the reverb, the delay, the ability to use the send effect and the master effect simultaneously, copying individual steps with locks, the ability to record parameter locks, independent track lengths and scales, the ability to modulate the analog filter, trig conditions… basically everything that Elektron has gotten just right lol. also thinking about selling mine, it’s a fun machine but i might have too many gripes with it.
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Love mine. Sends midi over USB.
Making drums, patterns, etc with the box along side synth, samples in Ableton. l’m dialed in.
When I’m ready - I record the midi into Ableton and export the tracks (stems with perfectly wrapped loops) from the Toraiz into Ableton and I’m off…
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Wait a minute do the pads translate to the drum rack layout automatically ?
From a sample track, no. But from a midi track, yes. Put the track in Chromatic and transpose it down 2 octaves to C3. You’re good from there!
The Pioneer stuff plays really well with Ableton. IMO.
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Quick question:
I have an Analog 4 that I use to midi to a Peak. I know it’s just basic Midi but I dont like any other sequencer.
BUT, my question is if I use the A4 as main clock to an SP-16…can I send I guess pattern change to the SP-16 from the A4…so If I have 5 patterns in song mode on the A4, can I set up the song mode on the Sp-16 and set up pattern change from the A4 to the SP to change the patterns in sync?
I could get a digitakt instead of the SP but I really love the sound and the UI of the SP.
Thanks!
If you have set the Analog Four to send clock and the SP-16 to receive it, then you don’t even need to synchronise patterns; just put both in Song/Arrangement mode and press Play on the Analog Four.
I haven’t seen any evidence that the SP-16 responds to Program Change messages (although it does appear to send them if you wanted to jam through patterns with it controlling the Analog Four).
Earlier in the topic it was reported that the SP-16 responds to two CC messages to change Scenes and Patterns:
but the Analog Four sequencer does not send CC messages.
Duh…I"m still a bit noobish…thanks.
One more question if I buy a DT instead.
I’ve read there are lots of program change issues with the DT receiving pc.
Say I make a song on the A4 using 5 patterns and then use the DT for drums on 5 patterns. If I have clock out and transport out from the A4 to the DT and then run song mode on the A4, can I manually hit the patterns in the correct song order on the DT and have them play one after the other that way in sync with the A4. Just wondering if manually changing patterns will mess up them being in sync or the clock from the A4?
Thanks!
You can do this manually. Equally, there should be no problem with automating the process if you prefer.
Interesting scan through the discussion here this morning. I just got an SP-16 after thinking on it for years. I’ve owned Pioneer XDJs for my home DJ setup for years and after messing around trying to use drum machines, other samplers, synths, groove boxes etc with my DJ setup I decided I finally owed it to myself to try something that was part of the damned Pioneer DJ Link ecosystem.
Now, mine is woefully outdated software wise (it shipped with firmware 1.10) and maybe this is a hot take but I am pretty excited about how little it does. As far as being a companion to my CDJs, it’ll sync up and share files, and it doesn’t do a bunch of crazy shit I have to remember–it is a straightforward machine for sequencing and performing my prepared one shots and loops and GASP it has a a song mode if I want the machine to do the arrangement heavy lifting.
One reviewer I listened to said it was a good 50/50 mix of a DJ performance tool and a production tool and I think that is spot on (though it seems they added a lot more on the production end).
I wanted something with a familiar feel (I’ve always been a groovebox guy) that I can easily improvise my prepared beats (I won’t call them songs) as part of my DJ sets and feel like this strikes the a good balance. Meanwhile, I know I’m paying for the privilege (lol) of it being part of the Pioneer DJ ecosystem.
On paper, the form factor, etc and price of the DJS never appealed to me. Some are saying it sounds better–I only need the SP-16 to spit out what I put in with some sweeteners on top.
I also exclusively use A&H DJ mixers and I will say, for DJing, their analog filters sound better than the Prophet Six filters on the SP-16, but the overdrive is a nice touch. And I like that it IS an actual sampler so I can have all my gear routed to a mixer then into the SP-16s input for when I’m ready to record. Though with the drag n drop file system I’ll probably do a fair amount in my daw as well as for prepping loops and such.
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I agree with you, there’s a clean beauty to the SP16, what it does it does well and that’s that.
I currently have mine set up on the main inserts of my A&H mixer, where I use it as a multitrack looper.
I have pad 16 setup as thru track and pads 9-15 empty so that I can live loop (live loop recording // that’s in one of the later updates ;)) onto them. As I jam, I can basically capture 4 bar loops (or longer) of everything that’s going on onto different pads. Once captured I use the Mute page and SHIFT+Pad to solo a pad which takes out the Thru machine…tune keeps going seemlessly while I can now change patterns, mess with the sequencing & sounds etc…when I’m ready to bring it all back, SHIFT+Pad 16 mutes all loops and brings back the live instruments.
