Boss SP-303 Dr. Sample

Some people complain about the 3 digit LCD display limiting one's ability to know what they're controlling....I say, it's a sampler, a tool for sound manipulation, if you need words and visual icons and pop-up menus to tell you what you're doing, then this sampler, won't be to helpful. This sampler is for people who use thier EARS FIRST. My personal bias regarding ease of use is first based on an intolerance for menus and screens. I got this thing because it's all buttons, big shiny red buttons, and all functions pretty much have their own dedicated buttons. There are a handfull of functions (such as swapping sample locations) that requre obscure button combinations, but the manual is helpful when you need it.
sampling is easy, resampling is almost easier, and the efects never get hard.
Though this thing is marketed for live remix/DJ stuff, it doesn't limit itself to just that application. As a cheap tabletop sampler, it's nice that it's not meant just as a looper (yamaha and redsound) or just as a drum machine (electribe).

the thing is compact...based more on button pushing than on menu reading. that's good; music is is about movement and muscle memory (twist knobs, push buttons, "feel it out") not about reading (reading illuminated sub-menus on rack gear).

the thing features luminous pads to easily read in the dark (where most buttons light up to be read), but the printed list of multi-effects is not illuminated. I'm not interested in wasting brainspace to memorize 26 effects. I expect to be too busy keeping an eye out for moshers and those that try to sneak up to drag me off stage (or at least stab me in the buttock), so I can't be bothered with READING my own SOUND GEAR.

this thing remains easiy becase it can actually do a lot, and it keeps it fairly easy (...no sub-menus).

"loaded with features"...hmmm, when considering it's size and programming logice, you can do quite a lot with the elegantly simple interface and systematics of this thing.

solid, small, brick-like body (...use as weapon, not as shield).

Variable sample rates allow you flexibility in how you ration the moderate internal memory (16 meg?). which is cool. A smart-card drive that can accept up to 64 meg cards is awesome. shit, you could fit several tens of minutes of lo-fi on ths puppy (in case you wanna make a speech at the touch of a numbered button). Oddly, the manual says that "if the remaining available time exceeds 100 minutes, it will not show seconds" (in regard to how the 3-dig display should be translated), and though this suggests epic sample time for something smaller than a bread box, the manual doen't clarify at what bit-rationing the remaining time (MEMORY) is calculated.
...damn roland manuals.


Ok...a lot of people keep comparing this to the Electribe ES-1 ("rhythm production") sampler...that's a bad idea, because they are completely different animals.
I have both, and, having researched exactly what they do (to see what gear fit my needs) and chosen them accordingly, I would like to set the record straight.

The boss sp-303 is a phrase sampler that can loop/trigger/reverse samples, with effects. if you sample a beat/phrase onto this sampler, it stores it as a whole chunk of audio. phrases can be adjusted to flix into different pitch, but time stretching disrupts audio because the phrase is in one piece.
The sp-303 can handle anything from 40 bpm to 200.
The "time" of a sample is calculated as a function of bpm that assumes the sample is to play (and if, desired, loop) as an even number of bars. Whne you press a button and don't activate any effect other business, the 3-digit display tells you the samples bpm *(natural, or as adjusteD). EXAMPLE, the one drumbeat that comes already on the machine (and thankfully can be deleted), is 4 bars of drumming at 100 bpm. I FIRST sampled in a phrase that's 8 bars of drumming (originally at 130 bpm), and after, trimming it to loop cleanly, the sampler would tell me it was 130. I could adjust it down to 100, or up to 200, and it would loop "staying right on beat" with the factory beat. A SECOND drum beat I sampled was 3 bars at 100 bpm. trimmed, it would not stay "on beat" with the factory 4-bar/100bpm beat. to get them to "play together" (and both start over every 12 bars), i had to slow the 3 bar beat to time=66 and slow the factory 4 bar beat to 99. hence WARNING= you may need a CALCULATOR to do some bmp/measure arithmatic if you want to prepare some nutty polyrhythmic oversync-action (...like I do, b/c I know that something that loops every 4 bars gets boring a lot faster than something that loops every 24 bars...).
Note, the 303 can only duplicate samples by resampling (this machine cannot simply copy and paste) so you'll have to do trim/truncate work if you want smooth-sync duplicates. Get handy with the reverse button to trim the end of a sample.
The sp-303 has a moderate pattern sequencer, so you can write up little loops of triggering samples (to make rhythms of whatever...just listen to the audio-poop that comes factory preset).
however, pattens sequenced on a given bank can only employ samples from that bank. The 303's sequencer can handle patterns any # of bars from 1 to 99, but each bar is 4/4 time; if you're clever, you can get this thing to play odd time (13 bars of four can be made to sound like 4 bars of 13). the pattern sequencer can be synced (at quarter notes), with incoming midi clock (so loopy 13/4 stuff on the sp-303 will stay in time with the 4/4 assault of my drum machine).
luckily, samples time-stretch can be set off (return to native tempo), or forced into the pattern's potiental bmp. For this, samples played over the looping pattern, and you adjust time-sca

