I want to buy the 404 without a doubt, the only thing that I am concerned about is using the compact flash cards. I don't know what card to buy, and I don't know if i can use a usb flashcard reader to download samples I have made in cubase using soft synths, onto the flashcard to use with the 404 live. I don't want to sample from cd's I want to make my own samples and use the 404 to trigger them while I'm playing guitar.

Also I want to be able to use the 404 as a backing track player, therefor I need to know if I can load a wave file to the 404 that lasts up to 5 minutes long so I can press a button and then just happily play guitar with it.

If anyone would be good enough to put my mind at rest before I buy one.
I would be eternally gratefull.

Good luck everybody.
Paul.

yes you can easily do all those things - provided you have a flash card big enough to take your five mins (per track) of files - am assuming you will want to keep a few on one card.

anybody shoot me down if am wrong -

Moving wavs onto the flashcard should be no problem.


The only thing that could - possibly - be difficult is the trend of many live guitarists have seen here - creating tracks onstage by recording a riff right there and building a track before the audience then letting it rip.

Creates a hybrid blues/hip hop - or experimental ambient.

It could certainly be done on 404 - with some thought and preparation beforehand - but may not be as easy as have seen many guitarists do with more expensive looper pedals.

but then those guys have complained they don't have the TRIM function that 404 has to trim the start and end point of samples - not something you would want to do before an audience without lots of practice.



It would be worth investing time in doing that as it always seems to impress audiences. Especially if you hit it with some of the effects.

I don't know if a footpedal is available to trigger patterns or samples (?)

But if you just want to set your backing track up before a show it would be great for that.

Yeah i do pretty much exactly what u want it for. It is excellent. But you just have to remember its not a laptop and u have to get use to how it works. Compact flash is not a problem and they are fairly cheap. You will just need fairly big cards.

bishojo_command . As for the looping business, its a totally different thing. I use looping pedals with my guitars and keys to build loops live but you cant do that type of thing of the 404. Unless somebody has some secrets and if you do please tell me.

I seen a juggler who had midi triggers strapped to his arms, wrists and elbows - was on sideshow, any people from downunder? - he got members of the audience to speak phrases and words into a mic.

I presume it went to a mpc but they didnt show the gear.

he spent five mins hitting keys - sorting settings - adding fx

started juggling and went to town - some of the triggers based on percussion and phrases so he racked up a slow techno beat using the samples and obviously pre-samples.

It got me thinking - The problem with the 404 is you wouldnt have a metronome to record phrase samples - but all you would need is reference to a click track on cd or drum machine through headphones - yr instrument, mic, can be set to autosample, - as well as sample at specific tempo remember.

if that's beyond a trained musician then I'd really wonder what sort of a player they are. They'd have trouble recording anything.

Making your patterns would be no different to playing an instrument - the better a musician you are the easier it would be because you could ignore the quantization to keep your own groove.

The juggler was actually hitting the triggers as he juggled - equivalent to playing the keys of a 404/mpc constantly.

you wouldnt have to do that to make a simple backing track.

Thanks very much for your time in replying everybody.
My mind is put at rest now.
I will be definately ordering mine as soon as mr employer pays me again
in april
I'm in a band and there are 3 of us. If I need to play guitar then I need the 404 to play a single wav file including melodies, drums and backing vocal.
And if we are doing a song that i'm not playing guitar on, then I will use the 404 to trigger my samples and effects and use it more creatively.

Does anyone like Panda Bear/animal collective? I nicked the idea of using a sampler from them.

I wanted a synth workstation for live stuff but funds were tight so I decided to buy an Alesis Micron or a Microkorg. But then i thought i have so many soft synths on my pc why waste them! I can take them onstage via the 404 by saving my melodies in cubase as wav files.

You are all great people and have been much better help to me than the roland websites.


Happy music making all

I have some demos found below if anyone has a spare minute to listen
http://www.myspace.com/kitjanuary
Paul.

Wow, people sure love that Animal Collective...

They're not so bad. I think they get a little more credit in the innovation department than they deserve, but that's because I've been following sample based music for much of my life, so I don't see much of what they're doing now as innovative. I went to several of their shows when they were still unknowns out in Brooklyn, and I've had a beer with one of the guys and his then girl. They are all very nice and cool, though a little "tofu" for my tastes (but that's just how all of hipster Brooklyn is) Their music is a little here and there for me, I'm not really into loop-based drone-y primitive chant-type music, so I don't love all of it. I lean more towards experimental harmony, contrapuntal melodies and wild rhythmic variation and heavy bass in the music I like. Oh yeah, and I don't really like vocals or singing in general, so there's that. They are definitely worlds better than all the AC clones that seem to be popping up recently around here (NYC). I just really dislike Brooklyn (the gentrified hipster sections that shot them to "stardom" particularly), so maybe I have a chip on my shoulder. Everyone in Brooklyn is into AC and their fashion style. It's gotten redundant.

They're a good band, though, really. And they at least attempt to be "out there", even among the weird music that's being put out now, which I respect. And everyone who likes those guys and then sees my band usually comments on how much we rely on the sampler as an instrument, playing it like a guitar or piano, so I'm pretty sure I have AC to thank for people even knowing to say that. 3 years ago or earlier, most people didn't even know what my sampler was or what it did. It was just another box with me onstage.

It's like DJ Shadow; if we play a set and there's someone in the crowd who likes DJ Shadow, they almost instantly "get" what we're doing. I've noticed the same trend with AC fans at our shows over the last 9 months or so. I guess, then, you could say that I love them for that.