SP-404MKII Drum Shaping: Chopping Breaks, Layering, MFX Resampling Workflow Tutorial

[@gregorybissell4255]

Bruh, you chopped that break with the swiftness 😂

[@Nonjuror]

Hahaha full disclosure, I had also chopped it a few days earlier for a beat I was working on so I knew where the treasure was buried

[@synth-studio]

I was thinking the same thing… broad-stroke chop, then clean them up once they’re assigned to pads. Love it.

[@wariusgaius]

Lol yeah that was shocking

[@ShawnyDsMusic]

Man, Roland should hire you. This tutorial taught me so much. Thank you brother!

[@Nonjuror]

Cheers man, appreciate that a lot! I bet they’d make me wear an ugly polo shirt 2 sizes too small as my uniform or something…making me do that costs more than my knowledge 😂😂😂

[@ShawnyDsMusic]

@@Nonjuror hahaha that is probably very true! Super appreciative of you sharing your talents with us.

[@spvidz]

Great info man! I definitely need to start using more MFX on my drums after seeing this! I only tend to use isolator and do a bit of pitching

[@Nonjuror]

Thanks man! I’m kinda going thru a phase where I’m compulsively comparing like Filter/Drive & Super Filter & Iso & EQ (and combos of) when trying to LPF a sample…

[@tapelove]

Great tutorial, no long talks 👌💪Id catch all the mosquitos in my room if I had a chopping gift like that💨💨

[@Nonjuror]

Hahaha thanks heaps, much appreciated. Cheers! 🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@mattgaynor4053]

Just got my first sp404mk2 last week. I've learned A LOT from your tutorials. Thank you so much bro 👊🏾

[@ybab-j]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and workflow.

[@Nonjuror]

Appreciate you watching man, cheers!

[@notanimportantperson]

Best tutorials around thank you man!!! Knowledgable, straight to the point, and nasty with it

[@Nonjuror]

Haha thanks heaps man, much appreciated, cheers! 🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@BestKeptSecreization]

Very informative thread. This really helps a lot King 👑 Keep posting tips like these for us SP users.

[@Nonjuror]

Cheers mate! 🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@blkrbbt]

Wow. Great work. This made me understand eq`ing and other mastering effects... as a whole, not just with the 404

[@Nonjuror]

Thanks heaps, dope to read, appreciate it. Cheers!

[@lil-j-waters]

hearing the clap instantly made me think of "the whole world" by outkast

[@Lazulz]

This is an excellent tutorial. Thanks!

[@Nonjuror]

Thanks heaps, cheers! 🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@MuhnMaxVicinelli]

Really love your vids around sp404mk2. Must appreciate ur work man!

[@Nonjuror]

Dope to read, thanks heaps for that, cheers! 🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@Sswag222]

Incredible tutorial , thank you !!!

[@Nonjuror]

Cheers! 🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@arcinterrupter]

Dude just made a game changer video like it was nothing.

[@Nonjuror]

Haha cheers man, after years of doing this stuff on the 303/404a, with the mk2’s functions it’s waaaay easier.

[@bjamminsincebirth3494]

The New UPDATE with Sample Merge can speed this up now💥

[@Nonjuror]

Yes indeed!

[@RetumbaRecords]

Eres grande, gracias!

[@Nonjuror]

Cheers! 🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@wiggesobk]

Awesome video man. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[@Nonjuror]

Thanks heaps my dude, cheeeeers! 🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@bjamminsincebirth3494]

Mannn I just had soooo much fun using these techniques. Thank you again!

[@Nonjuror]

Dope, that’s awesome to read! Spending time shaping sounds isn’t for everyone but it’s really fun taking a bunch of drum layers, linking them together n making your own sounds.

[@bjamminsincebirth3494]

@@Nonjuror Facts. I would do it in Koala all the time. However it’s nice to see we can do it in our SP404 MK2 and get some real good use of these other Efx that don’t get much use for me.

