Sound is great! What ever sample you put in, it will spit out exactly. Only takes WAVs so the quality is high, but so is the file size. My 404-sx came with a 1GB card so space isn't really an issue. FX are amazing as well.

So many features!! Great FX which are easy to use. Other features, such as pattern creation, are good but difficult to use. (Creating Patterns takes 17 steps which makes it impractical to do on the fly.) Love that its battery powered! Makes gigging so much easier. The one thing thats weird is that the in/outputs are RCA... Which means i had to go out and buy some more cables that i didn't already have.

Putting the samples in and assigning them to pads is a breeze. Very very easy with the included software. The manual is easy to read and straight forward. Some of the functions/features require too many steps to be done during live performance. But over all i was playing with my own samples in about 15 minutes after buying it. The message screen can be quite cryptic but after a while of using it, you just start to memorize what they mean. Plus there is a guide in the manual that explains them all. (The other day i let my 8 yr old cousin play with it. He was having a blast switching between banks and even applying some FX.)

This thing is rock solid. Love the material of the body, the pads are great, the buttons are great, and the knobs are solid as well. Very very well made and sturdy. Its big enough be comfortable to use with 2 hands but small enough to fit in a book bag along side my laptop. You will not be disappointed by the build of this thing.

Not really sure considering the fact that this is the only sampler I've used/bought. But that being said, I DO believe its worth every penny. I use it everyday and it always holds up to my expectations. And because the build of such great quality, I'd say I'll be using it for much longer. Zzounds.com let me make payments which was a life-saver. But still, $500 can be a lot for some people.

Haven't needed it yet but if the manual and the emails i get from roland are any indication, I'll bet their support is of great quality.

After watching some youtube reviews of the product i started looking around. Decided to get it off zzounds.com because of their financing options. (4 smaller payments). Use it every day. My DJ/musician friends are always jealous and want to play with it too.

Classically trained for 10 yrs. Make electronica for fun. Gig/get paid for fun. Use this with ableton and APC40.

electronic

The sound and quality of the SP404SX is really all up to you, that's the most beautiful thing about it. You can customize your effects to change what you sampled, you have control! I work on hip hop music and it definitely makes the organic sense of music seep through. I find it perfect.

The most useful button I find on here is the start/end/play because i'm still working on marking perfectly without having to use that button, it's also the least useful because I need to get better at being spot on.

This product makes me so happy because of how it captures the samples I use, and how If i don't like the way it sounds I can edit and change things up. I don't have use it on other products simply because i'm still working on it and there is definitely a learning curve for me just because I'm awful at making my fingers do what my brain is telling them to.

It's a heavy duty piece of equipment, the only thing i've seen people complain about is the pad numbers wearing down, but honestly, sturdy, durable, awesome.

I believe it's a sampler that is completely worth it, If I were to suggest ANY kind of sampler for live and organic feelings i'd suggest the SP404sx

I haven't had to reach them because the product is great.

It's just such a simple looking machine, it's aesthetically pleasing. You turn it on and it's ready to go, all you have to do is connect a couple of things, it's got a microphone jack, even if you didn't want to make full beats on this behemoth you'd still be able to load songs and play them on here, and then use your mic input to rip the mic. SUPER AMAZING BUY.

10 Years writing rhymes, 4 years working on beats, I play the bass and piddle with the Harmonica sometimes

Hip hop.

The Roland is able to accurately represent the sound quality of your sample.

Sounds editing features are good. Good user manual. RCA inputs / outputs seem a little outdated but nothing a few adapters can't fix. I wish it had USB interface. The software is useful but again, seems a little dated. Looks like the application was developed by a summer intern. 2011 and we can't get USB interface and drag and drop function or a text field to see our patches? For almost 500 bucks I think Roland should have stepped up here. The amount of sound editing features makes up for the 1990's PC interface. I wish it had a 'jingle' mode where you could hit the button and allow the sample to play 1 time. It does allow this by hitting 2 buttons. (hold sample trigger then tap the 'hold' button.)

The sheer amount of buttons / options made me nervous but I was able to get up and running instantly. A quick scan of the useful manual led me to discover all the options.

Mine is pretty new but it seems pretty well built. These samplers haven't changed too much over the years and they seem to have a good reputation so I'm hoping for the best. A hard protective case would probably be a good investment for this device.

I personally think Roland products have a premium price. I am not loyal to the brand and will often shop around for similar products but in many cases Roland seems like the right choice. In this case there were limited options available. This unit doesn't have the limitations on sample length and banks that the other devices do.

I've never had to call Roland support for anything.

I'll bet they could make this device smaller but that would have an impact on how useful the large trigger buttons are. It's still small enough it could work with limited real estate. I 'attached' it to the second tier of a 2 tier keyboard stand. The interactive blue / red light is simple but sexy. I only found one other sampler product out there with SD card capability... really??! Maybe some of those modern digital turntables have the ability but that didn't fit my needs.

Hobbyist

Have been playing music for 5+ years. Play guitar, bass, drums, keys

Rock and electronic preferable though not dedicated to one specific genre

well beign my first sampler i love it.

great features and they are all easy to use

very easy understaning the manual is a little bit hard but once you get it its a blast

yes its made very well and it looks very well and everything about it i done very wel.

yeah its worth every penny

yes they have roland us. the website you could get support there and if you want to talk to a represetative you could just call there help number and someone is always there to take tha call and help..

yes it looks very apealing to the eye the look of the new sp-404sx it grat ...

active musician/recording engineer

reghgaton

The sound on this thing is awsome

The features are tight

I gave it an eight because i'm still learning to use it

Very Very good

Haven't needed the support yet

Dj

R & B