im fucking sorry for asking this, i know i've asked questions similiar but i'm finally gonna get one of the two, but i want to know what you guys would do.

not being able to record with EXT SOURCE as i have a pad looping is just really making me miss opportunities. i love the workflow of an sp and it's the only success i've ever had attempting to make music, so that being said i like to keep it all in the box. which leads me to the sp303...i can record keys with my loop going all in the box, and then im pretty sure record vocals over the beat too...so there i can complete a whole beat like that mix it.

so then why get a multitrack recorder? it seems like most of you guys use one and i'm not sure if im missing the point of one or what. can't i just use the sp303 the same way i'd use a multitrack. like with the sp303 i can make a sequence and then record a synth all in the box. but with the multitrack id make a sequence put it on the multitrack, track 1, and then record track 2 with the synth to have them both together...it just seems to me like thats an extra step...

multitrack is more simpler if you wanna get your mix differet I guess. plus you can plug in drum machine, sampler and key all together and get stuff in and out and eq.

Exactly what Rabot said plus multitrack gives you more flexibility with your takes & editing. If you mess up resampling everything down to a pad at a time & don't notice it at the time you could be screwed. With multitrack all you have to do redo that one take.

If you want to work in the box solely, do it. There's no right or wrong answer with to this.

I totally feel where you're coming from. Being able to feel a beat out or make a root loop you like and then just resample new parts over it in different ways WITH live effects is so attractive to me. I've used cassette four tracks in the past (because they're cheap and stupid-simple) and I got another one recently to try and solve the sx's limitation of resampling it's input source. Four mono tracks are very limiting if you're working in stereo. You may as well be resampling. My four track is on craigslist and I'm hunting down a 303. They sound hella hot, too.