I just bought two SP-404's for use with my DJ setup. First, let me say that I absolutely love these things. That said, I've been having a problem:

My setup is an SP-404 in-line between my CDJ 200's and the mixer. The sound that I'm getting out of the 404 is terrible. Heavy distortion, sounds horrible. I've turned down the input volume and it doesn't affect the distortion at all. It gets quieter, but the distortion is just as prevalent. When I run the CDJ directly into the mixer, the sound is crystal clear. And I highly doubt that the unit is defective, because I get the same behavior out of my other 404 with the other CDJ.

So at the moment I'm hoping that there's some setting I haven't discovered yet which might explain the distortion. Quick recap of the facts:
- No effects are on
- Peak light doesn't come on (and even turning the input volume waaay down does nothing to eliminate the distortion)
- Skipping the 404 and going straight into the mixer eliminates the distortion

Ideas? I can't possibly be the first person to use CDJ 200s with 404s, so there's got to be SOMETHING I missed. I spent a good hour looking through various forum posts hoping to find a solution, but couldn't. I'd hate to take these things back to guitar center.

Thanks for your help.

I dunno, I know Adru has the same problem so if you find out, hit him up about it

Thanks for the reply. I remember seeing phono cables with resistors in them, maybe that would drop the input to the 404 enough to eliminate the distortion.

So I went back to guitar center today, and we spent a good 20 minutes looking at various solutions to my problem. The short answer is that unless I'm willing to spend another $400+ on audio equipment, I'm fucked. Tomorrow I'm going to call Roland and Pioneer, to see if there's anything I can do. I'll be sure to post back with results.

Oh, and I guess those "phono cables with resistors" were a figment of my imagination. I remember staring at them wondering what they might used for a couple weeks ago, but when I went back I couldn't find them. C'est la vie.

I know phono cables with transistors in them, but they are mad expensive... as in the 200$+ range. You know, sick prices like with these ; http://www.elusivedisc.com/prodinfo.asp ... =HOVMG2RCA

I'd have to save a while for that bastard.
"should I get the SP 606 or that really sweet cable?"

start again -

first) fuck off the cdj200 - just get the 404 sounding right first thru yr mixer - using whatever samples are already on it...

get comfortable with the mixer's in volume and 404 out volume.. and ONLY then....

2nd) - connect yr cdj200 thru rca ins on 404 -

then you activate the external pad - to bring the cdj200 sound in...

then you need to hit the Start/End button and ctrl 3 (the input volume coming into 404 from the cdj200 - that is adjusting the input signal of the cdj200

if the cdj200 has it's own volume knob then cut that down as well.

am surprised you have been told to shell out a further barrel of money - the sps were made to do exactly this on their own...

if you cant get the two to work together on their own- yr basically saying you can't sample from the cdj200 - which sounds ridiculous....

So I called Roland today. The guy was very knowledgeable, but unfortunately it seems that there's no built-in way to deal with a high line level input. He did mention that I could look into something called an "attenuation cable".
I'm calling Pioneer tomorrow to get the exact output level of their CDJ 200. It's not in the manual nor can I find it online.

I've done exactly the procedure you've outlined there, and the results don't change. And ya, it's ridiculous to me too that this issue exists at all, but it does. Hopefully the attenuation cables, if those are the only solution, aren't as expensive as the ones posted above. Anyways, I'll see what pioneer has to say tomorrow.

i'm pretty shocked at this and i was going to buy that unit for the sp404 myself.

have you also tried the roland clan forums.....? some more tech heads there - or just try some other mixer/recording forums... there must be a cheaper way around it.

hope you have some luck getting it together - it's gotta be a bad rep for pioneer.

Well, having talked to pioneer, I feel I can confidently say that I'm fucked as far as not buying anything else to fix the problem. The roland people tell me there's nothing I can do besides turn down the input level, and there's no way to control the output of the CDJ200.

The upshot is that if these things do what i hope they will, then the solution won't be expensive:
http://www.amazon.com/RCA-Line-Level-At ... 769&sr=8-1

I'm going to hit up a radioshack tomorrow. Hopefully they carry it. I'll let ya'll know how it goes.

I've had those in my car and if I recall correctly they caused a humming background noise.

Still, it's probably a lot better than what you're getting now.

Well, I just got the -6 dB phono line-level attenuators, and the results are everything I hoped for. Levels are loud enough at the mixer not to be problematic and the sound quality as far as I can tell is perfect.
Thank god. Looks like I'll be using the 404 for a while yet.

I don't hear any humming, so maybe that was specific to your setup. I've listened through good headphones and through speakers and can't make out any background noise.

Grats
Must make you feel better

glad you got it sorted man
enjoy the 404s