rapmaster_e i've looked over the manual serval times no manual chopping
..then all you got is truncate the sample .. that means you have to resample the sample again that's to much work to getting the sample choped you're way ... like B.K you know. In regarding the recent lineage of samplers, I can share something as quoted by a roland representative;
"make a really great all-purpose product, that covers the basics of
what people are already doing. make a familiar package, with some
innovative features...."
(...in context, roland would never invent something like a kaoss pad,
but they built the mga-flop d2 touchpad groovebox 2 years after the
kp-1 came out, and their new
sp404 borrows "bpm loop-capture as
effect" and "sample speed/reverse play" and "sample scratch" that was
introduced on the kp-2 years ago...)
he also says
" the 505 is not really a contiuation of the legendary 202 and 303
punch sampler' engine, but the new 404 is...
the 505 was designed to break open the hardware technologies of
sample chopping, for hardware jungle remixing. the 606
was designed to have improved bpm-sync loop-streching, a multi-part
sequencer, and a useable controller interface for a sofware synth."
(...what he doesn't admit is that you can use the sp-606 as a general
controller for software synths other than the "p606" crap it comes with.
with a little work, you can use those 16 pads (wiht velocity) and 3
knobs for reason etc.)the 606 is a uniqe sampler that has the layer-based
sequencing power of an mpc, the simple interface and memory
horsepower of a boss sp-sampler, but with the time-stretching and
sync tools found only on their mv-producs.personally, I think theire p606 software was a waste of resources in trying to appeal to the laptop market with proprietary stuff.
they should instead build a friendly and intuitive midi front end so
that you can wire the 606 as a controller into anything.
the other big problem with the sp is the way it maps samples to midi
notes.right now, the first two bangs are taken up with drum hits that make
up the library of onboard patterns. however, the range of midi notes
that the unit recognizes is covered only by the first FOUR banks of
pads. I want to use the unit largely as a looper, but if I want to
keep the on board beats, those banks have to stay full of those hits.
you can program internal sequences with hits form pad-banks 5 and up.
I REAALLY wish they'd programmed all the factory beats and programs
so they didn't eat up the precious narrow range of recognizable midi
notes, because that REALLY limits how far the unit can go to "play
well with others".
roland should definitely build a softare supplement to organize
patterns, move samples around banks, re-organize patterns with some
arbitrary note coding, and table the samples with the same note-
coding.
this way, you could write a beat on some computer xoxo sequener
program, program the actual sequencing of the notes, and then go
through and audition samples (from a limited library of what is known
to be on the 606 itself) for those parts.leave time-streching off the software, and on the hardware.
then, once you commite sounds to pattern, you dump your sequences (as
4-parts) back onto the hardware 606, and the computer adjusts what
note-numbers are used, so that the hardare sequencer will play the
beats that you graphed out in a visual interface
(...this would certainly salvage the oh-so-unhelpful step interface
on the 606).then you could worry about your phrases and time-stretching on the hardware.
this softare sequece tool would also allow you to take patterns that
you like from the 606 and re-voice them to any seuqncing environment.
it may seem unorthodox for roland to write such supplementary code
for their "finished" product, but as somone who has already gotten a
lot of use out of mine, I think this would REALLY round out it's
utility/usage in modern studios.
wiht this fictional software, this way, I won't have to BY HAND copy
the those (admittedly vanilla) drum hits to other banks and BY HAND
re-program the beats that use those sounds.
regarding rolands innovation, I gotta hand it to them for the variphrase sampler.
that was a killer technology that unfortunately got dragged down by
its memory, and it's my dream roland product would be for them to
make a new variphrase rack sampler.
something with the exact same 4-part sequencer and note-streching
that's on the sp606 for real-time play, but with the
time/pitch/format dimensions for wierd sound-design stuff.
also, the sequencer should recognize
FULL RANGE OF MIDI NOTES...
the variOS was a good idea, but it too much requires a computer to do
get anything done.
the v-synth is promising, but I don't need a whole synth system, and
it's hard to move around.
)