Thank you so much for posting this. You should be paid a lot of money by Roland for clearly explaining this. It should be a tutorial on their web site and be included in the operation manual. It makes sense of the whole sample loop function and I use it every time I make a new loop. Thank you thank you thank you.
Thanks for the kind words Andy. I didn’t really make the video expecting any money. I just wanted to help my fellow musicians out. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t say “no” if Roland threw me a bone. Unfortunately, in my experience digital music companies aren’t really open to ideas from their hardcore users who have good ideas to make their products better. This is the sometimes harsh reality. Again, thanks for the compliment and I hope you have a great time with your music expression.
Thank you... Answers to my question finally.... And just an illustration. Not wasting time telling me who you are and how you brush your hair.. Just straight to it. The best to you..
Hi. Thanks for the comment. I have to agree about TH-cam nowadays. To many creators more interested in looking at themselves and rambling speeches than making content of substance.
Thank You for this! Its amazing how Roland cannot explain this in any of their tutorials or manuals. I looked online for a few weeks trying to figure this out and finally found your video.
I am quite dissapointed in many aspects with the spd sx. This is an expensive piece of kit from one of, If not the, largest electronic instrument manufacturers in the world. The wav manager sucks. The lack of live recording loops like the spd 30 does feels like an oversight. I wonder of this is a hardware issue or if they can add the functionality with a software update. I also feel it ticks a lot of boxes on the spec sheet but practically there are many annoying limitations especially when not using it with other hardware or software
An additional observation on the below question. When I turn Tempo Sync off, the wave loop matches the Click tempo as expected. Simply turning on Tempo Sync on the pad makes the wave loop to play faster even though the kit tempo remains the same.
Just bought an SPD-SX and am getting ready to record my first samples. I'm figuring out the logistics and "how do you get a cleanly-cut sample" leapt out as an obvious problem. Thank you for this well-explained & illustrated tutorial.
This seems so obvious now! Badass man, great video too. It took so long to find this and it seems like it should be such a fundamental solution to a shortcoming of the sx. Thanks!
And just a note for anyone having trouble sampling music onto a pad or anything where the start of the sample cannot be made presicely. You can still make a perfect loop using this equation just with a tweak. First you gotta determine the tempo of the music being imported in (quite easy just a matter of using the metronome to compare by ear). Then when you trim your start point (the downbeat of 1 , easy to trim manually) just ADD the start point number to the end of this equation and you will have the perfect loop
Well Done. Well said. Can you speed up or slow down the playback of the sample within the same time frame? in other words change the pitch of the sample? Would that be achieved by playing the sample from another note on the "keyboard" as one would when using a midi keyboard and stand alone sampler? How would YOU do this with the SPD-SX? Thanks Brett!
Hi Michael, Thanks for the positive feedback. You can alter the pitch of a sample on the SPD-SX. I invite you to play with the QUICK button. Select MENU -> PAD -> select your pad and press ENTER. Then from this KIT PAD screen press QUICK. From here you'll see options for the PAD and the sample associated with it. In your case you'll scroll down to WAVE PITCH. Play with it from there if you'd like. One thing I'd note is that altering WAVE PITCH will likely not preserve your original tempo. So the WAVE will sound sped up or slowed down depending on what you do with the pitch. You could probably stretch the wave sample back to your desired tempo but I find this to be problematic mainly because the sample will start to sound funny like a tremolo effect is being applied to it and just generally unwanted noise. I haven't ever really done a deep dive into trying to alter a sample pitch and then re-stretch it to a desired tempo. Hope this helps you and have fun.
what happens if you are listening to the rest of your band through in-ear monitors, but you want to hear the click from the Roland? would you have to wear 2 pairs of head phones and plug a pair into the Roland? or is there a way of connecting the Roland into a midi wireless receiver?
Hi there, this is SUPER helpful. I actually tried last night, and for some reason my loop did not come out correctly. I had 16 beats so I multiplied 22,050 by 16 which comes to 352,800. I placed the end marker right at that number and it wasn’t in time. Was playing along with the click but my only guess is that what I played was not perfectly with the click? Any ideas?
