Hello all. great forum, lots of good info.

anyway, I recently got the SP 404, and learned all I can about it, but I'm still unclear on the workflow.

if I make a pattern, I can save it on the 404, but am not sure what to do with it from there. do I have to record it into my computer through the audio out jacks, or headphone out? is there no other way of getting the patterns out? this seems counter-intuitive and inefficient at best. I've googled for hours, and can't find the workaround.

even when I save it directly to the 404, when I come back to it later, the Pattern BPM has changed and I have to figure out what it was supposed to be because the samples I'm using are all f*cked up unless I'm at the exact correct tempo.

surely there's some way to get the patterns saved properly without having to go to my computer and hit 'record' and then hit 'play' on the 404.

what am I missing?

thanks in advance!

welcome to the forums g!
you gotta change the tempo back to what you wanted each time you turn on the 404... good to write it down if you forget, or say it into the mic and save to a pad like somebody here once suggested

your only option is to play your patterns into the computer, or whatever you're recording with. if you need to track-by-track your stuff, the mfx 22 comes in handy for muting pads. your computer will remember the seqs on the card.

thanks for the quick response. wow, I'm just surprised that there's not an easier, more direct way of getting beats saved and exported. I assume that it's a frustration that everyone here has been dealing with for a while.

when you say 'your computer will remember the seqs on the card,' I'm not sure what you mean. can you take a sec and explain?

thanks!

sure. when you export all the samples and all the patterns, i think it saves all the trim points/pattern info, anything besides just the WAVs that may be SP-specific (someone correct me if i'm wrong) in the ROLAND folder. so when you export everything and make a folder for it on the computer, the ROLAND folder, if copied along with all the wavs and dragged to your cf card via card reader, will load back up up just as you had it before... does that make sense?

what you're saying makes sense for exporting WAVs, which I haven't done yet - will try in a bit, but you say 'when you export all the sample and all the patterns,' but I'm under the impression that you can't export the patterns. I guess I'll have to mess around with it to figure out exactly what is possible.

in any case, thanks for taking the time! and if you or anyone else has more workarounds, I'd be interested in hearing them. thanks!

What he means is using the Back-up procedure to save your patterns somewhere else.

I've got the SP-404, not the SX one, so I am not entirely sure how it works with the new one, but I think all you need to do is use Func and then the Back-up command that should be under one of the pads.

Cheers

okay, the BACK-up function. got it. now how do I use the file created by this backup? can I import it into Logic, or something that can re-assemble the pattern from the samples?

no

just figure out what your gonna record out to man, then all you gotta do is let the beat play and your good, bounce out to tape, digital multitrack, DAW, another sampler, vhs/vcr, whatever you can record into that your feeling, then record back into the sp and export the single pad to WAV if you don't already have it on your computer, its doesn't get much simpler than that

thanks Dr. VN. now I see what I gotta do. I have a digital recorder that I can just plug in and bounce back to the pads as a sample. that's the solution I was looking for, though I'd hoped it would be easier.

does the 404SX allow pattern sampling without all the hoops to jump through?

in my opinion, saving and exporting ish is fcking long compared to simply recording audio, gives you more freedom with effects aswell.

Currently the only way to preserve 404 patterns is to make an audio loop out of them. That's maybe not so bad, because the feel of a pattern depends as much on the shape of the sounds as when the triggers happen, but it still isn't the end because there are so many tools out there that can do things with audio loops including creating a midi file from the timing of the hits.

You can backup and save the pattern data, but it's worthless without a 404 because they aren't standard midi files. If you want your patterns available for future use with anything else, I'd suggest writing them on something else that can handle midi files and only use the 404 as a sound module driven by its midi. You'll find cheap drum machines that can do this with exactly the same quantise and feel options as the 404 pattern sequencer and more.

Jim

Yeah, the whole pattern creation system in the 404 is another one of these Roland comedies. It does get better with the SX, but I'm not personally grasping the new quantize updates as well as some other users here.

There is no bridge to conjoin the pattern mode and the resample mode. Pattern mode is like on an island of it's own, and it interrupts my jams horrifically when I have to stop and build what my band needs while they piddle their thumbs. This is where the Korg KP3 and KOP step up to the plate and kick some major ass with live improv. I also use the Kaoss to sample my 404SX patterns (not live), and then sample them back onto the 404sx.

The sound quality of all these units has improved with the SD technology, but it's still an experimental smash-and-grab, and very akin to my early days of 4-track tapes, Casios, and the SP202...in most cases I figure people should start with simple stuff so that software like Fruityloops and Acidpro doesn't lock your brain in a tiny box...it's much better to live in a hell of RCA cables. So, forget pattern exporting...get more samplers.