I use a Tascam DP 008 pocketstudio 8 track recorder. I use 4-8 tracks, one for drums, two or three for samples from the SP then maybe one or two for scratches, synth or guitars, and whatever is left for vocals. I arrange all this, record it and mix down and auto-master on the tascam. I have control over track levels, panning and reverb. Once this is done I export from tascam to PC then straight to soundcloud, email and google music etc. This minimises the need for a pc, is super simple and although I'm only a beginner, I am really happy with the results so far.
Sounds nice man, i've not heard of those pocket recorders before. There's so many ways to work out there its amazing! After the lockdown I'm definitely going to be looking into some new hardware!
@@spvidz Yeah they're definitely worth checking out, they do a six track too that is just over £100, well worth it. I've only had the SP for about six months, I used to play guitars in bands and am completely new to beat making. I am making good progress and have started to collaborate with singers and MCs. Anyway, I reckon 95% of what I have learnt is from your channel and videos, they are great, really clear and concise. So thank you! And if you are ever in London I'll gladly get you a pint or two! Keep up the good work man!!!!!
JIMMYMARLOW nice one man glad to hear they have helped. Ah nice got friends down in London so I’m down there every so often! Need a vinyl digging day there at some point soon!
Well here's a tip for next time you're down here on a quest for vinyl: with the exception of Music & Video Exchange in Notting Hill and Greenwich, stay away from all the vinyl shops and market stalls, they have really inflated their prices over the years. Instead, get out of central London and have a good dig around charity shops, there's literally hundreds and you'll find all sorts, I have a mate who made a small fortune doing this and selling his finds on discos when he was between jobs. Also, there is a place called Faction Bookshop in Leegate shopping centre near Lewisham. The shop is a bit of a dump (as is Lewisham!) but the entire first floor is all records, and prices are well decent. The records are not categorised at all and you'll have to sort through them yourself, there is box upon box of records and you'll defo pick up a few bargains. Give yourself a few hours there at least. Good luck!
Awesome man thanks a lot. I have a relative in tooting and already know of a charity shop there with hundreds of records will have a look into your other suggestions!
No you can go straight into your computer using an audio interface. You can also just take the files directly off the SD card in the sp and arrange in a daw if you wanted to 👍
Hey man love your vids having just come across your channel. Was just wondering if u had any advice for ‘filling out’ a track when you have bass, drums and a sample, but at the same time managing to create ‘space’. This is something I have always struggled with. Cheers ☺️
easier said than done with the SP alone as its quite a primitive sampler. Look at adding some textures underneath your beat that can really help fill out the sound. Choosing the right samples will also make a big difference. You want to fill out the full spectrum of sound as much as you can if you want to have a 'full' sound so think about how each drum sound will fill out different parts of that. Kick low, snare mids and the hi-hats the highs. The kick and bass are key to, they should drive the beat and fill the low end. Last thing is don't overthink it!
Hello I just got an SP 404sx and I make most of my beats on FL studio I used my SD card to try and download my beats into it so I can work on it. I just don't know what to do from here. I cant seem to get the beat to play on the SP.
How did you put your beats on the SD card? I recommend going to the roland site and downloading the software so you can choose what pad it gets assigned to - my.roland.com/support/by_product/sp-404sx/updates_drivers/4376
Thanks a lot man, yeah I do a lot of stuff in the box at the moment however I am exploring Ableton a bit more lately and seeing how I can get a workflow going using both my computer and the SP!
Ok here’s a weird question. This might be totally impossible and I have no idea but you might. If I want to record out my beat to my daw from the 404 in stereo and I thru a scarlet solo (it has one XLR input and one 1/4” input) could I possibly use a left channel RCA to XLR converter cable and an RCA to 1/4” conversion cable into the interface at the same time to record stereo or would this put too much strain on the systems and be pointless. (In FL you can totally record in stereo with this interface kinda bc it counts the 1/4” as the right side or channel 2 input)
Hmmm good question. Not sure about that one man. A good work around would be to just grab the files off the SD card but appreciate you might be trying to record out full beats etc. I guess the only way to find out is to try it. I have two xlr inputs on my interface so it’s nice and easy to do stereo recordings!
