A hardware phrase sampler in 2022? Are you Mad? Introducing the Roland SP 808 Groove Sampler.

[@arifmemovic3383]

I love the sp808. An advantage it has over the sp303, 15:09 sp404sx, and presumably the sp404mk2 is that you can actually edit the parameters of the effects knobs, meaning that you can adjust the range for each parameter according to your tastes. The sp303 and sp404og and sp404sx have three parameters per effect. The sp808 has six!

[@lundsweden]

I have Ableton Live, which is great, but I have never got the tight MIDI timing that I used to get with my old Roland R8, which is still a great machine (it came out in 1989, but was very advanced, in fact it's sequencer is at least as good as anything made today). I made a couple of house-ish tracks in Ableton, it was okay but I couldn't get it sounding tight. I remade the track in my Korg Electribe 2 Sampler, yes! I've got that tight sounding rhythm like I used to get with my R-8! It's really a night and day difference! By the way, I've got s background in IT, so I've turned everything off in Windows such as the system sounds, and removed everything that isn't needed for music production- I made this PC myself with really good components for music production only. But even with all this power, the timing is off, very frustrating!

[@jack3361]

When I owned my 2nd SP-808 several years ago, I didn't find the sequencing and recording capabilities intuitive to my needs (at that time) so I just ended up multi-tracking inside of FL Studio. WIth that being said, I totally agree, this, like many hardware samplers and grooveboxes, they are boxes that you _play_. They make the process of making electronic music feel like playing video games or just straight having fun. It feels like an instrument when because of its _playability._

[@richardcnrd8302]

Remember first time I saw this sampler legendary pink dots were playing one onstage way back decades ago

[@prophez23]

Really great video and I agree with your perspective completely.

[@ashfaq1999]

Great video. Still can be used today 👍

[@leewightman8619]

Nice set up dude

[@junksmith_wizard]

Sp-808 now has a solid state memory option called the zuluide. It fixes alot of the problems with the zip drives

[@proxibomb4913]

is no one gonna talk about the amazing 360 camera transitions. bro what is this prod value. your channel needs to be up there!

[@mastaboog749]

insta360 is quite awesome

[@ThinkerThunker]

Good walk through. Thanks!

[@mastaboog749]

i like this sort of modular shelf system, looks like you can raise the height or place more shelves in between. i definitely could make use of this.

[@andre-le-bone-aparte]

Just found your channel. Well done. Excellent Content. Looking forward to more Roland Reviews. Another sub for you sir!

[@petero1068]

Had one and loads of music on it. It got stolen from my home-along with my music. Great gear for the time. The AD converters were solid, too.

[@flashgord2007]

Love the video I'm now going back to using my 2 x sp555 and korg 5s vocoder synthesizer with direct on the fly godbless from Djfreecan from great white north canada 🇨🇦

[@repawnd1]

I'm still sad that I sold mine, we used it for live shows and in the studio in the early 2000's. I still have a Boss SP-202 in it's original box and never used, I see they sell for a lot these days.

[@madgear303]

Sell the Sp202 and get a Sp808 and you'll probably still have money in your pocket. I hear good things about the Sp404 mk 2.

[@repawnd1]

@@madgear303 Good idea, never thought of that... Cool thing is I still have all my ZIP disks full of old samples we made over 20 years ago :D

[@koskey06]

Someone has to make a adapter to go from Zip to SD card through emulation or something! Even if u can only use 100mb at a time, the easy of transfer of SD cards is just much more easy.

[@richardharmon9596]

I still have mine

[@prophez23]

I have a SP 808 and I absolutely love it! Perhaps it's because I'm an old dinosaur lol I don't know but I just love turning knobs and hitting buttons etc over using a DAW but I do use DAWs but not like I do real instruments. Yeah it's so much easier and the sound may be better whatever but I've been able to get a lot out of the little bit of gear I've collected throughout the years. By the way you have a really cool set-up there looks like a ton of fun.

