Quick q - thinking about buying a 404sx - can it live sample and keep playing? Ie a looper? Could I play a keyboard into it with one hand, sample, and have it start playing the sample back right away?

I'm pretty sure you can't do that, at least on the OG 404 it's not possible. I know the 555 can and the mpc 1000 and higher priced samplers can, but I don't think the SX can.

sorry

the 404sx cannot do this.

Didn't know the mpc1000 can do this...?

yup... i used to chop my drums and samples and record my bass from microkorg.
the way its made possible is because your can play your pattern while sampling. but you have to fine tune your end point. thats it
since you set the threshold to only start sampling when you hit the right volume you can just wait til you are ready to record your phrase over the beat then stop it as soon as your done and just assign your recorded sample to pad
it wont automatically loop but its a cool way to record loops

thats a shame ... I really want to buy one of these cause it looks awesome, but I have no use for it and can't come up with one! haha.

thanks for the answers.