Great tutorial. Getting tap tempo to work predictably in a performance has been very frustrating. But, even following this tutorial, I find unexpected results. I'll try to explain with the following scenario: Goal is to play a simple cowbell sound at a predicable tempo. Select the 065 P_Cowbell2 sample. The length of that sample is 22624. Using your equation, that yields a tempo of 117. I set the kit tempo to 117. Assign the cowbell sample to a pad and configure for a loop and Tempo Sync. When I hit the pad, the cowbell starts playing, but when I activate Click, the click tempo and the cowbell tempo are different, ( cowbell plays faster). Since I chose the kit tempo specifically based on the sample size calculation, why doesn't the wave tempo an click tempo play at the exact same rate? What's missing? Thx!!
You've gotta make a new soundwave using the perform & record function in the sample menu. But first you gotta assign your cowbell sound to a kit. any kit. then in perform & record, select that kit as the source then select your destination. Sampling will begin automatically when you hit the cowbell. Hit it just once and leave plenty of silence at the end so you've got enough space to trim it down to your desired tempo. Then simply run old mate's equation but without the multiplying beats at the end because it's obviously just 1 beat you've sampled. So yeah 2,646,000 divided by your tempo (117) and that's where you trim the end to. Then simply set that pad to loop[ and you're good to go. Happy cowbelling
Hi Brett, I hope you can help me. I cannot use SPD SX as a USB MIDI device in Ableton. My Mac doesn't recognize it when I plug the cable (I'm already in AUDIO/MIDI mode and the USB cable is ok). Have you experience with that? Thanks in advance
Hi! While I don't have experience with Ableton I do have experience with trying to get my Mac to recognize MIDI devices. Many things you can try. 1. Verify you Mac operating system is update. Are you on an older Mac? What OS are you running? 2. Verify that your SPD-SX system is update. Check the Roland website to make sure. www.roland.com/us/products/spd-sx/downloads/ 3. Verify in SPD-SX that the MIDI settings are "normal", i.e. transmitting notes, what channel they are transmitting (I believe the default channel is 10). Try playing and experimenting with the local control "Off" and "On" as well as the USB-MIDI I/F setting. 4. Switch the MIDI I/O cables from the SPD-SX. I know this is a weird one, but with some devices I find this (strangely) solves I/O problems. 5. Make sure the Ableton MIDI settings are recognizing external MIDI notes on Tx channels. You've probable done all of this, but figured it's worth mentioning. Good luck!
Is there a way to record directly from playing one of the pads to create a sample without using a microphone or an external source? I would like to be able to assign a sound (like a hand clap) to a pad, and then start a recording for a sample and play a phrase,( like 2 measures) and save that as a sample and then assign it to a kit on a pad and loop it. Is the Roland SPD-SX capable of that, or do I need to record the output on another device to create the sample?
very cool explain and solution thy very much must be a big problem for Roland to give there easily a beat scale to use it better than have to make space mathematics with their bitscale
Hey, can you do live sampling with a microphone on the SPD sX? I know it does not have an XLR input, but maybe you can plug a mic in with a lead with a jack end to it to put as an imput. That would make the mic lose a lot of volume though. I know you can live sample on the SPD X with a mic but hoping there’s a newer drum pad to do this on
ChannelCez I use a Boss RC-505 as a vocal sampler and you could bridge the output to the input of the SPD-SX if you wanted to. There’s also a Boss RC-202. The Boss sampler sounds like something you might enjoy.
Hey I already have the 505. So I can just connect the output of my looper into the input there and then sample whatever vocals I do live from it into the sx. That could work. Would it work plugging the phones out from looper into the spd sx as I would generally have the regular output go to a speaker for performance. Though I also wanted to loop from the the spd sx into my looper (much easier to loop well on it than what you do here) and don’t know if it’s good to have them both having input and output into into each other.
You might also consider a mixer. Output the SpD and the 505 to a mixer. Then output the mix as your main output. I use a mixer for all my Roland devices (e.g. TD30, SPD30, SPD-SX), and just output the mix to my speakers.
You gotta go to Menu - Setup - Option and there set the USB Mode to Audio/Midi. When you then hook the pad up with your computer (via the usb connection) it should be recognised as interface. I don't know how it works in garageband, but in Ableton you gotta chose the interface then in your preferences. Should work similar in most software I guess.