if you buy this thing because of what it sounds like in the store, then I wish you the best of luck; that kind of music ("BAaaa-BAY, YEAaaaaH!") is already a dying breed, and if you actually plan on using these factory presets to make music, then are missing the point (...with the exception of the eloquent Mr. Maniac, feature below).

samplers of this ilk you judge by thier resolution and effects. as such (in it's budget- and utility-range), I say the sp-303 remains at the top.

The 303 has 26 effects, each tweaked with the 3 edit knobs (my electirbe only has 11, controlled by 2 knobs).
I was actually impressed at the flexibility of the "standard issue" effects (chorus, phaser, etc), but kinda disappointed by others. for example, the phase and flange can be pushed fast enough to scramble something, or can go slow enough to "stop" (nice multi-polling), but the resonant filter, while, cool, does not sweep down far enough (dammit, I wanna be able to filter down to zero...and the drive knob should have been a mix knob). The efffect that use two knobs to blend wet and dry independently (pitch, fing mod, voice transformer, etc) could have done fine with a wet/dry cross blender, allowing for more sound flexibility (...dammmit, let me adjust recycle TIME on the pitch, waveshape the ring mod, and let me dial in/out a desired amound of formant control...god DAMMIT, the voice transformer could have so easily been a simple vocoder...but NOoooo, it's just a different flavor of pitch shifter.

A lot of people complain that the time-stretch algorithms are weak, and make your beats get lumpy with even nominal beat adjustment.
It occurs to me that pople concered with keeping everything in tempo are most likly the DJ's who keep the same tempo for long intervals of time (cuz' everyone knows that if you want to DJ the electronic equivalent of math-rock...you need a Mac...). to those, people, I advise they use it more as a sampler (as intended), and let your records bear the brunt of the time-keeping.


the polyphony is 8 (4 with effects), and that's a fact.
NOTICE... a lot of people have complained that the sp-303 can only play samples from multiple banks, which forced people to bunch thier samples into families.
The 202 could do this....but NOW the 303 CAN. Roland has come up with updated software to allow it to play from multiple banks.
all you gotta do is call roland/boss (hope you can get em on the phone), and have em send you a flashcard by which you can update your sampler.

Now, since the Pattern sequncer just plays programmed loops of samples, I'm sure that using the patterns along with playing samples will max out the polyphony.
People who want to be disappointed with limitations are not really thinking innovatively. Knowing how to respect and creatively work-around limitations of power and logic is a great window to creativity.
remember, people, pushing things to their limit is one of the truest ways to innovate (...who here remembers where flanging came from ? ).

