Hi

Ok I been saving up my cash, and my 18 questions. Thanks to anyone and everyone that can chip in with replies/opinions:

In no particular order:

1. Anyone have any news of a likely 404 replacement coming out anytime soon? I guess Summer NAMM would have been the place for launch, so I reckon it's 'safe'?

2. Anyone got a link for a reliable supplier of 1gb (or smaller) CF cards? I see Lexar and Integral ones on Ebay UK - has anyone tried them? (I would paste the link but it breaks the forum width, and ppl dont trust tinyURLs these days...)

3. Will midi notes played from my microkorg get recorded in the sp404 sequencer?

4. Is the aluminium cover a 'skin'? Or actual aluminium?

5. Is the black/gold skin an official Roland product? Is it metal?

6. Can you turn off the blue light if it annoys you?

7. Sub roll - is it like note repeat on an MPC?

8. Can you record long live 'jams' where you are playing patterns and tweaking fx as one big new sample via the resample function?

9. Is there a way to fake a solo function as in a mixing desk? I saw the youtube track mutes thing (multi pad full isolator)

10. Does the 404 have the 'Effect memory mode' that the 555 does?

11. Noise - is there any acoustic noise from the unit?

12. Heat - does it heat up after being switched on for a while?

13. How long in seconds from powering the unit to playing back samples?

14. What gets reloaded automatically on power up? Samples? Patterns? FX settings? Can you specify an 'autoload' setup like the MPC 1000?

15. What is the load time for a 3 minute sample from the CF card?

16. Mic sensitivity - do you have to talk into the mic or will it pick up what is going on in the room?

17. Does a new 404 come with a CF card? What size?

18. Is anyone here dj mixing with their 404 like Warren the Roland demonstrator does in the 555 demo vid? I don't get that - is there a bpm detection/lock feature?

Thanks y'all
E

1. nothing has been officially announced
2. i would recommend amazon they have everything
3. yes
5. not official, don't know about it being metal
6. yes, the answer is somewhere on these forums, try a search
10. no

sorry i couldn't answer all your questions, i'm still a noob around these parts lol

thats a positive start thank you

Earwolf in the house!

what up detail, don't rat me out to the 'other place'

no
umm... if you mean will it record patterns of its own sounds being triggered from an external device, yes it will.
it's aluminum (afaik, it's metal anyway) and if you take off the screws you can remove it. the body underneath is plastic.[/quote]
look i'm not gonna sit here and let you defame the blue light. all hail the blue light! =)
yes, but you can't have more than 2 pads playing at a time while resampling. ::sigh::
yeah, the way you just said.
sometimes, especially with dirty power. running off batteries helps.
not really.
6 seconds.
patterns and samples, not fx settings. never used an mpc.
if you mean import time for a new wav, no idea. if you record a sound directly into the machine it plays back immediately.
not generally, but hey, you might get lucky.

hope this helps...

to add to what ig9 wrote it also doesnt save the BPM.

for resampling you get 4 voice polyphony. So, you can resample with only 2 notes if your sampling using stereo. And as you know, stereo sampling is from the pit of hell and smells like smoke !

great replies. props to iG9 for taking the time, appreciate that!

no problem. good lookin out frantic & juxt on the clarifications.

Since I'm random as hell, I'll just add that EarWolf is a fresh name and we won't tell MPC-forums your cheating on her. Plenty of people here have used or do still use the MPC.

there's a group called "wolf eyes". i've never heard them but i love the name...

would anyone mind telling me how to turn off the blue light? can't find it anywhere.

I have a 303 so I don't know, but I think the blue light looks cool.
I know it has to be in the manual.

From the sp-404 pdf manual, page 42:

Here’s how you can adjust the speed at which the blue illumination
around the edge of the display will blink.

1. Hold down [TAP TEMPO] and turn on the power. “LEd” appears in the display.

2. Turn the CTRL 1 knob to adjust the speed. [REC] will blink as you turn the knob.

3. Press [REC] to confirm the blinking speed you specified.

If you decide to cancel, press [CANCEL].

This setting is remembered even after you turn off the power.

Adjusting the Blinking Speed of the Display Illumination

Setting Explanation

“oFF” No blinking. The illumination will not blink even during pattern playback.

“1–9” The illumination will blink at a fixed speed. Higher values produce faster blinking.

During pattern playback, the illumination will blink in synchronization with the pattern tempo.

“Ptn” The illumination will blink in synchronization with the pattern tempo.