Thanks for all the great vids! Definitely have learned a lot from them. I was wondering, would dual rca to single trs work for recording to laptop via scarlett 2i2? It would just record to one channel, but it would be in stereo and sound okay, right?
Edit (new answer): I'm not totally sure this would work. I think that may only record mono. You could try and order a cable and if it doesn't work, send it back. I have a feeling you need to record into two channels to get stereo. Its best to check the manual for that interface though. I always go into two channels with my older SPs. Problem solved with the MK2 I just use USB!
You don't mate no, its a stand alone sampler but for transferring files etc and recording out your beats your going to need something if you want to get it online obviously! :)
When you are recording your beats live to your Zoom H5, are you using the mics on it or are you using the line in jack on it?? The line in jack on the H5 from the Output from SP-404SX !!
Really not sure what you are asking in the second question sorry. Both my mic and SP go into a mixer and then I sync the audio with the video on my laptop using my video editing software
Hey there! Any tip on cables to go from 404 to h4n? Do I need to split or can I just use a mono mix and qrtr inch from my headphones out? Is rca to dual quarter inch the best sound? Thanks again!
hey! so if i have a beat i made on a daw and added effects to it, how do i export it? it keeps exporting as just the song with no effects. i really have no clue what to do lol.
get the song on one pad, resample whist playing the fx and then grab the new file off the SD card. OR record your beat in live and add FX while you are recording it in
Don’t think you can man it has its own format that it saves them in probably to save space. Try looking at the SD card on a computer to see if the files are maybe stored somewhere
Don’t have time to watch the whole video again sorry - to answer the question the Best way to add effects is finish the beat and have a recording of it. Then record back into your SP while adding fx or have the beat on a pad and resample it to another pad whist adding the fx live
Nice man - I just keep tweaking until theres a solid level but it doesn't peak. Sometimes the numbers are slightly different on each wheel - depends on what the signal is like coming in!
Not sure how it would work. They do have files on the SD card but you would also have to have all the samples on the right pads as well as it just sequences existing samples. Can’t see that it would work!
Hey Spvidz, I was wondering what is your "frequency carving" workflow on the sp as I am always running into trouble especially with the sp and clashing frequencies. For example having samples of different source and quality and mixing them with drum libraries that already knock your eardrums out as they are precompresed and equalised. How do you bring em all to a pleasant sounding level as several of my sp beats may sound OK on a small pair of speakers but then sound like total crap in a car stereo. I would love to hear your approach in a future video. Peace
No easy solution to that man, its just practice I guess - use the MFX to try and get a good blend. What you're explaining though is basically the art of makings beats so there isn't really a go-to solution. Just keep creating and experimenting :)
Great tips man. Definitely find that the compressor needs to be at the end when everything else is levelled correctly. Kinda just binds everything a little bit more!
Honestly the best way I’ve seen and dealt with this problem is active eq while you’re getting the sample.Makes it really easy later on adding different effects and mixing
3:09 it explains how to do it...you need to break your patterns down into all its separate parts using copy/paste/delete, eg, copy a pattern and delete everything apart from the kicks. You do that process for as many parts as you need then record them into a DAW and line them all up.
So very little post processing? Not even mastering? Not even checking the LUFs levels before uploading to spotify/streaming sites? I don't even own one of these, I'm just curious because all my music is in a DAW.
Its all personal taste I guess man and mastering etc is slightly off topic - thats only what I do, but I know very little about the mastering side of things. That being said, I've put my beats on Spotify, soundcloud etc and don't seem to hear any issues. If you wanted to take the time to master your tracks its definitely possible if you export everything separately and I'm sure you'd hear the benefits too! Thanks for watching
![How to use Resample to make full lofi hiphop beats [SP404sx/a]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8xD4ApXCzSQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![โกดำ - วสันต์17 x ไม้เมือง [Official Music]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/OUg2L4Sx1TY/mqdefault.jpg)
you are an amazing person for making all this vids... all my love to you, you are a being of light
Glad to help man, thanks for watching!