My sampler was already updated with the new software (...but not any new factory presets....dear GOD...they really DON'T care...).
I wish the best of luck to anyone who undertakes this. I've heard that the readme file is on the card, so unless your computer has a smart-drive, you'll have to call up roland and have 'em walk you thru the procedure.
then again...go ahead....do that.. (multiple times a week). roland deserves to jump thru hoops now if their gonna try to prove themselves to have better customer support.
(I just hope you don't have to talk to the Pirate...).

it's tough and bricklike. all the buttons are sleek and flush to the body, and the flash-card slot has a screw on locking cover. the only thing is those flimsy knobs that stick out. if those knobs were made like flat dials (like smoot action data whells with a little indention for a pointer), then I would have no worries stuffing this thing into my backpack without the box. however, those knobs are just looking to get broken off, I have to pack it in it's box, which doubles it's load size (though provides room for patch cables and adaptor).
oh well, this is just one more thing that unfortunately forces people to get road cases.
I jsut don't like the idea of spending more on cases than I do on what's inside them.

Most people lack faith in Roland's customer support because they can't be reached. I ACTUALLY TALKED TO THEM, and I can say that their support STILL STUCKS.

Most of the time, Roland/Boss is impossible to get on the phone. However, i called 'em up to ask about the 303's looping programmability (if and HOW I could set samples to loop in time with incoming midi clock data, and if/how I could set samples of ambience to freewheel in and out of sync with each other...b/c I want to do both), and the guy that I talked to was actually quite rude. Either he was in a bad mood, or had a long day, but he damn near threw a fit with his persistance to define to me "IT's s SAMPLER...it's like TAPE...". I knew this. I knew it wasn't a multilayer sequencer (a' la electribe), but as it turns out, I only came to fully understand what it could/could not do for looping and sync until I had one to experiment with.
Attitude or not, it's bad customer support to not be able to understand "the what AND THE HOW" of your products and/or to not communcate these things to customers.
Also, the guy on the phone had a scary voice...probably emphazema. I mean come on, what kind of company let's belligerant. if roland put manuals online (YAY KORG), then it would rock. people could get a better idea of how this thing is designed, and would be more informed.

I bought this thing new...and it's a funny story. I wanted to buy it from a store, so that I could have the warrantee and have a warm body to answer to. one morning, I checked ebay, and saw one for "boy it now for $200"....i then went to guitar center (the wal-mart of the music biz), and asked them "how low can you go (from the store price of $300) for me to walk out with it right now?" they offered to go as low as $280 (for just the sampler). I then showed them the paper to let them know that I could just as well go home and get the sampler for less, and they should go lower. They lowered the price down to $360, which included throwing in a midi patch cord. Guitar center buys the sp-303's at-cost for about $215 each.
...fight the power ! (...teehee...).

as far as this puppy goes, it's fun and flexible. I bought this thing to have beside my drum set, not to replace me
(cuz my electribe es-1 can't even do that). For my needs in a live band, it's really handy (...big buttons, big memory, big effects, smaller size than most people's heads).

Don't compare this thing to teh electribe es-1. they are completely different animals.
If you want a sampling drum machine, you could also look at boss's sp-505, but I should let you know the followig.
the 505's time-stretch powers aren't any stronger (things get lumpy just as fast), though the 505 let's you input what time signiture the sample will come in as (...but I don't know if it would still assume/calculate everything to even # of bars....and I don't know if it cand handle times in 5, 7, 9, etc....go see for yourself).
boss made the 505 to try to outdo the korg electribe es-1, but I think they failed (YAY KORG).

the 505 may have more sample time and effects, with a 4 part sequencer, but the simple fact that boss puts in factory souns which cannot be deleted (and which are programmed to do time-stretch better than anything you could put in there...a case of FALSE ADVERTISING), is a FUCKING INSULT to anyone who expects to use a sampler creatively.

Dear Roland/Boss; though you make tough products and dominate several markets, you should understand by now (according to your marketing decisions) why nobody likes you as a company.