Yes you can compress and stretch samples to different tempos using the SPD-SX using the tempo sync function. However, I find that compressing and stretching samples doesn't sound very good and the original .wav file being stretched or compressed sounds muddled at best. For instance, if I compress or stretch the above sample in the video to different tempos it doesn't sound very good and I don't really like the result (save for maybe precise multiples of original tempos, e.g. 120 to 240, etc.). The reason for this I think is that the SPD-SX is not a sequencer and as such has practically no internal quantization capability. Unlike the Roland SPD-30, which has strong on board quantization capability, the SPD-SX is strictly a sampler only (not a sequencer) and as such doesn't always do a great job of morphing sampled sounds to fit particular tempos. Also, good DAW's can stretch and compress audio files well but that's probably because most DAW's have at least decent quantization capability as well as having more processing horsepower at their disposal than the SPD-SX. Because of this, I rarely use the tempo sync function and just try to perform or sample record in the tempo I want the sample to be at.
@@DwightKinnison ok, I recently came across a tutorial vid and there’s evidence that Roland REMOVED the ability to fine tune end points. This is simultaneously frustrating but also not surprising on Roland’s part. I’d have to get my hands on a unit to verify. Roland does have some history of removing functions and dumbing down their products over subsequent releases. I know there are many that feel the TD50 is an example of this. I’ll be deep diving my new unit in December.
Hi Brett, this is a huge help, and thank you very much for making and uploading the video. I have a question, the right and left cursor buttons do not work for me when I try to fine tune the end length. Is there a setting that I should be applying? Cheers Jay
Jay Duffy Hi Jay, Thanks for the feedback. That’s strange that the left and right cursor buttons aren’t working. There shouldn’t be any setting that changes that. Without seeing the problem for myself I’d have trouble helping you with this problem. Do the “+” and “-“ buttons still work so that you can scroll through the sample?
Brett Donis Hi Brett, thanks for getting back to me. Yes the '+' and '-' work when scrolling through the sample, but obviously the ability to fine tune it to your maths formula is impossible without the function of the right and left cursor. FYI - the cursor works for me in other instances.
Hi Brett, I have another query and wondering if you could help me. Do you know of an external MIDI clock that is compatible with the SPD-SX? Before I purchased the SPD-SX, I used a KORG Electribe ES-1 (a great machine but not too user friendly when playing live). The KORG would send a MIDI signal to a Ditto Looper pedal and everything stayed perfectly in time. I've only now realised the the SPD-SX cannot provide this service (which is very annoying), and I assume this is because the KORG has an internal MIDI clock that the SPD-SX does not. I need to solve this so we can play live with this machine. If you can offer advice, I appreciate it greatly. Cheers Jay
Hi Jay, I've occasionally used a MIDI clock from external devices to send tempo information to the SPD-SX using the MIDI SYNC function of the SPD-SX. I've used my Roland SPD-30 and my DAW (Logic Pro X) to send a tempo setting to the SPD-SX and it worked fine. However, I've never purchased a master MIDI clock for my Roland devices because I've never felt a need for that. Hope this helps.
Hello Brett, thanks for this video. But i got an another question. Is there an option to record something you played with a clic, while another sample from another kit keeps playing, giving you a information and not to record all together on one pad ?
Hi, I don't understand your question. Can you be more specific? Are you asking if there are pre-loaded samples on the unit that are factory installed? If that's your question then the answer is yes. There are many pre-loaded samples out of the box.
Thanks Brett. Question: once you get your loop the right length and you're ready to trigger, is there a way to set it so it comes in right on beat one (locked with the metronome) in case you hit the cue a early?
Hi Zach, The short answer is no. However, there is a something that you can try that may help you with this depending on the musical situation you're in. What you could try is assigning a pad to play a metronome sound of your choosing, length, etc. Then assign a different pad with the sample you want to perform AND the metronome sound via using merge or sub out methods on the SPD-SX (you would also assign a mute group to the pad with the original metronome sound. This way you can essentially "trick" yourself and/or your audience into perhaps sounding like your still in time even though you may be off just a bit. I have found that once you can start understanding and playing with merging/sub-out/and mute groups you can overcome some of the obstacles to playing the SPD-SX with precise timing. If you have any questions about this let me know.
