All user reviews for the Boss SP-505 Groove Sampling Workstation

memory is too low without a map, it's frustrating.

UTILIZATION

I blame him for his touch .... if it is poorly maintained, it will end chisel!
(I fuck an mc-303, cigarette smoke .... finished it!)

editing is easy but is even more so on the sp 606.

Me and manuals ....

SOUNDS

a good seed for the effects.

OVERALL OPINION

Really correct, it does what is asked of him.

Big black spot: a smart media card!! I still have not .....

Even among vendors appreils photo is DEAD!

suddenly, I'm not used often and it is very sad.

8 notes polyphony limit may seem insufficient, but the quality is to go in terms of effects, sometimes quite as original Isolator-Limiter Compressor kind of three bands - or lo-fi filter. The prsence numrique between a SPDIF RCA is a blessing, and the use of SmartMedia cards for storing samples s'avre flexible, and low onreuse. In practice, the step edition of which only the custom settings are limits, however: volume and truncate. Just over 5 minutes sampling bits/22 16 khz standard is a bit short but sufficient for beginners.

UTILIZATION

A manual in French trs clear, flawless ergonomics make the handling is very simple: Just a half-day master the thing without resorting to the manual, which lve the last doubts it rfrant 2 or 3 times. A model of its kind.

SOUNDS

Can be a bit "just" who is used to large samplers, the quality of sound is surprising, however, for such a small and lightweight machine, but is sufficient to use "live ".

OVERALL OPINION

A report qualitprix difficult surpass one aspect "Mattel toy" misleading, ergonomics which means that the fingers were flying on the machine after 2 hours, a light weight, this is its main quality . Among its default, some slow shipping, a time-stretch quite violent (but normal for this price), a little too much plastic that casts doubt on the solidity of the thing. Nanmoins rflechi a choice on my part, does not do much unless MPC is much cheaper, lighter, more direct, easier. I use or have used the Akai S1000, S3000, CD3000 and Emu 5000 Ultra, but I found it best-in SD 140 RSF of my beginners ...

Notice updated on 19-08-04, after 2 years of use ... happy

- Polyphony 8 sounds acceptable given the price.
- 26 effects, not all so terrible, but useful ... Ability to resample a sample after applying the effect (good), but the knobs did not send sysex, not possible to sequence the movement of a pattern of effects (not good). Note, we can apply an effect at once.
- Memory: 16 MB SmartMedia one comes with the beast. Having transferred all the useless presets, you can unleash your desire for sampling ... As for internal memory, it is not huge but enough for the grip.
- Connectik: MIDI in / out (no thru, it's bullshit ...), RCA in + out, mic in, headphone output 6.3, optical input (not bad, but still a little gadget ...), switch to adapt a BOSS pedal to trigger the samples at the base.

UTILIZATION

Handling extremely easy. With the manual, you can begin to attack his first patterns with emotion and gratitude, after an hour or two of exploration ... The recording pattern offers RealTime with correct rhythm (adjustable, let me explain: you can adjust if it will correct the location of the sound of a quarter note, an eighth, a sixteenth .. . or a half, eh, if you want, then you are going to drool) ... resulting in the beats always snugly, and the ease and intuitiveness of the recording RealTime.
Editing sounds is easy too, the visualization of the waveform is really useful. on the other hand, always try to sample a good noise level, because you can always increase the level of a sample after, but the quality suffers. Otherwise, loop to work, the SP-505 is very intuitive and practical.
When the manual to him, is well done and quite clear ... Except for the chapter in the MIDI implementation, which was a bit sloppy (at least that's the impression I get from ...)

SOUNDS

Well, bin it will not dwell on the few preset sounds, four banks of 16 sounds from the glorious past of Roland TR sounds mainly for three largest banks, organized in styles: Hip-hop, Break, Techno. The fourth bank is itself dedicated to 16 samples of instruments, history of having a small base of sounds in instrumentals pitcher to do a few tunes at the beginning, when you have nothing else ...
Otherwise: for effects, cf. characteristics. Too bad that does not, however, a real edition of the samples, such as management of the attack would be nice ... The samples have against by several settings such as looping or upside down, the play mode (gate, drum ...)

OVERALL OPINION

I use the thing for two years now.
I just add a big sister, my sweet RM1x that the MIDI driver to this and this, without major difficulty (well, it remains to be knowledgeable at least, at first I gallery but I think it it must be valid for any beginner, and with any machine of course ...)
At the time of purchase, I did not know much about groove boxes, but I knew I wanted to make a sampler, so I hesitated between the Sp-505, Electribe S and I had tried in parallel. .. Oh my bin Foy, I am not disappointed and I would do this choice: the Boss is certainly more expensive, but is simply better than the Korg at the intuitiveness, ease of use, and characteristics (the Korg is less attractive side inputs, the sound processing is less developed, especially the Korg effects are really fake .... well, it's just my opinion, but I am not alone in thinking that the effects of Electribe)
The value is a bit high, we must admit that the Sp-505 is a bit expensive ... But bargain prices begin to fall, watch out ...
In any case you will not mine! I, I keep ... I'm not ready to sell it! It's really a good little machine, and I think even with a barge home studio at home, there's way to keep it, even if only to take it everywhere with you, and tinkering in his loops his corner ... It's great.
I see this machine as well small sampler of phrases that would bring a little more electro in a group of such high-bass-drums-vocals ... The singer can play with, throw a few loops and samples from time to time, and even run some patterns and apply the effects of Sp-505 to an external source, such as its micro ...
In this use, this machine excels! It's a big Kaoss Pad!

Well, all this says t adj.

UTILIZATION

I am using that half of the bte because all my samples, I said PC.