Presets were funny for 3 minutes, then go straight into it.
had a 32mb mart media card already, but didn't use it via a usb host in my pc - found it easier to record to via the line in from the stereo playing the samples on the pc - this was very simple with some help from the manual, and the samples were on the 303 and tweaked perfectly (start/stop times) within about 15 minutes.

have not tried the sequencer yet, so can't comment on that.
resampling is easy (and has to be used to retain effects, as only one can be sued at a time).
No problems with the smart card at all, it runs much faster than the internal memory btw.
The midi needs a thru - not much else to say here.
The effects are very good for the price, love the delay.
would have liked to be able to play samples from diff banks in realtime.

Has options for loop (infin play), gate (sample stops when your finger comes off) and one shot (plays through once, finger on or off).
Samples need to be tweaked for start and stop points, then usually resampled with at least one effect (unless done previously on your pc). once that's done you can delete the unused parts of the samples or keep them. resampling on the fly seems responsive, and all samples have the option of normal, lower and lowest sound quality aswell as stereo or mono options (so samples use less space).

Would use live - if i could work out how to apply an effect to a pad already playing in a loop..
Great for tweaking buttons, solid build and excellent lighting on the buttons.

not had to deal with this.

Well worth getting for someone new to sampling or someone just wanting to manipulate sounds.

aaaahhh shiieeet mayyn...Boss's stuff is so easy to use...they got the civilian spirits...jyeah...but as usuall I delete the presets right away but actually keep one cheezy studio r&B musician's singing sample (SAAVVEE SOME TIIIIIIMEEE~~~~~~) for fun..and actually used it in one of my song...hahaha you know my name I am the one who brought you in the dopy game.....I pay my due..an keep my cool..
Editing the patches are cruising for me...more and better effects than sp 202 the only thing I regret is the 202 can have different effects with different settings for each individual samples where the sp 303 can only have one effect and one setting for ALL samples...either you turn it on or off...big big draw back...aaaiiiiiii...ijimaneno...but the effects this time are quite powerful that it can really tweak or morph the samples..lots of fun...
Manual is so dopy!!! very economical..no waste of word, no waste of paper, no waste of time and no waste of mind energy...jyeah I like that.wwowoowowowowoowowoowowoadadadawwowdada!!!

the polyphony really improved too compare to the sp202...now has 8 (4with effects) while the 202 only have 4(2with effects)..I am so glad they didn't change the big pad and the cute non-roman machinery looking letters...and still feels good feels good...but they ARE a little bit slow when I try to sequence all the samples to make a drum loop, sounds choppy...so it kinda requires some work to mark the samples quite close to perfect in order to make the drum loop run smoothly..well it worked out..so It's all gravaaayy!!

Effects are pretty OK..but they do sound kinda cheap compare to my Korg Trinity's effect...but I like how it's kinda cheap cuz...CIVILIAN SPIRITS mayyyn!!!! just being REGULAR!!! effects are very easy to use and this time 303 has three knobs controlling the effect while 202 have only one..so it adds more varaition to the effects themselves.
the smart media is crazy...with 120mb you can have 30 minutes of sampling time..dammnn...you can record SONGS on him...I also hope he can have more banks to I can manage the long sampling time better with more short samples instead of fewer long samples, only 32 spaces..well that's actually pretty good already...I bought him to enjoy my dayz, not WISHING my days away....actually 303 has this new resampling feature...not just you can save space but also you can resample with effects on the original sampling and you can resample them again and again with effects....after resampling several times with the EQ effects...I can get some very punchy and bassy kick drums.
Once again no comment on Midi cuz I am not a Midi man...my only external midi connection is hooking up the Tr727 and Trinity...big time mind fuck already.....dont' wanna deal wit that shieeeesnttt
the sequencer is........................................CIVILIAN SPIRIT...hahahwheithahahwefiaowfjaskl;dfjkl;svnasklfdweiot[pq th2qngfs;.d.....basic shit but now I can make drum loops and even patterns...with the 202 I can only make ambient or back ground cute little sounds for my songs....I think the 303 can be more involved with my music..The sequencer is actually very easy to use...the metronum sounds sooo tight like Huang Qiu Sheng's Beef, very percussive and you can also adjust the volume of the metronum. It has a little quatize function and those numeric whatever is called LED's help count the beats for you 1234 1234 1234 1234 123 123 123 12345 12345 123456 123456
12345678 12345678 pretty cute...

