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 Post subject: SP-404A Cant change SAMPLE MODE?
PostPosted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:28 pm 
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Can't change Sample Mode on my brand new SP-404A and I can't trigger the buttons in a row all the time, so if I try to trigger drums for example it doesn't let me do that in a row. What's up with that?

Also, is the battery slots cover supposed to be extremely tight and hard to open? I was supposed to check if it had any batteries in but I couldn't get it open and didn't want to break the thing, which I would've if I'd tried any longer.


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 Post subject: Re: SP-404A Cant change SAMPLE MODE?
PostPosted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 11:53 pm 
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I have the sx, but they're supposed to be the exact same....

What do you mean by sample mode? I think you mean if it's gated, note on, 1 shot, that type of thing & if so, hit the pad of the sample then hit gate. When gate is lit you have to hold the pad to hear the sound. When it is not lit, tap the pad & the sound continues to play until it's over.

I don't know what you mean by trigger pads in a row? You can press what ever pads you want when ever you want. Are you in the sequencer? Are you sampling? Resampling? & what do you mean by trigger the pads in a row?

My battery lid comes off easily. Does the 404a battery lid get screwed down? That's the only thing I can think of, otherwise just pop it off.

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 Post subject: Re: SP-404A Cant change SAMPLE MODE?
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2018 2:56 am 
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Oh, I think I got it. It was just in the "protected state" and just had to get out of that. The battery cover is still extra hard to open though.

+ didn't get it working on ableton. Apparently Live Lite doesn't have the "external audio effect" or I just don't have it for some reason?

Got the sound working on FL Studio though. Only thing is that when I record from the SP the audio seems to be very low... I can fix that by adding some gain by a compressor and EQ'ing what I've recorded.

About the battery cover, there isn't mentioned that it'd be screwed in, the manuals etc. only say the SD cards cover is screwed in... But it might as well be, or it's just very hard to open.


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 Post subject: Re: SP-404A Cant change SAMPLE MODE?
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2018 4:53 pm 
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I have Ableton Suite, but haven't used it in a really long time. What do you mean by external audio effect? Like affecting the audio in Ableton with the 404a? Not sure if it's possible, hopefully someone else can help.
Until then, what about just sampling into the 404a & adding effects that way, then dump it back into your DAW? You can sample it back into your DAW or just use usb or pop the memory card in your computer (I know this takes extra steps tho).

You are on the right track, just keep trying stuff out & when something comes up you can't figure out, do some research & ask questions. Try different things out, if you can't get the external audio effect thing working in Ableton, maybe look into other ways to use them together. Same with FL. I'm not sure why the audio is low, hopefully someone else has a suggestion. Could be a few things causing the issue.

How do you want to get everything working together, are you looking at a specific workflow or just seeing what's possible?

JUST a suggestion...maybe to start, make beats on the 404a to learn how to use it (it has all kinds of quirks, but you CAN make quality beats on it).... when you make something you like, maybe an idea that has potential, or even just sounds you made using the effects, whatever, dump the samples &/or loops into FL or Ableton & make the full beat, then sample the full beat into the 404a while adding effects. Can also add additional 1 shots to the beat once it's in the 404....sometimes I resample a beat like 8 times adding different effects & 1 shots (like vocal scratches).

So many ways to use the sp, it's my swiss army knife, no matter what I'm doing it's always in the signal chain. If you realize you don't like making beats on it (it's not for everyone) there is still a lot you can do with it.

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 Post subject: Re: SP-404A Cant change SAMPLE MODE?
PostPosted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:32 am 
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So, this guy in Reddit told me to add "external audio effect" in Ableton so I could use the 2i4 interface with the SP.

He told me it should be where all the compressors etc. are but I don't have it and I didn't get any sound coming out of Ableton or to it.

So I forgot that and switched to FL Studio, and the sound works fine. I'm more used to FL anyway so it's fine.

My technique right now is that I make the beat in the SP, record it to the DAW and then I mix it in the DAW.
Doing so I can get rid of the low volume as well.

At this moment I'm still learning how to use the SP.

I've been making beats with FL Studio for years so I want to make the whole beat with the SP and I only EQ and compress it (while adding volume/dB with the compressors gain) inside FL.

So what I do is I sample into the SP and resample over or record "freestyling" drums. If I freestyle the drums I might record for a minute or more and take the bad parts out or just choose to use a certain loop that sounds good.

(usually I add vinyl sim on the SP too, it sounds great on snares and samples etc.)

I might add a VST called Rough Rider occasionally if I want some bounciness to the beat and it also increases the volume level.

But other than that I don't want to make the beat inside FL Studio and mix in the SP, I choose to do it the other way around...

When I handle the SP better and get more use to it surely I'm going to try out different techniques but this is how I'm doing it so far.


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 Post subject: Re: SP-404A Cant change SAMPLE MODE?
PostPosted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 5:08 pm 
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Sounds like you are gettin along with your sp nicely!

I didn't use vinyl sim for a while since I sample vinyl, but didn't realize there was more to it than just the "crackle". When usin it on an entire beat it glues the sounds together nicely.... & it really helps when combining sounds from vinyl & "clean" sounds.

Couple more tips off the top of my head:

1) Usin voice trans on drums &/or bass can make it hit harder. Put knob closest to volume straight up & the other 2 knobs all the way right. This really boosts kicks & bass. If you want it to sound a bit deeper, start turning the knob next to the volume knob left.

2) Sequencer - For smooth transitions from sequence to sequence, turn gate off of the last sample in the sequence. Adjust the end point of that sample until it sounds right.

3) Time stretch can work well on small bpm changes & works really well as an effect. For example, time stretch a hihat as slow as it will go, resample it, then do it again (timestretch as slow as it can go)......this adds extra hits...the more you time stretch down, the more hits it adds (turns into a triplet or more hits if you want).

There are a ton of work arounds & a ton of tricks. It can be a great sound design tool as well, especially when layering effects (I just resample over & over to add more effects or I bounce back & forth with another sampler).

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OLD BATTLE BEATS & a few extra tracks
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 Post subject: Re: SP-404A Cant change SAMPLE MODE?
PostPosted: Sat Aug 11, 2018 6:24 pm 
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Thanks for the tips dude.

I'll go through them when I have time.
The vinyl sim is great, yeah, definitely has more to it than just the crackle... I think it adds great sound to snares for example etc. Have to try it out more next time I'll make beats.


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 Post subject: Re: SP-404A Cant change SAMPLE MODE?
PostPosted: Thu May 30, 2019 4:52 am 
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Joined: Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:22 pm
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outoffit wrote:
Oh, I think I got it. It was just in the "protected state" and just had to get out of that. The battery cover is still extra hard to open though.

+ didn't get it working on ableton. Apparently Live Lite doesn't have the "external audio effect" or I just don't have it for some reason?

Got the sound working on FL Studio though. Only thing is that when I record from the SP the audio seems to be very low... I can fix that by adding some gain by a compressor and EQ'ing what I've recorded.

About the battery cover, there isn't mentioned that it'd be screwed in, the manuals etc. only say the SD cards cover is screwed in... But it might as well be, or it's just very hard to open.


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