A tricky situation

Moose763 · Post by **Moose763** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 3:04 am

Hi, new poster here,
I've had my SP-555 for about 3 months now, and it's definitely a sweet piece of equipment. I've pretty much just messed around with it and not done anything really serious in the way of song making or writing or anything, but now I want to try to get a little bit more serious and make some more precise music. So here's the problem; Sonar LE doesn't work on my shitty laptop, because my sound card doesn't support it, and if you know anything about laptops, there isn't really much option for getting a new one installed. Anyhow, I found out about audacity, a free program that's basic but still a helpful trick, and I was wondering if I just plugged my Sampler into the computer via USB, could i import samples onto and off of audacity, or do i need some other type of cable or something; mostly why I'm concerned is my microphone and headphone jacks don't work anymore, because like I said, I have a shitty laptop. anyway could anyone offer me advice on how to use audacity to get samples to and from my computer? If so I would greatly appreciate it, you guys are all very helpful so I appreciate any help you could give me
Thanks,
Moose763

JAMESveeder · Post by **JAMESveeder** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 3:17 am

To transfer samples between your computer you need a compact flash card.

You can record loops directly onto Audacity from your sampler to the computer, but I'm pretty sure you can't transfer samples through USB. You could do it through your computer's line-out, but I'm not sure how it would sound.

Dj Frantic · Post by **Dj Frantic** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 4:27 am

u say your computers sound card isint compatiple.. no worries u dont want to use that terrible thing ne way

Fortunately the USB feature on your 555 turns your 555 into a soundcard for your computer.

lotspoop · Post by **lotspoop** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 5:54 pm

You can't transfer samples directly via USB. You could "resample" them by playing them on your sp-555 and hitting record in audacity and vice versa. But the easiest thing to do would be to get a compact flash card reader and compact flash card. I got both of those off ebay for under $30 total. I have another post about this.

You would then use the wave converter program the sp-555 comes with to transfer samples to your computer and vice versa. A 2gb card gives you way too much sample time but it's kinda hard to find smaller size ones and they're not that much cheaper anyway. But with tons of sample time you can put a whole song on a pad.

Having a card is nice anyway just to have banks C-J available.

Moose763 · Post by **Moose763** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 9:43 pm

yeah i bought a card already - 2GB, just because I thought it wouldn't hurt to have the biggest one - but what is this other piece of equipment, the card reader, and where would i go about getting one? (Thanks for all the help so far btw!)

drewzle · Post by **drewzle** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:12 pm

a card reader is like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_reader

they are pretty cheap
most computer shops will sell you one

probably the place that sold you the card will sell the readers too