i just picked up a 404 off of ebay and while im waiting for it to come, i had a few questions. i've had some mpcs before but thought a 404 might be way more back to basics no non-sense, just sample and play, experiment and create.

how easy is it to resample a sound to another pad? like if i have a snare sample on one pad and want to resample a quieter version of it on the pad next to it.

also, i am pretty sure i have read that you can not resample while a pattern is playing...
can you resample a real time pattern, like hit resample then do something in realtime that uses more than one sound?

also it sounds like you can only use CF cards that are 1gig or smaller, but can they be type II or only type I? i have been reading around on the forums here, but can't tell for sure about that.

also another thing i couldn't tell from the manual if i had a piano melody on a pad and i hit the pad 5 times in a row does the sound keep playing each time, or is it cut off and only the most recent one plays through in its entirety?

1) Really easy. Like buttering toast.

2) You know, I'm not totally sure, but I believe you can. Let me see if I understand correctly: since you can't record a pattern of your drum playing, you want instead to just hit [RESAMPLE] and essentially record yourself playing the drums manually on the different snare/kick pads? I'm pretty sure you can do that. I'm at work, so I can't check.

3) Sorry, can't help you here, I really have no idea.

4) You can set the piano melody pad to do either of those things. The first description is called "one-shot" and is the standard format for samples on the 404. The other description you gave is called a "gate" sample. You simply switch the setting with the press of a clearly labelled button. And each pad can have it's own triggering style. The triggering style can also be changed on the fly if you were so inclined.
(EDIT: OH! Wait, I see what you're asking. Only the most recent pressing of the pad will matter, the pad can't be playing "twice simultaneously" which is what you meant. You can just have the same sample on two pads if you're trying to get a nice "bleeding" effect with a melody. I do that a lot)


EDIT: Actually, I just remembered that "one-shot" isn't necessarily the standard form on the 404. If you record a long sample, the 404 will automatically make it a "Gated Loop". But, all these settings can be changed very easily.

ok cool thanks for the answers. my 404 won't be here til friday so im trying to not go crazy waiting for it to come.

yeah i was asking about the polyphony of multiples presses of the same pad.

new question can some pads be set to gate while others are one-shot?
i had a 202 like 8 or 9 years ago and i think you can, but i can't remember for sure.

yes

if you dont want to have your melody cut off the second time you hit the pad, you can just resample it and have duplicates of it. it takes up more pads that way but it wont get cut off.