Boss SP-505 Groove Sampling Workstation

Samplers from the SP series by Boss

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Boss SP-505 Groove Sampling Workstation user reviews ( 8/10) - 17 user reviews

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12/06/08

Audiofanzine FR's review

Characteristics
(Originally written by henridelavillle/translated from Audiofanzine FR)

The card's memory can be extended to 128 MB. I have 64 MB and the things you can sample are already huge... Sampling is very easy, much easier than with a computer: just press the button and that's it... When I'm listening to the radio I just sample whenever something nice comes on (with jazz it's easier because you can sample everything)... I created a beat yesterday and it sounds great.

- The converters sound great, professional and dynamic!

- Typical connections: jack mic input, RCA line input, Midi input and output...

- No PC software and that's a good thing, I'm fed up with computer screens. I'm a musician who risked his life in L.A.. not a computer scientist.

- The effects are a turnoff because you can only assign one effect to each pad... It's not much unless you resample, which is very easy.

- The polyphony is not enough to use it as a classic sequencer
Utilization
- Very simple and clear setup.

- Ultra easy editing however you cannot pitch a sound directly like in Fruity and I miss that option. It's not possible to pitch a sound with only one control.

- Typical, super simple Boss user's manual. This manufacturer is great.
Sounds
- The effect sounds very good.

- Sound and dynamic range are EXCELLENT. I prefer a million times this sound to Fruity's sound with my M-audio Firewire sound card. Fruity doesn't provide this dynamic range.
Overall Opinion
- I've been using it for one month

The least:

OS is very slow

Memory card is too small (now you get 1 GB)

The sequencer doesn't allow external synth sequencing

Best:

Sound quality (better than Fruity or Cubase)

Sampling is extremely easy (one button and that's it)

Each track has an adjustable quantization function (typical Boss), which can be deactivated.

Typical Boss groove...

I might buy the SP555, which seems great because you can sample on the fly in the middle of a song (impossible with the 505).

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11/09/08

FP User Reviews's review

Characteristics
The best thing about the sp-505 are the effects, with more than 20 effects including: delay, wah, pitch shift, voice transformer,equaliser and my alltime favorite the isolator its makes thin sound fat and fat sounds thin. The sequencing on the SP-505 is pretty limited, you sequence samples in patterns on 4 channels and sequence those to make a song. I don't use the song mode myself. I just make the whole track in one pattern and let it play in a loop and mute the 4 channel parts. There is a 8 voice polyphony with mono samples and 4 voices with stereo samples. It has a 4 mb internal memory and a smart media card slot to save sounds and sequenceses on. It has only a 2 stereo jack output.

Price paid

750 euro
Utilization
Very easy to use. I was building tracks on the SP-505 the same day I got it.

I've got it for 3 years now, never it has let me down, it never crashed. The 16 pads and buttons are solid, the knobs are well made.
Sounds
Good sound quality, 44.1 kHz sampling (mono or stereo). Good sounding effects.
Overall Opinion
It's a nice mashine if you want to create right away it's easy to use. But if you want to sequence more than 4 channels. You should get an MPC.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com

Posted by: alphawolf (January 0-, 2005)

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11/09/08

FP User Reviews's review

Characteristics
Many Features,Plenty of effects, sampling from optical, coaxial, mic, and SPDIF. Plenty of sample time on the smart media card, although almost none in onboard memory. One thing i don't like is theres only 8 polyphony

Price paid

$300
Utilization
Its Pretty easy to use, as it only took about 2 or 3 days of not even looking at the manual to figure it out. If you have ever used any sampler/sequencer you should be able to figure this out.

I've dropped mine on concrete with no flaws, except a few scratches, so i'd say pretty durable.
Sounds
Good quality all together, but as i get better at produciong its starting to get limiting. I'd always go for an MPC1000 or even a 3000 or 60 although they are older. Theres only 8 polyphony, which gets annoying when you go for more complex beats. Theres only 16 internal banks, which i filled up with all of my drum sounds, and if you add the 128 MB smart media card it add another 16 banks.
Overall Opinion
Good for beginers but like i said nuthing like an MPC1000, 2000, 2000XL, 4000. And if you want that vintage sound i'd always go with an MPC3000, or 60.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com

Posted by: MMProductions ( 9-, 2005)

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11/09/08

FP User Reviews's review

Characteristics
Timestretch, USB port would be nice like the 606, and better BPM adjust,but other than that nothing.

Price paid

300.00
Utilization
Piece of cake.

No repairs, good sampler but keep this badboy at home. Alot of plastic
Sounds
Perfect! Whatever it samples in, it plays out.
Overall Opinion
Perfect for me i like having limitations. I work better that way.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com

Posted by: JunkOne ( 7-, 2005)

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11/09/08

FP User Reviews's review

Characteristics
Very heavy on effects. time-stretching and bpm adjusting can make samples sound choppy, but there's a way to work around that. i recommend reading your manual and asking questions on fp to learn how to really manipulate this machine.