Again and again..just like I said...it's a sampler..so the expressiveness of sound is really up to how the person uses it...but one thing I am gonna say about 303...is that...................................CIVILIAN SPIRIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
heheheeheh sorry I think I eat too much sugar today...kinda hyper my name is not piper...It's sampling capability improved though with 44.1khz cd quality but still can lo fi it like the 202 for the liking of it or save more memories.
I think It can work with all types of music...it's all depends on how you use it and what you sample..
no sorry,, the pads are not velocity sensative...

very reliable,,,I had my vintage Microphone fall on it once..OH NO!!!!..but I am so lucky and it only leaves a hair line mark that you can only see it under some very bright light....but the 202 seem to have a more solid build when I hold it on my hands...yeah..the 303 is kinda light weighted....even the packaging box.....the 202 box really look like a peice of music gear...but 303's box looks like a shoe box mayyn....see...that's when CIVILIAN SPIRITS go too far...gotta bring up the taste a little bit,,,,seee I don't want my girl to be all superficial and ONLY care about outward apprearance...but...you gotta CARE a little bit to a presentable degree or even a visually pleasing degree....shoe box mayynn..make everything look cheap...

never deal with them and don't wanna deal with them

I definitely love this machine...I been using it for a year and become better incorporating samples into my songs cuz the 202 just couldn't do much, with 303 things gets more organize and more dynamic..but the battery operated option for 202 is way too dope...if the 303 have that......well....yeah through these time I keep comparing the 303 with his older brother 202 but I end up have both cuz I am slightly infected with OCD (obsessive consumer disorder) and just thought it would look cool with both 202 and 303 on my hands now the 303 is my real samplin sation and 202 becomes a sketch pad...I love walking around and sample found sounds...so 202 is more for the ambience of my music and 303 is my groove station now..hehee...I even use the 303 as an effect box with my Korg VC10 vocoder...he can really do alot..if it were stolen I would definitely get another one.....last words...for the traditional heads out there who are caught up with all the akai's...do your things maynn..but I really recommend the 303 to the Civilians out there who are intimidated by the elitist interface and the price of akai sampler.
303 IS for the people!!!!! one love!!!

This sampler offers a wide variety of effects but it lacks the professional quality of other samplers. The SP-303 is not very accurate when determining the start and stop time of a sample. While other samplers do this by adjusting the time in numbers the SP-303 does this while the sound is playing by clicking a button to zoom in on a particular part. In my opinion a KORG ES-1 would be a better buy for DJ's musicians, etc. It one midi IN while the KORG ES-1 has IN/OUT and Through. The manual for it is also very vague.

The sound quality is good with RCA ins and outs. CD sound Quality.

Too much loading time. Inaccurate sampling rate. Not very profficient. Too simple not accurate.

If i were you i'd spend the extra cash for an ES-1 or an AKAI sampler.

I just got this and I was loving it but now I am having trouble with the smartcard to be compatable with my cakewalk (on windows 2000) and the 303. I hope it will work out soon. Also I wanted a footpedal midi controler and I'm finding out that Roland doesn't have one that will work-only keyboards. It is very easy to use though. Other bummers. Iwish that you could pan the mono samples to be able to have them go into a mixer and mute one sample in realtime while it is still playing and be able to fade it in, etc. It seems like the only way to do this is to record the sample in sterio with one side blank. This is a bummer and it seems it would have been easy to include for the price. Also the time shifter is shit with noticable niose at the slightest change. Makes it pretty much useless for me. Also it would have been nice to be able to edit a sample (IE truncate) while another is playing, but maybe that's asking too much.

