New Instrument Day

I got a new instrument to learn this winter, as we keep staying home to avoid and prevent the spread of COVID-19; a Roland SP-404SX sampler, the defining box of lo-fi hip-hop.

To start learning I recorded some terrible beatboxing on my part, and CA singing the chorus of Dessa’s “5 Out Of 6” and an improvised accompaniment part.

How it started pic.twitter.com/WkcYtYExPe

— M/S Ride – Night Mode – Mars Lights – MFR (@marslightsnoise) November 13, 2020

Here’s that material chopped up, with effects applied, and arranged into something like a song.

Added sub to the kick, learned how to turn off sample gate to get the pick-up notes to work across patterns (which let me clean up the drums)

This is @dessadarling ‘s “5 out of 6” btw as sung by CA in two seconds pic.twitter.com/WPs9au81Sd

— M/S Ride – Night Mode – Mars Lights – MFR (@marslightsnoise) November 19, 2020

Next up is working through the manual in detail (yeah, I RTFM) and pulling some samples from Night Mode and Dark Satellites.