Hi. The SPD-SX has no internal quantization ability. The SPD-SX is a sampler only and not a sequencer (like the Roland SPD-30 which has on board quantization).
Hi Paul, A video probably isn't necessary here. I would refer you to page 65 of the SPD-SX manual. It says: "If you want to return the SPD-SX to its factory-set state, save the factory settings file to your USB flash drive, and then execute "ALL". The factory settings file can be obtained from the Roland website. Visit the following URL, search for the model name "SPD-SX". www.roland.com/support/en/" You'll drill down to the file page "SPD-SX Factory Restore Data" and download it to a USB drive.
If you want to ONLY restore these kits (Liquid and Montuno) rather than do a complete factory reset let me know and I might be able to help you with that.
I trow this horrible thing out of the window . in the daw everything loops perfect . you need to export it to wave and that is the problem . it is out of sync in the roland and at the end a hickup . than it plays again trys for weeks nothing . why roland you did make this horrible empty box with huge sticknoise also .
year 2019... wasting a lot of time on calculating, finding the loop point etc... instead of doing that on-the-fly. SPD is not a looper, just a sample launcher with pads. Sad
I hear you. Do you have the BOSS RC-505? If not give it a try. I have one and it’s pretty fun device for looping. But your right, hopefully one day Roland will develop a device that incorporates the abilities of their different devices into one device.
lol record and loop real time my ass. how many minutes during my set should I plan for to stop performing and program all this? SPDSX is weak for live sampling the multi function come close but it still stops my previous recorded sample to record another one. Roland is falling behind fast compared to companies like Alesis. The strike pad combines the octpapad and sped in one. Like why the hell doesn't Roland rebased a product like that??? I need live live phrase looping, pad muting, internal memory for sampling, on board Roland drum samples like the octapad, Oh did I mention you can't play the spade like a if it was a drum set then loop your beat next measure? all samples you want to upload to device must be 16bit. So all my splice samples now how to be rendered then uploaded? Roland is the worst right now
The only thing worth a damn about the spdsx is hit start for a song, hit stop for a song. Or spend a while pre set to program each section into a pad. It's dumb. Don't but this device
Thank you so much for posting this. You should be paid a lot of money by Roland for clearly explaining this. It should be a tutorial on their web site and be included in the operation manual. It makes sense of the whole sample loop function and I use it every time I make a new loop. Thank you thank you thank you.
Thanks for the kind words Andy. I didn’t really make the video expecting any money. I just wanted to help my fellow musicians out. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t say “no” if Roland threw me a bone. Unfortunately, in my experience digital music companies aren’t really open to ideas from their hardcore users who have good ideas to make their products better. This is the sometimes harsh reality. Again, thanks for the compliment and I hope you have a great time with your music expression.
Thank you... Answers to my question finally.... And just an illustration. Not wasting time telling me who you are and how you brush your hair.. Just straight to it. The best to you..
Hi. Thanks for the comment. I have to agree about TH-cam nowadays. To many creators more interested in looking at themselves and rambling speeches than making content of substance.
The greatest SPD SX tutorial on TH-cam. Thanks for taking the time.
rich ball Thanks Rich!
Thank You for this! Its amazing how Roland cannot explain this in any of their tutorials or manuals. I looked online for a few weeks trying to figure this out and finally found your video.
I am quite dissapointed in many aspects with the spd sx. This is an expensive piece of kit from one of, If not the, largest electronic instrument manufacturers in the world. The wav manager sucks. The lack of live recording loops like the spd 30 does feels like an oversight. I wonder of this is a hardware issue or if they can add the functionality with a software update. I also feel it ticks a lot of boxes on the spec sheet but practically there are many annoying limitations especially when not using it with other hardware or software
This must be the MOST helpful video about the spd sx. Thanks a lot
I've been literally banging my head on a brick wall trying to figure this technique out. Thanks for explaining it so concisely
Thank you so much for this information. You are a lifesaver! I knew it was possible to use the spd as a looper! ❤
profoundly simple technique , thanx so much for explaining in easy to understand terms
Thomas deerheart thanks Thomas. Glad I could help.
It's been years I put my spd sx in the garage just because of this problem. Thank you Brett.
