gear help

[sonvi]

so i have owned an akai xr 20 drum machine for about a year now and recently bought an sp 404 so i can sample and thus have more flexibility with production. i am wondering what else i should get in order to utilize both machines. some kind of midi sequencer perhaps? if this is the case the entire concept of sequencing/or midi is completely foreign to me and the more i read up on it the more confused i get.

any help or advice would be greatly appreciated