Ive had the 404sx for almost a month now.I currently use a MPC 1000 & MPC renaissance and bought the 404 so i can add it to my live beat set and make beats on it as well.I love this box! most fun ive had musically in a long time.As far as making beats on it,its not my thing! especially if ive been using MPC's for years.Ive learned how to do so but my MPC workflow is so much faster.I run all my samples thru the 404 now,apply some effects and record to my MPC.I think these 2 units are perfect for each other.Dope effects,great sound,portable and beat making capabilities.What else could you ask for!?? i can wait to use it in my next live beat set.

Right on man!
I have the 404SX and I love it too. My main thing I love is ability to take it places and work. I have used it on trips, planes, on mountain tops and in coffee shops. I also love the sound quality and ease of moving .wav files to and fro. Plenty of limitations (I have an RS7000, ESX and 555) and I would say my 2 biggest wishes were true pitch/speed shift and a better sequencer or more polyphony. i love the SD card and the "fn" key and operations- copying and exchanging is so fast and satisfying.
Glad you are digging yours!

I used mine on a plane as well LOL.I just found out about this cat named Nick The 1da flippin beats on the 303 and 404! Its just made me fire up my joint and play with it.

yo could you elaborate on the "fn" key thing? Im curious as to what you use that for

the original 404 had a lot of operations that you had to look at the manual for or try to memorize or make a cheat sheet and tape it to the bottom or whatever, things like copying/exchanging pads, etc. Not a big deal but frustrating at times.

the SX has a lot of functions labeled beneath the pads and an "fn" button to access these quickly- huge improvement IMO.
you can see on the SX the added fn key which allows you to access the things typed below the pads- copy, exchange, backups, etc.
I use this feature a TON.

I dig my 404sx so much that I just grabbed another one....my head is completely spinning!

I jones for the OG404. It has a less plastic sound to me than SX. I got to use one for a little bit (along with 505) and loved 'em both, and didn't realize the differences between OG and SX until after I came back from the music shop and first cranked up Vinyl Sim and was severely disappointed and over time, I keep noticing that the SX doesn't have a true 'sound' to it like the OG and other older SP samplers.

I don't mind and I still like the SX and appreciate it's workflow improvements along with the SD card support over CF since it's extremely easy for me to pull out the card after I make something and slap it on my computer, but sometimes, the result is most important and taking the shortcomings of convenience is worth it now and then.

I think at some point, I'm going to trade in some other gear for either a 505 or OG404...although I been salivating over a 606, I'm not sure if it has that old sound quality I'm looking for out of the 505/OG404...and that might be the deal breaker keeping me from getting a 606. I already have plastic sound...that base is definitely covered.

Interesting- do you mean "true" as in unique sound or as in accurate sound? I have been very curious about the 505 (and 202/303 to a lesser degree- I can pitch things on my ESX and ES-1) but not the og404, I had one years ago but sold it as I def wanted the uncompressed 44.1/16 file format of the SX and the rest. So the vinyl sim is very different, eh? You make no mention of the 555 (which I just got recently)- I feel like it is same as og404 with more features, no?
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i think the 505 sounds similar to the 303.
for lofi sound on the sx have you tried running samples through radio tuner mfx with all knobs down? its chunky

also the pitch is way better on the og404 than the 303. it's actually fairly usable, which i only recently revisited after reading nick tha 1da's interview (thanks, source1!). been had my 404 since like '06-'07

i briefly had a 606 and it sounded awesome. really thick sound, a bit warmer than og404 even, from what i remember. it has some really sick fx too not on the 404

Man, I keep forgetting about that radio effect trick! I know I've read it 3 or 4 places and it always slips my mind when i sit in front of my box cause I got other ideas swirling around.

The bit crash is okay, but I can never find a 'sweet spot' I like with it and the fake lofi button doesn't sound right to me. It's like it's constantly looking to alias certain things evenly and there's something less perfect about OG404's real lofi, and sounds less 'metalic' if you get my meaning. I'm almost tempted to trade/sell 404 towards a 606...anyone want to trade 606 for 404 + kp3? :p

Shit, then I need to get CF...one of my 'lazy' things I use the SX for is as a basic SD audio recorder for all my gear and tapes and shit. Hell, the other day I used it to rip some PS1 music...lol

just got my sx few days ago and im also very down with it, same goes for the mp background in that its hard to make a full beat but for 3 days in i can have fun mangling sounds and resampling. havent even touched all the effects but the comp is pretty nice, and i like the flutter on pad/chord sounds, you can really hear the pitch drop a lil bit its nice. vinyl sim hasnt really impressed me much yet but all in all im loving it. cant wait to figure out how all these guys do live sets!!