noob here. about to buy a 404 as my first piece of real hardware but have a few questions.
1. is it possible with overdubbing to record a full track into a pattern or are you limited to a loop
2. or is there a better alternative (my comp is messed plus live wont start)
i've read about the br 4 but still not quite sure how it works
3. if i midi'd the 404 and a mpd would i be able to play the 404s sounds of the mpd?

Wellll I'm also sort an SP noob too (just got mine 2 weeks ago) I think I can answer some of your questions though.

1) There are a couple of ways to record beats (that I know of)
a) Technically I guess you could use overdubbing in the pattern mode to record your beat to 1 "pattern" But it'd be limited to 99 bars per pattern lol. And you can only play one pattern at a time.
b) You could enter what's called "resample mode" where you can just play everything with no tempo and assign it to pads and replay things over those pads...

like say on one go, you can play your drums through. Now you've got a pad with a drum loop. Enter resample mode again, trigger your drum loop, and play your sample chops over it. Now you've got a pad with your drums and the sample chops over it. Enter resample again add fx / bass or whatever... now you've got a pad with all that stuff on it.

2) You could get a multi track tape recorder if you want to stay away from the computer. Personally I'm not too sure about hardware sequencers either :p

3) Not sure.

hopefully someone will come along and confirm my response xD

^^^

Answer B is the way ive been making beats lately once their done i just import them into the comp via SD card reader.