Hey everybody, i'm brand new here... the 404 was my first sampler but i pretty much let it collect dust while trying to master the mpc... now i'm realizing just how amazing and unique it is and blah blah blah. i've been studying this forum for a while and it's really helped me out.

my biggest hurdle while learning the mpc was the process of saving my work... it was really confusing and took alot of trial and error... after years of using acid and reason, where you could just name sessions and save them, it was like learning a new language. now i'm going through the same thing with my 404. i've read the manual and searched through alot of the topics posted here, but i fear it's just making me more unsure of how i'm approaching it. if anyone can give me advice and tell me what i've done wrong it would be greatly appreciated. and please forgive my long-winded post... i just want to make sure i'm being clear. i've become obsessed with this little silver box in the last month or so, and i'm sure i'll be posting questions left and right in the future if yall don't mind... i promise they won't be as commonsense as this one.

anyway, so i've formatted my cf card (512mb) and gotten rid of the protected preset files on banks a and b. i had already filled up most of the ram, randomly across the banks, but i wanted to save the info i had to my new card. so i hit cancel+f/j and was given the option of saving the info to one of twelve areas (pads?). i hit pad 1 and record, and it blinked until it was done. however, when i turned off the machine and back on again, and hit cancel+bank a(load), only my samples from banks a and b were there. it sucks, i had some great samples in the higher banks. i pressed remain to check my availible space, but it was only the amount left over in the original ram, and not in the card. so, it would appear that the 404 doesn't even know i have a card in there...

can anyone tell me how the storage works with the twelve assignable areas (pads). I know it's probably all right there in the manual but i can't figure this out to save my life. i don't think i'll be doing much importing/exporting as i am obsessed with the raw simplicity of editing the machine itself allows.

Welcome man! Just drop your questions in here, that's what this shit is for.
I did the same. This forum helped me a lot, so here we go:

Storage:

You can't save a "project" like on a MPC or software.

I save my projects like this:

Take your cf-card, put into the pc and there you have the "ROLAND" folder... Just copy that shit to your HD and rename it so you know whats in there. (for example Roland_fatbeat 88bpm)
If you want to work further on that project just take the Roland folder put it back on the CF and rename it as Roland. Take in mind that banks A+B (samples and patterns) aren't in that folder, they are saved in the internal memory.

That shit you did (cancel+bankc-j = SAV) is the backup function. That's the way you can backup your patterns and samples. (max. 12patterns and/or samples)
It's an important fact for that:

viewtopic.php?t=2317


Hope that was the answer to your question.
viewtopic.php?t=2409

oh man!!!

you mean, if i copied the Roland folder to my PC, then deleted everything off the SP, banks A and B don't get saved?????!

No they don't get saved in the Roland folder / Compact Flash Card.
Bank A + B are saved in the 404 internal memory...
(If you delete everything on the CF or format the card Bank A and B are still alive-> internal shit)

If you used samples for a beat that are placed on A+B, just export them and fill in next time you go on with that beat... Same with the pattern...
So just make sure your patterns are saved on C-J before storing a beat.

Try to use Bank A and B as a resample space or sth. not for samples you use for a beat... that's justt how I do it...

yikes, i didn't know that i would need a pc to save the files...i figured the sp could just load up my up-to-120 sounds from the card in the correct order everytime i hit cancel+one of the upper bank buttons(after saving). does this mean i need a card reader? that would suck. i guess i will just have to make do w/the ram that comes packaged inside the machine. damn, and to think i spent a good hour dumping my mpc files into an ext hard drive using its slow-ass usb 1 just sos i could use the card in the 404.

A card reader is a good thing... It costs 10$ or sth. so it's not that big investment... and yeah that's the only way to save your shit on the pc.

btw. if your card is formated by the mpc the 404 can't read it...
If you wanna put your mpc sample into the 404 you need to record them or save them to the pc-> to the 404 cf -card -> and import them,

great. thanks a mil. i love this forum