Price paid

$400
Utilization
Bright lcd screen, easy-to-navigate menus, buttons creatively placed, trigger pads light up to let you know what sample's been armed and triggered. wish it was compatible with larger cards than 128mb smartmedia, though.

tight little piece. constructed very well. wish it was battery-operated for better portability.
Sounds
The sound quality is the truth! it can do crispy, cd-quality and raspy, dirty quality reminiscent of the sp1200
Overall Opinion
I've always been in love with the emu sp1200 because of its classic feel and ill effects, even if it isn't the absolute best sampler out there. to me, the boss sp-505 ranks up there with the sp1200. in some ways it's superior to that classic sampler.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com

Posted by: realEYEZ ( 7-, 2005)

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11/09/08

FP User Reviews's review

Characteristics
Chop function is wicket... hear it's better than on some other higher level machines.. but whish it had velocity pads, but not a big deal.. great sampler for beginer..

Price paid

250 USD ebay
Utilization
Read-and-follow the manual and you won't stumble and if so ask on FP.. very user friendly..

it looks kinda cheap or even funny, but who cares? it's never gonna leave my desk..
Sounds
The sound quality is great..you can change the bit rate from CD quality to rugged 1930's vinyl quality..
Overall Opinion
Best investment in years.. spend so much time with softwares and other stuff, 505 is the bomb!

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com

Posted by: Sto ( 1-, 2005)

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11/09/08

FP User Reviews's review

Characteristics
It's not an MC-909, but it does work pretty good.

Price paid

$350
Utilization
Very Easy to insert and delete samples. Creating beats is real cool too, just like my MP-7 E-mu MOPhatt...

It's plastic, so what more do you expect. The buttons are nice.
Sounds
Sound Quality is good. Playback sounds warm to me.
Overall Opinion
For the $350 price I would buy it again if I need too.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com

Posted by: dj_hamzter ( 5-, 2004)

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11/09/08

FP User Reviews's review

Characteristics
The capabilities of this unit are awesome! For the sampling musician, I'd consider this a baby MPC2000. The chop function for dividing and truncating samples will take a lot of headaches out of creating for the sampleheads out there.

Price paid

$499
Utilization
Very user friendly machine. With very little knowledge, a person could be up and sampling in no time. But you will be farming in your own sounds pretty quickly, cause the onboard sounds are weak.

Looks kinda delicate, I wouldn't take this thing too far from home.
Sounds
The sounds out the box are kinda cheesy. With Roland's diverse library of sounds, I expected a better soundset. Where's the XV sounds? Very weak...
Overall Opinion
Returned it within a few days for an EMU MP7, so I guess you could say the marrige was annulled... :-(

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com

Posted by: Unknown ( 3-, 2004)

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11/09/08

FP User Reviews's review

Characteristics
IT IS A GOOD SAMPLING WORKSTATION FOR THE PRICE OF 500 BUCKS

Price paid

$500
Utilization
Good
Sounds
THE SOUND QUALITY IS GOOD. 44.1KHZ
Overall Opinion
I LIKE IT, IF YOU HAVE THE SKILLS TO GET THE MOST OF OF IT, IT CAN REALY WORK FOR YOU. IT'S NOT WHAT YOU HAVE IT'S WHAT YOU DO WITH IT.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com

Posted by: Unknown (January 1-, 2003)

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Translated user reviews

04/05/11

1kids in a bathroom's review ( translated ) Improve this translation " Very good sampler Kelk despite weakness"

Characteristics
Noon, rca, jack ...
Utilization
Assé use simple after reading the manual, but a sampler c ki a lot of time in preparation of echentillons, ie not suitable for sampling live, privileging the SP404
Sounds
The converter has a tendency to jerk the sample when bcp that lon down their tempo, and personal effects for the party ga kaosspad ass because the sampler is a complete Assé is about the award but deffet live is very hard, so I recommend to resample lechantillon ac leffet assigned above and no problem, but its limit for the live bcp or purchase of my kaosspad. But I assume I'm that is a common problem is bcp pure samplers.
Overall Opinion
I possess 3 years, jadore cutting the sample is very accurate in automatic mode (eg set the tempo and the number of measurement and it does everything else) of the cutting stroke is perfect. And the fact kil displays the sound spectrum is a very good point for the cutting, unlike the SP404 or there is no visually on the display and the precise cutting the cost becomes very difficult. Weakness: At the last measurement the samples are cut clean and when there is a delay on this one brutal example Larret tends Loreille shocking, but good ac a little work progra This can be overcome by recording the end of the sample (ex: echo ...) on the first beat following. And major weakness: they can only register on 4 share for every song, even if we may put several on a sample unit for the live one soon reaches the limit of hand. Me I absolutely want to keep it level as it is great value for money, but g in the draft to fill a akai mpc ac 2500SE. Conclusion: very good to try their hand at sampling :-)

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