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 Post subject: Sp-404sx and Korg ER-1/EA-1 as sequencer?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 2:52 pm 
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Hi all - have had my SP-404sx for a week now, and it's a blast! Loving playing with it so much.

These forums are amazing - so much great information - have spent hours on here reading! I've searched for ages for the answer to this question and couldn't find it (but apologies if it has been answered before).

In terms of attaching the 404sx to a sequencer, I'm looking at using either connecting it to my laptop via MIDI-USB to use with Reaper, or going down the hardware route, which is preferable, but more costly.

I'm skint, sadly, and I was wondering if the older, cheaper Electribes would work as MIDI-controlling sequencers with the 404sx? Say, an ER-1 or EA-1? Would love to get an up-to-date Electribe but the money just isn't there at the moment.

Sorry if that's a stupid question, I'm still learning...

Joe


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 Post subject: Re: Sp-404sx and Korg ER-1/EA-1 as sequencer?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:08 pm 
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Welcome Joe,


I own a sp303 as of yesterday, but it should be possible to use an electribe with your sp404. (I own a er-1, ea-1, & em-1) I haven't tried it yet, but I will, and if it works, I'll let you know.

No worries about what you can/can't afford. It's all about what you can do with what you have.

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 Post subject: Re: Sp-404sx and Korg ER-1/EA-1 as sequencer?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:15 pm 
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Thanks Headphones - would love to hear how you get on! Also - seeing as you own those three (er, es and em -1), do you have any recommendation? I know they all do different things, sound-wise...

I agree about the money thing - I prefer working in a tight budget and being limited - it makes you more creative (I hope!).

Thanks again!


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 Post subject: Re: Sp-404sx and Korg ER-1/EA-1 as sequencer?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 11:31 pm 
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I tried it hooked up to the er-1. It went sorta balistic. It works, but kind of sloppy. Granted, I just got my sp303 yesterday, so I probably just need to fine tune the samples, and figure out how to get the CC#'s to the right pad, so that the right sample comes at the right step from the electribe. But it did prove to me that it can work. Just will have to spend some time on making it sound nice and tight, and not like Keith Moon after he came out of a olive oil bath.

As far as which electribe to recommend, it boils down to the sound you're after. The ea-1 sorta gives you a basic synth, and it emulates a tb303 sorta, but also can do ambient synth noises, drones, etc. The er-1 can do 808/909's okay, but can also do some random R2D2 bleeps/bloops depending on the waveform you select, and the speed/decay. What I love most about it is you can put any stereo audio source into it, and it can bring some choppy beats or weird sounds into it's patterns. The ea-1 has the feature as well, but only for mono, and doesn't sound as good IMO....The er-1 can almost do basslines, but it's tricky to get the octaves up/down with it. (You gotta be careful because if you accidently hit or twist a knob, it will mess it up) The EM-1 is kind of what happened when the er/ea had a baby, and the baby came out gifted. But there's just one catch. Every note/sound it's got is a sample. If you think this sounds limiting, it's not, because you can add effects, and pitch each sound low to high, and it's got a little more to bring to the table than it's parents. What it doesn't have is the audio in feature.

So if you just need some basslines/melodies, get the ea-1.
If you need beats, but you like to shape/sculpt the sounds, and don't mind it being sorta electro/techno sounding, get the er-1.
If you don't need the audio in feature, but do need what the em-1 does have, then get that.

Now, I don't have the es-1 as of yet, but I may think of getting that one at some point. (The sampling electribe) If you can afford them, you might want the latest models the EMX/ESX. They're way more powerful, have better effects (you can use 3 instead of 1), and they offer more mileage soundwise.

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 Post subject: Re: Sp-404sx and Korg ER-1/EA-1 as sequencer?
PostPosted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:03 am 
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You will want the er-1, em-1 or es-1 to sequence a 404.. and yeah they work fine, you will need to have the samples on one-shot mode (turn gate & loop off)

the reason being that u wanna be able to play multiple samples at once and the ea-1 is monophonic (well 2x monophonic).. which means only one note at a time

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 Post subject: Re: Sp-404sx and Korg ER-1/EA-1 as sequencer?
PostPosted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:17 pm 
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Wow - thanks for your help, both of you! This is an example of how great this forum is!

Cartesia: Great, thanks - that's really helped me understand how it works better.

Headphones: Huge thanks for all that useful info! I have a lot to think about now. Great descriptions of what each does, thanks. Keith Moon analogy made me laugh out loud. Looking forward to spotting one to try out with the 404sx.

One more quick question: If I was playing a sequence of samples from the 404sx via an er-1 or em-1, how many 'tracks' could be incorporated to be played back at once? So, if I'd programmed a drum pattern to play back (ie, 'track' 1), could it also then play back a sequence of vocal/bass/audio snippet/etc samples at the same time (ie 'track' 2)? I'm trying to find relevant posts/youtube videos to answer that question but without success...

