sp555 myth (not a review)

[Quinnx.]

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Okay, i have manage to get my hand on a 555
and i will answer any quiestions posed.

However there where a few expectations of the 555 which i have investigated and have found to be a myth.

Reviews usual start with the good then the bad and then overal
im sure once i get use to it it will have is pros, but my immediate expectatioins where a dissapointment and here they are..


Does the 555 keep the music going
NO
Can you sample when using Loop capture
NO
How good is loop capture
Ok

Long version
Loop capture does what it says and works the way you expect it.
over dub works just as well
So what happens once you have your loop what can you do with it.
There is a SAVE TO PAD button which you would expect to do what it says.
IT DOES NOT
It should have been named RECORD TO PAD
Because what it does is play the loop capture sample and the pad chosen records what is being played.

Maybe you can live with that, but what makes this really bad is that while you have LOOP CAPTURE playing and press SAVE TO PAD it STOPS loop capture from playing.
If you time it right you can do as follows

SAVE TO PAD(loop capture stops playing)
PLAY(loop capture) now it starts playing again
Press a pad and your now recording to the pad
However at the end of the loop
your pad has captured the loop, but the 555 does not continue playing the loop
its stops it and you have no music

The first time you use LOOP CAPTUIRE you must press line in to allow your external source to be captured.
Press Rec to start the capture, press play to replay the loop.
press Rec to goto over dub (or use a pedal)
Problem....
you external source is not being recorded???
why?
because when you recorded your first pass and pressed play
the 555 disabled LINE IN
This means once you have captured a loop, before pressing REC(over dub) You must once more press LINE IN

Now there is absolutely no reason why SAVE TO PAD has to stop the loop capture from playing, it should simply retrigger it
or once you press the pad to capture to, IT will retrigger it.
Roland don’t seem to understand the idea that the music is not suppose to stop unless we tell it to do so.
Roland seems to impose its own will on others rather than allow others to make decisions for themselves.

So that’s all the myths gone about the 555
and 15 seconds loop capture time?? why is it only 15 seconds? This is an artificial restriction imposed for no technical reason other than to force you to buy more gear.
only 12 pads mono can playback at any time, what about the other 4 and why not stereo (32 voice)

Maybe you will still like the 555 after al that
Overall the SP555 is Not as useful as it should be and is NOT to be seen as a LIVE performance tool because of the fact that is does not allow to music to flow but instead if you try to do more than one task the music STOPS!
If you have the sp404 and upgrading it maybe worth the extra few dollars if you get a good price for the 404, I got 320 and paid 449 for the upgrade so its a good deal. Just be aware of what your getting. THIS IS NOT A LIVE PERFORMACE TOOL
i will play with it for another 28 days before i decide to return it (who knows)

ANY QUESTIONS??

[samp]

what type of tasks make the music stop??
Also where did u get the 555? and did you ever use the 404? if so how different is the workflow.,
thanks

[Quinnx.]

what makes the music stop is as stated above
Press SAVE TO PAD is the main one.
and yes i do own the 404
Is workflow different than the 404, yes becuase of loop capture.
but the blurb and the video promotes this thing as a dj heaven
and say your workflow keeps going blah blah
of course this is all just Bx
and if you watch the video closely it realy show you nothing because the music playing during the video has nothing to do with whats going on with the 555
At the end of the day they have given you somthing and then crippled it as to make it less usfull than it should have been.

15 seconds loops capture? why this limitation (no technical reason for this) purely artificial to stop you from using it as a DAW
Why does SAVE TO PAD not do exactly that? (reassign the sample to a pad?) I cant tell you why it should not do this.
why does the music have to stop when you try this
again no good reason
Why does line disable after the 1st pass in loop capture?

[samp]

wait it looks as if in the video once you record one loop track it keeps looping and u can keep recording about 3 more loops as its playing right? so the music only stops on the save to pad feature?? other than the loop capture is it like working with the 404?? also where did u cop the 555?

thanks

[Artemiy]

Yes according to the video the loop capture doesn't stop, it only stops when you assign it to a pad. If you just want to use the 555 as a looper, there is nothing that can stop you.

