so i was wondering if it is possible to sync my alesis sr18 drum machine with the 404? if so how do i do that? i'm pretty lost when it comes to most MIDI shit. i'm going to attempt to set up the 404 as the slave with my mpc2000xl, and i'm pretty sure i just hook the MIDI Out of the mpc to the MIDI In of 404 and set the mpc to master and 404 to slave? i'm not sure how to go about setting them up as slave and master though...

hi
got the alesi a midi out? if it is, there is no problems. if not, got the mpc2000xl 2 midi outs (my mpc1000 got 2 midi outs, thats why i ask this)?
thats the midi theory: a machine can communicate with another via midi channels (16 channels), a machine with only midi in (as the 404) is just a "slave", you can play it via the midi out (the "master", in this case) of another machine; basically, the machine wich "decides" when to start to play is the "master", the one with midi out. a machine with both midi in/out can be set as "slave" or "master" dipending on the situation.

try to see into the 404 manual to set correctly the midi channels: to make communicate 2 (or more) machines via midi you need to set the same midi channel. look at the 2000xl (or the alesis if got the midi out) to see how to change the midi setting (master or slave) and the midi channels.
hope this help

thanks. this helped me gain a lil wider understanding of it all. will have to try this out after school today. thanks!

okay, so i tried everything out for an hour yesterday and couldn't get shit. first, i turned on the 404 with the time/bpm button held down and set to auto sync. then, i turned it back on while holding down pad 1 and set it to C.1 and as for the mpc i had just followed the manual with the settings and set the output midi channel to ALL as well as the 404 to slave and the mpc to master. when looking at the 404 manual though, i notice pads 1-12 are midi notes 47-58, but what does this haveto do with anything on the mpc? how do i set up the mpc with the midi notes 47-58 corresponding? i wanted to bank E on my 404 to be triggered on the mpc pads. i don't evenknow if i'm making sense. please someone help!

have you set the same midi channel for the 404 and the mpc?

yeah. well at least i thought i did. i set the MIDI channel to 1 on the 404 by turning the power on while holding down pad 1... then on the mpc i just set the track type to MIDI and then to 01-Device and set it to channel 1 in the MIDI output open window setting.

if you set well the midi channels (on the 404 and on the 2000xl), then start to "find" the samples on the 404 pads by hitting the corrensponding midi notes on the mpc 2000xl...
by now i never tried to do that with my mpc, but ive tried that with the sp303 and the akai xr20 and it worked always...
i set the sp303 on "AUT" (hope i remeber well) and then i set the xr20 midi channel to 10 (try also other midi channel, who knows...), then i set the corresponding midi notes and it worked...
i suggest also to try other midi channels, sometime some samplers or drumachines are setting by default on midi channel 10, dont know the real reason why, but ive heard this many times...
unfortunately i remeber that when i used my sp404, it didnt sync with some digital recorders, but this is not your case...
re-check also the mpc2000xl midi setting as well...

i appreciate the help man. i think i know my problem. how do i set the corresponding MIDI notes with each other? that's where i'm lost...

youre wellcome mezzo
well, if im right, i remember that the sp303 (its the same for the 404 i think) start with midi note 36 corresponding to pad A1, so, for example, if you have a sample on A1 then you could "heard" it by hitting the pad set on note 36 on the mpc 2000xl...i think it's not very difficult to find the midi notes on the 2000xl, im sure there is its own midi setting where you can easily find (and change) them...
if this not work, try to recheck all the midi setting on the 404, everytime hitting the midi note 36 on the 2000xl...and make sure that the 2000xl send midi messages to the 404...
by the way, if it is your first try with midi, i undertand very well that it is a bit annoying, but dont worry, you will succed to that...and dont forget: midi begun many years ago (maybe the end of seventies or the beginning of eighties), so many parts of it seems obscure to us on our days...

oh okay, so yeah the 404 is A1 = #47 midi note, but i looked through the manual of the 2000xl where it speaks of MIDI and i have not seen a single thing about assigning MIDI note numbers on the XL or how to find out which pad is what MIDI note. god damn, this is very frustrating and i appreciate every oz. of help brotha! you don't own an MPC though do ya? maybe i'm retarded (or too stoned?) and just read over the MIDI note section? i don't know.

so yeah, lemme get this straight... so i set everything up to the XL as master and 404 as slave, then turn on the 404 by holding down pad A1 (MIDI note 47) which then says C.1 (channel 1, correct?) and then go to the MPC and hit the pad that corresponds with MIDI note 47 and it will play pad A1 from the 404 on the MPC?

okay i am officially retarded. i did everything the manual has said about MIDI for both the MPC and SP (i believe), but nothing will work! i found the page for the mpc that explained assigning note numbers to certain pads, which i assumed was assigned the MIDI note, so i assigned bank A pad 1 on the MPC to note 47 and then pad 2 to note 48 and so on. and in the 404 manual it says bank a pads 1-12 are notes 47-58, so that means if i set everything up correctly, the MPC should play bank A pad 1 on its bank A pad 1? so frustrating! anybody else please?!!! guru's done enough...

i re-read my old 404 manual, it said to set it on "Off" in order to play its own pads by an external machine. the "Aut" setting is to put the 404 in "sync" (the "master" play a pattern and the "slave" follows at the same bpm) with sequencers.
anyway, i read also some parts of the 2000xl manual, it says something about midi notes on page 13 i think, but if you already succeded to set the midi notes right on it, then i suggest to re-check the 2000xl midi (channel and other) setting...
midi setting on my mpc 1000 is more immediate, but dont worry youre near to solve this thing.

hey I just came across this topic, and I think I can help as I have both 2kxl and 404.

I dont have much time now, but I created simple program for mp, that gonna trigger your samples from banks c and d.

unfortunately I could set mp to trigger midi notes bigger than 99 so, further banks triggering on 404 need to wait for tommoro.

set your base channel in 404 to 1, load up this program ( http://drop.io/sp404program1 ), set it to DRUM1, connect your midi cable to sp and mpc's midi out A, in main screen on mp highlight the bottom line and set it like this:
S:DRUM1:1A-Device01

done

if that wasnt the problem, then sorry, i didnt have time to read the whole topic, ima be back tommorow with some greater knowledge

in a meantime, grab this ish - drop.io/mpc2000xl
its a dope tutorial for 2000xl which i learn from

thanks guys! i'm gonna go try this shit out, but how on earth do i load that program to my MPC? i don't have a floppy drive for my computer...and the manual you referenced to "drop.io/mpc2000xl," was that supposed to be a link or what? i'm confused. but yeah good point guru, maybe that was my whole problem. for some reason i kept thinking i had to sync the 404. i'll try this in a bit and get back to ya.

yep, that's a link homie

http://drop.io/mpc2000xl

if you dont have a floppy drive in your pc, you can easily create such program by yourself.

go into program-drum1-hit pad A1-highlight "Note:xx"-change xx to 72-it will correspond with pad C1 on your sp404

then change the rest of your pad's note's values as you want em to be.

ima write some more tommoro

peace man