roland sp 808 - should I keep or sell? interesting uses?

babkubwa · Post by **babkubwa** » Mon May 12, 2008 11:04 am

I'm having a bit of a clear out and selling a load of gear.

once thing I'm loathed to part with is my sp808. I very rarely turn it on.

I love some of the effects in there - tape delay and slicer especially. The d beam is quite cool for messing with the pitch of stuff and recording the wackyness.

I'm just usually too lazy to hook it all up when theres so much I can do quicker by mousing around in live.

the sp808 was my first bit of gear -cost a fortune at the time. I'm quite attached to it - what do you think? time to get ruthless and drop the dead wood?

or are there any sp808 users out here who can point out why I should keep it?

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Mon May 12, 2008 12:29 pm

I like the effects on and the quirky onboard effect synth myself. It takes more effort to sell it than hook it up, so laziness is not a factor here I think

heavensdaw · Post by **heavensdaw** » Mon May 12, 2008 12:42 pm

Hi, Once again this topic comes up! I'm in exactly the same boat.. with my MC 909..

I think if you can afford to keep it, and you may use it sometime then keep it.. But.. If you're not getting any use at all with it, and you're in need of other gear, and you ain't got no extra cash to buy that controller/soundcard/monitors whatever .. Sell it.. Simple no?

In fact just writing his has helped me see my own logic.. (I'm in the second category). Gonna put my 'dead wood' up for grabs....

Thanks for asking this question!!

Hd

kristoffer1989 · Post by **kristoffer1989** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:04 pm

hook it up in a send/return setup so you can resample yourthings with crazy sp efx.

and check out some tips on www.sp-forums.com

babkubwa · Post by **babkubwa** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:27 pm

thanks for the forum link! really helpful.

I was just reading about the e mix update. Not sure if you actually have to fit it with the 250 mg zip drive to get it to work, but apart from the new effects ( vocoder and guitar fx amongst other stuff ), it gives you the ability to use the machine without a zip disk in - perfect for using it as an fx return and analogue synth. Avoids the annoying zip disk sound too! - another cool update is the sample pads sending note on messages.

I need to get my head into the midi implementation and see what I can do with the external instrument tool in L7. could work really nicely with the analogue synth. lives apregiator before - then some vst effects afterwards all on one channel. could hopefully work out pretty sweet.

theres a few people trying to replace there zip disks with hard drives - no joy yet, but of they ever manage, would really give the machine a whole new life.

kristoffer1989 · Post by **kristoffer1989** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:32 pm

babkubwa wrote:
theres a few people trying to replace there zip disks with hard drives - no joy yet, but of they ever manage, would really give the machine a whole new life.

http://sp-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=1314

I use that forum a lot being a 404 user. my 404 synced with logic and also haveing reason in rewire mode gives me many options..

babkubwa · Post by **babkubwa** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:55 pm

yeah - feeling quite inspired to get back into it. I'll be dropping a lot of dead wood - Roland D50 , Berhinger FCB1010, trigger finger, xs session, dd5 drum pad, - maaaybe even my hpd 10 if I really get into my new mpd32. - Still, the sp808 can stay - first in , last out!

Silverfish · Post by **Silverfish** » Mon May 12, 2008 2:15 pm

The sp-808 was my very first piece of gear. When I bought it, it was a steal ($350), and I was really too young and inexperienced to get much use out of it. After that, the computer DAW revolution kind of nailed the coffin on the ZIP disk workstation. I hate zip disks. It's too loud. The polyphony stinks. The time stretching isn't great. It's huge. But I cold NEVER EVER EVER EVAR part with it. Yes, I pray for a flash drive that works, but until then the stack of 25 zip disks I bought off ebay for 20 bucks will have to work.

While we're on the subject, how impossible would it be to have someone rewrite the OS to read/write to flash or a hard drive? The A6 (the sp-808s video production twin) has a hard drive, so the leap doesn't seem impossible. And if someone can write an OS for an MPC, why not for an sp-808? Perhaps I could bribe a local computer engineering student with a case of Mountain Dew to spend some time on it.

creature · Post by **creature** » Mon May 12, 2008 2:23 pm

I would keep it personally. You may not be using it at present, but once you have sold it you will probably miss it.

I was the same with my old electribe er-1. I sold my original one because I didn't use it. Then last year I was craving it again, so I had to buy another one. I use it all the time now.

My 2 pence worth

Steve

kristoffer1989 · Post by **kristoffer1989** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:20 pm

my 404 inspires me a lot. it was one of the things that first got me into electronic music and sampling. plus it has manual chop which gives some sick cuts!

i think you scould keep your sp man! if you wait and check out the sp-forums from time to time someone will make a solution for the 808 with harddrive or flash reader.

babkubwa · Post by **babkubwa** » Mon May 12, 2008 10:33 pm

Silverfish wrote:
While we're on the subject, how impossible would it be to have someone rewrite the OS to read/write to flash or a hard drive? The A6 (the sp-808s video production twin) has a hard drive, so the leap doesn't seem impossible. And if someone can write an OS for an MPC, why not for an sp-808? Perhaps I could bribe a local computer engineering student with a case of Mountain Dew to spend some time on it.

do it man! I'll add a second case of mountain dew!

just discovered the edirol A6 today. couldn't find much info on it but it sounds pretty good with a 2 gig hard drive. think I'd love to pick one up if I ever see one on ebay.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Mon May 12, 2008 10:47 pm

the 'ex' update is totally worth it.

I keep mine around because it's a stand alone thing that can record audio, to hell with computers. I haven't used it in a while but it nice to have around and I agree about the FX. I forgot about the vocoder!! hmmm... it might get wired into my studio after all.

Lo-Key Fu · Post by **Lo-Key Fu** » Wed May 14, 2008 4:11 pm

My SP-808 is my musical security blanket.

Sure, ZIP Discs are near impossible to get your mitts on these days; there are plenty of other bits of gear that do a lot more; and my own SP is in a sorry state of disrepair after four repair jobs and around 8 years of live thrashing... but I don't think I would ever sell it.

At present it gets used rarely, but what would be the point in selling? The money I would get for it wouldn't make the sale worthwhile and I'd rather keep it around in case:
* Someone works out how to upgrade to a card reader or HD (solid state would be noice!)
* I fix the couple of broken pads and use it as a live midi trigger (with the added bonus of the outboard FX loop); or
* I work out a way to remove that D-Beam, re-case it and turn it into a compact additional controller...

Each to their own, but I'm definitely keeping mine.

SuperBassMexican · Post by **SuperBassMexican** » Wed May 14, 2008 8:38 pm

Put it in the hands of God ! I put my beloved korg esx on ebay and that guy hasn't paid for it yet. It's been 4 days. So maybe it might hang around a bit. Along with my turntables. and my old efx units............and old unused midi controllers..........and my records...........

ak balance · Post by **ak balance** » Sun May 18, 2008 10:08 pm

I have two of these and still often use them as a emergency backup for gigs. just in case everything goes horribly wrong and my notebook HD dies. and that has actually happened more than once.. used to play whole gigs with these, that's why I own two. got to have a backup. always