Hi everyone,

I'm sick of using step sequencer programs on my computer so I thought I'd get an mpc but then I realized I don't have the money for one so I thought of getting the old equipment like an ASR X Pro but then you gotta deal with no warranty and possible breakdowns. That was a huge run-on sentence, anyways.

I just have a few questions and probably a few more in the near future.

1. I'm cheap and can't afford to buy anything else, can I make full songs on just the SP? (and records) Like can you make it sound decent without having to track it out into a DAW?
2. Does it have any serious bugs?
3. Does anybody make some sweet boom bap with this thing?
4. How does the backup functions work? Like does it backup all your samples and patterns then you just load the backup and you can get back to work where you left off?

Thats it for now. Thanks for the help. I just need a bit more money then I'll be able to buy one.

keep the asr man, it's a beast.

hell yeah you can do everything inside the SP- has very basic controls compared to external mixing- but it definantly can be done and sound good.



no, the only major flaw of this machine is no pitch control. It forces you to chop and discover work arounds. thats a big part of what the sp is about.



check the music section and decide for urself



yeah, the only thing it doesnt save is the tempo



check the sp forum members music it def sounds better than the mpc forum members.

Keep the input coming, I love it.

Oh, and I don't own an asr just to clarify.

And yes the music from this section sounds way better than mpc-forums. There's so many wack guys there. There are definately too many people you buy too much gear and don't know how to use it. These people got to be rich or something because thats a waste of money if you can't figure it all out. I need to start simple with just my old crappy turntable and an sp 404. I just need to save that last little bit and maybe by xmas i'll have it.
My turntable sucks but I'm going to clean the stylus and my records and see if that makes it a little better. Thanks!

Dude I had an ASR-X Pro, steer clear. It's 10 times more tedious than computer editing. Go with the 404 you won't be disappointed.

The SP404 saves everything you do. So if you where in the middle of something and the power goes out now worries ! Its already saved as far as backup, there is no real backup. The way to back up is either to 1) buy a bunch of cards or 2) backup your cards to computer via card reader(this is what I do) The SP-404 is a very capable machine. I record it stereo out into the computer for mastering... but all part mixing is done in the 404. Its got sick compressors, EQ, Reverb, Delay...everything u need is on board. You should check out Lord Beatjitsu's beat tape. It will make u a believer !

Very true, the menu sucks.


The 404 will get you happy, but for the first 2 days a lot of people have some learning issues coming from a PC. Just keep learning.


And you know, a lot of the stuff you find in the 'your music' forum is 404 only, it's crazy what that little box is capable of!

When I first used my 303 after switching from a computer, I was like wtf is this but I knew it was the sampler I wanted to learn and J Dilla and Madlib were proof enough something good could come out of it if I learned enough about how people like Pete Rock made classic ish on old samplers.