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DJ Rig with the Roland SP808

Roland MV8800 Production Studio Since 2003, Roland's MV-8000 has been a coveted centerpiece for many of the world's greatest hip-hop and R&B producers. With its powerful hands-on features, and its ability to incorporate a VGA monitor and mouse, it brought the best of the hardware- and software- based production worlds together. Today, Roland sets a new standard in production power and flexibility with the MV-8800. Akai MPC1000 Music Production Center Small but perfectly formed, the MPC1000 is a welcome addition to a now legendary product line which holds a unique position in the evolution of modern electronic music. Inheriting all the features which make the MPC so recognizable, the MPC1000 is not only a perfect compliment to its larger MPC siblings, but a powerful Music Production Center in its own right.

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The venerable SP808 was one of my early phrase samplers.  It used a zip drive as memory and would stream from zip disks as you hit the pads.  The Machine came out in 1998.  It had the then revolutionary D-beam and was definitely in competition with the Akai MPC units. 

The Sp808 had a good sound for digital sampling.  Yet the lack of memory led me never to take it seriously.  Also, zip disks were pretty much hated by everyone who had one fail. 

Interesting how Roland merged this unit with its JV/XV line of keyboards and came up with a new product, the Roland Fantom.  Its also the precursor to the Roland MV8000 and MV8800.  Its interesting to note how ahead of the curve Roland was incorporating audio recording with sampling in one box. 

Today, 2009, the software that best does whet the SP808 did is, in my opinion, MOTU's BPM.

Links

http://www.tweakheadz.com/review_of_motu_BPM.htm

Reviews of the Roland SP808

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