hey maybe someone can shed some light on this for me
whats the specifics of using the effects on the sp 404...
for example if i have something running on the ext source with an effect and i push a number button for a sample i cant go back to tweaking the effect knobs on the ext source
also if i want to change the effect and then go back to the original effect it seems like i have to shut off the ext source and pop it back on real quick lastly it seems like theres a slight drop out when you switch from on effect to another

are there any work arounds you guys know for this? am i pushing the buttons in some type of wrong order? is this just the limitations of the machine?

regardless of what pad you hit u will be able to tweak the knobs of the current effect (unless you hit start/end/level or time/bpm) I havent noticed ne cutoff with the fx when switching on mine. And I do it live to my recorded tracks so if it happened you would hear it You dont have to turn the EXT on and off... just hit remain and then hit the EXT pad.

^^^ Precisely. When you hold down the Remain button all the pads that are being run through the FX light up (even if they're not currently playing). Keep holding Remain and press the pad you want to add the effect to. In your case, you're just trying to return to manipulating an effect on one pad after hitting a new pad, right? So you just start the new sample, hold remain and press EXT Source and the knobs will now affect the EXT again.

I've never noticed a drop out when switching FX, although I don't speed through them, so I may have just missed it.

thanks thats exactly what i needed to knwo

messing with this tonight also revealed to me that you can have a single effect on multiple samples (and then drop it off certain ones) and essentially then put effects on whole patterns. this thing is so versatile

And I guarantee you that you only scratched the surface, this box is deep. trust me.