviewing, that your whole channel is supposedly about - do 10 minutes research! Don't beg for likes, subscribes and shares if you haven't done your job!

[gis_sweden]

Enjoyed listening to tape loop. Very relaxing. Sweet.
The battle beat collection was impressive.

[SP-USER]

Jaytreaze, makes sense I suppose but that's very sheepish behaviour if they think like that. No getting away from it, the SP-555 is a super-charged 404 so it's not as if anyone owning a 404 could look down their nonses at a 555. To do so would be dismissing their 404 because it is basically a 404 but without the annoying restrictions.

Also, I just noticed that there are actually more effects on the 555 than on the 404. And two of them most importantly give you a proper Pan control. While the 404 has Tremolo/Pan (useless for pan because you cannot freeze the panning), the 555 has this same effect but it also has another two effects called "Overdrive+Pan" and "Distortion+Pan". The important thing to note is use of the "+" sign for those names compared to the "/" used for Tremolo/Pan.

In other words is looks as if you can just switch either the Overdrive or Distortion effect to zero and use it just for Pan! So lilterally, the only thing stopping the SP-555 from being the perfect SP is the lack of tape-style pitching but I'll be using an ES-1 for that anyway.

Run Of The Hind, to be honest, although I generally enjoy his videos I never take SPVIDZ seriously when it comes to knowing the product. I don't take any YouTuber seriously when it comes to knowing the product to be honest! That's no disrespect meant to the characters behind these channels, I do enjoy them but like you said it's really their job to know these products but they just don't, or at least not as well as they should do.

Personally I couldn't give a flying fuck whether J Dilla, MF DOOM or whatever big name SP evangelist used it. From now on the SP-555 gonna be famous because SP-USER uses it!!!

Yeah, that's right baby - hahaha!!!

So start hunting down that SP-555 and forget about the nightmare that is the SP-404MKII, cause I'm telling you now homies, the SP-555 is the best SP ever made that uses the LED display system. That range is no longer made and the time will come when being able to afford one of those is going to be nothing more than a dream. They just do not design gear that way any more, so it's only going to increase in value.

All it takes is for some YouTuber with an ample amount of "mouth" to make it trendy again by correctly (and 100% truthfully) pointing out why it's the ultimate "404", and that will be it, you will not be able to afford one because just like me, homies will be falling over themselves to access the features the 404 lacks, and all with that same 404-style interface and workflow (only better). Oh and just one more thing, it not only has 'Loop Capture' where you can set it to auto-stop recording after a set amount of measures, but also 'Overdub' mode for the 'Loop Capture'!

Fuckin' hell

Anyway, my apologies once again to Asha, he might not mind but nevertheless this is serious derailment of his thread, so sorry 'bout that bruh.

[SP-USER]

Oh and just one more thing, good luck trying to resample through the Guitar Amp and Cabinet effects on the SP-404MKII, because you simply cannot do that.

So you might think well surely you cannot do it on the SP-555 either cause you would only be able to have either the Amp effect or the Cabinet effect active at any one time?

WRONG ...

Cause they have designed the AMP and CABINET to be part of the same effect, so you have one knob for selecting between 16 types of AMP, another knob for selecting between 16 types of CABINET, and another knob for adjusting the strength of the effect all at the same time. And did I tell you that the SP-555 also happens to have a proper HI-Z input built-in too?

Oh yes, you even have a separate knob for the MIC/GUITAR input and the LINE input, along with a separate toggle switch for each. Both inputs share a Peak LED which suggests you can connect up two peices of gear at a time and it will be summed after the level you set with each knob.

Nice!!!

[asha c]

Haha I dont care what happens to the thread! Im more concerned I may have competition in snapping up a 555, had my eye on them for ages but never got a spare £400-£500! They all seem to be in japan too!!

[Danswift]

No one is turning their noses up at the SP 555 etcetera but yet again the comments you're making just show your complete lack of knowledge and understanding regarding the SP series.

The reason producers like Madlib and J.D. used the 303 and 404 is because of the way they SOUNDED.

As I pointed out to you previously when you were mentioning Vinyl Sim on the 404 SX that absolutely no one would purchase the SX for the Vinyl Sim FX because it's completely different and nothing like the algorithms for Vinyl Sim on either the 303 or the 404 OG.

You can make a case for just about anything in the SP series,they each have their own characteristics and quirks and also shortcomings but again the reason most beatmakers went for the 303 and 404 is because of the producers they were influenced by and the sounds they were hearing on those artists records.

[SP-USER]

Haha I dont care what happens to the thread! Im more concerned I may have competition in snapping up a 555, had my eye on them for ages but never got a spare £400-£500! They all seem to be in japan too!!

Sure you have, just forget about that SP-404MKII you've been thinking 'bout

The reason producers like Madlib and J.D. used the 303 and 404 is because of the way they SOUNDED.

As I pointed out to you previously when you were mentioning Vinyl Sim on the 404 SX that absolutely no one would purchase the SX for the Vinyl Sim FX because it's completely different and nothing like the algorithms for Vinyl Sim on either the 303 or the 404 OG.

Yeah but you're assuming everyone prefers a certain model's Vinyl Sim. I must admit I do like the other Vinyl Sim, but pushed to choose between them I prefer the more 'Flutter'-like effect of the 555/SX/A over the 'Wow'-like effect of the OG/303.

If there was an LED display based SP that had the Vinyl Sim you speak of AND tape-like pitching I would buy it to pair-up with the SP-555. But there isn't one (apart from the SP-404MKII and there's no way I'm going that route again now that I'm fully aware of the SP-555). This is one of the reasons why pairing an ES-1 with an SP is a good thing no matter which SP you have. It's an authentic Lo-Fi device with proper tape-like pitching and a great LED display based interface.

So I do get what you're talking about when you tell me this stuff (and believe it or not I do take it all on board), but I've different priorities when it comes to features and interface preference.

[Jaytreaze]

its because they do one thing the other doesnt, og 404 vinyl sim has a wide beefy compressor sound to it, the 404sx vinyl sim to me sounds hollow compared to og, the mk2 is going to be merely an emulation so still different to both but maybe an emulation that some might prefer because it will still technically do something the other doesnt. its not that theyre all vinyl sims with slight deviations, each sp vinyl sim has DRASTIC difference

[Girru]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275131789130

Edit: just checked out the pictures - NO WAY is SP-User gonna be buying that, lolz.

On the 202-303-404 fb group there was a guy selling a couple recently. Think he was in the US tho.

Japanese eBay sellers are good. Postage is quick. So long as you've worked out the extra you'll be paying in import duties etc. If there's owt wrong with it, they usually offer partial/full refunds rather than pay to have it shipped back. Depends how much they got it for, I guess?

https://www.jauce.com/auction/b1071511429
https://www.jauce.com/auction/v1057789829

[asha c]

The only reason I thought about the MKii is because Id probably be able to get it on finance and pay monthly, having enough cash to buy the 555 just isnt happening!