Hey- i just can't seem to get anything imported. I've formated my new sansdisc 1GB, pulled some 16 bit sounds into a folder and dragged them next to the Roland folder (vs. inside) and I just get a big fat "EMP" every frigging time I try the importing. i'm sure i'm just missing something simple but this is driving me crazy...

looking over the blogs I see it's not a major issue... any clues (besides clueless)?

booker

hey
i have a related problem so ill ad my question here
i got a kingston 1gig CF card and same problemo. I was just learnin how to import/export, so i exported 2 sounds onto the card from the machine and tried importing them to another pad. first one came up and not the other, then i formatted again and tried just one sound and it kept saying empty.
heres the fukin anoying part..i was thinkin id see if the card was workin by backing up all me pad data to it and loading it from the card. it did..but it replaced all my data and samples with random distorted shit, sounds assigned to the wrong pads, or sounds marked at differant points in the sample.
Im thinkin i got a dodgy card. it has to be the cards problem not the SPs i reckon?

one other symptom
when the one sound that did export/import played, it played the sound (kick) then lots of loud clicks and noise after it for like half a sec.

HomeMadeInstrumentals: Yeah, that sounds like a dodgy card. I'd try a SanDisk card, even one of the really small ones, just to see if it will work. The small cards are pretty cheap, if you can find them.

booker: Are you sure that your samples are in 44.1kHz? Although, usually the 404 will flash "UnS" when files aren't in the right format. Also, be sure you've got the files named properly. The 404 will only detect something if it's written as filename.wav . Sometimes people add the .wav extension not realizing that it's already been attached to the file and then hidden. So effectively, they're ending up with a sample called filename.wav.wav . The 404 won't recognize that.

Thanks for taking the time Huph... i'll look again but I'm burning to disc from protools and I do the conversion before the burn so that should take care of the 44.1 rate. Also those are definately WAV files and I"m not adding any name. I"m doing all the transfering and the whole shebang in WAV. I't late here now (I'm in Paris) but I'll gonna try the whole thing again 2mrw and i'll post after.

You know, I'm sure i'm doing something wrong as this really doens't seem to be an issue in any of the blogs. It's just me and something I'm doing. Like I said, i'll start at the beginning again.

booker

so- I know the cards are working because I sampled from the 404 to the card and then took to the 'pewter (saw it there) and the took it back into the 404 and loaded into a different bank and voila- there it was. i guess the problem now for me is to find out why the wave files i'm bringing out of my protools-which read as 44.1kHz & wave.WAV (i.e.) files does now work.

I think the next thing to do is get some music onto the CF card from a different source besides through protools (sound forge or toast?) and see if that does the trick.

sound right?

booker

when you export out of protools you probably have some extra options for like stereo interlaced or split stereo wave. i dunno i know cubase and nuendo have some weird wave options. i don't remember what the option was, but it used to mess me up when trying to use the .wavs with other software or my mpc.

when i get back a little later i will upload a zip file with a couple of small wave files that i know import fine on my 404 and you can try importing those. be sure to remove the other files from the CF card first though.

well, i went into the protools and looked at EVERYTHING and changed what I could. (dither bit rate to 16) and double checked what I could think of and then tried it again. This time the card read: UnS (unsupportable). definition of UnS:this operation was cancelled because the WAV or AIFF is in a format not supported by teh SP-404. at least THAT's a change from EMP! The info's on the card though that's for sure.

hmmm... not sure what to do. I can't believe that protools and the 404 can't "talk" to each other.

how do YOU get your info onto a memory card?

I'm not sure anything you sent over the internet would work either because (it says) the 404 does not support compressed files!

time for a beer I think...

There can be some info in .wav files that the 404 doesn't like.

You may find if you open them in a wave editor program (I think even the free Audacity program does this) and save them as new files (Save As) - and make sure they are saved as "Microsoft PCM format .wav", that will work.

I don't think the 404 likes broadcast .wav files - It said unsupported for a file straight off my Fostex field recorder and Broadcast is the only type of .wav it does.

Jim

Hey JimY-

your advice about taking the music files into Audacity and then exporting out of Audacity works! I don't really understand why. Is it because of Protools itself? this is what I do now:
1. take mixed files/tracks out of protools by burning to disc/ saving to desktop.
2. importing into Audacity (from desktop), then "saving as".
3. exporting back out of audacity back to desk top, renaming and then
4. dragging from there onto the opened memory card, ejecting card from Mac (means first shutting down all the opened applications i.e. protools, REason etc.)
4. putting card back into the 404 and there it was.

I'll do it all but seems like a lot doesn't it?

BTW- i sent a request directly to Roland through their site and got not one response (what do you want for 300€ right?). thanks to whomever put this SP site up and to you all for responding.
community power and sharing... very important and right on!

booker

its just that you are exporting broadcast .wav or something similar. there are lots of different kinds of encoding that can be used and still have the .wav extension. protools is using a fancier type of wave, that probably includes other information in the file.

can you export as .aif from pro tools? you might try that. 16bit 44.1k the sp can load .aif as well.

also what are your choices when you export the tracks? is there a big long list of filetypes you can choose that has more than 1 .wav listed?

I was a little hasty a couple mails back. Still not working. the problem seems to be that bouncing to disc imprints some digidesign info in the file which doesn't allow the 404 to recognize. I also tried AIF files and no go plus i've gone through every step and done all the right moves. i'm gonna bust down and buy a different brand of card but I' still thinking it's the protools. Why am I the only one using this protools rig?

bouncing to disc I've tried all the options-mono, stereo interleavened, and the other I forgot the name of just now- .

back to square one... maybe i should contact digidesign but I think they are more overloaded the Roland if that's possible.

booker

well, i think i got it. thanks for your reply Jim but the link you sent was about alignment which is a different issue then what i needed.

what i DID come up which seems to work is working with Audacity (which is a cool freeware download kinda like garageband etc. I got the latest download BTW.). here's what I did:

(A tip: i'm importing small- 4 beat drum loops- it was recommended that I insert very small fades at either end which I did. This resulted in seamless loops once i got it into the 4040!).

-bounced to disc from Protools and saved to desktop. (when naming files i always start with the letter 'a' which insures that the loop moves to the top of the line inside the flash card cue).
before boucing be sure to set the files to:
BWF (WAV)
Format: mulitple mono (is what i used anyway although i think the others work too)
REsolution: 16
sample rate: 44.1
convert after bounce.
BOUNCE
2 files lands on your desktop land on your desktop lablel "anyname.L, anyname.R.

(I did 5 different songs/files in the manner)

i inserted my card reader with the loaded memory flash card which creates an icon on the desktop.

-I opened Audacity, created a new file/song and click "import" (NOT 'import raw data BTW- it's one of the options but not what you want!) one song (both left and right files!) from the desktop into Audacity. You'll see the wave forms open in stereo.
- next you select export the song and a window will open asking to "save as" and be sure to drop the ".L" and ".R" from the end of the digidesigned desktop named files. Audacity will add it's own .WAV ending to the song name when it's exported.

voila! if you open the memory card icon you'll see your song files there. I did this with the 5 songs and then easily moved them into the 404.

I bet I got 20 hours to get to this thing. seems like a lot of work for something that could be posted on their site somewhere. I've said it before and maybe I'm just the dunce but I can't believe that i'm the only one having these problems.

thanks all for your tips and suggestions.

peace

booker