The SP-404 Mk2 era begins...
Mar. 20th, 2025 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bug0utSecured my lifeline funds and had promised my lady that if we have to cash it (we probably will, but its safe from fluctuations for now until it's needed), that I'd set aside some money to split between us and do something nice for ourselves because its been a fuckin rough several months and we deserve it.
My part of it went to something I've had my eye on for a while: the Roland SP-404 Mk2. A friend of mine who I hold in really high regard has been a fan of this sampler for quite some time, going so far as to write an extensive guide on using it, a quick-start/cheatsheet booklet for the key combos and different modes, and hundreds of videos on YouTube (links to all of it at the bottom of this post if you wanna skip the rest and just check him out).
What draws me to the 404 is the fact that it comes packed with so many effects. I want to abandon the computer almost entirely for the first, let's say 70-90% of my workflow and I wanted the 404 as part-fx box, part-sample mangler. It came in this morning and all I've done so far is open the box and pull it out to get a feel for it. Feels solid, the pads feel nice, the non-pad buttons feel OK. I'm gonna test drive it later today and probably focus solely on working with it for the next few weeks just to learn the ins and outs, the key combinations/shortcuts, and whatever else. If I feel comfortable/confident enough with it, I might fly it solo for the next STBB which should be posted up tomorrow. At the very least, I'll definitely be throwing the source tracks in there and beating up on them as a learning exercise.
The plan is to essentially keep the MPC in play, arrange chops and drum patterns and whatever else there, feed certain tracks out to the 404 for heavy FXing/resampling/mangling, and then feed them back into the MPC for further chopping and arranging while also having the iPad handy to feed synth sounds and other stuff into the 404, to then finally land in the MPC. We'll see how it goes. Pretty hyped tbh.
Links to NearTao's blog and YT channel, as promised:
NearTao's Blog
NearTao's Youtube
My part of it went to something I've had my eye on for a while: the Roland SP-404 Mk2. A friend of mine who I hold in really high regard has been a fan of this sampler for quite some time, going so far as to write an extensive guide on using it, a quick-start/cheatsheet booklet for the key combos and different modes, and hundreds of videos on YouTube (links to all of it at the bottom of this post if you wanna skip the rest and just check him out).
What draws me to the 404 is the fact that it comes packed with so many effects. I want to abandon the computer almost entirely for the first, let's say 70-90% of my workflow and I wanted the 404 as part-fx box, part-sample mangler. It came in this morning and all I've done so far is open the box and pull it out to get a feel for it. Feels solid, the pads feel nice, the non-pad buttons feel OK. I'm gonna test drive it later today and probably focus solely on working with it for the next few weeks just to learn the ins and outs, the key combinations/shortcuts, and whatever else. If I feel comfortable/confident enough with it, I might fly it solo for the next STBB which should be posted up tomorrow. At the very least, I'll definitely be throwing the source tracks in there and beating up on them as a learning exercise.
The plan is to essentially keep the MPC in play, arrange chops and drum patterns and whatever else there, feed certain tracks out to the 404 for heavy FXing/resampling/mangling, and then feed them back into the MPC for further chopping and arranging while also having the iPad handy to feed synth sounds and other stuff into the 404, to then finally land in the MPC. We'll see how it goes. Pretty hyped tbh.
Links to NearTao's blog and YT channel, as promised:
NearTao's Blog
NearTao's Youtube