I also use this to capture nice sections of a jam that I can then come back to…so let’s say I capture part of the intro on pad 9, part of the build up on pad 10, etc…I can now go back and fourth between these loops in perfect time, midi synced and all.
The SP16 can do so much more but I don’t need it to do more, and I love that it is designed in a way where it feels OK to use only a fraction of its feature set.
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The SP-16 is a wicked machine, if they’d released it with the features it ended up having it would have been way more successful. It works for us though as they’re so affordable and have such great features!
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I’m having trouble finding examples of online video or even only audio of DJs incorporating the SP-16 into their sets. Is this just not how people are using the device or am I not looking hard enough? Am I barking up the wrong tree and people are either going full-on live hardware vs. just playing songs out on CDJs/turntables?
I thought I’d find many more people like myself looking for some kind of middle ground between those two “extremes”?
My main reason for buying it was because it has DJ Link therefor fits into the Pioneer DJ ecosystem and I can walk in with some USB sticks and my SP-16 and be good to go. Is it in some weird middle ground where that isn’t “live enough” to be cool
I’ve been wanting to find some examples, ideally videos, of the workflow people are using to integrate it into their DJ sets. I’m wondering at this point in my experience with the SP-16 where I just want a taste of how other people are using it with CDJs and a DJ mixer.
I’m not at all giving up on it as I know it is the piece of gear I’ve been looking for to bring my idea of what I want to do as a DJ/performer together. I’m just honestly shocked that it seems no one else is “cashing in” on what sees like an obvious combination of gear for adding “flare” to their DJ sets to full on improvising new material along side CDJs.
Be the change you want to see in others. 
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I think DJs use the DJS-1000 more than the SP-16 for the hybrid sets.
In my opinion, the SP is more for production / live performance and the DJS is made to incorporate into a DJ set.
That’s my opinion and obviously you can use the boxes however you want
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@Claid I fully intend to move forward with my plans despite my lack of finding others doing what I want to do. Also…no one else change…don’t copy me…let me be a mediocre novelty LOL
@djadonis206 thanks for those videos. I spent a lot of time in the past comparing those two pieces of gear. I have to admit when I finally noticed the price drop in the SP-16 I kinda clicked the buy button w/o going back and double checking the DJS-1000 for a refresher.
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I’ve got a renewed interest in getting one of these. They seem to have come down in price recently and although there is chatter online about being discontinued they seem to be in stock (or available to order) at many retailers. I’ve had some trouble finding up-to-date manuals online and the YT videos are a bit variable in quality. I was hoping that some existing owners could answer a few simple questions for me. I’d be very grateful!
- Can you record the audio over USB into the computer with either a dedicated driver or so-called “class compliant” USB audio? Not a deal-breaker, just be a bonus.
- Are there send FX or grouping of tracks?
- Is there a master compressor or other master FX?
- Can you do pattern length per track?
- Can you easily bounce tracks or the master output for resampling and slicing?
- Does it have synced pattern/scene changes for live performance and arrangement?
- Settings per pattern/scene like Digitakt?
OK - maybe not such a simple set of questions! Thanks in advance!
I feel like this is a good candidate for one-box production without a computer. The reviews generally seem to be positive and it seems like the reviewers think it’s easy to use, good fun and capable of being a self-contained production unit if you can accept some of it’s limitations. It also looks looks like it would pair well with small desktop synths like the Dreadbox Typhon (and others) if the sampling and slicing is relatively easy.
It’s a fun, simple box that sounds amazing. If it did mutes per pattern I’d be my go-to sampler/sequencer. I also like the DJS-1000.
Thanks for the help.
I just had another search and it looks like you can resample the master (whatever tracks are solo-ed) into an empty track, and sync it to play and record a set length of bars to get perfect loops. I hadn’t found that before.
Regarding point 5 - what I meant was can it cue up the next pattern or scene I select so it plays when either the current one finishes or at the start of e.g the next bar, like Ableton would do. Digitakt has this behaviour, I think it’s pretty common but I didn’t explain it well!
No mutes per-pattern, that is disappointing and it’s not ideal but if you’re trying to “perform” a track then being able to mute with pads in combination with pattern and/or scene changes then you can go a long way.
Gotcha - yes, the patterns cue up one after another for sure.
One thing to note about the mutes, they mute the whole track. So release, reverb and delay tails are cut off. Similar to the OT. Just something to note