Roland SP-404MKII Creative Sampler and Effector with 16GB Internal Storage, 32-Voice Polyphony and 160 Samples Per Project (SP-404MK2)

I'm a guy in my 50's who used to play in bands and mess around with synths and samplers back in the early 1990's. Recently, I got the itch to make music again. So I picked up a few micro synths and stand-alone groove boxes to try out. The Microfreak was cool, but very limited. The Digitakt is amazing! But it's more about sequencing than rhythms and sampling. Then I discovered the SP-404MKII. To me, this is the sweet spot in terms of price, functionality, ease-of-use, and cool factor. It is simply amazing! The pads to tap out your own beats feel great. The ability to use stereo samples with longer runtimes and sampling external mics or importing samples from other devices, gives you tons of flexibility. And when you're sitting there with your headphones, tinkering away, it just feels good. Grooving with some beats, you can throw entire DJ sets together, if you wanted to. There's a great number of factory samples that come built in. If you don't have any of your own samples on hand, I recommend subscribing to Roland's "Ultimate" program. They give you a month free trial. During that time, you can download all the sample packs they offer for this device absolutely free, then cancel the subscription before they charge you, and you get to keep all the samples.The other thing I'll mention, is that the SP-404 is built to be customized. You'll notice in my photo, I have a retro-looking skin on it, that I purchased from a third party, as well as some aluminum replacement knobs. The aesthetic really gives off an old-skool hip-hop vibe that I love. It sounds amazing, has a series of flexible inputs/outputs as well as midi control options. I've hooked it up to work in tandem with my Digitakt and they are the ultimate DAWless power-couple! Effects for days, smooth transitions between pre-built patterns and live performance, a DJ mode to show off for an audience, and a newly added built-in synth engine as of the most recent patch. This thing is a powerhouse if you take the time to learn how it operates. There's a great community for it, so you can find lots of tutorial videos online. Cannot recommend this unit enough for those looking to chop samples, build loops and patterns, or compose entire songs in any electronic genre.

I love my 404mk2. It’s a fantastic instrument for hip hop

I owned an old Roland S-550 rack-mount sampler in the late '80s and '90s. Made a lot of music with it, then got busy with family and career. Now I'm retiring, and just got the SP-404MkII. All I can say is WOW!!!The biggest con is the steep learning curve. With a device like this, there's no way around it, to unlock all the features you gotta learn from the (decent) manual that you need to hold [Shift] + [Remain] while you hit other buttons to do such-and-such. So the UI is as much muscle memory and "RTFM" as anything else. Once you figure out the front panel UI, though, you can fly on this thing with amazing things coming out of the speakers.Out of the box, this thing is designed for hip hop and techno, and it can do a decent job with those things pretty much standalone. But sync it up with a DAW and other equipment, and you have a centerpiece of a live rig that can do everything from psychedelia to ambient soundscapes to avant garde electronic music. The utility app works great as a standalone app, but REALLY shines as a plugin in Ableton or whatever you're using for a DAW.If you're not afraid to crack a thick manual or at least watch a few hours of instructional videos to learn how this thing works, it will reward you pretty quickly. It is currently my favorite instrumental infatuation and I highly recommend it. Oh, and keep up on the firmware: the 3.0 version that dropped earlier this year added a SLEW of new functionality. Hopefully when 4.0 comes out they'll give us even more hidden goodies!

Having used the MPC One and MPC Live 2, comparatively, the 404MK2 does what the aforementioned attempt to do but much more seamlessly.The 404MK2 literally enhances creativity by allowing the focus to be on sound, versus sight. That is to say, touch screens are novel yet exceptionally finicky and “gimmick-y” when the goal is to immerse yourself in an audio project. The button functionality and navigating menus are much easier to learn than I thought they would be, sampling is such a dream and so smooth and mapping out ideas took what felt like seconds compared to the minutes it took to do so on the MPC One and MPC Live. The effects on the 404MK2 are pretty gnarly as well.The learning curve is not nearly as steep as I imagined it would be.Roland did an excellent job in terms of portability. I literally sat with the 404MK2 on my lap and forgot it was there whereas for the MPCs I had to always find a table. It’s super light weight and carries easily in one hand whereas as the MPCs feel heavy and fragile. It’s incredible that the pricing on the 404MK2 is what it is and the MPCs are so exorbitantly priced. My thoughts are that the touch screen and the speaker on the MPCs respectively account for that. For the me the differences in price are too steep and aren’t really justified. A good pair of monitor headphones (Beyerdynamic, Audio Technica, Roland’s own or Sennheiser) serve a much more professional and sound efficient purpose.USB-C connectivity for charging and sampling makes it that much more “obsolete-proof” and SD Card connectivity and speeds are pretty impressive.Overall, I’m super happy with the 404MK2 and look forward to what emerges from Roland going forward.

I own a lot of studio gear and instruments and this is by far and away the hardest to learn. That being said, I sat down in front of it with the manual open and I’ve been having so much fun. Most performative sampler and fx unit I’ve ever used and I’m already importing my older stems and breathing new life into old flat beats. Absolutely love this machine and it will be at the center of my production for the foreseeable future.