I gotta give the folks at Pioneer credit for their odd support of this line.
Such little support and customer interaction, I don’t think people expect much from the box. With that, people (me) work with what we got, and it all seems to work out.
Sure, there’s some “be nice to haves” but it doesn’t. And that seems to be that. And some magical way people still make music with it.
Love that box
I like that it doesn’t have too, too much going on, it makes me more conscious of my sample choices and sound design.
Is anyone else using their SP-16 with Pioneer CDJs? That’s one of the big reasons i got the SP-16 is because it has DJ Link. I haven’t experimented too much with it in that regard since gigs had been shut down for so long.
Using the SP-16 in conjunction with CDJs and additional hardware for most of my gigs over the last two years (clubs remained open here for most of the time), and it’s the centerpiece to extending my DJ sets into a more hybrid dimension of DJ / Live performance environment.
Recently played a B2B2B set with two fellow musicians, one with a heavy iPad-driven setup, one CDJs only, and the SP-16 served as the MIDI bridge and master clock to all other hardware. There are a few odds but works rather well for my purposes.
Also using the inputs on two THRU tracks for processing audio live with the SP-16 FX , BPM synced.
Thank you for all the details. I’ve played around just a tiny bit with some of those uses myself. Looking forward to diving in.
@MMS if you don’t mind answering a question…have you had any issues syncing your CDJs w the SP-16 over DJ Link? I’ve been reading about people having issues today. I feel like the last time I tried it the SP-16 worked best when it remained the master device on DJ link
To answer your question: It works pretty reliably for Techno. Even so, I add kick drum patterns and percussive patterns next to one-shots and loops, often LFO modulated (don’t miss out on the LFO on the SP-16). The SP-16 has an awesome sound quality, and it can add some substantial impact on the dance floor.
The settings are key when you sync to DJ Link, I’d recommend selecting Bar. This is something for you to experiment with. Bar tends to work the tightest for me, better than Beat, and I wouldn’t recommend BPM.
What usually happens during mixing is that the SP-16 is shifting over time, as it syncs to one track, and then goes its way, however, the rhythmic structure of your tracks might vary to a certain extend, and then there might be shifts in your mix over time anyways. Hence what I do is stopping the SP-16 every now and then and restart, it so can sync back in. This is absolutely no problem, as the SP-16 isn’t in the mix at all times.
Lots of people complain about this and that, for me the SP-16 is the one substantial extension of my DJ setup. I carry it everywhere — think that says enough.
Then, the SP-16 can only be synced to DJ Link, it can’t be the master clock within the CDJ eco-system, only the DJS 1000 can do so. What’s good is that the SP-16 can be the fifth synced device within a CDJ setup, not so the DJS 1000.
The SP-16 then sends MIDI clock out to external hardware devices, such as FX or synths, whatever is in use. I sometimes add the Analog Four, even the Korg Monologue, since it works very well for rhythmic add-ons due to its motion sequencer.
I could see if I find a photo of a club setup of mine if this is of any interest here.
Couldn’t find a better one — unfortunately, it’s not showing the setup very well.
You can see the SP-16 on a laptop stand, with a Korg Minilogue next to it, and a Toraiz AS-1 in front of the iPad, all synced via MIDI clock to the SP-16.
The iPad was mainly used for Shockwave, a great iOS synth, and which has been MIDI clocked as well, though I used an Arturia Keystep for triggering and playing live, you can see a bit of the keys on the lower right corner of the pic.
That’s from around 2 years ago — I’m not carrying around that much gear anymore for my hybrid sets. AUM on the iPad is a great environment and I might use it more again for gigs when it finally gets a direct MIDI sync function (as of now, AUM can only be the master clock or synced via a workaround with Audiobus or Ableton Link, which up to now only plays a role in the Denon DJ world).
These days I place the SP-16 directly behind the mixer for better ergonomy, then 3 CDJs and a ZOOM CDR70 FX pedal for my core setup, recently extended with an OTO BIM delay, and an Analog Heat, but it added more complexity than benefit to me, as I am usually quite busy with mixing and layering already, so gonna leave them out, and focus on the two SP-16 THRU tracks reserved for external audio processing coming from the mixer.
There are some video snippets from recent gigs showing the current setup and if any of you wants to listen, here’s the link to the recording of a rather conceptual semi-live set I played with the SP-16, no Techno though, more of an abstract cinematic homage to Blade Runner. It’s quite a bit rough, as I just had the SP-16 for a few days at that time.
