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So about 2 weeks I sold my ASR-X Pro. It was a huge bitchy old tank of a composition tool. It fetched about $300 on eBay which was a nice surprise. The same night I went ahead a got myself a barely used SP-404 for $260. Things is practically brand new, still had the original box, ac, and manual. After spending some time with the little beast I must say I love it. It's small, and tough enough to stash in my backpack. Runs on batteries and with the 1gb compact flash card it can hold all the audio I need.
Looks really cool too. Only bitch I have is the pads aren't velocity sensitive but thats only a MIDI cable away. I really like the simplicity of the device and sequencer great for my needs. If you've had any experience with any of the other SP line then the workflow is quite familiar. Hell, it's basically all the stuff I liked about my DR-202 and assloads more. Fun little unit peeps, I think I've found the piece of gear I really wanted. Haven't made any tracks with it yet but it won't be long. Next all I gotta do is figure out how to con Monkvolcano out of his AN200, then I'll be set. Plug em both in my dj mixer and pretend I'm good at this. Party on Wayne. | |
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09/18/07
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bla
whats the sequencer like?
09/18/07
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monkvolcano
congrats mang.. glad u got something ur happy with. It's a shame they didn't put a midi out on that thing and the ability to sequence other gear.. then you'd be set.
and btw.. im prolly going to have sell the an200 due to brokeness  if you want it i'll give it to you for 125. just lemme know. but really, after i found out about that note skipping business, i'm not so sure it's the best choice anymore.
funny thing is, it seems like there should be a lot more choices for cheap little desktop synths with sequencers.. but i can't think of any.
09/18/07
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monkvolcano
oh yea...
Party on Garth!
09/18/07
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EsromCole
@monk: $125 sounds fair. I'm not really messed up about the note dropping thing. My plans for it involve sampling it into the 404 and/or playing it via my midi keyboard anyway. I got a couple items goin up on eBay tomorrow so hopefully they can get that 125 raised.
@bla: The sequencer on the 404 isn't really anything special. It's just your basic drum machine style, one track affair. Can't chains patterns into songs but you can trigger patterns live via the pads. I like it so much because it's so similar to the sequencer on the DR-202 I had for so long. Nice and simple. I am considering getting a used Alesis SR-16 to drive it though, velocity sensitive pad (12 of em just like the 404) and it can chain patterns which will come in handy if I wanna tweak fx and such instead of keeping up with firing off the next pattern.
09/18/07
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bla
sr16's are good (and cheap these days)- dont get one thats really old or the pads wont work very well
i tried to sync an sr16 and a zoom sampletrak and it just wouldnt work- itd go out of sync after like 2 bars- i dont know which one was to blame- i guessed it was the sampletrak
the best think about the sr16 is that you can change the drum sets while its playing- either with the +/- buttons or midi program changes
its got 4 outputs too
09/18/07
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EsromCole
Cool, thanks for the heads up. I'd mainly use it for sequencing the 404 and/or sampling patterns from it so no big deal about the sync thing.
09/18/07
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bla
it only sends the shortest possible note lengths over midi so you would have to set the 404 to one shot triggers if you wanted to use the sr16 to control it
09/18/07
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EsromCole
Damn, oh well. If I can find one cheap enough I'll grab it and just have to work around the short ass notes.
09/18/07
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SeanShea
EsromCole
I have an SR16 that has a short or something in the sound. Makes intermittent clicks. I you are not concerned about the internal sounds you can get this one for $40 plus ship. i have the adapter.
09/19/07
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drewzle
hey man,
welcome to the world of the 404 
it's a great box, very intuitive and hands-on.
have you checked the sp-forums?
link
09/19/07
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EsromCole
@SeanShea: Sounds like a good deal man. I have some stuff going up on eBay today. If you still have it after I sell this stuff I'll definately consider it.
@Drewzle: I'm known as hematurge on the SP boards. Good lookin out though.
09/19/07
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monkvolcano
kewl dude..i'll hold on to the an200 until u give me word one way or the other.
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