Im super new to the game and was wondering about the benefits of buying a drum machine like the sr-16, if I already own an SP-404...

any comments - that could dumb things down to my beginners level??

Thanks,

AA

you could use the sr-16 as your sequencer to trigger your own sounds stored on the sp-404. you might escape the alesis 80s sounds this way...

the pads on the sr-16 are touch touch sensitive iirc, the ones on the sp-404 are not.

another advantage would be that you can switch at least between two patterns via footcontroller on a sr-16, if this is useful to you.

they're not that expensive these days, so grab up a used one and test it…

do it, only you can answer this, just think about what you would need it for.

i have just this second received a boss dr 670 for cheap, needed a drum machine with foot switchs and midi for a new collab i'm going to be working on, as it's more instrument based i wouldn't have the time to keep diggin for that kick or snare plus i needed it for gigs. I plan to run it through my 202 to dirty up the sound abit. go for it, all gear is good.

Pretty much! If you like the sounds it makes its worth shopping for... Drum machines are good for freeing up sample pads too for more complex melodic & textural sampling. But,if you want proper gritty old school hip hop breaks then it may not be the way to go though. It could get a bit superfluous...


Hahaha! Damn, that's a guilty pleasure!

Thanks for all the responses....

I went ahead and just bought the 404 sx.

My main use for the sp404 is to layer tracks in my band, maybe adding ambient, orchestra, backing vocals, and also creating beats to go in conjunction with a live drummer.

Thanks for all the interesting tips...such as changing up the SR-16 sound with the SP-404 and also...using the SR-16 to set up the beats and focus on more complex melodies and what not on the 404...

So is it pretty easy to sync these two up? ie maybe adding beats on from sr-16 into a loop on the 404...

Hope that makes some sense...

Thanks again,

Adam A
www.myspace.com/theioa

funny you mention, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... CA:US:1123

It's very easy to sync the two machines. Just set the midi clock out to ON on the sr-16 and set the midi sync mode on the 404 to AUT and they're synced. That's how you do it on the regular 404, it's probably close to the same on the 404sx

I have this same set up. The guys on here actually told me about using the drum machine to trigger the 404, since the sr-16 has a footswitch out. I just got my 404 this past weekend and I'm already loving it. Good luck with yours!
-Drew