hi, so i was wondering what kind of methods you guys have come up with that mean you can record synths (mainly bass) into the 404 while you listen to the loops you already have on there. is there a way to do this?

i just watched an interview where Samiyam says he makes his beats all in the 404. this seems crazy to me as his synths and basses seem so well played and thought out. what am i missing?

cheers

I just plug my keyboard directly into the mic in or the l/r rca ins on the back and then hit resample on a new pad while playing a loop you created on the other pad then just jam out on the pad your resampling too and hit the mark button where you think it sounds good.

this wont work with a 404 tho.
this is why you get a second 404

Maybe he records his synths on individual pads. I've done it before, its not too bad.

synth--->cables--->linein404

listen your samples/chord progression already recorded

play bass with your synth(single note or a progression and rec in a pad) trying to keep the time (tapping with your feet or using a metronome or whatever)... resample all pads together if you are using the resample method or rec it with the pattern sequencer..
if you have a multitrack you can play live something and rec with it

last but not least...

practice and more practice

i think here everyone has their own method and tricks but the thing that makes the difference is the practice and the personal "touch" or taste if you prefer.

I also think that if you want sounds exactly like samyiam only with a 404 and some chords you're wrong from the beginning... like folks who claim to sound like teebs using exclusively a 404, a snare made with external mic and some vynil compression.....
samyiam can make all parts of his beats with the 404 and there is also videos that testify this but i hear good choice of analog synth sound,professional mixing and professional mastering...and i suppose all here knows that those two procedures need individual separate tracks for every instrument and use of softwares...sorry if my english is not perfect man, I hope I explained my point of view.

I think a lot of producers are producing a beat in DAW, then loading up their sp as if for live performance. Then, record the performance as your actual song.

I hope I explained that well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcnNmmdQH3k

i think that video explained better than thousands words.......it's enough take a careful look

it looks to me like two guys having fun playing with several devices into a mixer..

I can't say i see anything beyond that.. I would like you to elaborate on what you're seeing incase there is something specific that you are referring to

I use VS880 or similar devices (tape recorder) to layout the bassline with music playing at same time then run it back into 404 alone.

The other option I have is the Micron has built in sequencer/phrase recorder, so I'll set the tempo as close as I can to my 404 stuff (I never use sequencer on it so BPM is never exact or constant), then sample it into 404 and chop it there so I can trigger little pieces of it how I want.

The final trick is to analyze what you're going to play for the bassline, then sample all those notes into a bank. In fact, you could just sample an octave. Then resample yourself playing the bassline over the tune inside the 404 and none would be the wiser, that is unless you're talking about a live instrument or something. Then it's time to bust out a metronome from external source while you play it into the 404.

There's plenty of solutions.

hey man, i appreciate you taking the time out to answer in detail but tbh the samiyam bit of my post wasnt really important. its just that he was what got me thinking about basses in the 404 and how for me its really the one thing that isnt that great about the thing.

as for wanting to sound like him... honestly man i feel really lucky that im not one of the gazillion people that makes music and is constantly wasting their time asking how Knx gets his kicks haha im getting really sick of seeing people that get some random 70s track, put it in ableton and chop it into 134 pieces then make some random beat and make people lose their shit. im starting to look more for creativity in beats than what it sounds like which is weird

^completely random side rant

but yeah cheers for the suggestions man

yeah i agree

tbh for a long time ive thought that its bullshit that these big producers make all of their beats just on the 404... its a bit like a myth thats cool to keep up. dont get me wrong you can hear the 404 sound in samiyam beats and others but you can also easily hear the difference between a beat that was made all in the machine itself and ones that the sounds went in and out of it for inspiration/effects/chops whatever

atm im making a ton of beats by recording samples into the 404. then i maybe chop it up but i certainly add effects to bits and do random shit then i record it all back into my computer and rearrange it with maschine so i can make use of the powerful sequencing capabilities which the 404 just doesnt have. sometimes i just surf round youtube and record different chords and random sounds from stupid videos and chop them and make them all fit each other in the 404 before recording them back out... its such a powerful combo... its basically using the limits and inspiration of the 404 and then stopping using it right when it constricts me in a way i dont want

another random rant^

i guess i never thought of doing the obvious (the first suggestion)

its because of the way i have all my shit setup. whenever i record stuff the the sp i always wear headphones cause the sample source is the headphone jack from my soundcard. on top of that im using reason for my synths

i guess what ii really need is a mixer and a nice, cheap hardware synth

cheers

I completely agree with both of you! I just recently got the 404 but I'm at the point that I want to run everything through the 404 for it's sound...but I don't see the point of trying to limit oneself to working strictly in one SP. You eventually hit a point where it limits your expression. Bouncing back and forth between Ableton and the SP works best for me.

Also, in that Samiyam video,...notice that Ableton is a part of the process and the beat is playing while Samiyam is playing synth lines into the SP, which leads me to believe that the portion of the beat that has already been sequenced is being played back from Ableton.... As far as his sampling technique into the SP, it's really easy to get samples that are ready to go when you use the "Auto Trig Level" set to 1 as you sample into the SP, this way there's no need to truncate or edit the start/end points of the sample....you just start playing and the SP starts sampling right at the first note.....I imagine this is what Samiyam uses as he samples his synth lines.

U_U

learn to use the sequencer
and/or multi-track out everything from the sp.

microsampler works amazing... blah blah. midi
i write the same shit over and over....

beautiful composition tool. everything i do come from it.