heya...
im new to samplers... and im looking at getting one in the next few weeks...
ive kind of narrowed it down to the 404 or 606...
the 555 looks like its gonna be too much $$$ here...
i like simplicity in my instruments... straight to the point... not alot of screwing around...
im going to be using this live, with a band...
i like the fact the 606 has 1/4 ins and outs... a footswitch jack and usb...
i like that the 404 has 12 note polyphony.. over the 606's 8...
606 has velo pads... 404 is compact and takes batteries...
what does each have over the other and what would you suggest for a newbie??
would appreciate your guys thoughts...
thanks

People suggested the 404 for me and it works out great. It's nice and simple and I'm usually a slow learner and it's been coming really easy to me. So I'd suggest the 404 although I don't know much about the 606

The SP-404 won't give you much visual feedback as to what's going on; it has only a 3 digit display and most of the controls light up when they are used, so you'll mostly be using your ears. The 606 on the other hand has a nice GUI, so you can edit waveforms and such, in addition to the backlight buttons and pads. So which one you get might depend on how you go about making music, either visually or aurally. I don't have the 606, but I do have the 505 and it's similar to the SP-606. From what I know there is a bit of scrolling and dialing through menus with those type of workstation groove boxes to get certain things done (such as reversing a sample), but with the 404 it's all short, sweet and to the point with a button or two plus or minus a knob to do everything.

Either one brotha. I learned sampling from the Roland ms-1, to the 202, to the mpc 2000, to the asr-10, then the mc 909 and now it's the 606. I still own all(but the 909) and have settled with the 606. It's simple to use and leaves great results. I haven't used a 404 yet but I've heard nothing bad about it. The 606 is probably a little nicer in the fact it has a 4 track sequencer.

MS-1...wow..heh how is that thing ? Your the first person I ever run across that owns one

cool... cheers for info so far guys... appreciate it...
ive been sitting on this decision for awhile and just cant make my mind up..
i like the idea of the 404 and some of its features, then some of the extra features of the 606 could very well come in handy...
is the storage space on the 606 much of an issue???
and how much more of a pain in the ass is it to operate compared to the 404??? having to scroll thru menus and such...
are the couple of new effects that are on the 404 really worth it??
at the moment.. for the most part i will be pulling samples out of songs that have already been made up on the PC...
and the idea is there to take any samples i come up with back into the comp anyways and fruit with effects on there....
but i want to have something at my hands that will give me enough room to move and use it in any way i see fit... and is easy to use...
ive read how is you want to use a PC, the 606 is the way to go...
thats all well, ill be using a PC to play with samples... but in the same breath, i dont really like computers either... hands on kinda guy...
is there anything, apart from more voices, that the 404 has over the 606??

storage on the 606 is stellar-1 gig

actually.. im pretty sure the 606 holds up to 512 ?

^ :o Ahhh, you are correct sir, thats the first time I ever took the cf card out so I forgot. But still, for the price of a 512mb card it's still decent amount of memory.

512 is more than enough - I never get near to filling it.

To the original question, I'd only wish to add that the 606 has more live performance options, such as the D-Beam, separate compressor, 2x Multieffects with 45 effects to choose from on each, the footswitch and midi in/out (for sync to other gear). You said you are in a live band situation, so it could be a consideration.

As far as hidden menus go, the 606 doesn't really suffer from this much - most common functions have front-panel controls and for anything that doesn't it's simply a case of memorising a three-button combo and your away.

hey 606man, does the 606 have a mark button or are the chops visual? i loves me my mark button...

Nah, no mark button - the chops are visual and automatic. I would prefer the 404 method to be honest. It's something for the studio though anyway, so not really a consideration for live work. When I bought my 606, I was only really interested in what it could do in a live situation - I discovered it was great in the studio later. That mark button would be nice though - I hope it's on the 555.

what do you mean automatic?

It has ten different 'alogorithms' that you can choose from to chop the file. They are supposedly from 'least sensitive' to 'most sensitive' - but in practice you just choose one and listen to the results (it's pretty quick) until you find one you like. With ten different approaches you can usually get one you like. You can manually edit the chops afterwards if they are still not quite right. Using you ear to just get it right in the first place would better, though maybe not quite as quick.

so it automatically chops a break and assigns it to the pads? that sound like it could be kind of neat when it works. faster anyway. how well does it work?