Automat / Live set recorded at Lantern Club, Beijing, June 12, 2020
16 LFO controlled looping samples (SP-16), no sequence, a single note (AS-1)
I really appreciate all the time you took to type this all out. I’m reading through it and jotting some things down for myself. Will check out that link for sure and have a listen. And yea, I’m mostly playing house and techno…some breaks and DnB mixed in here and there. And yea, Starting and restarting the SP-16 from time to time won’t be a problem as I’ll be mixing in other people’s music form 2xXDJs. I’ll definitely have the aux send of the DJ mixer going to the inputs of the SP-16. I think being able to capture loops live from the CDJs will be a big advantage.
All a matter of experimentation, the same gear can be used in so many ways. Not doing any live sampling and looping myself as I’m busy mixing layers of the three CDJs + SP-16 pretty much throughout my stets, so I didn’t even consider — could be worth taking a look into this for other types of performances.
As for my Techno sets, a few can be found here: MMS | Plain
Most of them have their dose of SP-16 inside.
Issu sorted. It was caused by the “send” option in the mixer page. It’s the volume of the send tracks. I haven’t found any pre-/post- option but it seems to work just like you described.
(Yes, I have barely used a mixer before)
Cool! Glad you figured it out : ) Yea, I’d been looking around too and nothing on the machine itself seems to use that terminology. And no worries! There is so much for one person to know when it comes to making music. I’ve been making my own dance tunes for like 10 years and I still feel like I don’t know that much.
Hi, annoyed by the development and promises … I end up with do I keep or do I sell. Regarding second hand price I decided to keep. For sure not everything bad on the sp16 — as development roadmap is closed and I doubt to see a firmware update coming as hey surprise! Only elektron is capable of that to my experience (and that why I really like elektron)
I decided to started to :
I will probably post here something. At the minimum it should be a refined user manual but it may be more than just that. Like a full workflow, ideas and how to max the sp16 experience and prepare internal and external memory to use it alongside.
See y’a!
Oh actually something useful would be to reply to this questions based on as it is for what it is on firmware 1.60 version :
Thanks
I bought it because, as a beginner, the SP-16 is very intuitive, it sounds very good and while its sequencer is far from perfect, it’s a lot of fun.
It has a big screen, it’s very nice. The menu system is clear and the workflow is Quick. Sampling and slicing on that screen is fun.
I also have an Octatrack that I bought before the SP-16, and god - do I hate that small screen.
The pads are nice and big - I don’t have much pads experience though.
Two cool (and probably obvious) things I discovered today:
The sequencer resolution is 192 ppqn, you get 48 micro-steps
I hooked up a synth and - to my surprise - you can also sequence chords (up to 4 notes)!
For jamming, this thing is very very cool.
Two things I don’t like:
The sequencer buttons are a bit disappointing, not always responsive
There’s no Midi via USB and the PSU input is a bit wobbly. (EDIT: there is Midi over usb, read below)
My next step is to buy a small controller and see how it works.
I think there is MIDI over USB support? Just not for directly using controllers. I think issue is that you can only use either DIN or USB and not both at the same time.
I haven’t tried it myself, but maybe the issue is something in settings where one has to be enabled and/or disabled?
https://faq.pioneerdj.com/product.php?c=4666&lang=en&p=TORAIZ-SP-16&t=faq
I bought mine after the 1.6 firmware update and paid the reduced price (kept). I knew exactly what I was getting into with the SP-16 when I bought it.
I’m currently hard pressed to think of a big con. I think that’ll come when I start experimenting with using it with my CDJs. Which bleeds into the next question. Technically, yes, I bought the SP-16 to use live in DJ sets. When I first got it and was playing around with it linked by MIDI to my other gear I feel like I remember the SP-16 working best when it as master, but can’t recall 100%
Why do I love it?
It is is exactly what I need w/o a bunch of extra features to get lost in.
Easy sampling.
Good time stretch.
Works with Pioneer DJ Link.
Honestly it is just a pleasure to use and feels like someone built it just for me.
There definitely is midi via USB, it’s in the settings. Is your device on the latest firmware (1.6)?
Bought it and kept it since, no regrets 
Main cons are:
I use it exclusively live. It’s slaved to my Octatrack in a longer chain of other instruments. It’s a great device for live performance, I bought it after I dropped my misplaced hopes that the MPC Live could be set up to feel immediate in a live setting. The SP16 is immediate and lovely for live.
Main reasons I love it:
My bad, I wasn’t precise enough. There is MIDI over USB if you use it with a computer.
But there is nothing in the manual that suggests that you can receive MIDI over USB from a controller.
I still haven’t had a chance to try because I don’t have a male-to-male USB-B cable, though.
Yes, this is correct, as the SP16 is not a USB host.
You’ll need some form of USB host, but it needn’t be a full fledged computer. There are devices that you can purchase (eg little raspberry pi boxes), that would allow you to plug in both, your SP16 and a USB-based midi controller, and route one to the other. Alternatively you could use an iPad with a USB hub attached and then just route the midi via an app like AUM or ApeMatrix.
