SP-808 Groove Sampler

Zip-disk groove sampler with D-Beam and a step modulator

The SP-808 Groove Sampler is a discontinued sampler and phrase recorder from Roland. It records and plays audio on removable 100 MB Zip disks, with eight tracks, 16 sample pads per bank, 64 banks and an onboard effects section that includes reverb, chorus, delay and a step modulator. Two D-Beam infrared controllers and three assignable knobs are used for live control. The SP-808EX is a later variant of the same design.

Platform

Renesas H8S + ESP2 DSP

Stock firmware

1.05

Manufacturer

roland.com

Community

sp-808-disk-studio

Logo: Roland Corporation, public domain (text logo), via commons.wikimedia.org

Firmware 1

SP-808 Rosetta Looper OS
Reverse-engineered patches for the SP-808 OS that add an MPC-style pad sampling mode and an eight-voice pitched keyboard sampler running on the effects DSP, with a guitar looper built but not yet flashed.
by JunkSmithWizard (yuyoi)
ActiveSource: openMIT
Distribution
Patches a stock file you supply
Requires stock
1.05
- sampler
- looper
- performance
- ui
- synth-engine
SP-808 Rosetta Looper OS version history
Version Date Notes
main @ 90ab838 2026-10-14 No tagged releases; this is the latest commit.