At first look, the SP-202 is pretty impressive. I grabbed hold of this light (25 oz.), little machine and found myself hypnotized by it's glowing orange and red lights. It fits comfortably in your grasp. This is helped by two ridges, or feet, that run top to bottom underneath the 202. When I say feet, I'm sure that's what they were designed for, but they work double-duty. The specs of the Dr. Sample are fairly impressive; it's a 4-voice, 16-bit stereo sampler with built-in effects, a BPM function, tons of sample time, includes a built-in microphone, and can be battery or AC powered.
Looking at the face of the SP-202 you'll see that many of it's functions are laid out in a simple, easy-to-use scheme. At the top of the unit, there is the volume knob on the left and the effects section on the right. The effects are pretty impressive and are a nice addition to a sampler of this size and price. You have six effects to choose from, each having it's own dedicated orange back-lit, rubber button. The effects are Pitch, Time, Delay, Filter 1&2 and Ring Mod. Of these effects, only one can be used at a time with the exception of Pitch. And then, the effect can only be used on one sample at a time. For example, if you are using Filter 1 on a bass loop, then try to use the Ring Mod effect on a vocal phrase, the drum loop shuts off altogether to allow you to use the Ring Mod. Also, once an effect is selected, polyphony is reduced. The SP-202 does allow you to route an external signal through it's mic input. This is kind of cool and works really well with the Ring Mod effect.
The middle of the SP-202 is where a three digit LCD readout, a set of up/down arrows, and a Tap button are located. When sampling, the SP-202 attempts to read the BPM of the loop and displays it via the readout. Or, if you are certain of the tempo prior to sampling, you can enter that information and the SP-202 will try to quantize the sample to the nearest beat. This will definitely be attractive for DJ's, as it will be a quick and easy way to sample beats on the fly and effortlessly work them into the mix.
Below the BPM/Tap area are a row of five sample editing and playback option buttons. These options allow you to choose a sample rate, select mono or stereo, trigger or gate, loop or one shot, and forward or reverse. The trigger/gate option affects the way the sample will play once triggered: select trigger, and the sample will play through its entirety. Select gate, and the sample plays only while the pad is being pressed. The SP-202 offers four choices when it comes to sample rate: Hi-Fi (31.25 kHz), Standard(15.63kHz), Lo-Fi 1(7.81 kHz) and Lo-Fi 2 (3.91 kHz). With approximately 1/2 Mbyte of sample memory on-board, the actual amount of sample time these figures translate into is exceptional. You'll get 32 seconds if Hi-Fi and a whopping 4 minutes and 20 seconds in Lo-Fi 2! And if you're into "Lo-Fi", grungy samples, you'll absolutely love the lowest sample grade. Although a friend of mine thought that using the lowest sample rate sounded "too digital," I'm not sure if I agree.
Below the sample editing section is located a row of seven buttons. These are used for recording and deleting samples. You simply press record, choose the pad you'd like to throw the sample to, hit record again and you're good to go. Looping gets kind of funky. There is no numerical display, which means you are forced to do it by ear. Next to the Record/Delete buttons is the Mark button. This is used to mark the loop start and end points on the fly. You'll need some practice to get this method down. On the far right of this row are the Bank select buttons. Here you'll choose Internal A/B banks, and you'll access Card A/B banks. Down on the bottom are eight, large, chunky sample trigger pads that I have referred to earlier. These glow when being played, which is a nice feature that lets the user know what's going on at all times. There is also a source button which is used to send live audio through the effects. One thing I wish Roland would have included is some kind of loop sync function. I must admit that I sometimes rely a little too much on quantizing (so I may not have the greatest timing, but I'm not terrible!), but if you're triggering more than one groove at a time with the SP-202, you need to be dead-on with your timing. If you're slightly off, there is no feature that compensates for the mis-timing.
On the front panel , there is a headphone(1/8") and mic input(1/4"), source select and mix switches, and a slot for the memory card. Roland has decided to implement a new storage format that, while popular with other products, is new to musical instruments. The memory cards that are used are called Smart Media cards, and are currently heavily used as storage for digital cameras. You'll be able to use both 2 and 4 Mbyte Smart Cards with the Dr. Sample. With a 2MByte card the sample time ranges from 2 min. 14 sec. in Hi-Fi to 17 min. 51 sec. in Lo-Fi 2. And with a 4Mbyte card the range is 4 min 27 sec in Hi-Fi to over 35 min in Lo-Fi 2. I'm not sure what you'll need with over 35 minutes with this little guy, but what the hey! (Ya Der!) I did some price shopping at some local camera shops where I found a large price range on these cards. 2Mbyte cards were between $39.95 and $70, and the 4 Mbyte cards were between $59.95 and $150. SIMMs chips are still cheaper, but I'm sure that using Smart Media kept costs down.
On the back of the SP-202 you'll find a pair of stereo ins and outs. Both of these are RCA, again geared for hook-up to a DJ mixer. There is a sole MIDI input, the on/off switch and a 9V power supply jack. Roland includes six AA batteries and the wall wart is an optional purchase. The MIDI implementation is somewhat lacking. You'll basically be able to hook the Dr. Sample to a keyboard or sequencer and choose between MIDI note numbers 35-67 on a single MIDI channel. The samples stay at a fixed pitch, which is the original sample pitch.
All in all, the Boss SP-202 is a great little package. It may not stack up feature for feature to other samplers out there, but you must remember that the list price is just $395...at that price, this unit is easily justified and can be a fun, useful tool. It looks good, it sounds good, it feels good, and it may be destined to be another Roland classic!
Stephen Mork, Kraft Music
steve@kraftmusic.com
Kraft Music is a retailer specializing in keyboards, MIDI hardware/software, and recording gear. Their dedication to service and product knowledge matched with competitive pricing has made the company one of the leaders in on-line mail-order sales. Visit their site at http://www.kraftmusic.com/.