Damn, my friend has a laptop which has internet everywhere in the usa. It's the shit ya'.
Anyway, a lot of us have been using the 404 for quite some time now, and it's time for some serious tips n tricks.
The Madlib Compression Effect:
A lot of people have been asking how to have the loud kick mute some of the background sample.
Record the kick at the normal 'highest as possible' volume. Then record the background sample/s at a low volume, (this won't work with setting the samples level lower with the start/end/level button)!
Then, with your pattern set up, apply the compressor effect on all the pads, adjust the effect until you like the result. The background samples volume is raised by the compressor, but drops as soon as the kick hits.
I'll add more later, it's a hella long drive till seattle.
ADVANCED sp-404 tips n tricks
Moderator: TGN
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mostblunted
- Member
- Posts: 527
- Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2007 9:04 pm
i'm thinkin about roamng internet. how many meg?
what up saettle!
what up saettle!
insert funny comment here.
http://soundcloud.com/jon-ill
http://soundcloud.com/jon-ill
ok these aren't really "advanced" tips but i find the useful sometimes.
if you want to simulate the mute groups function in MPCs, where you press 1 pad and when you press another the first stops playing.
put what ever pads you want to be in the "mute group" on loop and take off gate. now when you play your first pad, hit the next pad and the original pad at the same time. this will start play automatically on the second pad and cut off the first one. it takes a bit of practice to get used to playing the pads this way but after a while it's ok.
this next tip is kind of useful.
we all know the 404 has horrible pitch-shifting abilities. there are ways around this and in fact if you go for a lo-fi sound anyway and add FX you can make the artefacts added to the sound barely noticeable. but if you want something cleaner then the pitch shift is kind of useless.
if you're taking samples directly off your computer then you can obviously just pitch the sample up/down in a program and then transfer it to your 404.
but if your like me and sample primarily from vinyl and your setup is away from your comp, then this back and forth between the computer can get tiresome. well the other day i was making a beat with the samples from the latest beat battle. i got a few cool patterns going but they were all way too fast. i think the average BPM was working out at around 125 or something and i wanted to lower it to around 85.
well if just make the beat how you like it but you wish it was a bit slower just record in audacity and there is a function where you can decrease the tempo of your song, you can then add pitch up if you want to get something a little closer to your original beat.
i know this tip is fairly obvious to most people but it really helps me because now i can basically do everything i want in the 404 itself and then just do extremely minor tweaks after i record it.
if you want to simulate the mute groups function in MPCs, where you press 1 pad and when you press another the first stops playing.
put what ever pads you want to be in the "mute group" on loop and take off gate. now when you play your first pad, hit the next pad and the original pad at the same time. this will start play automatically on the second pad and cut off the first one. it takes a bit of practice to get used to playing the pads this way but after a while it's ok.
this next tip is kind of useful.
we all know the 404 has horrible pitch-shifting abilities. there are ways around this and in fact if you go for a lo-fi sound anyway and add FX you can make the artefacts added to the sound barely noticeable. but if you want something cleaner then the pitch shift is kind of useless.
if you're taking samples directly off your computer then you can obviously just pitch the sample up/down in a program and then transfer it to your 404.
but if your like me and sample primarily from vinyl and your setup is away from your comp, then this back and forth between the computer can get tiresome. well the other day i was making a beat with the samples from the latest beat battle. i got a few cool patterns going but they were all way too fast. i think the average BPM was working out at around 125 or something and i wanted to lower it to around 85.
well if just make the beat how you like it but you wish it was a bit slower just record in audacity and there is a function where you can decrease the tempo of your song, you can then add pitch up if you want to get something a little closer to your original beat.
i know this tip is fairly obvious to most people but it really helps me because now i can basically do everything i want in the 404 itself and then just do extremely minor tweaks after i record it.
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mostblunted
- Member
- Posts: 527
- Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2007 9:04 pm
Lindsay wrote:Ah, sorry mostblunted could you please clarify this.
When you say apply the compression effect to all the patterns, I'm taking that you mean apply the effect to each individual pad, then resample to another pad and then record the pattern?
apply to all the 'pads' (press remain and the mfx button). Then just play the beat.
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mostblunted
- Member
- Posts: 527
- Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2007 9:04 pm
aite', here:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/11622558fa32b3a4/
First I play a kick, then a snare, then the sample and
then a play the sample at a resampled lower volume. You have to turn up your speakers to barely hear it.
Then I play the low volume sample and apply the compressor effect while it's playing. You will suddenly hear the sample at the normal volume again.
Then I play some kicks and shit to show how the volume differs.
http://www.zshare.net/audio/11622558fa32b3a4/
First I play a kick, then a snare, then the sample and
then a play the sample at a resampled lower volume. You have to turn up your speakers to barely hear it.
Then I play the low volume sample and apply the compressor effect while it's playing. You will suddenly hear the sample at the normal volume again.
Then I play some kicks and shit to show how the volume differs.