The Akai xr20 and the 404sx - An Unholy Union?

[star_tsar]

Hello, all. Need your advice. My friend's neighbor is selling his Akai xr20 drum machine for $200. It has midi ins and outs and quarter-inch ports for everything, and that's it. Would I be able to use this to sequence samples on my 404sx? How would I go about doing so? Does anyone use one of these, or something similar? If so, how to you feel about the canned sounds? What is your workflow? I wholly eschew the 404's sequencer, and usually microwave everything with the glorious RESAMPLE button, but sometimes I want a more granular workflow, you know? If you've got a better hardware sequencer to recommend, spill it, girl. (Sorry about all the n00b questions, but not that sorry.)

[springwater]

So your trying to use a drum machine to sequence a sampler. Might wanna do some research in the manual to even see if it's possible. I got my mpc 1000 to sequence my 808 and 404 but the mpc gives you the ability to set which pad sends which midi note message. If the drunk machine can do that then your good. If not then the midi may just send start and stop signals. Don't use 200 bucks and end up with something that doesn't do what you want it to do. Find that manual yo.

[star_tsar]

Thanks, springwater. I downloaded the manual and read it from cover to cover. Assigning midi notes to pads is possible. After careful consideration, I think I still may be jumping the gun (when I really just want an MPC, but can't afford one). I haven't yet mastered every knob and lever on the 404sx, and there's so much left to try. I feel like buying an extra sound toy will only pull my attention away from the dirt box we all love.

That said, if someone reading this uses a drum machine with their SP in a similar way, please share some of your polyrhythmic magic!

[blavatsky]

Got me thinking about really cheap ways to sequence a SP404 and have some extra sounds....thoughts:

Yamaha RMX1 - badass sequencer, decent groovebox (baby bro of the RS7000)
Roland MC303 or MC307 - cheezy groovebox, but I think fairly decent 4 track sequencer (I had a D2 briefly)

But then I guess you'd need a decent midi keyboard/extra set of pads to run in there, so maybe not....or hell get a SP505/606/808 and sequence from there.

[star_tsar]

Blavatsky, you've tossed me down the rabbit hole of equipment reviews and YouTube tutorials, flailing and floundering into the yawning, twisted pit of operation-manual downloads and SoundCloud tag searches. And there goes my weekend (again). Somehow ended up reading a bunch bunch bunch on TE's OP-1. If this gets any more out of control, I'll be banging my skull against the marble mantle and sampling the horrific sound, as long as I remain conscious.

Yours in OH SHIT MAYBE I NEED THAT,
Simon

[formal]

I've got the 307 and used to sequence the 404 with it.

307 has 8 tracks but you can only use 2 to control 2 banks on the 404. I used one bank for melody from the 404 and another bank for drums. I'd use the other 6 free tracks on the 307 to fill in sounds.

307 has some cheese sounds but you are also able to make own patches using 4 internal sounds combined with tons of options to tweak. I think I paid $90 for my 307 3-4yrs ago.

Sequencing the 404 from external can be rewarding but I feel the 404 is best used a standalone unit. There are much better samples for very little money that would be good to be used with a sequencer.

[star_tsar]

Thanks, formal! I'll familiarize myself with the 307 and see if we might spark.

Regarding your advice on the SX's much-loved resample button and much-ignored sequencer: YES. Resampled beats are probably what I will be coming back to as long as I'm touching SP. I shouldn't fight it. It makes me feel like I'm hunched over my Magnavox in 1987, making pause-play tapes of Dr. Demento and whatever commercials bubbled up on Oklahoma radio. Wish I still had those things. I bet they were horrible, but I remember the joyous, chest-swelling hours spent making them. Ah, to be 9 again.

The only reason I'm exploring cheap external sequencer options is that I want to create more intricate drum parts, and I wanted to leave my computer behind. As many of you have shared about your own days, I make my living in front of a glowing screen, and after work I want to unwind elsewhere. Glowing screens of every size permeate my life. My pupils are going square.

Of course I'm a beat production novice, have never even attempted midi (which seems like electrical voodoo to me), and have limited knowledge about what's even possible. To be brutally honest, I don't know what I'm really trying to do, other than give my gut a pleasant bump-bump to dry hump.

Still asking stupid questions, still absorbing everything, still powering up.