another noob question....had sp-404 for couple of days, i already imported a load of octave notes from a few softsynths and now want to get stuff like beats, abstract one-shot stuff etc in to the remaining pads...i used banks c,d,e,f,g,h for the octaves....so i've got banks a, b, i and j free. i've named all the stuff thats already on the card (taking up banks c-f) a01,a02 up to 24(2 octaves)......b01,b02 etc.
when saving/naming/importing the new stuff im going to add to the card, how do i do it so i can assign just the new stuff to the free banks, and leave the banks/pads ive already assigned the octaves to as they are? or will i have to do the whole lot from scratch? will it do it automatically, and just remember that ive assigned those softnyth sounds-pads already? great forum by the way, have had loads of help already...cheers

you can't fill a pad which already has a sample in it

if you import your sounds now, import them to Pad A1 and the rest will fill each available spot in their alphanumerical order

cheers, i think i get you. but if all the samples i already loaded up, and i want to keep where they are on the pads, are on the card and named a01, a02 etc.....what should i label the next lot i want to add to card and import, that will be joining those others (a01, a02 etc) on the card? wont the 404 just import those originals again as they are labelled a01, 02 etc...if it automatically starts at the first numeric value on the card when importing? i dont think im explaining this very well, but hopefully you know what im saying?

delete the old audio files from the CF
the new File Import you do will fill the empty slots from the pad you first selected through to every empty pad, skipping the pads which are already filled

ta mate, that makes sense, i was under misguided impression that you had to keep all the sounds in the top layer/root of on the memory card for all the pads even after you'd imported them in order for the 404 to stream/read them?!? but now assuming they go in to the 'roland' file or somewhere on the machine after import and can then be deleted? if thats right then it makes things pretty simple....is that the case?

p.s. i tried before i read your answer , with all the old import files still on card, and it wrote over every subsequent pad that wasnt protected, trying to re-import EVERYTHING on the card, no big deal, have just tidied it up and re-imported the whole card. but just so as everyone knows, it WILL write over pads/banks with samples on, not skip them, unless 'protected'...could have been a headache if i'd had some hard to find stuff in a specific pad arrangement...

yeah man, they become integrated within the Roland Folder. it is safe to delete the files once they've been imported into the 404

i didn't realise that your pads would be re-assigned once they were filled.....i'm sure mine doesn't act that way, i'll have to doublecheck when i get a chance...sorry, hope i haven't been giving misleading help

no worries about the over-writing, wasnt a problem, only took a minute to re-import/assign, and would have happened anyway as it re-imported everything on card. cheers for the heads up on the deleting of files from memory card and on-going importing and how that works. good to hear it's actually a nice simple process when you know what you're doing. cheers