hey all. forgive me if this is an obvious question (i'd forgive you =)) but i'd like to get someone's opinion who's actually spent time with both. what does the 606 excel at that the 404 cannot do? anything audio wise the 404 has over the 606? they both look like dope machines, and though for my purposes the 404s portability gives it a huge edge, i'd like to hear what the other camp has to say. also, is the 606 geared more towards dance music? again, sorry if these are obvious, but i have no experience with this type of gear.

peace.

The 606 has a couple big advantages. 16 pads with velocity sensitivity. 2 FX units and mastering effects. Auto samplechop. Wave editor. Better sequencer. USB connection with built in audio interface and some computer software. The 404 has 1 nice advantage over the 606. 12 note polyphony. The 606 has 8.

word thanks.

The 606 also has the D-Beam! I know a lot of peeps knock Roland's D-Beam but it's a unique way of operating that gives one-of-a-kind results with a bit of practice

You can use the 606 as an audio interface (even to record guitar) as well. The 606 has balanced 1/4" jacks (404 has RCA connections ) and even digital output if your a true audiophile. The Autochop function makes it painless to load up entire drumkits as a single sample, and even use multisamples if that's your thing. Finally, the 606 has the best-sounding filter on any sampler - the 6pole beast on the D-Beam (which can be controlled with the data-wheel if you really hate using the D-beam).

The 404 has a couple of things in it's favour: portability, polyphony and....the 404 has 1 gig Compact Flash cards (the 606 can only take 512meg cards). The 404 cam out 12 months after the 606 so Roland must've decided to up the voice-count and card storage (another os update for the 606 please Roland! I want 1 gig cards!!! The polyphony is not an issue but the storage space IS!!! ooops, I rant)..

bringin this post back from the dead!

i have a question - sorry if its basic or been answered, but i took a look through the forum and couldn't find the info.

i have a 404. i'm wonnnerin if i pick up a 606, whether i can midi-sync the two boxes, to expand the limitations of each?

so for egs, the 606 has a 4-track sequencer, which beats the 404's one-track...so could i create beats on the 606 that would utilize samples on the 404 as well (thus getting around the limited polyphony of the 606)?

i'm a thorough noob on the midi fing, so again, sorry if this is basic. but if anyone has thots i'd appreciate yr input.

fanx dudes.

Get the 606 it'll be getting rare! Buy 2!

one for each hand!

seriously tho: anyone able to answer the qwestion on the midi sync btwn the 404 and 606?

otherwise i'm waiting for the 666 or whatevs.

I have never done it with a 404 and a 606, but I am sure you can sync them together via midi.

As long as you have a midi ins and outs both devices you can sync it up. Set one to master the other to slave and make sure your midi channels are right.

well, that's just it. the 606 has ins and outs, but the 404 only has ins. however, if it is slave, that would work out i think. or do i have that reversed?

(Just posting this for reference here; )
viewtopic.php?t=1680

damn. well there it is. thanx for the responses. sorry to be so noob about this. i've deliberately avoided all fings midi, and would continue to, if i were not hitting barriers.
thx.

It's great if the link answered your questions and in that case you're welcome. It's funny too in a way, because I got curious about the subject when you asked and only found out about that post of Keesj by searching in Google for "SP-404 MIDI"... I too usually avoid MIDI related threads and didn't know of this one either.

I doubt they'll come out with a 666, even though it might sell well with the goth crowd

Goth hip-hop??!?

ghith ghop.

yeah, i actually didn't see EXACTLY what i was after in the midi how-to post so i went to the source. drewzle wrote back and answered what i wanted to know.