See all tohe other reviews for the specs.
I havn't used the sequencer. I plan on using this in a live setup. Unfortunately it seems like you can't match bpm to a live drummer unless u act like you're going to record a sample.

It'll record in good quality whatever you put in to it. It's as good as you are. The effects are fine for the price

We'll see.

I called them today about my smartmedia problem and they weren't very helpful. Maybe monday...

I think it's worth what I paid. It seems like the best product for th eprice.

Easy to use. Presets? Who cares! Its a sampler!!..Manual's ok, but not very detailed.

Polyphony ok. Effects are ok. Mido IN only, nothing to be controlled from external besides notes on/off and velocity. I wish effects etc were. Dont care about the onboard seq.

Sounds great, sound quality just fine.

Well, the audio ins and outs on mine are messed up now, and i have no warranty, it sucks. Now i have to use the front headphones out and mic in until i get it fixed, but its gonna take a while. It worked fine until a week ago. It really sucks.

Theyre helpful when you ask a question.

I like this unit a lot but now im stuck with that INs and OUTs problem, and im gonna have to send it to aone of their Service Centers at my own cost for who knows how long!
I also wish it had more than one midi channel.

I had absolutely no problem with getting into this machine. It's use is fairly limited, so it didn't take me very long to get into. Within an hour I was deleting samples, recording new ones, applying effects to samples, and resampling them. True, I haven't touched the SP-303's sequencer, but I won't be using that.
Applying the copious and NICE sounding effects is a very simple process. I wish, however, that it had some sort ability to resample on the same Pad. As it is, you need to resample to an empty pad, then delete the old pad. I always keep one empty pad for resampling now. The manual is just fine. Short and to the point. You'll need to refer to it occasionally, and the information is right there and only takes a minute to glance at. It would be easier with an actual display on the SP-303, but I can easily cope, especially since I'm sure it kept the price down. I don't really miss the display to be completely honest. I do most of my sample editing on a computer anyway.

The sp-303 has 8 sample polyphony (four stereo samples or eight mono samples) .. which is plenty. The effects built into the unit are very strong, as I mentioned before. There are six effects groups, and you can have one applied to a pad at a time, or across multiple pads. One of the six effects groups is actually a collection of 21 multi-effects that you can scroll through, like lo-fi, distortion, flanger, phaser, tape echo, ring modulation, etc. One cool ability is that the SP-303 can be used quite easily as an effects processor, as it applies all the effects to external sources in real-time :) I -like- that.
Expansion comes in the way of smartmedia cards. You'll need to load up on smartmedia. I personally just purchased a bunch of 8MB cards. Since I don't plan on using this as a standalone music arranger, I don't need large smartmedia. 8mb 3.3v cards cost around $15 if you find a good deal online. The SP-303 itself holds little sampledata-just enough to work with. Internal, two banks of 8 pads each. Using a card (no matter the size) gives you an addition two banks of 8 pads each. So that's 32 on the unit at once.

That SUCKS.

I can't help but wish that it had more than FOUR banks, allowing for people like myself who want access to many smaller samples, as opposed to 32 large ones.

Someday i'll get a normal sampler with a small controller and duct-tape them together. And I'll use the SP-303 as a drum module for my SPD-6 drum pads (MIDI support, yeah!) and/or as an effects processor. But until then, I'm still quite happy with it.

And like I said, I haven't touched the onboard sequencer and probably never will. Well, probably will someday ;)

The 8 samples it comes with are laughably cheezy. I had some fun making them sound hardcore and evil with effects before I deleted them. The sound quality -is- 16/44/stereo, but you can downgrade the quality/channels to make better use of the memory. I have no problems here. I don't detect any audible loss of quality when samples are played back from the SP303.

