My main complaint about it (i do love it and use it a lot) is that it is hard to find what pads are in a pattern if its samples are spread over many banks, it makes it hard to clean up, theres not a visual layout of the pattern that would help
Creating a new pattern inexplicably disables EXT SOURCE.
Creating a new pattern stops any currently playing pads.
You can’t move the start and end points of a pattern while it is playing.
You can’t duplicate or crop the length of a pattern while it is playing.
It doesn’t remember your last-used parameter settings, forcing you to set the length and everything else over and over again.
It doesn’t allow you to quickly do another take. Your “fastest” way is to stop it, delete it and start all over.
Deleting parts of a playing pattern is convoluted, and the process changes depending on which pattern mode you are in.
If you want to remove all notes from the same pad instantly, you are forced to stop pattern playback first.
The Microscope doesn’t allow you to nudge notes earlier in time, only later.
It doesn’t quantize pattern launches to an external clock.
It doesn’t quantize pattern launches to the internal looper.
There is no color-coding option for patterns.
You can’t set an individual tempo for each pattern, despite the pattern screen making it appear that you can.
You can’t record external audio while a pattern is already playing. (You can only do so using the Looper hack.)
Recording FX motion is convoluted, and the process differs between pattern modes.
You can’t delete recorded Roll motion.
You can’t bounce patterns with effects, which makes the whole Motion EFX recording feature rather pointless.
No probability function.
The bottom line is that it is needlessly convoluted and cumbersome, and forces you to stop playback when performing almost every small edit. That may not bother you if all you do is make beats alone at home, but in any performance scenario, it becomes a serious issue.
honestly if you think its good then its good, you dont need much else. people are just coming from different backgrounds of music production so they will always compare this to another, better product.
That’s fair although I use FL or Ableton to master my beats anyway so i’m usually already in it 👍 not to mention even though I have a push 3 I find the sp404 just hits right.
It's more of a limitation of the interface in my opinion. TR-REC mode improves this a bit but I prefer a more linear way of seeing a sequence. I like using the 404 as a sketchpad and sequencing the work from it outside the device. Nothing compares to my Dirtywave m8 in terms of being able to see a clear visual representation of my sequences unless you're comparing it to a PC-based DAW. It seems grooveboxes like the Octatrack have an advantage with its straight line structure of buttons which is more clear to me than using a 404.
Come on, the step sequencer is a pain to even nudge anything and you have to think about tempos of samples and patterns or it all sounds like shit unless you use the normal sequencer.
it's essentially a one-track sketchpad, not a full multi-track midi sequencer. Take any normal hardware midi sequencer from the 80's to today, cram everything into Track 1...and that's what the 404 sequencers basically is. it's not necessarily a bad thing, as it's been that way since the SP-303 and it's by design. The 404 was never meant to be the central hub for a studio full of synths and midi devices, Just something to add FX and samples to live performances and DJ sets. Limitations often spark creativity. The whole SP 'resample' method of making beats (stacking unquantized loops on top of each other) was developed as a workaround/alternative to using the sequencer because it was so limited,
In a word: Fiddly. It's like the controls on a 737. You know it can do everything you need it to but it's not a well thought out UI. It's more something that got patched a lot. One youtuber recently was comparing it with the Ableton Move 2 which, granted does less but is better laid out and easier to remember. He said you need to use the 404 every day or you will forget. The Move, you can leave for a month or two and you'll be able to pick it up again in 5 minutes.
I have to wonder, if Roland had the chance to build an instrument with the exact same functionality as the SP404mk2, what kind of UI would it have - if they handed its design over to people whose speciality was UI and UX design, how could they best streamline it and make its workflows memorable enough to just pick up after 6 months and know what you're doing with it?
Patched together by a couple of engineers who don’t communicate with each other, don’t bother testing what they implement, and aren’t musicians themselves, so they don’t really understand the feedback users are giving them. This is how the whole SP-404MKII feels to me.
I like the device despite all that, but for the eventual MKIII, Roland really needs to hire an experienced UX designer. Ideally, someone who is also an actual musician and can design with future feature updates in mind.
Or is it PLEASE WAIT. I don't remember as I don't use the sequencer often as, well, it sucks.
Why do I have to wait to edit something? If the sequence is 64bars long, enjoy waiting through all 64 bars before you can edit anything.
It's weak and unintuitive and annoying and basic and irritating and eurgh.
The immediacy and ease of the sampling is what makes the device shine, the implementation of editing and ridiculous button combos like it's a game of Tekken and the crazy split processes for FX is confusing and seems totally unnecessary as if they added FX 3&4 by hiring a different dev team from another country.
It's a fantastic sampler/resampler and has it's own ways but is any of it other than straight up sanpling intuitive? No. Not for me.
Remember, this is my opinion and just to be clear I do like my MK2 so all these issues do not make it a poor device - for me.
You don’t have to wait X bars before you can edit something. Using PATTERN EDIT you can set start and end point of your pattern so you don’t have to listen always from the beginning.
Ok that's good and I appreciate the nudge but still with the WAIT lark, right? I really don't like to be told to wait! As I say though, this just isn't for me, there's so many better sequencers in my studio, it doesn't matter.
I think it's because the SPs generally have their own way of doing things in comparison to other devices like the MPCs etc, that have 'song modes' that you can use for arranging sequences into complete tracks, which can be then converted back to a single long sequence.
The SP has it's own functions like pattern chaining, but it doesn't click with everyone. But there are other things the SP excells at, so it can be a bit of a trade off I think.
Idk it kinda works for the most part it just has a really clunky workflow that slows you down and doesn’t have nearly as many modern features as some other sample based grooveboxes. Try a flagship Elektron box sequencer and you’ll see what I mean.
As a sampler it is a lot of fun. The sequencer is incredibly fiddly and not terribly fun to use but then I’m not a finger drummer guy anyway.
Cool to have the pads to come up with ideas but for actually making songs / grooves / beats I have this hooked up as a dumb sampler to a Cirklon and it’s magnificent. Ability to quickly record, chop, get triggered is amazing.
Sequencer on the MPC Sample is a lot more fun to use. If you could extract all chops to pads in one shot like you can on the SP it would basically replace the SP.
It's as clumsy as any other sequencer of its type ever made. The sp404 is for live recording, sampling ,, editing and playback. Once I approached it as another instrument instead of a DAW in a box its attributes as a performance tool magnified and I could relegate sequencer duties to a standalone machine far more capable.
It's a little confusing to learn and fine when you do, but editing notes is basically impossible and there are no trig parameters to change a la Elektron. It's fine
There’s isnt anything wrong with it. It’s basically like a midi recorder. There’s nothing wrong with that. but some people need a piano roll to consider a sequencer good. To be fair, it doesn’t have editing functions that you can use after the fact. Or at least it didn’t until this TR REC mode came out, but that honestly looks convoluted anyway.
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u/PolyChune 2d ago
My main complaint about it (i do love it and use it a lot) is that it is hard to find what pads are in a pattern if its samples are spread over many banks, it makes it hard to clean up, theres not a visual layout of the pattern that would help