Thanks for the tutorials, I'll get my sp tomorrow and I guess I've watched every single video by you now haha
Haha nice one man! Hope they help you out. Always good getting new gear 👌
@@spvidz I was only using Maschine till now. Hope I won't fail that bad. But I guess I'm well prepared now haha
I use a Tascam DP 008 pocketstudio 8 track recorder. I use 4-8 tracks, one for drums, two or three for samples from the SP then maybe one or two for scratches, synth or guitars, and whatever is left for vocals. I arrange all this, record it and mix down and auto-master on the tascam. I have control over track levels, panning and reverb. Once this is done I export from tascam to PC then straight to soundcloud, email and google music etc. This minimises the need for a pc, is super simple and although I'm only a beginner, I am really happy with the results so far.
Sounds nice man, i've not heard of those pocket recorders before. There's so many ways to work out there its amazing! After the lockdown I'm definitely going to be looking into some new hardware!
@@spvidz Yeah they're definitely worth checking out, they do a six track too that is just over £100, well worth it.
I've only had the SP for about six months, I used to play guitars in bands and am completely new to beat making. I am making good progress and have started to collaborate with singers and MCs. Anyway, I reckon 95% of what I have learnt is from your channel and videos, they are great, really clear and concise. So thank you! And if you are ever in London I'll gladly get you a pint or two! Keep up the good work man!!!!!
JIMMYMARLOW nice one man glad to hear they have helped. Ah nice got friends down in London so I’m down there every so often! Need a vinyl digging day there at some point soon!
Well here's a tip for next time you're down here on a quest for vinyl: with the exception of Music & Video Exchange in Notting Hill and Greenwich, stay away from all the vinyl shops and market stalls, they have really inflated their prices over the years. Instead, get out of central London and have a good dig around charity shops, there's literally hundreds and you'll find all sorts, I have a mate who made a small fortune doing this and selling his finds on discos when he was between jobs. Also, there is a place called Faction Bookshop in Leegate shopping centre near Lewisham. The shop is a bit of a dump (as is Lewisham!) but the entire first floor is all records, and prices are well decent. The records are not categorised at all and you'll have to sort through them yourself, there is box upon box of records and you'll defo pick up a few bargains. Give yourself a few hours there at least. Good luck!
Awesome man thanks a lot. I have a relative in tooting and already know of a charity shop there with hundreds of records will have a look into your other suggestions!
Nice color grading job, you are getting better and better!
Thanks a lot - I found the filters in Premier Pro 😁
spvidz cool! it will get even better if you tweak it a lit bit, color grading is just like mixing tracks
Hey! great vid! do you have to use a recorder or can you just record it onto your computer directly?
No you can go straight into your computer using an audio interface. You can also just take the files directly off the SD card in the sp and arrange in a daw if you wanted to 👍
@@spvidz Ok great! I was worried that i needed to buy a seperate recorder. Also, thanks for the quick reply! best channel on yt!
TMPEcho not at all no - it’s got a line out on the back so you’ll just need the right cables! And no problem. Happy to help out :)
@@spvidz Ok nice! then i only need to find the right cables. My sp is arriving today, so im very exited!
Hey man love your vids having just come across your channel. Was just wondering if u had any advice for ‘filling out’ a track when you have bass, drums and a sample, but at the same time managing to create ‘space’. This is something I have always struggled with. Cheers ☺️
easier said than done with the SP alone as its quite a primitive sampler. Look at adding some textures underneath your beat that can really help fill out the sound. Choosing the right samples will also make a big difference. You want to fill out the full spectrum of sound as much as you can if you want to have a 'full' sound so think about how each drum sound will fill out different parts of that. Kick low, snare mids and the hi-hats the highs. The kick and bass are key to, they should drive the beat and fill the low end. Last thing is don't overthink it!
