Keep time · SP-404MKII guide

6.1Intermediate

Give a sample its tempo

The 404 tracks tempo at three levels: each sample has one, each bank has one and each project has one. A sample’s tempo describes the audio itself, and getting it right is what lets the 404 alter the sample’s speed and pitch so it stays in time with other music.

The three tempos

Tempo	Belongs to	In use when
Sample tempo	One sample	No pattern is playing. A sample you trigger uses its own tempo as standard.
Bank tempo	All the samples and patterns in a bank	`TEMPO SEL` is set to a bank, `BANK A`–`BANK J`.
Project tempo	All the samples and patterns in a project	`TEMPO SEL` is set to `PROJECT`.

Patterns play at whichever of the bank or project tempo is selected, and a sample with BPM SYNC on has its speed converted to match (Lock a sample to the tempo). You set those two in Choose and set the bank or project tempo. The rest of this section is about the sample’s own number, which you can have detected or dial in yourself.

Detect the tempo with AUTO

Press PITCH/SPEED to open the pitch/speed screen.
Press the pad of the sample you want to analyse.
Turn VALUE until BPM SET reads AUTO, then press VALUE. BPM RANGE? appears.
Turn VALUE to choose a range from the table below, then press VALUE. You’re asked to confirm.
Turn VALUE to OK and press VALUE. When the analysis finishes, the result becomes the sample’s BPM value.

BPM RANGE options

Setting	How it finds the tempo	When to choose it
`SX (Length)`	Works from the length of the sample, the method the SP-404SX uses.	For samples of up to around ten seconds.
`100-199`, `80-159`, `70-139`, `50-99`	Analyses frequency content across the whole sample. This method is unique to the MKII.	Pick the range where you expect the sample’s tempo to fall.

Set the tempo by hand with MANU

Press PITCH/SPEED to open the pitch/speed screen.
Press the pad of the sample you want to set.
Turn VALUE until BPM SET reads MANU or MANU-F, then press VALUE.
Turn VALUE to the BPM you want, then press VALUE.

Already know the tempo, or tired of AUTO guessing wrong? This is the way to go. Tapping the tempo in works here as well (Tap in a tempo).

Parameters

BPM SET: How the sample’s tempo gets set. AUTO detects it, MANU lets you dial it in to 0.1 of a BPM, and MANU-F to 0.01.Range AUTO, MANU, MANU-F
VALUE: The tempo you dial in by hand.Range 40.00–200.00

Related settings

To detect the tempo whenever you import a sample, use BPM Auto Dtct and BPM Detect Rng in Every system setting.
Hold REMAIN while you change BPM on the pitch/speed screen to change the other samples in the bank too (What the Remain button does).
Hold COPY while you change BPM to change the other samples in the same mute group (Let samples cut each other off).
Groove depends on the sample’s tempo too, so set it first (Give a sample some swing).

From the community

【SP-404MKII】BPM / PITCH / SPEED【How to Setup】
Roland ｜ローランド
How sample, bank and project BPM relate, what BPM sync does, and how pitch/speed settings differ. From Roland’s Japanese channel, so expect Japanese; YouTube offers auto-generated English captions.

SP-404 Guide: Pitch Shifting, Time Stretching, and BPM Sync
Chris Laps
A thorough guide to vinyl mode, pitch and time algorithms, project and bank tempo and BPM sync, worked through on drums, bass and vocals.

6.2Intermediate

Choose and set the bank or project tempo

The bank or project tempo is the one your patterns play at, and the one BPM SYNC fits samples to. One screen, TEMPO SEL, lets you pick which of the two is in charge and set its value.

Each bank’s tempo is shared by everything in that bank, so use it when different banks need to run at different speeds. The project tempo is shared by everything in the project, so use it when the whole lot should stay on one tempo.

Hold SHIFT and press PAD 11. The TEMPO SEL screen opens.
Turn CTRL 1 to choose PROJECT or the bank tempo.
Turn VALUE to set the tempo. Hold SHIFT as you turn it to set the decimal part.
Press EXIT.

Key combinations

SHIFT + PAD 11: Opens TEMPO SEL to choose and set the tempo, and turns on tap tempo.
SHIFT + VALUE: Sets the decimal part of the tempo.On the TEMPO SEL screen; turn the knob

Parameters

TEMPO SEL: Chooses the base tempo for BPM SYNC and for pattern playback. The bank option shown follows the bank you currently have selected.CTRL 1 knobRange PROJECT, BANK A–BANK J

If you’d rather feel the tempo than dial it in, you can tap it from this same screen (Tap in a tempo).

From the community

SP-404 Mk2 Beginner's Guide (Part 3): Patterns, Real Time Recording, TR-Rec Mode & Chaining
Chris Laps
Part 3 covers real-time recording and layering, project and bank tempo, cropping and copying, bouncing, TR-REC and chains.

6.3Basics

Tap in a tempo

When you’re playing along with other musicians or a record, tapping is the quick way to get a number. Beat time on SUB PAD, and the 404 turns the gaps between your taps into a BPM.

Hold SHIFT and press PAD 11. SUB PAD starts blinking orange, which means it’s ready.
Tap SUB PAD several times, on the beat. The screen shows the BPM your tapping works out to.
When the number looks right, press EXIT to leave the screen. That tempo now belongs to the project or the bank, the same pair TEMPO SEL chooses between (Choose and set the bank or project tempo).

Key combinations

SUB PAD: Sets the tempo from the timing of your taps.While it’s blinking orange

Tapping isn’t limited to this screen. You can use it when you set a sample’s tempo by hand (Give a sample its tempo) and when you set the tempo for sampling (Set up a recording). In sample mode, SUB PAD has another job when it isn’t taking taps, which you choose with Sub Pad Mode in Every system setting.

From the community