Hey guys, I'm thinking about getting an SP-404 pretty soon, and I was curious about the process you go through to actually complete a beat. I know it has a lot of sample time so I'm wondering if you could theoretically just resample an entire song onto one pad and move it from your flash card to your computer, or if you have to track it out to a DAW and do it from there (and how does that work, if it only has one track?)

Thanks a lot guys, hopefully everything will work out cool and I'll be on a 404 in no time.

What I do is:
1. Find the sample(s)
2. Put drums and sequence the main loops onto my multitrack recorder(so I have 8 tracks)
3. Add the chorus, outro
4. Add the bass
5. Make and save the master track on my 8 track recorders CF card

Sadly you cannot export full patterns from your 404 to your CF card, I'd recommend getting a multitrack recorder or DAW with your 404 because of this

Yeah, I have Ableton and Reaper. What audio interface is best for someone who is just going to be working with the 404?

Heres my process:

I get a drum break and cut it up and beef each hit up with EQ, compression and reverb. Then I create a simple 4 bar drum sequence. They I listen to records till I find a sample I want to use tap the tempo on the 404 till and adjust the pitch on my turntable till its about where I want it. Then I sample a large portion of the song and some time smaller loops from other songs that I think will fit. Then I use the isolator to cut out most of the bass and chop up the sample to where I want it and apply fx and resample etc. Then I do the same thing again but I cut out the his and mids to get the bass out then I chop that up. Then I just start experimenting and creating a few patterns and messing with FX and what not untill im done. Then I record it to my computer and master it. What your saying is possible tho. But the SP cant resample sequences. But you can record the output to a tape or something then back into the SP to export as a .wav