Hello I just got an SP 404sx and I make most of my beats on FL studio I used my SD card to try and download my beats into it so I can work on it. I just don't know what to do from here. I cant seem to get the beat to play on the SP.
How did you put your beats on the SD card? I recommend going to the roland site and downloading the software so you can choose what pad it gets assigned to - my.roland.com/support/by_product/sp-404sx/updates_drivers/4376
Thanks homie got everything fixed and working on my first beat tape! Definitely be back for more info
Awesome man, glad to hear it!
Another great video cheers man. I like to do everything in the sp. As well or as much as possible. Keep up the great content.
Thanks a lot man, yeah I do a lot of stuff in the box at the moment however I am exploring Ableton a bit more lately and seeing how I can get a workflow going using both my computer and the SP!
Been streaming your albums...good stuff bro
Thanks a lot man, hopefully got some new stuff coming soon
3:56 I was looking at the stickers right when you said DAW I read sour dough same time , sounded like you said dough haha
🤣
Ok here’s a weird question. This might be totally impossible and I have no idea but you might. If I want to record out my beat to my daw from the 404 in stereo and I thru a scarlet solo (it has one XLR input and one 1/4” input) could I possibly use a left channel RCA to XLR converter cable and an RCA to 1/4” conversion cable into the interface at the same time to record stereo or would this put too much strain on the systems and be pointless. (In FL you can totally record in stereo with this interface kinda bc it counts the 1/4” as the right side or channel 2 input)
Hmmm good question. Not sure about that one man. A good work around would be to just grab the files off the SD card but appreciate you might be trying to record out full beats etc. I guess the only way to find out is to try it. I have two xlr inputs on my interface so it’s nice and easy to do stereo recordings!
Want to buy this Badboy but I only have 2in2out Audio Interface. Which sucks. I'm busy learning to build my own Ableton 11 Rack for Sp404 effects.
Thanks for all the great vids! Definitely have learned a lot from them. I was wondering, would dual rca to single trs work for recording to laptop via scarlett 2i2? It would just record to one channel, but it would be in stereo and sound okay, right?
Edit (new answer): I'm not totally sure this would work. I think that may only record mono. You could try and order a cable and if it doesn't work, send it back. I have a feeling you need to record into two channels to get stereo. Its best to check the manual for that interface though. I always go into two channels with my older SPs. Problem solved with the MK2 I just use USB!
Hi, just to confirm, I don’t need a laptop or computer to actually use the SP 404?
You don't mate no, its a stand alone sampler but for transferring files etc and recording out your beats your going to need something if you want to get it online obviously! :)
You’d want to have one handy. In order to put sounds on the Roland too have to download software on your PC and drag them in one by one.
When you are recording your beats live to your Zoom H5, are you using the mics on it or are you using the line in jack on it?? The line in jack on the H5 from the Output from SP-404SX !!
Definitely the jack inputs man - no way for it to work with the mics
How did you record movie? Mobile? Roland go mixer? Any others methods?
I use my phone and have my mic going into my laptop, then i sync them with video editing software
spvidz Ok so You record audio to laptop ? And you are postprocessing that in laptop next Good audio track change with this from mic?
Really not sure what you are asking in the second question sorry. Both my mic and SP go into a mixer and then I sync the audio with the video on my laptop using my video editing software
spvidz Ok, so Video & audio is recorded separately?
Hey there! Any tip on cables to go from 404 to h4n? Do I need to split or can I just use a mono mix and qrtr inch from my headphones out? Is rca to dual quarter inch the best sound?
Thanks again!
Just get a rca to dual quarter inch man yeah, stereo sound and just easier too :)
Hey men! Im new on sp, how do you adjust the levels on each pad? Thanks for the videos!
Hit the pad you want to edit. Hit start/end level button - use the right most knob to adjust the level 👍
@@spvidz Thanks you!
how do you save projects on sp itself? or even organize the sp pattern and sample banks?