SOUNDS

Frankly, though I listen with headphones that I have done on computer, then the cost the exit of the sampler, I hear no diffrence, and my headphone is not a trick two balls purchased from GIFI, although I have, in itself, nothing against this chain of shops, although one could raise questions about morality lgitimes manufacturing of the products they sell, but I think this dborde the context of the topic.

OVERALL OPINION

I think I fell in love with this machine.

I bought six months ago a guy on audio fanzine (publicity stunt for this site, which eats all my time, I think I became acro, the proof is when my home page I open my browser, you do not care? good I know but it's just trying to get me out of this state of grassland newbie I'm a. ...)

The worst as I bought it while silent in a bad state, and yet it works. It is quite limited, for sure, I have not it in my set, but hey, take example of polyphony. Limit is 8 voice, but who needs four samples strosrieux? We put 4 in mono, and we still have room for two samples that they will use the panoramic vritablement ... Well I know a parraitre empty can, but when I realized a (which I used only samples Stereo), Ben has made me change the look of this machine, that, God forbid, I, for one moment of sweet madness, tent to sell. In fact I almost complete the sale completed, but the potential buyer (also encountered on AudioFanzine), I plant the last minute. Thank you to him!

In conclusion this machine m'clate. We arrive (in eroding) put his cot and default limits. It has no prtention, it does what you request. It is versatile and not CHRE, I have a group it is o the drummer module dclencement its sound is happiness for him that the coup did not have to invest in miliard dollars in a module spcial mga cool thing spcial top batsman to get to the same thing and no latency! (Personal joke, but it's true DSOL) I modulates the effects on parts of the drummer (albeit with a more kaos pad) but it works nikel.
In another group, I use it as a loop player, it allows me to do what I want without lugging my PC each rpt.
When I make beef, I play with some samples with no particular rhythm to add athmosphre ...

A good machine that does not turn water into wine, but if you know one who does, give me the rf ...

No utility pc edition, no USB

memory "unlimited" 128 mega card

UTILIZATION

We must send a program change to change the bank when the onset of a keyboard or drum module Maitree elec

edition sounds a little galley Since the machine works in 16 bits and bcp people working in 24-bit (c is to say all banks sounds that I use). c is to say if you want to load a memory card of 24-bit samples it will all turn into 16-bit ... too boring)

sufficient manual except that twelve o'clock No part explained well enough by the bank select an external module (I remember quite a pain)

SOUNDS

RCA inputs .. no top
converters pretty bad (not tried the optical input)

it is best to save his card, his work before her, and send it directly to the storage card (there is a history of root folder is a Tangle little brushes on the placement of sound files in the banks, and more is the problem of 16-bit format, which requires samples to convert its 16 bit .. I hate), and if I may reintroduce fermettre the card in the SP505 preloaded with these banks

some cool effects for live, including voicetransformer.
distortion overdrive reverb ugly

OVERALL OPINION

What I did not like: lack of separate outputs, so you forget the external effects or EQ on certain tracks, or record multiple tracks outside.

liked: very easy to make simple lines of drums according BAR (if you took the time to load the beast with samples in the correct format) you understand that I am lazy

I find not well in sampler triggered by an external module, because not practical, but fun in "standalone if I may say," used as a standalone mpc (except no separate outputs, no velocity on the pads, which leaves its average quality because the converters, and quality effects). a quality monitoring system using avere s ca.

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

Pretty good sampler in CAR, with soft pads in use (nice enough to play)
If I remember correctly SD memory card.
Effects of fairly good quality and I have chosen the most tape delay that sounded pretty good for a dub / reggae.

UTILIZATION

Very easy to use, I read the first 4 pages and all inclusive.
In fact it was my brother who used it more than I play the sample with a small group of friends, knowing that he does know almost nothing about machinery and some explanations he was doing pretty well.

SOUNDS

Effects effective, good potatoes, sampling acceptable quality.

OVERALL OPINION

Used for 1 year and a half.

Personally I would take the SP808 which is more powerful, but to use the stage to play some samples is more than enough.

MBM's poor. This small sampling of Groove Box is a gem. 8 voice polyphony. Sample RAM and SmartMedia (max: 128MB). 16 pads. Pattern sequencer 4 tracks. A multi-effects (26 effects) of high quality. Sampling Function (analog and digital), re-sampling. CHOP (a bit like Recycle) and pitch (which displays on the little keyboard transposed the sample you just picked). And then there BMP sync. From TimeStrecht in real time. Really transparent if it does not exceed the reasonable

UTILIZATION

Publishing is a biblical simplicity. And for good reason, the functions are few but well chosen. Getting started is easy. The manual is clear although not essential as easily tamed the beast

SOUNDS

As noted above, the converters are transparent. No artifact is the ROLAND. The multi effect is of good quality (pity there have one). Few parameters (3 per item) which allows real time thanks to the 3 knobs

OVERALL OPINION

I had an MPC2000, an SP-808; gas plants. Then this little Bécanne-looking toy Mattel. Clearly for me, there's no picture. I keep my SP505. With SmartMedia nothing easier than to concoct loops of the devil on the PC and then transfer them in less time than it takes to tell. The price / quality ratio is also excellent (around 650 euros in May 2002). It's been a month since I use it and nothing works. I can not get enough.

Possibility of playing 8 samples at the same time, the sequencer is simple and effective. the number of items is more than sufficient and allows tweaking sounds in all directions. Most impressive is the time stretching that occurs in real time.

UTILIZATION

Easy to use, clear manual, the only problem is the accessibility of certain functions which for me does not make a standalone device.

SOUNDS

Good sound quality far above the sampler electribe

OVERALL OPINION

Well suited for use in real time, it does not seem to me that it could be interesting as standalone module

(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).

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)

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)

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)

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)