Members toomanyKORGs Posted January 20, 2009 Members Share Posted January 20, 2009 hey all, what are the pros and cons of these 2 samplers? i really like the design of the 555 it seems really easy to create with, but i dont know much about the 500 but heard its comparable. anyone know first hand which would be a smarter buy in the long-run for an electronic musician? thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tjwett Posted January 20, 2009 Members Share Posted January 20, 2009 i was looking at both for a while and wound up with neither. the 555 has some cool tricks up its sleeve and i like the storage method but i found the effects were too over the top for my needs and when i did get a tone i liked i wasn't crazy about the sound quality. i also just don't seem to get the UI and found it a bit weird. the 500 is great as it's giving you a much more full featured sequencer and a more bread and butter sampler. the effects are basically not even worth mentioning, typical MPC. however, the little screen was annoying but that might just be due to my past experience with the 1000, which i loved. i think i'd honestly just spend that same amount of money on a used 1000. and probably add JJOS. if the battery power (which is short) and portability thing are major selling points you could always get one later as the 500 loads/saves with the 1000 format anyway. would make a nice live set box but for lots of work i'd opt for the used 1000 for sure. do you need a real sequencer to control other gear or be your "hub"? if so, the 555 isn't really an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundxplorer Posted January 20, 2009 Members Share Posted January 20, 2009 I'm facing a similar choice, between an MPC1000 w/JJOS, or going cheaper with the SP-555. tjwett's advice is good. If you need a full-featured sequencer to control other gear, an MPC is what you want. However, the 1000 with JJOS is so much better than the 500 that it is worth saving up for. The SP-555 functions more like a typical drum machine, i.e. you have one sequencer track and you record/erase layers of each sample pad onto that one track. And if that's all you need, you should look at the SP-404 too. I'm leaning towards the SP-555 because all I want is basically a drum machine to replace my Korg Electribe sampler. And the 555 addresses my main gripes with the Electribe: velocity-sensitive pads and a high-resolution sequencer (instead of the grid sequencer). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members midi Posted January 20, 2009 Members Share Posted January 20, 2009 I had the SP-555 but ended up selling it and getting the MC-808- much better quality and editing options... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members xmlguy Posted January 20, 2009 Members Share Posted January 20, 2009 If you need velocity pads to control your Electribe, the padKontrol works great. It has purty lights too. It's relatively inexpensive, can be found used, and it remains useful even if you upgrade from the Electribe to something else. With the padKontrol you could buy the SP-404 used for much cheaper than the SP-555. I've seen the 404 used for $200. I think I've seen the padKontrol for under $100 used. I prefer the 404 to the 555, since the AA battery power is very useful to avoid running a dongle to an outlet nearby. I also much prefer the SP-606 to the 555, since a lot of useful features disappeared and crappy ones added instead, like the looper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meatball Fulton Posted January 20, 2009 Members Share Posted January 20, 2009 The #1 feature of the Roland SP series is that samples are streamed from the storage media...no need to wait for loading to RAM...and can be any length that fits on the storage cards, hours if you like. They are very immediate to use as far as triggering samples and effects but the sequencers are primitive, not usable for much beyond making drum tracks. As far as SP vs. MPC what other gear do you own, what genres are you working in, live or studio? I also much prefer the SP-606 to the 555, since a lot of useful features disappeared and crappy ones added instead, like the looper. Agreed, I owned a 606 and it was far superior...better sequencer features, better display, digital audio I/O, audio over USB (useful when gigging with laptops), etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundxplorer Posted January 20, 2009 Members Share Posted January 20, 2009 After more research, the 555 is missing one feature from the Electribes that I really use a lot: a dedicated pitch control for each sample. You can use the pitch shifter effect on the 555, but I like being able to tune each sample individually. Maybe this is the solution: ES-1 + padKontrol + SP-404 Buying used, I think I'm still under the cost of an MPC1000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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