The unit itself is VERY expressive, despite the fact that the pads aren't velocity sensitive. I've been able to get some seriously wack sounds out of it by manipulating the various effects in real time. Realtime reverse is pretty cool too, especially once you lock a Pad into loop mode.
Since it's a sampler you can use it for just about any genre of music I can imagine. Personally, I do the power electronics industrial electro thing. It works great for me here, and I can imagine any other "electronic" styled act would benefit from the SP-303 if they need samples played back live but don't want to haul a sampler+controller on stage everytime.

I have no idea :) it feels solid. i haven't had it too long, and i haven't gigged with it. I wish it had 1/4" i/os on the back. It just has RCAs which can get a little woogy after a lot of plug+unplug action. On the front there's a 1/4" mic input (with gain knob) and a 1/4" headphone jack. Everything feels very solid.

Have never had to call Roland for tech support.

I'm very happy with the SP-303 .. i've used full samplers before. I didn't get the SP-303 to be a traditional sampler. I got it to manipulate sounds and effects and loops in real-time .. and it does this VERY well. If you need a full sampler get an old ESI32 or 4000 or one of the Yamaha Axxxx models. For a small box you can put in a bag and make crazy sounds for $300, get the SP303. I like it much better than the Sampletrak which I played with briefly. If you need one of these machines, you should get the SP303. :)

Wow so easy,didn't have to check the manual before playing with it.Don't get carried away though because it's not that perfect,for some functions you need to push buttons or combination of buttons that you could never figure out for yourself.That's when the manual comes in handy,and i have to say that the manual is pretty straightforward and yet comprehensible.Presets are ok but let's face it they're just examples for the store clerk to show customers.

4 note polyphony in stereo,8 note polyphony in mono
MIDI syncable.Storage possible via 8 to 64 megs smartmedia card,wow.
26 build in fx ranging from total crap to great but most of them are average i guess.Anyway for the price these fx are a bonus.
On board sequencer,haven't used it yet but looks to me like a bit of hard work will be involved in the process.This is not a stand alone box,you need to incorporate this machine in some kind of set up most likely a DJ set up.

They are 3 sample rates 44.1,22 and 11khz.
You know what they say:a sampler is as good as what you feed it,so if you're sound is good the dr. will be good to it.If not,use a better sampling rate or fx it.I really think that this machine as a professionnal sound at 44.1khz.

Don't really know yet,but this thing is made for touring and giging and being toss around in a DJ bag(watch out for those knobs though).I also know that is older brother the sp-202 as a very long life expectancy and that they've made this one as sturdy as the original.

Never had to deal with them.

For under 500$ canadian you won't find a sampler with that great a sound or with that much onboard fx.It syncs to MIDI,imports WAV files via reliable smartmedia cards using a floppy disk adaptor and it's easy to use.I'm a DJ in a band and for my limited use it's perfect.

It's OK. Basic operation is fairly straightforward, but you have to learn the limitations of the machine (see below), which can lead to some involved workarounds. I don't think it's as easy to use as the SP-202

The deal breaker for me was two things: The time stretching function sounds terrible -- much worse than the SP-202. When you try to time stretch (i.e., change the tempo of a sample without changing the pitch), unpleasant and unnatural flutter artifact sounds are introduced, at even the most mild changes --like changing from 102 to 104 BPM. The second deal breaker is that, while polyphony is up to 8 samples at a time, they HAVE to be in the same bank. For instance, you cannot get a sample going in bank A, then switch to bank B and trigger another sample pad. As soon as you press the bank change button, the sound in the previous bank stops playing. How stupid! Even the SP-202 could do this.

Other than these things, which to me are fundamental for live performance, the things has a lot of effects, which sound good. The built in sequencer is ok. Tempo settings for the sequenced patterns are global, though. So all stored patterns are governed by a master tempo setting. This is a plus and a minus, depending.

