yo so i have both the sx and normal now. from the get go i noticed...
-way faster. i don't get blinking LED's after i record/delete etc.
-all pads are sampled as wav's from the get go, no exporting needed! you flip a beat record it to a pad and you can just copy it off the card. nice
-some effects are different... better reverb, with more control. wah is more robust... but vinyl sim is WACK. it sounds more realistic, but no more of the knob one compression 'trick'. but compression effect sounds better.
-nicer orange lights
-function button makes certain things quick and easy, like input/output gain, backups and pad exchanges.
-ALSO has different buttons but same layout. so custom faceplate is still interchangeable
any questions? i can do some experiments/comparisons for anyone curious

no more 303 in the dungeon?

Good buy I would say...

So very cool! :-]

Anyway, I do have one question: how long does it take to save/load backups? (I suppose it's alot faster, but it would be nice to know...)

? never had one

ill let you know. i havn't tried yet, but its prob mad fast. im using a new sdhc card, so fast

...now then get one...

How's the pause function... can it be used for resampling too?

ohhh i see. i can only find them for around 200US and... for 150 more i get the things i want (mega space etc...) my plan is to take it on a roadtrip. ill be able to make beats with resample and just back them all up to the card(i have an 8 gig). the only thing i see the 303 worth owning is the "sound" it has. and i hear its compression is sick. maybe ill sell the old 404 for a 303...

naw that's not the way i was argumenting...I was just mixing shit up; thought you bought the expensive 303....
you're right, there is no reason to get the 303 beside the sound, look and feel. ..but seriously... 404's are cool as mobile recorders.. even more with a sdhc and direct wav export. cool thing you got going on. ima always stay with my ol 404 cause of the internal memory (still ) and cf cards... i'm not jealous at all.

nice! have you noticed any difference in the pad responsiveness?

also, i thought that the untreated samples on the 404 gravitated towards a kinda harsh sound(compared to 303/505) glue bag/master lo mentioned something about death spike snares, that kinda illustrates what i'm getting at, does it really sound any different to you?

also can you resample internal and external sounds at the same time ala the 303? like if i wanted to whip up a quick resampled drum loop and then play and resample an external synth line over it.

i knew the vinyl sim had to be different. i thought i was just crazy hearing you all talk about compression.

the vinyl sim works in reverse on the sx it seems... on the 404 its [knob 1= compression increase when spun from left to right] on the sx its more like [knob 1= level of knob 2 and 3 increased with intense compression when spun right to left]. I HAVE found a use for it. but its different than the usual vinyl sim compression.

also like to add that the lo-fi button acts as a button now, instead of a resample choice. any sample can be turned lo-fi on the fly, and turned back at will by hitting lo-fi on or off.

pads are more sensitive it seems. sometimes on my 404 i hit a pad and the machine does not realize i have hit the pad, could be me, the age of my 404 (3 years) or the technology itself... not sure. but the sx is very responsive.

I never had a problem with the sound of the original 404, a death spike snare is at the hands of the producer, not the sampler i feel... but the sx is more "realistic" in the idea of what you put in is what you get. its more crisp, and the sounds are very true to the sample source. when i hear both side by side the orig. 404 sounds a bit washy. but with the 404 vinyl compression sampled back into the sx with some eq efx it sounds dope. i love my set up

you cannot sample while playing a sample, i wasn't aware that the 303 could do this. that makes me want a 303... but the fact that i have a 404 to sample with while looping the sx defeats the fact

pause works as you would think it would, have only tried it with patterns... it pauses all samples. so if you have a long playing sample that starts at the first bar and you pause at the third bar on a four bar loop only the samples after you pause will play. it will not pick up were the long loop stopped unless you trigger it after the pause. I'm not sure if i explained that very well

still have not tried the backup function, tomorrow will probably be an experiment day...so hit me up with more questions

wow nice thread! thanks, from what i understand the 404sx is really quite a better machine!
can you pause individual samples too? how about reversing an entire pattern ?

Also, if you had to choose between the SP-404 + Kaossilator or just the SP-404SX, what would you choose IIIII??

I tried the resample pause thing and had no luck..

Took a long sample hit resample stopped pressed pause and the sample kept playing... I only tried it once and didnt try again

Yeah I believe the pause is only for patterns, and you cannot reverse patterns. i assume the 555 can do that in box with the loop capture, then reverse the capture.
i would get the 404sx cus i think the kaossilator is a toy my friend has one it just sounds cheesy to me. and his tap tempo button got stuck its 1st week. but im just biased, i really don't like that little thing.

one more thing i noticed on the sx is that it remembers the bpm of the pattern that you last worked on. i turned it off at 150, it turned on at 150 (102 was still the out of the box default tho )