SP-404 New To Beats

[spacetrip]

yo whats up everyone, i'm new to beat making but once i heard brainfeeder i knew i had to start making beats. i noticed that jonwayne, teebs, samiyam all use sp-404 and they all make the exact type of beats i enjoy. basically just mellow lo fi nice chill drum track type stuff..i've used ableton a little and find it pretty hard to use. i've messed around with imaschine iphone app and like the drum machine and find it way easier to make tracks with that. but i really want equipment to start to learn on and was wondering if the sp-404 is a good piece of equipment to get started on learning beats? or will i have a hard time learning on this? and do i need to learn ableton or any program to use the 404? thanks!!

[blavatsky]

404 is fine to learn on...you don't need any other software except to record the output/patterns at the end.

Read the manual, read the info here, and learn that SOB inside and out.

[E.Simon]

Wellcome!
The sp-404 is à Nice piece of gear i'm sure you will enjoying it!
Theres enough info on the boards!

[spacetrip]

404 is fine to learn on...you don't need any other software except to record the output/patterns at the end.

Read the manual, read the info here, and learn that SOB inside and out.

so no laptops needed that sounds great. do i make my drums on the 404 similiar to an mpc? each pad has a different drum pad and i can bang away and record a loop right...? i'm just so confused where to find all the sounds to load onto the 404. any help would be great just a summary of how you build drums/keyboard/bass and sequence it. i just can't imagine how the workflow is on this but i know it's AMAZING equipment, want to make sure it's right for me before i buy it (even though all my favorite producers use it)

[blavatsky]

everyone works different, here is just an example:
1. load drums (as wavs) using the 404 wave converter onto a few banks of pads on the card ... or grab drums off records through the RCA jacks and manually chop them

2. Samples/Synths: I sample off of old movies, video games, hardware synths. Plug in, hit sample and save to pad. Add effects (Resample, read in the manual) to mix em up.

3. Sequencing: Or Patterns on an SP, basically go set your tempo, number of bars, quantize (fix timing) and record. Hit the pads, there is your pattern.

SP is more limiting than MPC (lack of pitching/panning/multiple track recording, etc) but the effects and immediate fun of them are hard to beat.

[spacetrip]

everyone works different, here is just an example:
1. load drums (as wavs) using the 404 wave converter onto a few banks of pads on the card ... or grab drums off records through the RCA jacks and manually chop them

2. Samples/Synths: I sample off of old movies, video games, hardware synths. Plug in, hit sample and save to pad. Add effects (Resample, read in the manual) to mix em up.

3. Sequencing: Or Patterns on an SP, basically go set your tempo, number of bars, quantize (fix timing) and record. Hit the pads, there is your pattern.

SP is more limiting than MPC (lack of pitching/panning/multiple track recording, etc) but the effects and immediate fun of them are hard to beat.

1) when you get drums do you find samples online and chop them up on the 404 and play the beat out on there? or can i only find a whole loop online and work with that?

2) so basically, i need a synth/keyboard if i get the 404 or else i'd have no sounds to work with?

3) what if i want a beat that changes constantly rather than a loop? is that hard to sequence on the 404?

i know they are fun and the effects are great, but i can't tell if the 404 is something that you just load your completed work onto so you can play live and change it up? or is it an actual full work station that i can create a whole entire beat on it easily

[preqwal]

It can be a full workstation if you want to be. All you need are a bunch of records, CD's, MP3's or whatever your sampling from.

I know Samiyam has a handful of synths and video game consoles he uses, but he still only uses to 404 to arrange everything by sampling into it.

Chopping and looping's real easy, you just need to find some nice records to put into it

I myself use Ableton to make the beat (just percussion) as I like to use velocity on hi-hats and stuff and also I'm forever changing my drum sounds within a song, which I can quickly do in Ableton.

I use the 404 to sample my records into and chop up, then record the arrangment over the beat.

I would perhaps check out some of the beat battles, on this forum in the arena section, as that will give you an idea of what you can do with just the 404. Also, there are loads of vids on youtube. There are loads of nice MPC ones that explaing chopping samples up and stuff. I'd recommend Boon Doc, and also Jaisu. their sound isn't much like brainfeeder at all, but give you an idea of what you can do with a sample