I just picked up an ESX on Craigslist. Anyone using these machines together? I'd love to hear some workflow tips

Nice one! The ESX is a beast when you get your head around it. Just like the SP it's a workaround machine, loads of ninja techniques to learn.

For a start download this tool to get organising sample banks quick'n'easy. You might also need a card reader, but they're pretty cheap anyway. It's great if you want to organise & back up your saved ESX projects.

Try these youtubes by Danieklerr/Sauce on how to exploit the ESX's abilities. His channel is a bit of a mess so start with these:
1- getting mulitple samples on the same sample slot
2- mimmicking wavetable synthesis
3- creating new waveforms tip: to get a waveform in tune to C everytime, make sure you trim it down to 675 long & get that looping
4- stuttering loops with the motion sequence
4.5- advanced motion sequencing THIS IS INCREDIBLY USEFUL ON ANY LOOP NOT JUST ON DRUMS
5- triggering patterns with pattern chain
6- send+return tips
7- performance resampling

Whenever I've used the 404 & ESX together I've put the 404 in the ESX's audio loop & sync'd the 404 via midi. No sequencing the 404 via the ESX however you could do that on one of the keyboard parts. This is great for resampling without messing with cables, just remember to sequence the ESX's audio in pad so that the 404's sound always comes through during playback.

Also don't forget the pattern set button. Learn to save patterns to each pad (manual page 72) then use it to jump between patterns during playback, this avoids using the annoying jog wheel to dial in the next pattern. This way you can save up to 128 patterns (16x 8 banks) ready to play at any time.

Hope all that made sense.

All makes sense and thanks for all that! I've been watching a lot of Sauce's tutorials, they are extremely helpful. The multiple one shots in one sample thing is genius. Last night I tried this: Make a beat on the Electribe, record it into Ableton, chop it up in session view. Add some Maschine parts, resample them all together while muting parts on and off. Then added a random operator patch in Ableton, and made a 20 second or so loop. Then I sampled it all to the 404, chopped it up and remixed it on the fly while resampling to an empty pad. I feel like I'm finally getting my studio hardware/software game in order...it's been a lot of trial and error.

Thanks for the Pattern Set tip, I missed that one and was wondering how to do it.

Actually can you add a little more about how you are using the two together? Do you use the Tribe to make stuff and then sample it all into the 404 or do you use one for drums and the other for samples?

For workflow, if you're looking to use the two side by side, I'd suggest something I've been thinking of doing (but haven't yet so maybe you can guinea pig this for me!) which is have your long, stereo one shots on 404 and the esx is the tempo/loop machine. I was also thinking if you're a ninja at SP loop editing or work with the pattern mode of SP, use ESX to make some loops into 404.

So far, my ESX/SP combo usage has been to use SP to record full live song sessions, then use resample on 404 to add extra post effects and sample some transitions then trigger them off in order by hand.

yeah that's more the style I'm thinking of using after what I did last night...get some ESX jams recorded into the 404 and work with them there. I hate the 404 sequencer though so I never use it, just resample, which I find to be an awesome way to work up tracks really quickly. I'm pretty tight with pad to pad edits with the gate on so it's easy to jam a bunch of ESX patterns together. I've just been messing with drum samples, I haven't gotten into any waveform stuff yet on the ESX. Once I get that going between the two it should be pretty easy to record a long improv set with both.

I do all my major sampling and trimming on my 404, then once I get a few banks of sounds chopped and ready in the 404 I midi it up to the ESX. I use one of the "keyboard" parts and sequence my 404 from there. Simple and easy and I don't gotta worry about eating up the ESX sample time.

I also like to use the ESX autochop and then sample that into my 404 for jamming out.

Workflow? Ahh, see I don't really lock myself into a consistent workflow in terms of "drums on this, loops on that".

Reason why is the SP & ESX are such different samplers, there's things I can do on one but not the other & vice versa so I generally think along the lines of what the gear can do rather than always lock in a type of sound to a box.

As the ESX is insane for editing & on-the-fly tweaking I'll put stuff I wanna mess with on it. If I want to totally reshape a sample, I'll do that on the SP 'cause they've got better effects. Otherwise shorter samples & mono stuff ends up on the ESX (less memory), while long loops & stereo stuff goes on the SP.

Probably should've mentioned that my SP-in-ESX loop set up is done after getting the sounds I intend on using into the samplers. Quite often that means the SP gets sounds that don't go near the ESX for whatever reason. While there's a bit of bouncing between samplers, I don't rely on those kinds of techniques.

Reads like you've already got a hell of a workflow going there, Sales! Keep at it, as you learn the ESX, you'll find new ways of integrating it with the rest of your kit.

Unrelated: just saw this dude, Slava, is another ESX kid. Check out this live ESX only session, it's pretty impressive that he manages to string out a 52 minute set out of the 1 ESX. Turns out he also shared his ESX backup that was used to make an album he dropped last year, gotta check that out soon. http://teamslava.com/

Thanks for that...the guy who sold me the ESX actually told me about Slava. Pretty wild that you can do all that with one machine.

i use a 555 and an ESX together, what i tend to do is use the 555 for the bulk of my tracks so for longer samples and beats etc, parts that are more constant. the ESX is a great machine for using live and for for on the fly stuff, at the moment I tend to use it for background textural sounds and for playing synths etc via the keyboard parts, if you load single cycle waveforms into it you can use the filters and FX to use it like a synth which is a wicked feature

one other thing i love about the ESX is the fact that it has 2 sets of outputs, the way I tend to use it is have some parts going through the 1st set (i usually run em through a delay pedal) and then have the 2nd outputs going into the 555...i use the loop capture which i know doesnt apply to the 404SX but you could try messing around with it anyway if only just for sampling, usually crack some effects on the SPs line input, just gives you a lot of nice effects to mess with (again even if only for sampling)

although i havent really explored it yet i'm sure it'd be useful for MIDI syncing too but as i've only had the 555 for a few months and until recently the power supply for my ESX was real dodgy so it used to be pretty difficult getting it to turn on hah

but yeah all in all its a great machine and well worth your time, had it for 3 years or so and i love it, particularly like the short delay and grainshifter FX on it and you can get pretty freaky with the modulation section too...motion sequences are a nice feature also

hope that helps man

Great thread- gonna have to pull out my ESX and ES-1... LOVE those boxes- so fast and fun-
C

i still got them.
but i have to be sincere here: i don't like the one shot only option.
period.

Oh interesting, that never bothered me- never even considered it till you just mentioned it. I always just made whatever long sample fit the pattern length. That would be cool if you could loop pads.
C

yes, with the long pad and the start point trick you could do interesting things.
however i think that the ES serie is mostly conceived (at the origin) to have a drum machine (the one shot option tells that), but after people use them as they want, and this is the cool part of the thing...