This is my first lil post on this here forum and I want to say hello. I been lurkin around these parts and bumping yalls beats for the past month or two, so whatup and respect to all sp-foolios!

Just now got my hands on an SX and Im loving the sound and the simplicity. I've been runnin experiments on "the homie" to get the hang of things, particularly trying to figure out how to get it to flow good with my other equipment. I've had fast, fun results combining it with synths and sequencers, and I've found it quickest when used as a sound module, using an external sequencer. I like being able to replace drum samples as I keep working that way.

I really like the "humanized" feel of resampling though, and so far its been frustrating trying to "resample everything" from top to bottom. I'll incorporate resampled chops into a beat via a sequencer, which sounds nice and swingy. I'm really trying to take my resampling swag to a higher level, so I'd be grateful if yall could help me out with some q's

1. Is it not possible to make use of ext. midi devices when resampling? Is there an option I'm overlooking, or am I condemned to finding a workaround for resampling a sequenced/velocified pattern

2. Regarding polyphony when recording: With the 4-channel limit, would the pad-by-pad resampler generally make a stereo beat, and then add up to two mono layers at a time? This seems to be a most forgiving philosophy. My other questions attached to this would be A. can you convert a Stereo sample to mono by toggling the stereo switch? B. Does the EXT. In pad count towards your poly limit? and C. does building resample joints all in mono get crowded sonically(IE. does 2x the channels = 2x the headroom)?

3. The 404SX client wav loader software is about as efficient as a sweaty ballsack. Not to say its completely un-useful, but its so clunky that any sample under 5 seconds would be faster to just sample in by hand and audio cable. There's no chance that it's been updated or improved in any way? it'd be so dope to just drop a big payload of drum samples into it on the quick fast. No use dreaming, although maybe it wouldn't be much trouble to try and put together a better program to make life easier, if someone hasn't already.

Anyway, what are some fun ways do dust up or grungify drums on the way in? does throwing noise/filters on drum samples add to the coolness or take away from the fatness, generally?

4. I was really hoping you guys could leave me with some general resample method insight, any habits you guys might have or anything. I peeped out MUJO BEATZ youtube vids and got the basic idea, but when I try doing a whole beat i wind up fucking up a lot and starting over. I know the devil is in the details, so let me know if there's anything you can give me to help keep it strictly in the 404 so i can step to yall in the battles!
mujo- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UTVn4dEnOM

Peace, paulie

1.) Nope, no sequencing inside or outside during resample
2.) This is an arbitrary question and really depends on the sounds you're resampling, your patience and whether you got cassette recorder handy.
3.) Dunno, I don't use it...
----question between 3 and 4) Try everything.
4.) Because resampling = recording to new pad, fucking up shouldn't be a concern to you. If you keep open all your pads and banks at start before you start sampling sounds to use, you'll find you have a record of undo you can go back to, restarting from each step you reampled with all the way back to the original sound loaded. If you run out of room, then you'll end up deleting the oldest stuff you resampled. If you keep the source on you, deleting these doesn't matter, just sample it back through again.

I think the SP family is unique because even two dudes using the same machine with similar sounds can go about that shit two different ways and that's the beauty of the machine. Experiment, experiment, experiment, etc.

Also, kind of think of resampling as using a wave editor...if you're coming from a computer background, it might help you if you see it like this...

instead of resampling you can use the sequencer set to 99 bars, , 40 bpm, metronome and quantize off.
same as resampling but you're not degrading quality on every pass, you can swap pads later, change pad settings, and more polyphony. do a search there's many posts about it