I find the effect implementation less than straight forward though, especially compared to the SP-202.

Because it can sample at 44.1, the sound quality is much better than the SP-202, in general. It sounds very good, I think.

I suppose. I used a Boss SP-202 for probably 100 gigs without failure -- though the volume knob on my friend's SP-202 died at some point. The SP-303 seems at least as well made.

I haven't had to deal with them. But I imagine it's damn near impossible to find a person to talk to if you need one. It's a mass produced piece of gear.

I was waiting for this box to come out, hoping it would build upon the SP-202. Instead, some things are better, but others are much worse. I'm pretty disapointed.

I hope Boss comes out with an SP-606, with a smarter feature implementation and time stretching at least as good as the SP-202.

This bad boy is hot off the presses, I probably have OS beta 0.1 or something. The presets made me laugh my ass off. Think Backstreet Boys meet 80s synth pop meet Puff Daddy. But who cares, it's a sampler, you're supposed to blank the memory as soon as you can figure out how. Which was pretty damn easy, like everything else in this gleaming silver box. Basically everything on here has a dedicated button and/or knob. If you can't figure it out, you should go back to playing spoons.

8 sample polyphony in mono. (why would you care to sample in stereo? that's what a mixer or reverb unit is for!) Pads are nice, thick and chunky. It takes ridiculously priced SmartMedia cards which are slow as all hell to load and save to, but I guess putting a ZIP drive or SCSI port would have doubled the size and/or price of the unity. My suggestion: load up on 8 or 16 meg SM cards and flip through them during a gig, because the glatial speed of sample dump or load is gonna flatline your set unless you can play your groovebox or tables for 10 minutes in the meantime. MIDI is really basic, only in, doesn't respond to velocity, aftertouch, or control change. Oh well, that's what you get for a price like this. The effects make this thing *shine*. Coming from an SP-202 with the crappiest of all crap wannabe useless effects these ones sound almost studio quality! The delay actually works like a delay, the low pass filter actually sounds good, and the other stuff is quite fun to mangle sound with. I haven't used the sequencer yet, cause I do that on my JX-305, but from skimming the manual it looks to be pretty decent for what it is.

It's a phrase sampler. No velocity or aftertouch, no automatically pitching samples up and down the keyboard. Stop whining and dig up $3000 to get a studio sampler. Ha! Thought so. Effects are sweeeeet. In fact I plan to run my SP-202 through it during stage use just because I don't feel like throwing that venerable machine into the trash yet. Makes a world of difference.

I've only just got it, but I can already tell you BEWARE of memory corruption. I was sampling a rather long guitar loop at a lower fidelity than usual and the thing locked up. In fact, even after cycling the power and deleting all samples several times, it would continue to lock up every time I tried to sample something. Even after finding the "Memory Initialisation" section in the back of the manual, and doing it 4(!) times it still wouldn't sample until I'd scolded it sternly and unplugged it for the night to sleep on what its punishment should be for being such a bad, bad sampler. The next day, it seemed to sample fine until I played back the pad I had sampled to and got nothing but the most absurd lo fidelity squawks and bloops, and just a hint of the sample that had crashed it in the first place. Another memory initialisation later, and everything is working fine. I hope to god this doesn't happen again, or is addressed in some OS update ASAP, cause I'm gigging with it next Saturday and do *not* need that kind of hassle.

Haven't dealt with them yet. I may give Roland a call and see if they've heard of the kind of lockup I had. Who knows, maybe my unit's bunk. Or maybe it got offended when I laughed at its presets before promptly deleting them all.

This machine is all about bang for your buck. If you've been scared off of phrase samplers, or BOSS samplers by the SP-202, this could be the box to change your mind. If it got stolen I'd be pretty choked, cause I pre-ordered this thing right after NAMM and had been itching to get my mitts on it for almost 3 months. Would I get it again? Probably, or a used Yamaha SU-700.