[@EarlyMist]

Add the SU700 to the list. I rebought it last year after 2 decades of non ownership, but keeping all ZIP disks with projects from back then . Am able to load them all after all that time. Some gems in there. Had to re-buy three ZIP drives before one worked but thats par for the course I gather....i got a good Omega Zip 100 and 250 that worked eventually.

[@phatplates]

Ahhh, the SU700. My first piece of hardware. I remember you used to have to make sure to label the disks because it would take anywhere from 2 to 6 disks to save and load a beat depending on the beat lmao. Made some great tracks with that thing.

[@madgear303]

Had one. Loved the look but the encoders were awful and pretty much the Achilles heel of the unit. The effects were strange and you needed to get the ASIB1 board for scsi and upgrade the ram to get it anywhere near the capabilities of the 808. Interesting unit though.

[@ceciliafbrown373]

Thanks for the vid! I'd be interested to know if you can hook up the latest Akia MPCs and use the SP 808 as an Fx processor. I think that would make a good combo.

[@AnalogFlava]

I guess you could go out of the mpc, into the sp808 and back out as he showed here when he added the compressor to the beat before sampling.

[@madgear303]

Yes you could but you would ideally need one with the 808ex software on it so you can use it without a Zip disk in it. The effects are awesome.

[@officialpoa3171]

*your lighting is driving my eye crazy.....! I keep wanting to turn my brightness up*

[@madgear303]

Have you tried opening your other eye? I was trying to create some mood lighting. See my other videos for something brighter. 😁

[@streetlife20]

Bought one brand new when they came out. My first sampler……didn’t quite like it all. No sound libraries so you’re basically sampling EVERY sound you need. Sold it and got a brand new MPC 2000xl from Mars Music and never looked back! I did sample every sound from my original tr808 into the sp808 lol.

[@madgear303]

Both of those units together made an awesome team. Had a mpc 2000 and then got the 808. Midi sequencing, sample ram from the mpc and 8 track audio recording, loop sampling and awesome effects. You would have even got change from £2k in 98 lol.

[@chrisgadd]

Cool! What are the two pieces of gear with the great "Vegas-mode" lighting effects in the intro?

[@madgear303]

That is a Roland MX1 performance mixer. Quite a strange and interesting piece of equipment. May do an episode in the future. What do you think?

[@madgear303]

The other on the left is the Arturia Drumbrute.

[@sahajankhan1436]

Hi can you show us how to use reverse mode, although it doesn't have a reverse loop button I was told it can be done.

[@CollapseReport]

I saw them all passing unbelievable time goes so fast .

[@600raficrow]

had one lovedthe things you can do especially time stretching vocals ....

[@DJ-kb3pl]

What computer programs can emulate the SP 808? I own one but haven't used it in years due to the zip drive talking a dive, losing everything at that time. Love \ hate relationship sense the reason I still own one. Would love to find a card reader that works.

[@madgear303]

I don't know of any specific program. I guess NI Maschine is similar

[@DJ-kb3pl]

@@madgear303 I have Machine Studio and unfortunately it’s not what I was looking for either. Thanks

[@JamesVytas]

I’ve had one since I was a teenager but the zip disc is broken. Can’t use it. I should get the Zip drive replaced or fixed. Any ideas how to fix it?

[@madgear303]

I believe replacing the Zip drive is a fairly easy affair. Have a search on KZbin as I’m sure someone will have made a video on it. I would recommend getting a 100mb Zip drive instead of the 250mb version as 100mb zip discs are far more common and cheaper to buy than 250mb zip discs.

[@JamesVytas]

@@madgear303 thanks that’s good to know. I’ve still got my old zips which should still Work. I did come across someone who replaced the Zip drive with an SD drive. But it looked like there was a lot that could get screwed up. Keep the zips going seems like best idea

[@Dilettanteworks]

The SP-808 was my first sampler, but honestly the limitations were not charming from my perspective. It was best as a live finger drumming/loop triggering machine w/ good effects. The 4-track was absolutely useless for more than one short song, the zip disks died and erased your shit whenever they felt like it, the drives themselves died if they felt like it...I have a Maschine+ now, and while it does not quite fulfill its own promises as much as I'd like, it's basically a heavily modernized version of the device I believed the SP-808 was supposed to be. Honestly, these days you're better off just getting any of the newer samplers/grooveboxes on the market, then assigning your favorite FX to a third party "D-beam" controller hooked up via USB.

