>What didn't you like about it (just curious)?
My only complaint was that as I got more into using it for HD recording my
tracks, the >time limits were causing me to do too many bounces. As a
phrase sample and effects processor, I thought it excelled...
- real time playback is limited to triggering and
adding effects to samples
- phrase sampling is not designed for live use;
it's not an echoplex.
- the Roland 'bedroom tone' D/A
converters
- quick loading only works for the first 16
banks
- time stretching not real time, sounds like
crap
- the sequencer is not designed for 'live'
use - can't loop, jump to markers pauses before
playback.
- the UI was complex, cluttered, and didn't do
much
- zip drive craps out when trying using large and
small loops at once, especially when the drive is filling up.
- four voice polyphony (this really isn't a deal
closer, but along with all the other stuff...)
- midi implementation very poor.
If I still had the unit, I could go on and on. My
biggest dissapointments were the lack of realtime phrase sampling and the poorly
designed sample playback. (My scathing, and bigoted opinion here - please don't
anyone take this personally - you're obviously doing a better job of
getting stuff out of the unit than I ever did.) It's really designed to
take advantage of the computer phobic, by giving them a unit that looks like it
would be more intuitive (and cheaper) than a pc but is actually more complex and
more limited. It's not exactly designed with live playback in mind - it's more
of a studio toy.
What was so special about the effect section? I
tried all the effects, and they seemed simplistic and tired to me - it's the
same set of effects you'll find on all of roland's groove toys - from the hand
drum to the sequencer boxes. Have you used any electrix stuff? A repeater and a
bunch of cheap ass 80s effects units (or other electrix toys, if you have the
cash) runs circles around this box. Add a cd player on a volume pedal, playing
your own sound design, and take over the world. That's my plan :>
(Oh yes, and the command station
:>)
----- Original Message -----From: erik_magrini@...Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2002 10:19 AMSubject: Re: [xl7] Re: SP808
What didn't you like about it (just curious)? My only complaint was that as I got more into using it for HD recording my tracks, the time limits were causing me to do too many bounces. As a phrase sample and effects processor, I thought it excelled...
rEalm
"Jonathan El-Bizri" <sserendipity@...>01/17/02 12:22 PM
Please respond to xl7
To:
cc: ;
Subject: Re: [xl7] Re: SP808
Interesting. My opinion was - it sucked. I had one long enough to learn how to use every part of it, and, it totally sucked.
If you are of the other opinion, one thing you will definitely want to but is an external zip drive, that you can attach to your computer. There is a free Roland software applet that allows you to transfer audio files directly to disk, something like the command station e-loader.
----- Original Message -----
From: erik_magrini@...
To: xl7@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2002 5:16 AM
Subject: [xl7] Re: SP808
It's a phrase sampler, not a regular sampler, just FYI. You can't play samples chromatically, just loops and one off events. But it does so straight from a Zip disk, so you can get up to 250MB worth of samples at your disposal. It also acts as a hard disk recorder, and that was what I used mine for originally. The effects are way cool too, and are very flexible. The downside is that it can only handle 4 stereo audio files at once, and it only has 4 tracks for recording. So you could be playing back 3 track and record one at the same time. If you're serious about getting one, get a regular sp808 as they're much cheaper right now. The OS from a newer EX can be copied to ZIP, and loaded into the regular 808 in about 30 seconds flat. Also, the regular 808's come with a 100MB zip drive, but it's easy to swap it with a larger 250MB internal zip, all for much cheaper than the EX version. ! ;I! may get another one myself s! om! eday, once you get the feel for all that the sp808 can do, it's extremely flexible. I did not want to sell mine....
rEalm
how many samples can the sp808 or Ex play???? thought to bought one... would
have to sell my ESI32...
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