Alright folks, Im having trouble with the volume of my sample's . When i sample the volume of the sample is really low? i just got the thing like 3 weeks ago, so im a bit of a n00b.

-Edwrd

There are a few things you can do. For one, I find that when I sample from vinyl through my receiver into the 404, it is way lower than sampling directly from my record player into the 404.

But what you are going to need to do is mess with the effects. Isolator and equalizer (13) are both great for boosting the volume. Then you resample your samples with either of those effects on.

also, make sure if your table is a phono table (most are besides the portable ones and the USB ones) that you have it running through a mixer or a preamp, otherwise the sound will never be loud enough without sounding like crap from boosting the volume and heavy EQing

The Eg. worked pretty well, but when I sample from Television (voice samples) they are also really low? And I need some advice because i have my turntable plug into my tv, can i sample directly from my turntable?


Also, is this the only video online that show show to "chop" ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDNrSLhL3w4

Thanks Man!

look up wax inspector's "mark mystery" post about quick chopping.

also, why do you have your turntable going into your tv? i don't understand that...

as previously stated, if your turntable is 'phono out' then the signal will need to be boosted with a preamp or mixer. your sp will not boost the signal properly. you're not recording into the mic in are you? you should be going through the rca's. if you're recording onto the mic in (which you shouldn't be) you can boost the signal with the mic gain knob.

i have it there because i dont have speakers or an preamp man, and i couldnt find the post about "mark mystery" ?

and no im sampling via rca cables, would you recommend a mixer or preamp so my sample could come out right ?

-Thanks man

@ yo-yo crunch , can you make a video of how to make a beat on the sp 404sx ? because im really a n00b man, and i just trying to figure this machine out, please help man like this beat of your here : http://soundcloud.com/wigmaster/223-3 ill !!

yo thanks for listening. that 223 track was done in garageband and i just ran it through the 404 vinyl sim...

here's kel's video explaining the mark mystery:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMIsgV0Vgp8

here's the thread its from:

http://sp-forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6941&hilit=mark+mystery

what kind of turntable do you have? you'll probably NEED a mixer or preamp for it if it doesn't have a line out signal. do NOT try boosting the signal with sp effects!!

i'll see what i can do about a video for you...

Dope , i recognize u sampled a MF DOOM interview, thats dope man !

Thanks for the thread man, i gotta try it out now, and i got this turntable...
http://www.amazon.com/Technica-AT-LP60- ... 794&sr=8-1


nothing fancy. I tried equalizing samples but most of them sounded shitty man, yeah id appreciate it man , really.

haha yeah that was doom at redbull academy from a couple months ago...

i was looking at that link and apparently there is a switch on the back of your turntable that goes from 'phono' to 'aux' (or 'line'). you want it set to aux/ line--NOT phono!!

in lieu of a video, maybe i can quickly explain how i make a really simple beat on my 404 (not the sx) a lot of times:

1. get a 2 bar sample loop (not drums), find its BPM, and take it OFF loop mode

2. go into pattern record mode, set it for 2 bars, set quantize to 4 (quarter notes)

3. hit your sample pad on the 1st beat. wait for it to come back around--it should be looping properly in pattern mode

4. add your snare on the 2, 4, 6 & 8

5. turn quantize off. now add in your kick. after that add your hi hat.

6. use pattern copy (is there a function for that on the sx?) and make variations of the pattern

7. now you can play the different patterns in time to make a song


there should be something in the manual similar to this explaining how to get a basic beat going

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I was doing some searching and actually had a very similar question to this -

I'm thinking about buying an SP-404 (or SX, not sure yet), and I want to sample vinyl through my Numark TT USB turntable. There's an RCA cable going out from the back of the turntable with a switch between two options: RCA Phono and RCA Line. Since it can output a line signal, I won't need an external mixer right?

Also, will this be an issue because of the file format that the 404/404sx requires? Or does it automatically convert the incoming audio to the proper format?

Thanks all.

Ya Line level setting should work for you. As for formats, both record straight in to their native formats. The og 404 is proprietary but the SX has the advantage of recording straight to 16bit/44kHz .wav files you can take straight off the card if you want. I have done this before is pretty handy.
There is another thread going on right now here about the different sounds of those 2 and people feel the og 404 is warmer, more lo-fi and the SX is cleaner and some say hyped but I do not feel that way.
Also be aware you will want to adjust the input and output gain on either 404 to suit your setup- it can have an effect on effects headroom and overall playback volume, etc.

Have fun with whatever you get!

C

Thanks for the quick response! Just the information I needed. I do really like lo-fi, warmer sounding audio, but if the differences in sound quality are minimal, i'll probably just go with the SX for the improvements in workflow.

Oh also just saw this info about chopping longer loops on the og 404 vs SX and the og 404 has a way of doing it that is different than the SX. It has never been an issue for me on the SX as I just cue the source to grab different bits but good info to see before you buy I guess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMIsgV0Vgp8

I just looked through all of Heat Vision's posts and could not find the audio comparison.
I did find this though:

general 404 comparison-
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12983

Sweet - been reading through these different threads. A lot of good info. Thanks for the help, man. I actually found a guy selling an OG 404 on craigslist for pretty cheap, so I might just go for that. To be honest, this will be my first real piece of hardware, so I'm just excited to start experimenting, regardless of the model I choose.

I did have one more question though: you said that the OG 404 converts sampled audio to a proprietary file format. When I want to get the audio from the 404 into my laptop (Ableton), will that be a problem? Or can I just run the audio from the output of the 404 into my USB audio interface?