[Quinnx.]

Yes it does
but thats the point
How can this be usefull in a live gig?
your music STOPs
Also it promotes the 555 as a device that keep your loops perfect,
However for some reason, when you use measure in loop capture to capture loops from pads, even ones that have been assigned by SAVE TO PAD(from loop capture)
and though the measure is taken from the pad
Loop capture stops short so the captured loop is OFF by a beat
so if the pad beat is 99 and you capture messure based on this, the loop capture is 100 which means it loops earier than what was in the pad so your sync is now off by a beat.
The manual makes some long winded excuse about this, but that does not make it right, it simply does not work.


Oh yeah.. it available at www.thomann.de

[samp]

i checked out the video from namm on the rolandus site and the guy in the vid is doing some ill loop capturing and it sounds in sync.

[Dj Frantic]

heres the big one for me. Can you use the loop capture while you sequence is runing ? This is the major selling point for me. I would like to use it to capture scratches and loop drops from my turntables while my sequence is running so I can incorporate more turntablism into my production. And can you loop capture a sequence ? Also, How are the pads? are they the same as the 404 or are they more like the 606...and how are the FX ? do you notice a significant difference ? Thanks

[Quinnx.]

The pads require less effort than the 404
and no you cannot use looper while using the pattern sequencer record
but yes you can when playing patterns.
however given you have a max of 15 seconds
im not sure if it will be use full.
I also did some further investigating in to loop capture timing and save to pads and measure or free recording in loop capture.

FREE DOES NOT WORK
problem is the 555 uses absolute timing like 120 bpm but not 120.4 or 119.9

so if you use free to record a bassline and rythme
and then use save to pads to save the loop.
although it was playing correctly in loopcaputure playback
it is truncated on the SAVE TO PAD
so the sample that goes to pad jumps a beat.
this is also true when playing a pad and use Measure to capture.

The only thing that works in loop capture is
use metronome to keep absolute time and use mesure to record.
But then, doesnt that just make loop caputre worthless? if you can not use free??

[Dj Frantic]

I know there was some bugs with loop capture. Theres an update on rolands site have you tried DLn that to see if it helps ?

[Quinnx.]

do you have the link

[Dj Frantic]

http://www.roland.com/products/en/_supp ... iCncd=2828

How do the effects compare to the 404 ?

[Quinnx.]

did the upgrade no difference.

another BUG i found is that loop capture does not record the first 0.03 seconds of sound.
now this may seem very little until you try to sample a bassdrum.
when you press play the bass drum should realy!! KICK!
instead it whispers
the top is gone
and to make it worse, this 0.03 delay is mentioned in the manual as a fact of life.
so roland know theres a problem, admit it and sell it anyway
So does that mean its acceptable??
Make your own decissions on that one..
i know where i stand.

MFX are similar to the 404
have not played much with them yet

[samp]

where in the manual does it mention the 0.03 delay?

[Quinnx.]

page 25, right side under USING LOOP CAPTURE TO RECORD FROM AN EXTERNAL DEVICE.

below NOTE 8

if you manage to get a sp555 or try one out

do the following..
using a FantomX or other as the source and select a drum patch
enable LINE IN on the sp555 and set up your source with sufficient volume using a drum patch.
press AUTO START on the sp555
press Rec on the sp555.
on the fantom/other press once a key that plays a bassdrum (listen to how punchy this bassdrum is)
Loopcapture has just started recording this note.

press PLAY on the sp555 (notice how it has missed the begining of the bassdrum)
the bass drum does not Punch, it whispers.
The sp555 has missed the very begining of this sample.
this mean all sound sources are being cut
this also means if you try save to pad and then use that pad to record to loop capture, your sample is geting shorter and shorter every time.