I need to find a device which would allow me to do that:

- have a headphone out so I can send a click track to a drummer's headphone
- have a midi out so I can get it to launch samples on the SP404 at the same tempo

I think what I am looking for is some sort of sequencer but I don't really know what. Also it would only make sense if it was cheap.

Thanks for your help

im not sure i know EXACTLY what your saying, except this may work.

you could get an mpc 1000 (you can get them very cheap nowadays) 300-600 dollars for a fully upgraded one.

i paid 770 for mine and that was most than most people would pay for what i got. it had the RAM upgrade, a 120 gb hd, and also jjos2xl. jjos is an aftermarket OS and the 2xl version costs 123 dollars to buy alone. there is also a free jjos that alot of people like.


anyway, on the mpc you can set the tempo and a loop for each sequence ( a sequence is the basic building block of your beat) and you can have up to 99 tracks on it (a track is umbrella-ed under your sequence so you can solo separate instruments on it ect ect.)

but anyway, the mpc has a headphone output, and also you can make the click track play when you push "play" or you can make it just do a count in and not play when in record mode, or it can play all the way through in the record mode.

you can also use the mpc to trigger your SP 404 samples because it has 2 midi ins and 2 midi outs.

if you just need a sequencer with a click track, the mpc will more than deliver, you can have a click track playing infinitely at whatever amout of bars you have looped.

i assume you can match your sp's samples to the tempo of the track and you can draw them in on the mpc so they play every time the sequence passes over that certain part.

hope that helps.
mpcs are more of my specialty as i just joined these forums last night, but now i want to get an sp again to add to my set up. i had a 404 before i really knew how to sample, then i sold it and learned all about sampling on logic and an mpc, i love the sp's effects though so im tryin to learn more about them before i decide on what model i want.

if you have any questions about the mpc, feel free to ask!

Thanks damien907.

I guess that would work but at the same time it kind of defeats the purpose, as I could use the mpc on its own having samples on it instead of the 404.
So far the only way I've found is to only send one output to the FOH and have a click track/extra beats to help the drummer stay in time sent to the other output. The only problem is that it means I'll have to run mono, but maybe that's ok....

yeah i was thinking that too, although if your samples are long at all, the sp 404 would still be better for this kind of thing than the mpc because the mpc can only handle 128 mb of RAM at a time, so its better for short samples, as on the 404 you can do however many your flash card allows.