I just got the 404 and have a probably obvious question…I have a sample recorded in pattern mode and it will play the sample everyone other pattern revolution. I guess to be more clear, its an 8 bar pattern, plays correctly the first time through and nothing the second but pops up again on the third. I just want it to play consistently…Gate is not on so I don’t think its that but I cant seem to figure out what’s going on. I think I’m at 1.13 firmware as I haven’t had time to update to the new one announced yesterday but I did upgrade it about a week ago so it isn’t the original FW. IDK, any help for a noob would be great, thanks.
Could that be it? SP404 mk2 production tips/tricks/problem solving/bugs - #42 by amaury
If the sample is looped, it is retriggered on each pattern loop, and alternatively is started and stopped. See discussion around the post I linked.
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I think that might be the issue, I’ll have to take a look here in a few minutes. I will def check out that, thanks a lot for the help!
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First try to turn off loop on that sample by making sure the loop button isn’t lit up. I think that might be it, as was noted.
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Something that just hit me and I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner. Instead of saving drum kits in folders and loading them to blank projects, I’m just going to save projects as templates with my favorite drums already set up This way I can pull up “blank projects” already loaded with whatever drums I’m feeling and save a bit of work. Painfully obvious I’m sure, but just in case this hadn’t occurred to others.
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I didn’t explore that so excuse my ignorance: can you copy/paste banks from project a to project b? On the unit? Or only through the app?
I haven’t used the app yet, my SP is rarely close to a computer but it’s always plugged into my iPad. You know what I wish for, iPad app. I may repeat that often 
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I don’t think you can and sure I saw a workaround using skipback to do it! Obviously not the simplest way of doing it though.
I haven’t used the app either and mine is tethered to my laptop all the time! Really should give it a go but at the moment loving just sampling audio from Finder straight in over usb-c.
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The app is great. I use it a lot, but I haven’t noticed a way to copy a whole bank. As far as I can tell you can’t really batch process things. It’s all one by one, as far as I can tell. Definitely loads of room for improvement.
Saving a project to use as a template seems the best option to me for what I’m envisioning. This way you don’t have to repeat a bunch of work each time, like setting up mute groups and everything will be in the place you want it.
I think each time I get a drum kit or something complicated that I think I might want to reuse, I’ll just save that as a project and archive it on the computer.
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Got you, thanks.
Could you describe this a little more for a newcomer? I’ve got the 404 hooked up and powered by my Macbook Air through a USB-C cable, so the app is always ready to go. Being that I’m new to the SP-series as a whole, workflow is all new to me and I was trying to suss out how to go about building out kits to use in projects or if that was really even a thing. I’ve got the entire Samples from Mars collections of drum machines, so I thought I should at least built out my favs like the CR78, Linn, 808, 909, etc… Anyhow, I love using templates to speed things up, but don’t know enough about what workflow would look like to do it, yet.
Your plan is to have a “Project” filled with different drum machines that are already setup and ready to go. Bank A might have an 808 and B = 909, yes? You’d go ahead and do all of the setup work for mute groups and then load up the drum machine “Project” when you wanted to work with it. Is that right?
Would you always have this project on the 404mkII or just save it on your computer and the load it when needed?
Also, are you using a single “Project” per song usually? I’m a very visual person and haven’t seen workflow/overview visually diagrammed so that my brain has clicks around how to “see” the file structure and how to use it to my advantage structuring work. Sorry to ramble:)
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Last night made few attempts to record a pattern on the SP404 using an external sequencer, ableton live in this case.
The goal was to record a “precise” pattern that loops perfectly. No way!
I can send start/stop command with live, I noticed I can start recording from the pattern settings page if I start ableton live.
The recorded pattern is almost perfect but the first beat is delayed.
Anybody tried this with better luck?
does the app run on windows 7? havent checked it out yet
Super simple, nothing special.
I have a jazz kit in bank A right now that I spent a long time tweaking. I’ll just export that project to my computer and put the whole project it in a folder called Jazz Kit 01 or something.
Then if I want that kit again next time I start a new project, I’ll load that project via the app (drag onto the app).
Next time I spend a bunch of time getting a drum kit prepped, I’ll do the same. So on my computer I’ll have a folder SP Drums, and then below it Jazz Kit 01, etc.
You should be able to store projects on your SD card like this as well, although I haven’t been using the SD card, so I don’t know if there is a particular root directory/folder they have to be in. I need to investigate that later.
If I’m going to work this way, I’ll make sure I organize my kits similarly each time to build muscle memory. For instance kick drum on lower left pad, snares to the right of it, hats and cymbals above, etc.
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I just realized you could go a step further. You can have 16 projects on your SP at any time. Once you have a bunch of drum templates built, you could for instance keep your top kits on your SP all the time, say in projects 1 to 8 (or all 16 if you like)
I do one project per song, so if I finish a song that uses that jazz kit I mentioned. I’ll archive the final project on my computer as whatever I call it (Song A), delete that project on the SP, and replace it with the default Jazz Kit 01 again off my computer that just has those drums.
In reality I don’t use tons of different drum kits. I tend to have a handful of favorites, so if I have my top 8 kits on my SP as Projects 1-8 it would save time. I like mostly working with blank slates, but drum kits are an exception.
You could of course do this with chopped drum breaks as well. Have an Amen template or Honey Drippers template or whatever. Or do an 808/909 template if you prefer working with electronic drums.
Just a thought.
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Two things I’d really like if they implemented, both are dead simple.
- Way to turn the metronome on even when not in record mode. This would make skip back even easier to use, for instance if you are just screwing around finger drumming
- A count in option for resample, and not just wait. This would be useful for recording instruments (as previously discussed).
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I’m with you!
I’m afraid though that for 1, they’d have to make sure the metronome sound is omitted from the skip back. Maybe it is already? We could try it by sampling with metronome, canceling the sampling and using skip back. Not sure if that works…
A count in when resampling would be amazing, to record over existing stuff and starting on time… Not easy otherwise…
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I think I figured what Pop up time this new setting is referring to. It is talking about the dreadful “Operation Complete” message when copying or deleting, when I switched it to off it all of a sudden was way faster and smoother. This makes me pretty happy
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I just stumbled upon a way to “perform” with the EFX. Maybe old news for some but here goes.
If EFX is OFF, and you press the button, it’s still OFF. Now, if you press the pad corresponding to the FX that’s selected, it turns it ON. When you lift your finger from the EFX button, it turns OFF.
With that in mind, I started to press different pads to switch effects with the beat, with a rythm, and as long as I last select the one that was originally selected, when I lift my hands, EFX is OFF. Had fun for a while with that.
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Probably losing street cred, but last night I figured out something that made me feel so dense.
I’ve read the manual multiple times without noticing this, but if you miss the old way of mark chopping (like I do for weird timed multiple loops)
- Press start end button
- in wave form view use mark button. 1st press (Start point) 2nd press (End Point)
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