BOSS SP-202 | 3 tips to kill that annoying high pitch squeal noise when sampling...
Here's 3 things I do to combat that annoying high pitched squeal when sampling with the Boss SP-202 Dr Sample.
0:09 Lower REC LEVEL
1:07 BANKS C/D Are Quieter
1:43 EQ in DAW
I get asked about this often, at first you're probably concerned you've bought a lemon, like I was, but I'm pretty sure it's common in all SP-202s.
Long story short, with nothing connected to the LINE IN, the squeal still exists and get's louder as you turn up the REC LEVEL. This means it's an internal process causing it and we need to be mindfull of the REC LEVEL.
1. Lower REC LEVEL
What I find works best is to set the REC LEVEL to around 11 o'clock and turn up the volume of your audio source (computer, record player or, in this case, SP-303...etc) until the 202's PEAK lights up just a little. This, for me, gives me the best signal-to-noise ratio.
2. Use BANKS C/D
These Banks are for the Smart Media Card (mine is 4MB 5 Volts = 4m27s hifi mono sampling time) and there are a few pros and cons to using one. The cards are hard to find, expensive and some of the FX (incl. Time Stretch) only work on Banks A/B. That said, I use Banks C/D almost exclusivly - I sample to sp202, pitch the sample then record that to my sp404/sp303/DAW which is where I would prefer to do FX / Time Stretching anyway.
Here's the biggest advantage, the high squeal records nowhere near as loud when recording to Banks C/D. If you keep REC LEVEL at 11 o'clock you're in the clear. In my experience, with the amount of sp202 sampling I do everyday, the Smart Media Card was well worth the price.
3. EQ in DAW
Okay, so, you've had to sample something where you had to keep REC LEVEL up past 12 o'clock and you don't have a Smart Media Card, here's the cheat code...
In your DAW, EQ out these freqencies:
- 1.940 kHz
- 3.829 kHz
Set the Q as narrow as possible and turn down the frequency's Gain until you can't hear the squeel anymore.
These two frequencies are for when you haven't changed the Pitch of the sample on the sp202 - for example, if you have lowered the pitch then the squeal will be lower too. In this case you need to find them, to do this:
Set the EQ like I said but now BOOST the Gain all the way up and slowly move the frequency down (to the left) until you hear it boosting the squeel like crazy, then lower the Gain to make it disappear.
One last thing I should mention, the lower the Sample Rate, the less high frequecy information it can record, this goes for the squeal too - it's less of a problem in the lower quality settings.
Hope this helps guys, feel free to get at me in the comments below if I need to explain any of this better!
I have a couple of sample packs:
"SP-202 LO-FI CHOPPED BREAKS, VOL. 2" - a collection of drum breaks sampled from vinyl and chopped into gritty lo-fi kits. Sampled with the Boss SP-202 Dr Sample at various sample rates then chopped and EQ'd on the Boss SP-303: https://bsta.rs/fb81ba27
"SP-202 LO-FI P BASS" - individual notes played and recorded with my Fender 50's Precision Bass then resampled with the Boss SP-202 at it's various sample rates: https://bsta.rs/ea73ee5
"LO-FI JAZZ GUITAR" - guitar loops and individual chords recorded with a Gibson Les Paul through a Vox AC15 amplifier, then sampled with the Boss SP-202 and SP-303 at various sample rates: https://bsta.rs/d6983aef
Also:
SP-202 LO-FI CHOPPED BREAKS, VOL. 1
SP-202 DUSTY LO-FI 808 [FREE DOWNLOAD]
SP-202 LO-FI 2 DRUMS [FREE DOWNLOAD]
SP-404 SCRATCHING SAMPLES [FREE DOWNLOAD]
Visit https://www.beatstars.com/nonjuror/so...
Check out my latest EP "One Foot Invert" available now everywhere you cop your mad notes on the interwebs!
YouTube - • Nonjuror - One Foot Invert [Full Albu...
Bandcamp - https://skybarstudios.bandcamp.com/al...
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/album/01vNMg...
iTunes - https://geo.music.apple.com/de/album/...
Apple Music - https://geo.music.apple.com/de/album/...
Soundcloud - / one-foot-invert
All the rest of the links (and more) be at https://nonjuror.xyz
This way for more EAR BUTTER:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3i6HV...
/ nonjurormadnotes
/ nonjuror_madnotes
/ salvatoredelnoc
/ nonjuror
For more information email [email protected]
#sp202 #beatmaking