tallfree

A new speech engine, with the file lists, the pattern screen and the recording settings read properly.

The firmware is the same as in 2026.09.26. If that's already installed, only the engine needs updating: copy TALLFREE.BIN into the TALLFREE folder on the card and restart. It copies itself into the SP's internal memory as before. For a new install, use the whole zip and follow the README.

What's new:

• In the file lists, a sample's name is read once you've stayed on it for two seconds, so you can scroll through a folder hearing the previews. Folders are read straight away, and the entry that goes back up is "parent folder".
• A name too long for the screen is read whole, once, instead of in pieces as it scrolls. This covers the file lists and REMAIN.
• DEST:PRESS PAD is read when it appears and when it changes, not again with every folder or page. An import says WAIT: IMPORTING once, without the percentages.
• On the pattern screen, the bank keys say their letter. COPY, EXCHANGE, DELETE, COPY BANK and DELETE BANK say each pad and bank as you choose it, such as "source A1" and "destination B3".
• In TR-REC, each pad you press says the step it sets, such as "step 5 on". SUB PAD says the sample it picks, and the Microscope is named with its note.
• The pattern chain says each pattern you add, and DEL says what it took off.
• A message such as "Operation Completed!" is read before the screen it leaves you on.
• RECORD SETTING is named when you get there. In INPUT FX Setting, moving the cursor reads the effect type or the row's parameters with their values, and a row with nothing on it is "blank". The input meter's scale is no longer read.
• Settings changed with a key, such as COUNT-IN WAIT, are read at once.
• Names written next to a bracket, such as ZOOM(2x) and PROJECT(INT), are read as words instead of being spelled out. BAR:1/2 is "BAR: 1 of 2".

What's in it:

• SP404MKII_APP1.bin: Tallfree's firmware, unchanged from 2026.09.26. SHA-256 df2d6ae9eb4b120d95dc05e13f7fa948514f66ed74f6a6860a51d20c55131698.
• SP404MKII_APP0.bin: Roland's own, unchanged, from the same system program.
• TALLFREE/TALLFREE.BIN: the new speech engine. SHA-256 c4c2bced7cd5906e359639714776db8bd9764c2d82d205280d4d870679f2d7a8.

Once the update is done, delete the two .bin files from the card.

The looper and skip-back buffer is still cut in half, from 27.3 to 13.65 seconds per channel, to make room for the speech engine.

To go back, install Roland's system program from Roland's website the same way.

Tallfree isn't made or supported by Roland. The zip contains Roland's system program, which belongs to Roland; TALLFREE.BIN includes OpenEVV and IBM's language data, under the terms in OpenEVV's NOTICE.

A new speech engine, with many more screens read, and read better.

The firmware is the same as in 2026.09.26. If that's already installed, only the engine needs updating: copy TALLFREE.BIN into the TALLFREE folder on the card and restart. It copies itself into the SP's internal memory as before. For a new install, use the whole zip and follow the README.

What's new:

• Turning a setting reads each step as you turn it. An effect's knobs are still read where they stop.
• Turning an effect on says its name, and turning it off says nothing. Holding an effect's button and pressing pads names each effect you choose. Loading an effect no longer reads out all its knobs.
• GATE, LOOP, REVERSE, BPM SYNC and EXT SOURCE say whether they're on or off when you press them. SHIFT and LOOP says "ping pong loop ON".
• The main screen is announced as "top screen", and a bank change is announced by its letter on every screen.
• START/END, CHOP and PITCH/SPEED, which have no title of their own, are announced by name.
• The pattern screen says when a pattern plays or stops.
• Export and delete say each pad as you select or deselect it.
• Pads are silent wherever they play a sound: the top screen, START/END, CHOP, PITCH/SPEED and the pattern screen.
• Key hints such as ENTER:EXE are no longer read when you arrive on a screen, only when they change.
• Roland's abbreviations are read in full, in the manual's own words: PTN is "pattern", QTZ is "quantize", C1:START is "control 1: START".
• Many screens that were read wrongly, or not at all, now read properly, among them the pattern and pitch/speed settings, export, copy, delete, chop and the effects grid.

What's in it:

• SP404MKII_APP1.bin: Tallfree's firmware, unchanged from 2026.09.26. SHA-256 df2d6ae9eb4b120d95dc05e13f7fa948514f66ed74f6a6860a51d20c55131698.
• SP404MKII_APP0.bin: Roland's own, unchanged, from the same system program.
• TALLFREE/TALLFREE.BIN: the new speech engine. SHA-256 917d36d606d30700c93df298d3317eb22967312ea1362e15c60aeddd52dfc5af.

Once the update is done, delete the two .bin files from the card.

The looper and skip-back buffer is still cut in half, from 27.3 to 13.65 seconds per channel, to make room for the speech engine.

To go back, install Roland's system program from Roland's website the same way.

Tallfree isn't made or supported by Roland. The zip contains Roland's system program, which belongs to Roland; TALLFREE.BIN includes OpenEVV and IBM's language data, under the terms in OpenEVV's NOTICE.

The first release of Tallfree, a screen reader for the Roland SP-404MKII. It reads the screen aloud with a voice synthesised on the SP itself by OpenEVV.

The zip is laid out as the SD card should be. Format a card of up to 32 GB as FAT32, unzip everything onto it, then hold SHIFT while switching the SP on and press the VALUE knob to update. The README has the full steps, the speech settings menu, and what to do if something goes wrong.

What's in it:

• SP404MKII_APP1.bin: Tallfree's firmware, Roland's SP-404MKII System Program Ver.5.52 with a boot loader added. SHA-256 df2d6ae9eb4b120d95dc05e13f7fa948514f66ed74f6a6860a51d20c55131698.
• SP404MKII_APP0.bin: Roland's own, unchanged, from the same system program, so the update brings the whole SP to 5.52.
• TALLFREE/TALLFREE.BIN: the speech engine. It copies itself into the SP's internal memory the first time it starts.

Once the update is done, delete the two .bin files from the card.

One thing works differently from Roland's firmware: the looper and skip-back buffer is cut in half, from 27.3 to 13.65 seconds per channel, to make room for the speech engine.

To go back, install Roland's system program from Roland's website the same way.

Tallfree isn't made or supported by Roland. The zip contains Roland's system program, which belongs to Roland; TALLFREE.BIN includes OpenEVV and IBM's language data, under the terms in OpenEVV's NOTICE.