On 404 Day, Roland is celebrating 20 years of 404 beat culture and the 20th anniversary of the SP-404 Sampling Workstation.
Launched in 2005, the SP-404 introduced a new way to sample. Emerging at a time when underground hip-hop and electronic music scenes were flourishing in cities like Los Angeles, Tokyo, and London, the SP-404 became a go-to music creation tool.
Today, the SP-404’s legacy lives on through its successor, the SP-404MKII. To celebrate the sampler the week of April 4th, Roland has enhanbced it with some powerful features.
In collaboration with iconic audio software company Serato, the free Version 5 update provides built-in integration for Serato DJ Lite, Serato DJ Pro, and Serato Studio, transforming the hardware into a pre-mapped controller ready for new directions in DJ sets, beatmaking, and song creation. The SP-404MKII connects directly with no drivers needed, merging its legendary hands-on workflow with the premier software tools in DJ and beat culture.
Related Links:
- Roland Engineering: SP-404 Past, Present, and Future – SP-404 Engineers Takeo Shirato & Kenji Yamada reflect on two decades of SP innovation and how the 404 became a beatmaking icon.
- Lo-Fi Education: SP-404 in the Classroom – Berklee’s Lightfoot & Michele Darling discuss the college’s first-ever SP-404MKII course.
- 404 Day – Roland’s dedicated 404 Day page and Roland’s Ultimate Guide: 404 Day 2025
I am not a DJ, but still looks cool. Interesting how Roland is teaming up with 3rd parties like Koala, Serato, etc to integrate existing software for their hardware. Are any other companies doing this? Only one I can think of is MPC/Maschine/Elektron DAW integration.
Some Roland products continue to have cool updates, but this is not the case for others. There is no day for MC 707, 101 or MV1 🙁
These ‘Hey it’s XoX-day!’ are getting very annoying!