Hi there!

This is my first post!

I have one question and hope you can answer it but I can't check on my now because I am away of my SP404.

I want to sync my SP404 with my Electribe MX. To get the patterns in sync they must be started by the play/stop midi messages sent from my electribe which is no problem. But as I want to do a live act I would only send the start message once but won't need pattern playback all the time just at certain moments. So my thought was that I let the patterns of my Sp404 start in sync but set their overall volume to zero (muting them) and just when I need their playback I want to drop them in by increasing their volume. I know that I can set the sample volume for each pad seperately but can I also do this with patterns? Like pressing [remain] + Pad (pattern) and then use [start/end/level] and [ctrl knob 1] to change the volume of the whole pattern?

As I said I will be together with my SP404 in about a week to check it on my own so I hope someone may answer this for my through this forum!

Would be glad for any help!

Grettings from Austria!

dis:[Eased]

wilkommen : )

you can use the Subsonic or Isolator FX to mute pads, but this is a bit of a hassle because it stops you using another effect at the same time. similarly, using Remain and then altering the level of each individual track is pretty tricky and not very intuitive.

would setting up a blank pattern help? that way, when you want the 404 to be mute, you trigger the 'blank pattern' to play next...then you let that loop in silence while you play with your other gear, then trigger the next 404 pattern and it will come in sync after the blank pattern finishes

just an idea

good idea drewe -

and.... why not record the pattern to tape/digital - then back in 404 as a single sample?

That way you record it inside a pattern of the same bar length - that ensures it will start with midi-clock and you can effect the entire lot - using the subsonic you could fade that in and out - effect it with others as well.

and it will free up voices to drop other stuff on as well.

of course - if you are changing the bpm midsong - well, you would be fucked

but sometimes you would be surprised how interesting it sounds to be that way

Thanks for the tipps and also thanks for the nice Willkommen from Australia.

I think the idea with a blank pattern would be neat but as I remember properly the SP404 is not recording a blank pattern. So if no samples have been played no pattern will be saved. Workaround would be to record a sample at 0 level and use that in the pattern but won't you hear some noise then?

^^ to create a blank pattern, you would do this for example:
record a sound to Pad A1 (it will be deleted so doesn't matter what sound). then record a 1-bar loop with several instances of A1 being hit. now, delete the sound in A1. voila - a 1-bar pattern which is silent.

of course, if you record anything into A1 afterwards, the pad will sound...so keep the pad you used in the blank pattern empty. i keep this dummy pattern for various uses, mainly for 'muting' the 404 when using gear together, and ensuring that the delay applied to pads will be synced to pattern-BPM rather than sample-BPM