SP404 mk2 production tips/tricks/problem solving/bugs

This device keeps suprising me.
I don’t know if this is a well known trick or not, or if i’m missing some other obvious option to do this without the workaround.

I like the velocity sensitive pads and the simplicity of the pattern sequencer in the SP. So as an experiment I wanted to see if I could use the mk2 as a MIDI sequencer/controller for my external synth.

First I configured midi mode B in settings, and set the channel to where my synth was listening.
Banks A through E then output Midi note data when you press a Pad. I have the output of the synth connected to the SP in, so i can hear the notes with EXT-IN.
Then I tried to record a phrase in the pattern sequencer on bank C. That didn’t work since there are no samples assigned to the pads.

Now this is the trick: … I just sampled a bit of silence and copied it to all the pads in bank C. Retried recording the sequence, and it works like a charm! Resampled a few iterations of the phrase while wiggling knobs on my synth. (banks F-J)

So yes i’m giving up a couple of banks for the note ranges where i want to record MIDI phrases, but I actually think it’s kind of worth it! If anyone knows how to do this in another way, without sacrificing the pads let me know!

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I don’t know if there’s a better approach on the MK2 (a definite firmware suggestion if not), but there is an interesting history of using silent samples creatively on the SPs. They could work as a blunt force solution to mute groups, for example, on devices where you could deliberately abuse the resampling polyphony limit.

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I use them all the time to cut the sample on the snare for example. Can create interesting variations