Q's on 404 use - good fit for me?

[Carini]

Hey all,

I've been looking around the interwebs for something to fit my needs, and I think the SP-404 will do what I want, but I'd like to make sure / get some advice before I drop the $$$.

I play in a 2 person acoustic comedy group. (Seems like most of you are rappers, bear with me ).

What I'm trying to do is find something that I can record samples on, and then trigger with a foot pad during live performances. These aren't beats, more like sound effects - crowd laughter, baby crying, Homer saying D'oh! - things like that. They would all be .WAV samples.

Think the SP-404 will work for this? Anything you can think of that's maybe less complicated?

Thx!

[springwater]

i dont exactly know about the 404 but i had a 555 and the foot pedal would trigger a loop capture. but i dont think you can trigger samples with a foot pedal. maybe one sample if you could. would be a good box if you used your hands to trigger then your all good. or take your shoes off and get good with the "big toe". or glue a finger to your shoes and use that to trigger samples. ust thinking outside the box.

[Jim Y]

Well, the 404 could possibly be ideal. It's certainly a good price for a sample playback device.

The 404 does not have a foot control trigger as such, however...

The 404's midi input can be used to trigger individual samples using midi note-on messages.

So, now you also need something that produces midi notes from a foot operated pedal. The obvious candidate is a midi bass pedal board as intended to be used by organists, but these apparently attract "organ tax" and are therefore incredibly expensive for what they are.

The cheapest alternative to an organ pedal board that I know of is the Behringer FCB1010 midi pedal controller. Intended to select midi instrument/FX patches, it can be programmed to send note-on messages. These midi notes have a fixed volume of 64 (against a max value of 127). Obviously you can just turn the volume of the 404 up, but it needs considering if you also trigger using the 404's own pads, which always play with a volume of 127.

Whichever type of foot control you choose, it needs a certain care and dexterity with the feet, although as you're a comedy act, an inappropriate sound effect is sometimes good for a laugh.

If I were you, I'd see if I can work it using the 404's own pads first.

Jim

[fauna]

yr best bet is a looper pedal.

the RC20xl or RC50 would work.

[yo-yo crunch]

Obviously you can just turn the volume of the 404 up, but it needs considering if you also trigger using the 404's own pads, which always play with a volume of 127.

even if you lower the volumes of the samples with knob 3?

[cartesia]

Obviously you can just turn the volume of the 404 up, but it needs considering if you also trigger using the 404's own pads, which always play with a volume of 127.

even if you lower the volumes of the samples with knob 3?

that does change the volume.. he just meant you can't trigger the clip at different volumes by pushing the pad harder/softer

[plexxsounds]

I think the 404 would be perfect for you. I'm not sure about how the foot pedal would work but there is a midi in on the sampler and there are midi foot pedals available so I guess it would work.

Just for fun check this one out too:

http://eng.soundsuit.com/shop.html?pScshop (there used to be much crazier looking japanise site about this but couldn't find it!)

Oh, and when you get your show together make sure you don't make fun of us rappers, coz we be gangsta

[Carini]

Thanks for the advice, I had always planned on using the MIDI footswitch that one poster mentioned. I figured this was what I needed, I just wanted someone other than a salesman to put in his opinion.

Anyway, I bought one, hopefully it will work out!

Thx!

[springwater]

hopefully you can trigger multiple samples and not just one at a time.

[kel]

along with the 404, you could also get one of those 61-key flat rollup midi pianos and assign one sound effect to each octave, put a carpet over it and make little marks where to step..

[MadTrucker]

As much as it hurts me to not recommend the incredible SP404, I agree with those who suggest a looper pedal instead, like a guitarist-styled phrase sampler type pedal.

Otherwise you have to ask yourself if having more samples is worth placing the sampler on a table. Personally, if I was a comedy act I might want some cheap old keytar style MIDI controller with the SP404, but again, not reccomended for your use.

[dman5000]

yo! i used my sp 404 for this very thing... i got a comedy sketch group, we mostly film but in the begining we played live and used the 404 for sound effects, works perfect! we had a sound and lights guy tho so i dont know about the footswitch thing... saw you bought it ... good luck!