Hey guys, got a quick question for those of you who are more experienced with hardware...

So right now I've got my 404 plugged into my computer using the Line-out of the 404 which goes into the line-in jack located at the rear of my computer.

But anyways, I loaded up Ableton and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to export audio from my 404 into ableton. I'm sure it's as simple as enabling a setting somewhere, but as of right now I'm lost. Hopefully one of you can help me out here

Thanks in advance,
Lux

first of all: pc o mac?
i answer for pc version:
a soundcard is better for that aim (conversion between 404 audio to pc via usb)
however, go to option>preferences>audio>audio advice tab>choose driver type and audio device

I've got a pc. If only the 404s had a usb port, but unfortunately that's not the case...

Also, I tried to do as you said but I'm still not getting anything.

Any way you could elaborate on that a bit more?

Choose which input you're using in the preferences (the screen you're on). Create a new track. Arm the track (red button at the bottom). Make sure audio from (drop down box about the middle of the track) is set to ext in or the input you are using. If you don't see that dropdown box there should be i/o option to the right by the master track. (other options are x for crossfader, D for track delay, etc). Turn that on button on (it's a circle). Make sure you're armed and you should be getting some sound. Good luck!

an external usb audio interface (a "soundcard") is like that http://www.lib.sfu.ca/node/11874, the sp404 doesn't have and usb port, on the sp world only the sp606 and the sp555 are able to be audio interfaces. an audio interface is able to record audio from a machine (a sampler, a guitar etc) to a software via usb(in ableton live, in this case).You connect rca cables out the sp404 into the ins of the interface.
however, i see that on your pc you have an internal spdif soundcard, this means that can records via spdif (Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format), you need a machine with spdif out for better quality(sp505/sp606/sp555/sp888 have that), but someone told me that rca cables are also ok for that (who knows...)

Oh okay I see what you're saying now!

I've actually been looking to buy an audio interface recently. It's been one of the things on my to-do list.

So with a setup like this, would I then be able to record out audio from my 404 --- > into ableton, and record audio from ableton ---> into my 404?

(Sorry for the sloppy diagram haha)

And thanks for the reply, monstermanchild! I'll give that a shot as well. But regardless I'd still like to get an audio interface

yes.
But when recording back to the 404 (from ableton to 404), don't arm any track to record, this causes feedback; you could use headphones connected to the 404 to avoid that.
anyway,what i found strange is that normally, on any pc, you could be able to record audio with pc's own internal soundcard....i mean, the quality is lower than any external soundcard, but why they put spdif on a pc...?

Thanks for the tip, I'll keep that in mind for future references.

And I've always wondered the same haha. Makes no sense to me either...

So I followed what monstermanchild posted and I happened to get audio coming out of my speakers through ableton! So that's good. Only problem is the audio comes in really low, and there's like a 2 second delay. Samples are coming in choppy too. Any clue what's causing this?

try to tweak the latency and the buffer (in the same pannel as audio device as before)...you can try to reduce it...(but with external audio soundcard, also this is way better)

+1
Audio interface is the way to go because they usually have some form of preamp in them. You could definitely record it in and try to boost the signal with clip gain or compression depending how low it actually is. As far as the latency change your sample rate (multiples of 16 preferably). when sample rate is down the quicker your computer converts audio, but the more cpu you use. One of the best things about ableton though is the warping. So if you're simply recording a pattern, you just make sure your tempo is matched, record the patterns in, and use the little grey marker on the clip to set your start and end points. Assuming the tempos are the same, you're good to go without much other warping.

UPDATE: Thank you guys for the help! Went out today and grabbed myself a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6. Got everything hooked up nicely and it also took care of that latency/choppy sample problem I was experiencing!

Just one last problem... I can't get the audio to be controlled by the track.
For example: I can hear my 404 audio playing out of my computer speakers (even with ableton closed) and the volume is a bit quiet. But I want to be able to get the audio to play through ableton as apposed to just straight out of the speakers because I can't record in if ableton isn't seeing it. Let me know if you'd like of pics of anything.

this seems a really good soundcard.
go ahead with the pics if you want, maybe this could help see better the trouble. i think it's just a control pannel thing on the pc itself...

in preferences under your audio tab make sure the ins and outs are the focusrite. in the track make sure it's armed, that the monitoring section is set to in (or auto) and that the audio in is coming from ext. input. Also, I see the 6i6 has a "monitor knob". make sure that isn't all the way to one side. this is to help with recording without latency. one side is monitoring so you're listening to the audio as it happens and whatever you have plugged into the interface, and the other side is monitoring the recording input itself and all other computer sounds. (left is it going direct to speakers, right is coming from armed track and computer or vice versa. i dont know how it's set up on that interface.) you'll still get a bit of latency with the one coming from the track but it should be much better and if not change the buffer size as i stated earlier.

Yeah it sounds really great with my speakers hooked up to it!

Here's a few pics of the routing and my ableton preferences: