Using the new Roland app to manage samples

Roland’s brought the 404 into the 21st century with even more ways to work

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Roland have added another new way to interface with the SP-404 MKII that wasn’t possible in previous iterations of the unit and that’s the new Graphical Editor and Librarian Software, which is a free download from Roland Cloud. The app connects to the 404 via the USB connection.

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There’s a graphical representation of the waveform of whatever the last played sample was, with the ability to change the Play mode, the level and pan settings, and the Loop settings for each sample. It’s also possible to truncate or normalise your sample with the buttons directly under the waveform display.

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Changing the start/end points of your sample is as simple as grabbing the markers and dragging. Under the Prms tab, you can assign the sample to a Mute Group, link samples so multiple samples are triggered by hitting one pad, and assign Roll and Bus FX settings. While it’s easy to do all this on the 404 itself, having everything on one screen can give you a nice summary overview of your project.

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The app is particularly handy as it also shows a complete overview of which pads have samples assigned and which are free. At times it can be challenging to remember which pads over ten banks have samples assigned to them, especially when resampling, so this visual representation is clutch.

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In the settings tab at the bottom of the app, it’s possible to make more Global adjustments. Tempo and overall Bank volume can be set on this page. Projects can also be imported and exported; even old 404-SX projects can be imported here so don’t flip your old model just yet!

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Importing samples to the 404 via the app is a drag and drop affair. You can also easily move samples to a new pad location by simply dragging and dropping; copying is done the same way by just holding the Control key while dropping.