Tracking out a sequenced beat from your 404 to your multi-track recording device!
Skip this paragraph if you are familiar with multi-track recording...
For the purposes of this explanation, tracking out your beat will refer to the process of recording the separate parts of your beat (drums, bass, etc.) to separate tracks or channels of your recording hardware or DAW. One of the simplest ways to do this is to record your beat to an 8-track digital recorder, which will separate your beat/song from one 2-channel audio signal (as it leaves your SP), spreading it across 8 separate channels for individual volume, EQ, effects processing, and cut/copy/paste edits as well. To keep your recorded tracks in sync you will need to use a 'midi out' connection from your recorder to a 'midi in' on your 404.
Since the 404 is only blessed with one track of sequencing, separating individual parts from your completed pattern is accomplished through selective use of the level control of each individual pad. If this sounds tedious it's because it really is quite a pain the first couple times, but through repetition and a little organization it can be accomplished pretty easily. An alternate method for doing this is to use an effect that can be manipulated to completely cut a samples playback level... like isolator turned all the way down for example. Here you are assigning the effect to the pads you want to mute by holding the remain button and pressing the pads. The difference is that if done by using the level of the sample, you can then assign effects at the time of recording... including live manipulation. So you could add live wah pulsing as you record your bass pattern for instance.
The organization part is as follows: look at your 4 bank buttons as 4 separate categories of samples. For me they break down as... drums on F; bass on E; melodic samples on C & D. The alternate or blinking version of each bank (C/G, D/H, etc.) is used for overflow if you get into more than 12 percussion hits for example, or for saving alternate versions of a sample. By this method you can look at your banks as separate stereo audio tracks... each bank being designated 2 audio tracks of the 8-track recorder, ie. F=drums=(tracks 1 & 2). By this method your 8 recordable tracks would be assigned accordingly: 2 tracks for drums, 2 tracks for bass, and basically 4 tracks for melodic samples (or 2 stereo pairs... banks C & D).
Quick Sidenote: The idea of 2 tracks for drums and 2 tracks for bass won't appeal to some... but this is just a jumping off point. 3 tracks for drums and 1 for bass may sound more logical, and if this is an option on your 8-track recorder then you may want to go that route. I roll with 2 across the board because I am usually recording from the 404 to an 808, which means you can't treat paired tracks as individual mono tracks... you either record to 5/6 as stereo, or record to 5/6 as mono. The way I keep the drums limited to 2 tracks is by using 6 tracks for my drums (recorded about 8 bars beyond the end of the song) and then bouncing down to 2.
The way the final process is executed is by turning the level to zero on all but one of the pad banks and then recording to track. So you begin by playing your pattern... flying through banks C, D, & E turning down any pads that are in use... leaving only the drums playing from pad F. Then when you are sure you've isolated your drums you record to a pair of tracks on the 8-track. Repeat for your bass... conveniently located on bank E. And again for melodic layers 1 and 2, banks C & D.
Repeating the process of punching a pad... then start/end/level... and giving the knob a quick turn, will become automatic after a while. And with the furiously fast fingers of a well trained ninja, it will actually go pretty quickly.
Once stuff is tracked out you can play the fun game of bouncing down to add effects, transitions, vocal snippets, etc., and/or arranging your song on the recorder if this is your preference.
This all makes sense to me, but feel free to point out anything incorrect or nonsensical in the explanation noted above. I'm guilty of having an unhealthy attachment to my 808... I've been seeing the world in 8-tracks for long enough to have done permanent damage to my perception of time and space. As much as I love making beats w a lone 404, I don't actually think anything is finished until it's gone through the 808.
