Look what I just found on Roland US!

drewzle · Post by **drewzle** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:01 am

606man wrote: there's not really any hidden menus like there is on an MC unit (you should try to get your head around the MC-505!!).

yeah i've got a mate's MC-303 at the moment and the labyrinth of menu options is ridiculous, not intuitive at all.

Dj Frantic · Post by **Dj Frantic** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:42 am

it really does depend. If your loading stuff up and not doing to much sampling the 606 is probably a better look. But if your sampling junk of vinyl or w/e the 404s workflow is unmatched. The real beauty of it is the mark buttons. You dont have to dive into a wav editor you just set the start and end points of your loops manually in real time... you can even do it while your sequence plays.

Jason13 · Post by **Jason13** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:36 pm

I just got the SP606

and one of my bandmates uses one as well, next I am getting an ESX and then a SP555. I was thinking about an MC808 or an MPC1K but from what I have read I don't think either would be the right machine for me. So my bands live kit will be...

2 x SP606
Micron
ESX
SP555
Electric Guitar
Adrenalinn 2

I think the 606's and the 555 will complement each other really well and I wont have to get an MPC. :lol:

606man · Post by **606man** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:24 pm

Very Nice

For Live stuff the 606 is absolutely untouchable and the 555 will continue that tradition methinks..

Depending on what you want to do exactly, a technics running through the 555 might be useful (play those loops straight off the old records! Crowd goes wild! You own the dancefloor etc etc)..

Jason13 · Post by **Jason13** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:38 pm

Woah! I had not even thought about using a turntable (doh :oops:

), I am useless using one, but I have a mate who is pretty good at scratching vinyl. He could scratch, I loop it with the 555 and carry it on while adding FX etc.. while he cues up the next phrase. Endless possibilites there definately.

iG9 · Post by **iG9** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 11:47 pm

i just wanted to chime in and say i don't think the 12 hrs sampling time is all that great. i've got a 1G card in my 404 and i've never come close to using all 6 hrs. if fact i kind of wish i'd gotten 2 512MB or 4 256MB cards so i could keep isht a bit more organized. the problem is there's no way to fast forward through a sample so neat ideas like having the entire chromatic scale for an entire orchestra or a billion high hats or whatever end up slowing your work flow way too much to be practical, imo. am i missing something here?

Dj Frantic · Post by **Dj Frantic** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 1:33 am

ya, I use 128 cards and ive never run out... I normally sample in lofi tho

Lopar-XL · Post by **Lopar-XL** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 2:54 am

Yeah, iG9, the 404 could surely use transport/scrubber controls for navigating through the samples. Now about the 555, it seems like Roland is putting the D-Beam on everything lately. I wouldn't be surprised if they had D-Beams on the photocopiers and coffee makers over at their headquarters.

Dj Frantic · Post by **Dj Frantic** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 5:15 am

606man · Post by **606man** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 11:41 pm

D-Beam is awesome for live performance. I've got two (MC-505 + SP-606) and it's great fun on the fly..

The other thing that D-Beam are good for is unusual expressions - you can get filter sweeps etc with a D-Beam that not even a Kaoss Pad can get near..

But, yeah, I think maybe at Roland they use D-Beams to answer phones, cook toasted sandwiches and mow lawns...

iG9 · Post by **iG9** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 12:33 am

hahaha at the d-beam cracks.

if waving your hand over something to control it really turns you on (i know it does me) you can add that feature to circuit bent stuff pretty easily by using a cadmium sulfide (photocell) in the circuit. they're like 3 for 5 bucks at radio shack. easy way to look really impressive even with mediocre sounds...

606man · Post by **606man** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:11 am

With a high-pass filter you can make it look like you are really 'squashing' the sound. literally!