The Roland SP-404 Sampling Workstation is a sampler made by

Roland Corporation is a Japanese multinational manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment, and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on 18 April 1972. In 2005, its headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefect ...

. Released in 2005, it is part of the SP family and successor to where

Boss Corporation Boss is a manufacturer of Effects unit, effects pedals for electric guitar and bass guitar. It is a division of the Roland Corporation, a Japanese manufacturer that specializes in musical equipment and accessories. For many years Boss has manu ...

’s SP-505 sampler left off. The sampler was succeeded by the SP-555 in 2008, but was later given its own upgrade as the Roland SP-404SX Linear Wave Sampler in 2009. Another upgrade, the Roland SP-404A Linear Wave Sampler, was released in 2017. A third upgrade, the SP-404MKII was released in 2021. The Roland SP-404 has played a huge role in influencing the sound of popular Hip Hop subgenre known as Lofi HipHop.

Features

OG / SX / A

Having the traditional features of the Roland Grooveboxes, the 404 has the ability to record audio directly via line/mic, or import/export industry-standard WAV and AIF files via

CompactFlash CompactFlash (CF) is a flash memory mass storage device used mainly in portable electronic devices. The format was specified and the devices were first manufactured by SanDisk in 1994. CompactFlash became one of the most successful of the e ...

card. An onboard pattern sequencer allows up to 8,000 notes to be recorded in real time. Pattern data can be quantized and up to 24 patterns, each 1–99 measures long, can be stored in the internal memory. Using a 1GB CompactFlash card, sampling times can be as long as approximately 772 minutes in Lo-Fi mode, or up to 386 minutes long in Standard mode. However, the 404 (along with its own upgrades) lacks the

D-Beam The D-Beam is a Roland synthesizers interface that can control and manipulate sound and effects via the user's hand movements interacting with an infrared beam of light. Background The D-Beam was originally manufactured by Interactive Light, as a ...

feature of the previous SP-808 and

SP-606 The Roland SP-606 is a music sampler manufactured by Roland Corporation. It is part of the SP family, which includes Roland’s popular SP-303 and SP-404 installments. Released in the year of 2004, the sampler was soon succeeded in 2005 by the ...

installments. Although the first bank comes with preset samples that are protected, these samples can be removed by holding "cancel" as you turn it on
This allows you to delete the samples from the protected bank.
The release of the 404SX in 2009 introduced the change from

cards to SD cards, along with additional features, faster processing and changes to the in-built quantization system. The 404A introduced cross-compatibility with the Roland TR-8.

MKII

Released in 2021, the 404MKII was a significant upgrade, while retaining the unit's original form factor. Among the new features were an

OLED An organic light-emitting diode (OLED), also known as organic electroluminescent (organic EL) diode, is a type of light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is an organic compound film that emits light in respon ...

display capable of showing sample waveforms, 16 GB of internal memory,

USB-C USB-C, or USB Type-C, is a 24-pin reversible Electrical connector, connector (not a Communication protocol, protocol) that supersedes previous USB hardware#Connectors, USB connectors (also supersedes Mini DisplayPort and Lightning (connector) ...

and 32-note polyphony. The device was also given a new "Skip Back Sampling" feature with the addition of a "Mark" Button. This feature provides users the option to record the most recent 40 seconds of usage with the press of the button.

In popular culture

A number of musicians have used either the SP-303 and/or the SP-404 as part of their production and performance. These include Jel,

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, Alias,

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, Joji, MF Doom,

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, Milo,

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, James Blake, Samiyam, Ras G,

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, Antonio Planta,

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and Atlas Sound,

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, Spindrift, Toro y Moi,

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, John Maus,

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, El Guincho, Illmind, Dibia$e,

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(Daniel Lopatin), Matt Mondanile of Ducktails,

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, and many others.

References

External links