Sorry if that's a stupid question (again)...

Thanks again for the great help :D


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 Post subject: Re: Sp-404sx and Korg ER-1/EA-1 as sequencer?
PostPosted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:52 pm 
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Hey man I will break it down for you..

The ER-1/EM-1/ES-1 all have 'drum' parts.. probably about 8 or 9 of them I think..

The 'drum' parts can mostly play at the same time - except in the case of closed hihat/open hihat (or on some of the electribes called like 6A+6B or 7A+7B or whatever A + whatever B)

the hihat/A+B parts only one can play 1 at a time (so you get the 'cutoff'/mute effect)

but the other drum bits can play at the same time.. so there should be about 6 or 7 ish samples that can play at the same time.

(more if you get the EM-1 because the 2 keyboard/synth parts can each trigger one sample at a time too)

So what you do on the electribe is say you set up drum part 1 to play the midi note that triggers pad 1 on the 404, you set drum part 2 to play the midi note that triggers pad 2 on the 404, etc..

The only issue with this type of sequencing LIVE is that you have to manually stop and change the midi note that the drum part sends - OR an alternative is to save each song as a 'backup' on the 404, and use the same first set of pads for each song.. That way you leave the midi notes on the sequencer the same, but just load a different backup for the next track.

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 Post subject: Re: Sp-404sx and Korg ER-1/EA-1 as sequencer?
PostPosted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 3:03 pm 
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That's brilliant, really clearly explained, thank you!

Once again - really appreciate all your help!

joe


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 Post subject: Re: Sp-404sx and Korg ER-1/EA-1 as sequencer?
PostPosted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 2:14 pm 
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but with the er-1 or es-1 you can only play one midi channel at a time and a limited number of pads.

if you use an em-1, emx-1 or esx-1, you have more channels, so you can set up the drum notes on certain midi notes, then one synth channel can be set on the same channel to fill out the missing notes, another synth channel to play the notes in the other midi channel.

the only downsides are:
one synth channel can only play one note at a time, unlike the drums

the electribe won't send closed/open hi-hat at the same time, but the 404 will keep playing the sound of the open hi-hat until another open hi-hat comes up (the closed hi-hat will not mute it but they will both be sounding if placed a few steps from each other)


and of course the classic electribe thing everyone knows, the quantisation will be at a fixed 16 notes, no options (other than the swing)





you can also use an electribe to record patterns into an sp (but not a 202): make a pattern on the 'tribe, put it in a song (haven't done it in a while, i think maybe you have to make and insert a blank pattern so the song doesn't repeat right away, i don't use song mode much...) so it won't repeat, do the settings on the sp, then hit play on the 'tribe and record on the sp at the same time. if you think you didn't hit them at the same time exactly you can erase the sp pattern and try again, or put some quantisation on the sp pattern.



offtopic: who's the guy in your avatar? i think i have some Armenian album that has a guy that sort of looks like that.


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 Post subject: Re: Sp-404sx and Korg ER-1/EA-1 as sequencer?
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:19 am 
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UPDATE: After all your help, I managed to pick up an es-1 Mkii pretty cheap, so I'm going to play around with that. I decided I wasn't too bothered about the sound-creation capabilities of the ea and er, so will load up a bunch of 808 and 909 drums/etc to the es-1 and use it to create the patterns and sequence from the 404 as needed. I think....

Thanks again for your help!

PS: Warrika - would love to know who my avatar guy is too! His hair is immense. I googled the phrase "Haters gonna hate", and there he was...


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 Post subject: Re: Sp-404sx and Korg ER-1/EA-1 as sequencer?
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 10:34 pm 
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Cool, how much did you pay for your ES-1?

I plan to complete my collection of the tribes, so I really should try harder to track this down, but my Mac is getting fixed up so I just have to wait unfortunately

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 Post subject: Re: Sp-404sx and Korg ER-1/EA-1 as sequencer?
PostPosted: Sat May 20, 2017 2:22 am 
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Forgot why I parted ways with my last Ea-1, but I just scored a used one for $80 from Guitar Center. I had some credit left over, and they sent it with plenty of bubblewrap. I was worried that knobs were busted or missing, but it just had some cosmetic scratches that don't bother me one bit. I think next weekend I'll set up my Er-1 mk2, Ea-1, & SP505 all together and see if I can't get some juicy samples in mono.

I'm working a 2nd job this weekend and that should get me enough cash to get my EMX out of the pawn shop. As much as I want a ES-1/ESX right now, I'm going to have to suffice with just the 3 Electribes I do own. The EM-1 I owned when I originally posted this I lost long ago when I hit hard times. I'd love to get another someday, but I'll be ok with my EMX as soon as that gets home.

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