Journal
10 subjects discussed, newest first.
The effect buttons toggle BUS 1/2 effects and switching one off cuts its repeats; to keep a delay tail, stop feeding it (Ko-Da-Ma SEND, MUTE BUS, or DRY pads) instead.
- BUS FX picks which bus the effect buttons and knobs control: lit orange = BUS 1, blinking orange = BUS 2. (Adding effects (BUS FX))
- Pressing a lit effect button turns the effect off. The manual has no tails/spillover setting, so the repeats stop with it. (Adding effects (BUS FX))
- To keep a tail, stop feeding the delay: Ko-Da-Ma's SEND sets "the volume of sound sent to the effect", so turning it down should leave the repeats fading. Sync Delay, Tape Echo and TimeCtrlDly have LEVEL (the echo volume) instead. (Ko-Da-Ma)
- MUTE BUS, SHIFT + BUS FX, mutes the bus input so only the delay or reverb tail is heard; pressing it again lets the sound back in and turns the bus effect off. (MUTE BUS)
- Hold REMAIN and press a pad to switch it between the selected bus and DRY (no BUS 1/2 effects). (Assigning each sample to a bus)
- BUS 1/2 main effect parameters survive power-off only after SHIFT + MARK held for 3 seconds. (Editing the effects)
- SHIFT + pad 16 (EFX SET) holds the routing (TYPE A serial / TYPE B parallel), FAVORITE for BUS 3/4, SIDE CHAIN, DIRECT FX button assignments and OTHER. (EFX SET)
Set tempo, length and level before sampling; for patterns, QTZ GRID/SHUFFLE pulls hits to a grid, QTZ Off keeps them where played, and you can quantize per pad afterwards.
- In sampling standby (REC), RECORD SETTING gives REC BPM (CTRL 1), ROUTING ExtIn/Mix (CTRL 2), LEVEL (CTRL 3) and PAN (SHIFT + CTRL 3); pressing VALUE there opens INPUT FX. (RECORD SETTING)
- SHIFT + pad 10 cycles the count-in (1MEAS, 2MEAS, WAIT, OFF); WAIT starts sampling when the input exceeds Auto Trig Level. SHIFT + pad 9 toggles the metronome. (Adding a count-in before sampling)
- Real-time pattern recording: PATTERN SELECT, REC, a blinking pad, REMAIN until REC MODE is "Real-Time"; VALUE sets QTZ (Off, GRID 32…GRID 4, SHUFFLE 16/8), CTRL 3 STRENGTH or SHFL RATE. (real-time recording)
- "Free" isn't a manual term: QTZ Off stores hits where you played them (480 ticks per quarter note); lower STRENGTH keeps some feel. (Main specifications)
- Quantize afterwards per pad: PATTERN SELECT > PATTERN EDIT > pattern pad > RECORD SETTING, pick pads, CTRL 2 QTZ, CTRL 3 STR, VALUE > OK. It can't be reverted. (QUANTIZE)
- While recording: REC toggles rehearsal, SHIFT + PATTERN SELECT undoes the last take, DEL + held pad erases. (real-time recording)
USB-C audio from Windows goes in through [EXT SOURCE]; samples follow the bank or project tempo only when BPM SYNC is on and their own tempo is right.
- No driver needed (USB Audio Device Class 2.0). Don't go through a USB hub or use a charge-only cable. (Connecting to a computer or mobile device)
- Windows: Control Panel > Sound > Playback > "Speakers SP-404MKII-G" > Set Default, then press EXT SOURCE so it lights. (USB AUDIO)
- Three tempos: sample tempo (per sample), bank tempo and project tempo. SHIFT + pad 11 (TEMPO SEL) picks PROJECT or BANK as the base tempo; patterns always play at it, samples only when BPM SYNC is on. (Setting the tempo)
- Record in sync: set REC BPM to the source tempo, set the length in measures with CTRL 2, and turn on END SNAP (START/END in standby). (Sampling)
- Fit an existing sample: PITCH/SPEED > BPM SET (AUTO range, SX (Length), MANU or MANU-F), then BPM SYNC on, or SPEED by hand with CTRL 1 (50–150%, only with BPM SYNC off). (Setting the tempo data in a sample)
- With a DAW, UTILITY > SYSTEM > MIDI > MIDI Sync "USB" or "Auto" makes the unit follow the DAW's MIDI clock. (SYSTEM)
No: the manual's only rule is never to remove the card or switch off while the screen shows "Working..."; eject F: in Windows before pulling it from the PC.
- The manual doesn't require powering off; its rule is: never turn off the power or remove the SD card while the screen indicates "Working...". (IMPORT SAMPLE)
- Imports and exports run in the background with an indicator in the display, so wait until the indicator is gone, not just until you're back on the main screen. (Importing/exporting (using the SD card))
- "No SD CARD!" means the card isn't (fully) inserted: turn the power off, seat the card fully, then turn the power back on. (Error messages)
- On the PC, eject
F: in Windows before pulling the card from the reader.
- Powering off first is the cautious habit, especially right after a backup or project export (Claude's advice, not a manual requirement).
Humanize / Rate / Groove is the Groove screen, reached by pressing [ROLL] on the pitch/speed screen; volume and pitch are on [PITCH/SPEED] itself.
