it helps to understand what the time stretch is doing on the 404/555

it seems like there is a set "grain" size. think of each grain as a set of two tiny "mark" settings. so as you slow down the sample, the grain sizes may stay the same leaving gaps in the audio

since it is literally gaps between grains a way to make a very noticable improvement is to play with the tape echo.

you are going to want some very short delay times, and very subtle feedback and balance so the effect is barely noticeable as an echo, but very noticeable as a way of "smoothing" out the grains.

it takes some experimenting but sometimes it helps a lot, especially with drums.

note: Djfx looper pitch shift,knob 2, works according to the "grain" size on knob 1. the larger the grain size the bigger span of grain before the sample gets cut and restarted from another grain point.


the delay trick can also help with smoothing the chromatic pitch/pitch

hi HD
thanx for this tip
do you think it's workin on sp303/505 also?

I'm pretty sure the stretch will be the same on the 303/505.. it doesnt really get any simpler than the way the 404 does it..

I use the delay on it too sometimes, or a little reverb.. depending on the sound thats been stretched.. does the trick

ok, cool!
thanx

one thing the mpc 1000 is better than the sp is the timestretching.

hey cool explanation. i also noticed that the 404sx' timestretch is much smoother than the 404 (sometimes good, sometimes bad )

so by time stretch, are you guys meaning the pitch efx button?

no, they mean when you have a pad selected and you hit BPM and ward it with knob 2 to either raise or lower the BPM, which makes the sample start to sound kinda chunky because of the timestretching algorithm used, which i think basically just loops up small sections of the sample

really good explanation, 'dervish. and a great tip!

on the 505 the timestretch would be the sample / phrase setting inside the wav edit screen.

Yeah, that's pretty much what it does. Stretch the audio with loops at a slower or faster speed. I don't think the SP-404 does any kind of interpolation with it's algorithm and it's obviously something simple as it's non-destructive.

^ exactly

and since most stretch algorithms are basically micro delays....

just make use of subtle tape echo

the confusion was that i mentioned this also helps with pitch shift on the sp's

I noticed this, too, and yeah, I think that effect 24 is really efficient.

Ever so slightly off topic - check out this nice timestretching program:

http://hypermammut.sourceforge.net/paulstretch/

It's particulary good for pad/string sounds, but works well on everything else too. Even has some usable effects like filters, pitch shifters, etc.

thanks for the link, this sounds awesome. im going to try it out tonight

Paul Stretch is like instant drone... hella nice at creating textures.