[@subtle.banter]

Great vid man, thanks for taking the time to make, and share your knowledge.

[@Nonjuror]

Cheers fam!

[@JuanelosLibre]

Awesome video.

[@Nonjuror]

Thanks heaps, cheers!

[@pejtonKurort]

Great job, your 404 movies make me curious about discovering my mk2, I think I bought a Roland instead of Akai mpc one / live thanks to them. Maybe it's far from being a DAW but with an idea and with better knowledge, you can put together more than one track on this device, focusing on music and not plugins. It is great for playing live with friends. Greetings and keep on going.

[@Nonjuror]

Thanks heaps man, dope to read. There’s something about the limitations of a piece of gear that flick a problem solving switch in my brain which tends to make the music making process more fun n creative…the infinite blank canvas of a DAW I sometimes feel overwhelming…where as chopping a sample is like solving a jig saw puzzle…I dunno…plus being able to use a 404 anywhere when on the move is awesome. Cheers!

[@Strojko]

The Magic of resample 😉 Nice Job teacher thanks 4 the content 🫡 Salute 😶‍🌫️ 🥃

[@Nonjuror]

Haha Resample, the Houdini of sample fx shaping on SPs since 2002…appreciate you, cheers! 🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@synth-studio]

This really helped shaped my thinking around the limitations of the BUSes and how to use them on a mix. Interesting that you shape all your drum sounds with FX and then resample before even starting with any melodies. Do you always do this? It makes sense, because the BUS setups seems to limited to use them in the way you might use a BUS in a DAW… where it’s pretty unlimited. This has been the limitation I’ve been hitting lately, but shaping all the sounds then resampling them before starting any patterns really makes sense.

[@Nonjuror]

Yeah man, most of the time I’m trying to do all fx stuff before I get too deep, esp the melodic samples before chopping…but often I’ll have recorded a pattern and then feel like I want to eq/iso the snare or something, resample that then exchange those pads. Cheers!

[@commonbeats]

Love this! 👊

[@Nonjuror]

Cheers man!

[@Ross_Antonich]

This is a great video and I learned so much!!

[@Nonjuror]

Cheers my dude, pan link drum layering is life! 🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@bjamminsincebirth3494]

Wow what a video!!!!

[@Nonjuror]

Thanks heaps man!

[@_c_y_p_3]

Not sure if Im the only one but I often have a dim lit room and I was often not sure which knob I had till I looked or turned it, so I changed the Vol and loop knob out for almost identical looking but different feeling knobs and it made everything much nicer for me. I was thinking to replace em with Chroma caps but for now I think feel will override looks.

[@kendall2723]

good vid thanks for sharing

[@Nonjuror]

Cheers! 🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@ftrecordingstudio4034]

great demo curious as to what it would sound like used piano instead, maybe more difficult to connect to wider audience

[@irmacharles8694]

Great lesson; thank you. Please consider producing a paid tutorial video for the SP404

[@jamesfournier5324]

shift+gate = gate off or on for selected bank

[@johnnymandez]

🔥🔥🔥

[@Nonjuror]

Cheers!🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@moreorlesto]

Thanks for another dope vid! QUESTION THO: while you were chopping, I could see you pressing "Resample" several times, but not sure why. What does that do in that context?

[@Nonjuror]

Cheers! Press Resample to turn “snap to zero cross” mode on n off. I tap it once n it finds the cleanest place to put the chop, while on it’ll just move the cursor to those clean positions so then the second tap turns it off so I can move freely again. Hope that makes sense!

[@culturemax234]

🖤

[@Toonzconcrete]

Thank you bro! Btw 2:04 why do you tap “resample” twice??

[@Drrolfski]

Nice tutorial. Would love to see what you can do with a modern MPC but that's probably not going to happen.

[@Nonjuror]

Thanks! Maaaaaaan I do dig the feel of them Live II pads too…

[@Drrolfski]

@@Nonjuror I've got the MPC Live II myself and so far, I have found it amazing for making beats. Everything you could ask for as far as features go (basically a full DAW-in--box) while still allowing you to crank out these beats wherever the heck you feel inspired to (which I really like about the SP series).