An additional observation on the below question. When I turn Tempo Sync off, the wave loop matches the Click tempo as expected. Simply turning on Tempo Sync on the pad makes the wave loop to play faster even though the kit tempo remains the same.
GREAT! Thank you a lot! I was never able to make usable loops, until now!
Just bought an SPD-SX and am getting ready to record my first samples. I'm figuring out the logistics and "how do you get a cleanly-cut sample" leapt out as an obvious problem. Thank you for this well-explained & illustrated tutorial.
This seems so obvious now! Badass man, great video too. It took so long to find this and it seems like it should be such a fundamental solution to a shortcoming of the sx. Thanks!
Brilliant. Exactly what I needed to know. I applied a search and found the exact info. Ha! That will never happen again. Thank you very much
This is a great ! Precise and time saving 🎉
That is so useful, thanks. Been wondering how to achieve this and you have just saved me a whole lot of time.
And just a note for anyone having trouble sampling music onto a pad or anything where the start of the sample cannot be made presicely. You can still make a perfect loop using this equation just with a tweak. First you gotta determine the tempo of the music being imported in (quite easy just a matter of using the metronome to compare by ear). Then when you trim your start point (the downbeat of 1 , easy to trim manually) just ADD the start point number to the end of this equation and you will have the perfect loop
holy fux couldn’t Roland make this less complicated. what a maze!!
Well Done. Well said. Can you speed up or slow down the playback of the sample within the same time frame? in other words change the pitch of the sample? Would that be achieved by playing the sample from another note on the "keyboard" as one would when using a midi keyboard and stand alone sampler? How would YOU do this with the SPD-SX? Thanks Brett!
Hi Michael, Thanks for the positive feedback. You can alter the pitch of a sample on the SPD-SX. I invite you to play with the QUICK button. Select MENU -> PAD -> select your pad and press ENTER. Then from this KIT PAD screen press QUICK. From here you'll see options for the PAD and the sample associated with it. In your case you'll scroll down to WAVE PITCH. Play with it from there if you'd like. One thing I'd note is that altering WAVE PITCH will likely not preserve your original tempo. So the WAVE will sound sped up or slowed down depending on what you do with the pitch. You could probably stretch the wave sample back to your desired tempo but I find this to be problematic mainly because the sample will start to sound funny like a tremolo effect is being applied to it and just generally unwanted noise. I haven't ever really done a deep dive into trying to alter a sample pitch and then re-stretch it to a desired tempo. Hope this helps you and have fun.
Wow awesome video i really needed this! Helps so much!
You just solve the problem for me. Tks for the video!!
what happens if you are listening to the rest of your band through in-ear monitors, but you want to hear the click from the Roland? would you have to wear 2 pairs of head phones and plug a pair into the Roland? or is there a way of connecting the Roland into a midi wireless receiver?
Great tutorial! How would I load the notes of a C Major scale (keyboard) onto the individual SPD SX pads?
Love your work Brett. I'm about to use this to put together some samples. Thanks.
hey, I don't have a signal sound in in my Spd sx for basic sampling or multi sampling?. thanks
is it the cable or the setting in Spd sx?
Awesome thanks. I have an spd-sx on the way. Excited to get into it.
Thank you very much for this video!
How do I select, say a single bass drum beat to record?
Thanks...very easy to understand✊🏻
Hi there, this is SUPER helpful. I actually tried last night, and for some reason my loop did not come out correctly. I had 16 beats so I multiplied 22,050 by 16 which comes to 352,800. I placed the end marker right at that number and it wasn’t in time. Was playing along with the click but my only guess is that what I played was not perfectly with the click? Any ideas?
@@charlesdean1603 don’t forget about your tempo. What was your click tempo?
Great tutorial. Getting tap tempo to work predictably in a performance has been very frustrating. But, even following this tutorial, I find unexpected results. I'll try to explain with the following scenario: Goal is to play a simple cowbell sound at a predicable tempo. Select the 065 P_Cowbell2 sample. The length of that sample is 22624. Using your equation, that yields a tempo of 117. I set the kit tempo to 117. Assign the cowbell sample to a pad and configure for a loop and Tempo Sync. When I hit the pad, the cowbell starts playing, but when I activate Click, the click tempo and the cowbell tempo are different, ( cowbell plays faster). Since I chose the kit tempo specifically based on the sample size calculation, why doesn't the wave tempo an click tempo play at the exact same rate? What's missing? Thx!!