The SP has a save feature where you can save all your pads - I'm not sure if it saves patterns as I dont tend to use them much.
are there any other ways I can export my beats I don't have Ableton at the moment I was thinking is it possible with garage band?
Garage band will do the trick yes. There's nothing special about Ableton, any form of DAW will work
hey! so if i have a beat i made on a daw and added effects to it, how do i export it? it keeps exporting as just the song with no effects. i really have no clue what to do lol.
get the song on one pad, resample whist playing the fx and then grab the new file off the SD card. OR record your beat in live and add FX while you are recording it in
How can I view my backup files in wav form?
Don’t think you can man it has its own format that it saves them in probably to save space. Try looking at the SD card on a computer to see if the files are maybe stored somewhere
so the only way to record with live effects is to do it with the first method or last method?
Don’t have time to watch the whole video again sorry - to answer the question the Best way to add effects is finish the beat and have a recording of it. Then record back into your SP while adding fx or have the beat on a pad and resample it to another pad whist adding the fx live
Thanks!
no problem!
Just brought a h5, what level do you gain stage at on the h5, the levels are mad! Hahah
Nice man - I just keep tweaking until theres a solid level but it doesn't peak. Sometimes the numbers are slightly different on each wheel - depends on what the signal is like coming in!
I can’t access the patterns on the Ed card?
Patterns are stored on the SD card in ROLAND > SP-404 > PTN but you will only find .bin files in there - it doesn't save them as audio files
@@spvidz hey thanks!! And you’re videos helped so much! Thanks
no worries! Glad to help :)
Can you find recorded seq through ur sd?
Not sure how it would work. They do have files on the SD card but you would also have to have all the samples on the right pads as well as it just sequences existing samples. Can’t see that it would work!
Hey Spvidz, I was wondering what is your "frequency carving" workflow on the sp as I am always running into trouble especially with the sp and clashing frequencies. For example having samples of different source and quality and mixing them with drum libraries that already knock your eardrums out as they are precompresed and equalised. How do you bring em all to a pleasant sounding level as several of my sp beats may sound OK on a small pair of speakers but then sound like total crap in a car stereo. I would love to hear your approach in a future video. Peace
No easy solution to that man, its just practice I guess - use the MFX to try and get a good blend. What you're explaining though is basically the art of makings beats so there isn't really a go-to solution. Just keep creating and experimenting :)
Great tips man. Definitely find that the compressor needs to be at the end when everything else is levelled correctly. Kinda just binds everything a little bit more!
@@spvidz This just saved me a crap ton of time. Made this mistake once.
Honestly the best way I’ve seen and dealt with this problem is active eq while you’re getting the sample.Makes it really easy later on adding different effects and mixing
nice i still dont know how to export my patterns because you only say its possible and i know it but you actually dont explain how to do it xD
3:09 it explains how to do it...you need to break your patterns down into all its separate parts using copy/paste/delete, eg, copy a pattern and delete everything apart from the kicks. You do that process for as many parts as you need then record them into a DAW and line them all up.
@ thank you for the quick response! Appreciate you :)
In Pioneer Toraiz sp16 you can just export song and choose each chanel. 🤣
Nice, yeah you can do the same with most modern samplers. The SP is half the price of that so can't expect too much...!
@@spvidz hi, in electribe es2 yoy can do same : export separate traks
first lol. great video. similar technique for 303?
Would have thought so yes! They are quite similar so imagine most of these techniques will apply
So very little post processing? Not even mastering? Not even checking the LUFs levels before uploading to spotify/streaming sites? I don't even own one of these, I'm just curious because all my music is in a DAW.
Its all personal taste I guess man and mastering etc is slightly off topic - thats only what I do, but I know very little about the mastering side of things. That being said, I've put my beats on Spotify, soundcloud etc and don't seem to hear any issues. If you wanted to take the time to master your tracks its definitely possible if you export everything separately and I'm sure you'd hear the benefits too! Thanks for watching