[@omarinostroza8821]

You never said it has a analog synth or a vocoder built in

[@madgear303]

Oh yeah forgot about those 2. So it basically has a cut down JP8000 synth that you can play with midi as well as the vocoder but i think that only works with samples. It also has real time pitch manipulation a bit like a VP 9000 but now I’m showing my age. You think it’s worth doing a vid on those features?

[@curdledconscious]

I was wondering if anyone else had this issue, I had 9 pad banks with samples on them when I inserted my zip disk all of the samples were gone, is this a saving issue on my part (when I would save I would select orerwitre all, I didn't know the Sp-808 zip disk was supposed to be removed before turning the device off, I wasnt doing this) could that have been the problem? If anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated.

[@randomanton]

Eh never had that issue. You saved before you ejected the disk? Whatever you do, DON'T turn off the machine while it's saving. I wasn't paying attention before and turned it off before it saved and ejected the disk and it ruined the disk. I don't think you have to eject the disk before turning it off. Just don't do it while it's saving

[@Dilettanteworks]

Zip Disks are diabolically chaotic pieces of technology that just do whatever they want. If it decides to delete a whole day's work, then you better hope you have all of that shit backed up somewhere.

[@reddepo]

Had this puppy and it got stolen with all my songs. Ended up purchasing the Yamaha SU700

[@BlackBlofeld]

Nice lighting. You work with candles or what?😏😄

[@madgear303]

You seen the price of electricity these days 😂😭

[@BlackBlofeld]

@@madgear303 Yeah, unfortunately I have seen it...😐😆

[@Funkbutterfly]

You trying to drive up prices, bruh XD no worries I copped mine for $100.

[@madgear303]

Moi? Don't know what you mean lol 😂😂

[@N8oRMusic]

Please don't ever make your channel more about the millions of memes per episode as opposed to showing the actual gear unlike that other channel with the similar sounding name. Thank you

[@M364A]

this feels like Bad Gear wannabe

[@madgear303]

Not really as I own all this gear and have done so for years. In some cases decades. It's inevitable that we may talk about the same gear at times but I can guarantee you that I will show casing gear that Bad Gear wont have. I also point out the benefits/advantages of the gear on the show especially at a time when everyone is used to plugins/modern gear.

[@koncreteto2758]

Wow a complete rip off of bad gear even down to the way u talk about it 😂

[@madgear303]

@@koncreteto2758 maybe check out my other videos and English is my native language so maybe bad gear is copying me. Thanks for watching the video though 😂

[@boydw1]

Mad Gear? Bit of a rip-off of AudioPilz Bad Gear isn't it? C'mon, at least try to be original instead of taking the piss.

[@madgear303]

@BoydW Well I certainly use less memes. If you actually watch my videos you will see a vast difference in how I talk about the gear. It’s mostly positive and I talk about gear I own and have used for years, sometimes even decades. Yes it’s inevitable that we may discuss the same gear but I know I have gear that he won’t be able to review due to it being designed, modded and built by myself that will be discussed in future episodes.

[@boydw1]

@@madgear303 I wasn't referring to the content - I was referring to the blatantly ripped off name. On what planet would you think that was a good idea?

[@madgear303]

@@boydw1 my planet obviously. Using 70 year old valve mic preamps in modern music productions is unusual. Using an Atari Lynx as a synthesiser is some say mad. Hence the name of the show. No rip off intended just descriptive term to the content of the show.

[@adrianfadich3227]

you can tell this guy doesn't like to front the money for good gear

[@madgear303]

Good gear is entirely subjective. The Sp808 cost me £1200 in 98, which is equivalent to spending over £2k today. That was a significant investment and not exactly pocket money.

[@Gatopanzon_1976]

@madgear303 I have one with a working SD card reader. Makes everything sooooo much easier!!

[@madgear303]

You gonna share the make and model of this SD card reader? I’ve been interested in this mod for a long time. Thanks 😃