You've gotta make a new soundwave using the perform & record function in the sample menu. But first you gotta assign your cowbell sound to a kit. any kit. then in perform & record, select that kit as the source then select your destination. Sampling will begin automatically when you hit the cowbell. Hit it just once and leave plenty of silence at the end so you've got enough space to trim it down to your desired tempo. Then simply run old mate's equation but without the multiplying beats at the end because it's obviously just 1 beat you've sampled. So yeah 2,646,000 divided by your tempo (117) and that's where you trim the end to. Then simply set that pad to loop[ and you're good to go. Happy cowbelling
@@SpiffaJ Thanks! Great!!
Hi Brett, I hope you can help me. I cannot use SPD SX as a USB MIDI device in Ableton. My Mac doesn't recognize it when I plug the cable (I'm already in AUDIO/MIDI mode and the USB cable is ok). Have you experience with that? Thanks in advance
Hi! While I don't have experience with Ableton I do have experience with trying to get my Mac to recognize MIDI devices. Many things you can try.
1. Verify you Mac operating system is update. Are you on an older Mac? What OS are you running?
2. Verify that your SPD-SX system is update. Check the Roland website to make sure. www.roland.com/us/products/spd-sx/downloads/
3. Verify in SPD-SX that the MIDI settings are "normal", i.e. transmitting notes, what channel they are transmitting (I believe the default channel is 10). Try playing and experimenting with the local control "Off" and "On" as well as the USB-MIDI I/F setting.
4. Switch the MIDI I/O cables from the SPD-SX. I know this is a weird one, but with some devices I find this (strangely) solves I/O problems.
5. Make sure the Ableton MIDI settings are recognizing external MIDI notes on Tx channels. You've probable done all of this, but figured it's worth mentioning.
Good luck!
Thanks so much! Problem solved. For other users: you need to download another driver for MIDI device on the roland download page.
Is there a way to record directly from playing one of the pads to create a sample without using a microphone or an external source? I would like to be able to assign a sound (like a hand clap) to a pad, and then start a recording for a sample and play a phrase,( like 2 measures) and save that as a sample and then assign it to a kit on a pad and loop it. Is the Roland SPD-SX capable of that, or do I need to record the output on another device to create the sample?
Just use the perform&record sample mode.
YOU ARE A GENIUS! THANK YOU FOR THIS!
You're very welcome!
Tyler's Ghos
how to resetHow do you erase the sound you recorded?
very cool explain and solution thy very much
must be a big problem for Roland to give there easily a beat scale to use it better than
have to make space mathematics with their bitscale
Hey, can you do live sampling with a microphone on the SPD sX? I know it does not have an XLR input, but maybe you can plug a mic in with a lead with a jack end to it to put as an imput. That would make the mic lose a lot of volume though.
I know you can live sample on the SPD X with a mic but hoping there’s a newer drum pad to do this on
ChannelCez I use a Boss RC-505 as a vocal sampler and you could bridge the output to the input of the SPD-SX if you wanted to. There’s also a Boss RC-202. The Boss sampler sounds like something you might enjoy.
Hey I already have the 505.
So I can just connect the output of my looper into the input there and then sample whatever vocals I do live from it into the sx.
That could work. Would it work plugging the phones out from looper into the spd sx as I would generally have the regular output go to a speaker for performance.
Though I also wanted to loop from the the spd sx into my looper (much easier to loop well on it than what you do here) and don’t know if it’s good to have them both having input and output into into each other.
You might also consider a mixer. Output the SpD and the 505 to a mixer. Then output the mix as your main output. I use a mixer for all my Roland devices (e.g. TD30, SPD30, SPD-SX), and just output the mix to my speakers.
Any idea how to get the midi on the spd to be recognized in Garageband?
You gotta go to Menu - Setup - Option and there set the USB Mode to Audio/Midi. When you then hook the pad up with your computer (via the usb connection) it should be recognised as interface. I don't know how it works in garageband, but in Ableton you gotta chose the interface then in your preferences. Should work similar in most software I guess.
thats awesome Great Job...Can i Sync to the tempo i want using "Tempo Sync" function after doing all the formula you mentioned?...