- PITCH/SPEED, then a pad: CTRL 1 SPEED (50–150%, only with BPM SYNC off), CTRL 2 PITCH, CTRL 3 VOLUME (0–127). (PITCH/SPEED)
- SHIFT + CTRL 2 is FINE pitch, SHIFT + CTRL 3 is PAN. (PITCH/SPEED)
- Humanize / Rate / Groove is the Groove screen: press PITCH/SPEED, then ROLL. (Groove)
- Knobs turned on that screen change the sample's groove; set Humanize and Groove to Off if the sample sounds rhythmically off. (Groove)
- To get back: press ROLL again (not documented, Claude's assumption), or EXIT and then PITCH/SPEED again.
Yes, as long as they are WAV, AIFF or MP3 under 16 minutes, but each song still has to be imported to a pad, and it's best to chop one section at a time.
- Songs must be WAV, AIFF or MP3 and at most 16 minutes (about 185 MB) each. (Main specifications)
- Copying to
IMPORT does nothing by itself: import each song to a pad with SHIFT + pad 14 > IMPORT from SD-CARD > SAMPLE, press a pad, pick the file with VALUE. (IMPORT SAMPLE)
- On the file list, SHIFT + turn VALUE selects several files, SUB PAD previews, and imports run in the background. (IMPORT SAMPLE)
- Chop a song a section at a time: narrow START/END to one part, mark and ASSIGN TO PAD, then move START/END to the next part. The song pad stays intact.
- Don't TRUNCATE the song pad unless you are sure; it permanently deletes everything outside the start and end points. (Processing a sample)
Trim with [START/END], place markers with [SHIFT] + [START/END] by eye, by ear or with AUTO MARK, then ASSIGN TO PAD sends the slices to pads.
- Trim first: START/END, then CTRL 1 moves the start point and CTRL 3 the end point; with RESAMPLE lit, points snap to zero crossings. (START/END)
- VALUE on the START/END screen offers TRUNCATE, NORMALIZE and EMPHASIS; they rewrite the sample and cannot be undone. (Processing a sample)
- Markers: select the pad, then SHIFT + START/END. Place them by eye (CTRL 1 + MARK), by ear (play pad 1, tap pads 2–16), or with VALUE > AUTO MARK (TIME DIVISION 2–16, LEVEL 1–10, TRANSIENT HARD/MID/SOFT). (MARK)
- VALUE > ASSIGN TO PAD sends the slices to pads: turn VALUE for the first pad, MARK confirms the layout, VALUE assigns. Pads that light red will be overwritten. (CHOP)
- SHIFT + PITCH/SPEED opens ENVELOPE (ATTACK, HOLD, RELEASE). (ENVELOPE)
- SHIFT + pad 8 sets MUTE GROUPs, so slices of one loop don't overlap. (MUTE GROUP)
The Gost Zvuk album failed with Unsupported FILE; its filenames have en dashes and Cyrillic, so a copy with short ASCII names was put on the card to test.
- "Unsupported FILE" means the file type isn't supported; the manual says to check the file extension, format and folder directory. (Error messages)
- SYSTEM > FileSystem "Latin1" can't recognise files with double-byte characters in their names; "Multi-Byte" can (they display garbled). Changing it needs a restart. (SYSTEM)
- Every Gost Zvuk filename has an en dash (
–) and four have Cyrillic titles, while its MP3s are otherwise built like albums that work; the names are the likely cause (not yet confirmed).
- A renamed copy with short ASCII names (
F:\IMPORT\GOST ZVUK 10Y\, 33 tracks) was put on the card for testing; originals untouched.
- Four albums (three Nick Klein, Turning Torso) are 24-bit WAV with a WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE header; the manual doesn't say whether that imports, so they are the next suspects.
- Leave cover art (JPG/PNG) off the card, and keep file and folder names short for the small screen.
Record the loop with the right REC BPM, trim it to whole bars, give the sample its tempo in BPM SET, then turn on BPM SYNC so it follows the project tempo.
- Before recording, set the sample tempo with CTRL 1 in sampling standby (or REC BPM on the RECORD SETTING screen), so the new sample starts with correct tempo data. (Sampling)
- Trim the loop to exact bars with START/END: CTRL 1 moves the start point, CTRL 3 the end point. (START/END)
- The sample's tempo lives on the PITCH/SPEED screen under BPM SET (AUTO, MANU, MANU-F), not on the START/END screen. (Setting the tempo data in a sample)
- Press BPM SYNC to make the sample follow the bank or project tempo; SHIFT + BPM SYNC does every sample in the bank. (BPM SYNC)
- Set the base tempo with SHIFT + pad 11 (TEMPO SEL): CTRL 1 picks PROJECT or BANK, VALUE sets the BPM, or tap SUB PAD. (Setting the tempo for a bank or project)
- Alternative: warp the song in Ableton Live, export an exact 4-bar WAV at a known tempo and import that instead of recording.
Ableton Factory Pack samples are encrypted files only Live can read, so they have to be exported from Live as WAV before they can go on the card.
- The unit imports only WAV, AIFF and MP3 (FLAC and M4A only through the SP-404MK2 App). (Main specifications)
- The pack's 345
.aif files in Samples/Combined are encrypted Ableton files: ffprobe could not read any of them, so the SP can't either. The 629 .ogg files are low-quality browser previews.
- To get usable audio, export it from Live: File > Export Audio/Video as WAV, or Freeze and Flatten / Consolidate (Ctrl+J) clips on an audio track.
- Files only need to be in the card's
IMPORT folder; they then still have to be imported on the unit with SHIFT + pad 14 (IMPORT/EXPORT). (Importing samples (IMPORT SAMPLE))