[@Nonjuror]

Hell of a lot of portable power from all reports, I follow a lot of Live II beat makers n it’s always sounding on point. Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for my mpc60ii samples to load into memory…🤣

[@Drrolfski]

@@Nonjuror Sounding on point has little to do with the capabilities of the Live II though, which comes with a ridiculous amount of synths, FX, and other sound-shaping tools. It has even an MPC60, MPC3000, and an SP1200 mode. Not to mention that it's a hell of a combo if you would pair it up with your SP-404MK2. Unsurprisingly, there are enough beatmakers out there that easily make the Live II sound on point, Marlow Digs probably being my favorite.

[@ericdowning8705]

Where did you get that skin? Awesome

[@Nonjuror]

Thanks man, I cut it out of a roll of wood grain laminate I found at the hardware store. Coz it’s not printed it doesn’t have any text labeling of the functions so I had to give it a few months to memorized all those things first 😂 cheers!

[@repoman5581]

Do you think the sp has its own tone... does it add something even before fx etc..

[@Rustik1722]

Where to get that wood face plate?

[@Nonjuror]

I cut it out if a piece of laminate I bought at the hardware store, pretty easy to do just use as sharp a scalpel as you can find.

[@thomasamos4055]

Is there a way of playing a whole sampled loop in a quantised pattern?

[@tehmowz]

Yep

[@miszymat]

Hi. How do I know that my drums are not clipping while using 2 effect at once?

[@Nonjuror]

It’s not real clear, what I have noticed is that something can sound awesome but then sometimes when it’s resampled it’s distorted - in which case I turn down the sample or fx levels n resample again. Things like 303 vinyl sim n comp I usually keep the level down to 60-70.

[@remyvegamedia]

So I think it just clicked that isolator is subtractive EQ and the EQ is additive? Maybe? Haha.

[@Nonjuror]

I think of EQ as parametric, it’s making curves & when you hold down the Enter knob you can change the frequencies. Isolator is a more like a graphic eq with it’s set bands, dope thing being it can drop a band down to -INF & silence it. That’s how I approach them at least…hope I wrote all them words okay…

[@stueyapstuey4235]

Hey - I've been trying to check this video but it doesn't play. Is this a youtube problem?

[@Nonjuror]

Weird! I just tried it n it seem ms normal but who knows…hopefully there ain’t no dramas with it!

[@Blogspierre]

Eno?

[@bjamminsincebirth3494]

I do wish Roland would make that BitCrusher better. It’s kind of meh. I want better control on it.

[@Nonjuror]

The one thing I still do is bounce between the Mk2 & 202 a lot, haven’t figured out how to emulate them 202 low sample rates yet. Would be sick if it resampled to lower sample rates.

[@bjamminsincebirth3494]

@@Nonjuror Man those sample rates just touch my heart😂

[@attila8348]

I have a Lo Fi mode but not a compressor mode

[@paweljakalak4810]

20 mins later we have a 1 bar loop…lol

[@Nonjuror]

Luckily I’m not explaining step by step what I’m doing every time I’m making a beat off camera

[@truesearch69]

damn you are a God, I'm just at minute 4:30 and the layering trick is blowing my mind... also being able to send each sound to bus 1 or bus 2... what exquisite information... this undoubtedly opens up more possibilities for you to create more subtle and personalized rhythms... very interesting. Sir, please, I have a question for you... do you know if there is or have you done a tutorial on how to make ''hihats'' with a lot of swing... for bossa nova samples... and that style.

[@Nonjuror]

Thanks heaps man, much appreciated! When I really want to get precise with adjusting swing I use TR-REC mode in the pattern sequencer, I prefer to adjust the Start +/-% and Volume there to add personality to grooves, like this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZ-4mqCqpM2abZI