Yes you can compress and stretch samples to different tempos using the SPD-SX using the tempo sync function. However, I find that compressing and stretching samples doesn't sound very good and the original .wav file being stretched or compressed sounds muddled at best.
For instance, if I compress or stretch the above sample in the video to different tempos it doesn't sound very good and I don't really like the result (save for maybe precise multiples of original tempos, e.g. 120 to 240, etc.). The reason for this I think is that the SPD-SX is not a sequencer and as such has practically no internal quantization capability. Unlike the Roland SPD-30, which has strong on board quantization capability, the SPD-SX is strictly a sampler only (not a sequencer) and as such doesn't always do a great job of morphing sampled sounds to fit particular tempos. Also, good DAW's can stretch and compress audio files well but that's probably because most DAW's have at least decent quantization capability as well as having more processing horsepower at their disposal than the SPD-SX.
Because of this, I rarely use the tempo sync function and just try to perform or sample record in the tempo I want the sample to be at.
Awesome!!! Helped a ton!
I am trying this on the new pro model. It doesn’t seem to work right.
Is there a new equation?
I don’t have the pro model yet. I’m hoping to get it this winter. So I am probably not much help right now. Sorry.
@@DwightKinnison ok, I recently came across a tutorial vid and there’s evidence that Roland REMOVED the ability to fine tune end points. This is simultaneously frustrating but also not surprising on Roland’s part. I’d have to get my hands on a unit to verify. Roland does have some history of removing functions and dumbing down their products over subsequent releases. I know there are many that feel the TD50 is an example of this. I’ll be deep diving my new unit in December.
hey man thanks so much for this video.
Hi Brett, this is a huge help, and thank you very much for making and uploading the video. I have a question, the right and left cursor buttons do not work for me when I try to fine tune the end length. Is there a setting that I should be applying?
Cheers
Jay
Jay Duffy Hi Jay, Thanks for the feedback. That’s strange that the left and right cursor buttons aren’t working. There shouldn’t be any setting that changes that. Without seeing the problem for myself I’d have trouble helping you with this problem. Do the “+” and “-“ buttons still work so that you can scroll through the sample?
Brett Donis Hi Brett, thanks for getting back to me. Yes the '+' and '-' work when scrolling through the sample, but obviously the ability to fine tune it to your maths formula is impossible without the function of the right and left cursor. FYI - the cursor works for me in other instances.
Hi Brett, I have another query and wondering if you could help me. Do you know of an external MIDI clock that is compatible with the SPD-SX? Before I purchased the SPD-SX, I used a KORG Electribe ES-1 (a great machine but not too user friendly when playing live). The KORG would send a MIDI signal to a Ditto Looper pedal and everything stayed perfectly in time. I've only now realised the the SPD-SX cannot provide this service (which is very annoying), and I assume this is because the KORG has an internal MIDI clock that the SPD-SX does not.
I need to solve this so we can play live with this machine.
If you can offer advice, I appreciate it greatly.
Cheers
Jay
Hi Jay, I've occasionally used a MIDI clock from external devices to send tempo information to the SPD-SX using the MIDI SYNC function of the SPD-SX. I've used my Roland SPD-30 and my DAW (Logic Pro X) to send a tempo setting to the SPD-SX and it worked fine. However, I've never purchased a master MIDI clock for my Roland devices because I've never felt a need for that. Hope this helps.
Hello Brett, thanks for this video. But i got an another question. Is there an option to record something you played with a clic, while another sample from another kit keeps playing, giving you a information and not to record all together on one pad ?
One time two loops playing same tempo problem ?
May i know that this pad can be played single and basically (immediately when bought) before installing samples
Hi, I don't understand your question. Can you be more specific? Are you asking if there are pre-loaded samples on the unit that are factory installed? If that's your question then the answer is yes. There are many pre-loaded samples out of the box.
Brett Donis yes u r right. and also i want to know how can we install our desired sounds (drums etc) which we desired, from mp3 or anyother source
Thanks Brett. Question: once you get your loop the right length and you're ready to trigger, is there a way to set it so it comes in right on beat one (locked with the metronome) in case you hit the cue a early?
