Hey all,
What do you think of a Digitakt/Roland SP-404 combo for a dawless set up? I’m not a fan of working inside the box and was hoping to add another piece of gear that would compliment my DT.
For those who are dawless, what works for you? And would you say the SP-404 is a good option?
I think for the price of an SP-404 there are more flexible alternatives these days. But if you gotta have the SP swag, nothing else will do.
What are you trying to achieve? What kind of music do you make? What is it about the Digitakt (features / workflow / limitations) that makes you consider adding a second box to it?
Well, I have both and they do compliment each other well. If you are into it, the fx of the SP are amazing. Also stereo files and as long recordings possible. Sequencer is very basic. So what digitakt is missing the sp has and the other way around.
I do own a mpc Live as well, which is also a very good compliment to the digitakt.
I like using a boss rc 202 to loop a section and utilizing the fx. An OT is of course a better alternative for something like that, but it’s quite the price difference. But as someone else said, what are you trying to achieve? People around here are major gear nerds, so if you give them some parameters to work with, you’ll get loads of good tips
not the same form factor, not the same cable connector… ugly!
You also need more cables and switch on 2 devices, sync them for each project, adding complexity for what ?
I really don’t think the SP404 bring something to the DT. It’s a very good sampler on it’s own but in couple with DT… I would not do that.
This vid might help
To everybody their own, but stating that pairing a sp404 with a digitakt doesnt bring anything to table seems just plain misinformation.
I respect that what the pairing brings isnt for everyone, but of course it does add:
And more as well.
Personally I like how they look together, might be not your cup of tea though. And different cables? Well, you can buy cables that directly connects the two devices. So no issue there?
If that all doesnt work for you, good, and let us know how you like to work so we can learn from you. But stating it adds nothing is confusing the topic and might cause people to make decisions based on misinformation. Which, in my book, is just wrong. So keeping an honest seperation between your own opinion and facts is essential when trying to help each other.
I paired a Digitone with my 404. Cannot agree more that the SP really shines with the Elektron sequencer. I would have purchased a DT but I’m not fond of a sampler with non removable storage.
Though a limited setup I mad a ton of jams with those two, guitar and a looper pedal to bounce jams. I would record my performance into the looper and bounce it back to the 404 and resample with the 404 FX. So much fun from a small setup. Used that for quite some time till I fell into the wormhole of hardware.
Plus the simplicity of the 404 made the midi setup almost seamless. Which is awesome because I’m dumb!
Good luck, quite a few SP users around so ask away!
I use Digitakt with an SP-404. Like others have said – great to have option for longer stereo samples, and universal effects.
Yeah, I think the idea that the SP is good alone but not paired with a Digitakt is exactly backwards. I had the SP and used it by itself. I was not a fan. I think that it’d be pretty great paired with a Digitakt for all the reasons Geologist outlined.
All that said, I’m more interested in seeing what the Circuit Rhythm is about when that’s released. It looks like it scratches the same itch while not suffering from the problems I had with the SP. Plus if it’s priced the same as the Tracks, it’ll be cheaper than getting a second hand SX.
Also, if you’re looking for something that can handle long samples and has a few tricks that the Digitakt doesn’t, I’d have a look at the 1010 Blackbox. It doesn’t have the FX but it is able to do things like multisampling, and it’s just slightly higher in price. And then you can always go all out and look at the Akai stuff. Second hand Lives and Forces seem really damn reasonably priced.
How’s the Digitakt pairing with the SP-404 mk2?
The pairing on paper looks a bit like a makeshift Octatrack (no harm intended with the comment)
How’s this combo? I’d like to try the SP-404 myself one day.
My studio is based around the 404 mk2 feeding into my DT and I can confirm its very good fun. Tons of possibilities for how the two can interact but I’ve found the best inspiration comes when I chop up and flip samples on the 404 using the resample method then time stretch those loops on the DT.
The 404 by itself falls short of being a proper live looper/remixer like the OT but if you adjust your expectations its quite good. Paired with the DT the 404 is like adding the fun part of the MPC to the DT workflow without all the extra MPC junk.