Question for roland spd-s

RyanL

Member
Okay I posted a topic on the machine a while ago and I am most likely going to buy one but I just have one question. Is it possible to have a click running through the machine but hooked up to earphones so I only hear the click and then have all the loops/sounds coming out through the mix, that way everything stays in time during a live set. thanks!
 
I don't own one of those, but I don't think they are meant to be used as a conventional metronome or click. I found an answer to your question here: http://blog.steveweissmusic.net/05/roland-spd-s-sample-pad/
It looks like you're going to need to use a seperate piece of gear for a click. Even if you could do what you are saying, though, I bet it would be a pain in the butt to have to go through all the sounds on the SPD-S, which are probably sampled stereo, and pan them all one way.

@ suttonsam,

The internal metronome click is only available during recording (sampling, resampling or phrase making). Further more, the click itself cannot be recorded (unless you push it to a mixer that will pass it back to the SPD-S but you don’t want to do that… huge feedback).

You could use an extenal metronome that you’ll connect on the right channel with your instrument on the left channel and record them simultaneously. This implies that you’ll need to record a sample for the duration of the whole song.

What I do is the following. I record my sequences with an external metronome (but I don’t record the click). When, I play, I’m using the same metronome and I trigger the sequences at the appropriate moment and I always have the right tempo. I’m using the Peterson Bodybeat metronome which I clamp on my beld so there are no anoying wire around my head and arms while I’m drumming.

Hints for your sequences.
1 sequence = 1 sample. What I mean is, don’t record a sample that includes long pause (more than 1 or 2 bars) between notes or sounds. You’re better off trigerring them everytime. It uses less memory and it is more forgiving during live performance.

By François Tadros on Oct 17, 2008

Basically, record your samples with an external metronome, and then use that same metronome live when playing, and it will work fine as long as you start your loops accurately (by not hitting pads early or late). Makes sense.
 
What you could do is record a click track onto your computer. The length of it should be 4 or 5 measures or so longer than the actual song. Save it as a Wav file and put it into your SPD-S via the compactflash card. Assign that click track to a footswitch or a pad on the SPD-S and when you wanna start the song, let it play for a few beats to get the idea of the tempo, click off the rest of the band and you're good. It will play through the headphones like all the other samples. I know you don't really wanna hear the samples through the headphones, but you could only put one earbud in? Good thing about doing it this way is that you never have to worry about remembering the tempo again. I've never done this personally with my SPD-S but it seems entirely do-able. Good luck.
 
Here's how I do it:

Record the tracks in stereo WITH click. So you have the backing track in stereo and the click track panned all the way to the left (or right, whatever your preference). You will need to program a few measures of click beforehand so you know when to start.

When you put record the track onto the sampler, do it in stereo (make sure you take off the effects or you get bleed-over from the click). When you set up the sampler (assuming you've recorded the click to the left side) put a dummy plug in the left output channel and then run the right channel out to the mix. Then just use the headphone output on the back of the SPD-S.

This method is THE BEST for preconfigured songs. The only way this doesn't work is if you don't do your songs the same every time like if sometimes you tag a chorus more times than others... etc etc. If that's the case, you'll want to do what one of the previous guys said and record a click track alone then trigger each sample individually throughout the songs. I would avoid that because it will take up pad space quick.

If you need any more help with this, feel free to PM me or just keep this thread going. I've had LOTS of nightmares trying to get this to work in the past but now have a good system down for it after asking a bunch of pro's that do it the same way.
 
Alright thanks a lot for the info, I think I'm going to get it. Another question I have is (kinda off topic) what type of earphones are best for playing live to? I haven't used a click while playing live yet and I'm looking to start and regular earphones aren't loud enough.
 
i've been fond of the m-audio inears. They're pretty solid. If you have a good budget go for some high end ultimate ears, thats what i use now. Sound amazing and you can still somewhat hear outside noise so you can still hear off a wedge if you don't have the mix running in your ears.
 
Here's how I do it:

Record the tracks in stereo WITH click. So you have the backing track in stereo and the click track panned all the way to the left (or right, whatever your preference). You will need to program a few measures of click beforehand so you know when to start.

When you put record the track onto the sampler, do it in stereo (make sure you take off the effects or you get bleed-over from the click). When you set up the sampler (assuming you've recorded the click to the left side) put a dummy plug in the left output channel and then run the right channel out to the mix. Then just use the headphone output on the back of the SPD-S.

This method is THE BEST for preconfigured songs. The only way this doesn't work is if you don't do your songs the same every time like if sometimes you tag a chorus more times than others... etc etc. If that's the case, you'll want to do what one of the previous guys said and record a click track alone then trigger each sample individually throughout the songs. I would avoid that because it will take up pad space quick.

If you need any more help with this, feel free to PM me or just keep this thread going. I've had LOTS of nightmares trying to get this to work in the past but now have a good system down for it after asking a bunch of pro's that do it the same way.

That's how I set my SPD-s up just this weekend. Did all the work in Adobe Audition, panned the click all the way to one side...I use in-ears for the click running thru a headphone amp. Also have a bit of the samples thru my right ear to make sur ewe're in sync. I have noticed I still have a little bleeding in the out "house" mix...I'll need to check the effects..I thought they were turned OFF. Anyway it works great
 
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Hey Guys

I have been using the spds with cubase exported wavs (imported then assigned to patches), click panned left and track panned right. This has been working great!! however, we have some stereo effects on the backtrack that dont sound correct when we use the mono output (L). The effects have to pan left and right at different times during playback.

We have been thinking we are gonna have to ditch the SPDS and think of something else. Would you know a way we can export the wavs from cubase and still isolate the click track for stereo output?

Thanks

Dan
 
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