Hi Zach, The short answer is no. However, there is a something that you can try that may help you with this depending on the musical situation you're in. What you could try is assigning a pad to play a metronome sound of your choosing, length, etc. Then assign a different pad with the sample you want to perform AND the metronome sound via using merge or sub out methods on the SPD-SX (you would also assign a mute group to the pad with the original metronome sound. This way you can essentially "trick" yourself and/or your audience into perhaps sounding like your still in time even though you may be off just a bit. I have found that once you can start understanding and playing with merging/sub-out/and mute groups you can overcome some of the obstacles to playing the SPD-SX with precise timing. If you have any questions about this let me know.
Can you rename the sample from the Roland SPD-SX?
Hey thanks for posting this. I had one question.
Is there a way to quantize what you're sampling within the SPDSX?
Hi. The SPD-SX has no internal quantization ability. The SPD-SX is a sampler only and not a sequencer (like the Roland SPD-30 which has on board quantization).
Thanks for the video. Great info 👏🏽
can u use these as a drum kit ?
how did you connect your keyboard to the spd?
I used the 1/4” “Audio In” jacks in the back of the SPD-SX. Turn the input gain to “Line”.
Brett Donis I mean like what cable. Usb or midi to the keyboard?
tim cursaro 1/4” L/R jacks from/to keyboard. Did not use MIDI or USB for this demonstration.
Thanks!🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼
Bruh, thank you so much
Wow !! Thanks a lot !!
Thank you so much
Thank you man!
can you make a video on how to restore stock kits?
my liquid and montuno kits aren't playing the primary sounds like basslines etc.
Hi Paul, A video probably isn't necessary here. I would refer you to page 65 of the SPD-SX manual. It says:
"If you want to return the SPD-SX to its factory-set state, save the factory settings file to your USB flash drive, and then execute "ALL".
The factory settings file can be obtained from the Roland website.
Visit the following URL, search for the model name "SPD-SX".
www.roland.com/support/en/"
You'll drill down to the file page "SPD-SX Factory Restore Data" and download it to a USB drive.
If you want to ONLY restore these kits (Liquid and Montuno) rather than do a complete factory reset let me know and I might be able to help you with that.
Wow very helpful...
Good video
Thanks
my man
how you know howe many beats you have when you have no drums in it this thing is a nightmare
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
Thanks sir
THANKS!
Mister X would say. X = Samplerate*60*Beats / TEMPO
Wow! Thanks
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
I love you
I trow this horrible thing out of the window . in the daw everything loops perfect . you need to export it to wave and that is the problem . it is out of sync in the roland and at the end a hickup . than it plays again trys for weeks nothing . why roland you did make this horrible empty box with huge sticknoise also .
Franky-B Try using the Roland SPD-SX software. It went live recently.
@@brettdonis675 is this a new tool? I have wave manager and the roland application. What do I mis here?
You never showed how you set up the tempo you just went in
year 2019... wasting a lot of time on calculating, finding the loop point etc... instead of doing that on-the-fly. SPD is not a looper, just a sample launcher with pads. Sad
I hear you. Do you have the BOSS RC-505? If not give it a try. I have one and it’s pretty fun device for looping. But your right, hopefully one day Roland will develop a device that incorporates the abilities of their different devices into one device.
Math????? OK thanks . You just talked me out of buying it.
|dude. when someone is searching for some clarification do not front load your video with mental math!!!!!
lol record and loop real time my ass. how many minutes during my set should I plan for to stop performing and program all this? SPDSX is weak for live sampling the multi function come close but it still stops my previous recorded sample to record another one. Roland is falling behind fast compared to companies like Alesis. The strike pad combines the octpapad and sped in one. Like why the hell doesn't Roland rebased a product like that??? I need live live phrase looping, pad muting, internal memory for sampling, on board Roland drum samples like the octapad, Oh did I mention you can't play the spade like a if it was a drum set then loop your beat next measure? all samples you want to upload to device must be 16bit. So all my splice samples now how to be rendered then uploaded? Roland is the worst right now
The only thing worth a damn about the spdsx is hit start for a song, hit stop for a song. Or spend a while pre set to program each section into a pad. It's dumb. Don't but this device
Thank you!!!!!!
THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!
Thanks man!