Hi,

Basically you can hook up any kind of gear that has MIDI OUT and plug it into SP-404's MIDI IN. But don't forget that you probably will need to adjust midi channel notes to trigger correct 404 samples from external device.

So the main idea goes like this. For example you buy yourself an MPC1K and hook it up with 404. And now you can produce beats with 1K's sequencer with ease using your 404 samples. There are of course lots of limits for this setting. One of the biggest is that if you produce beats like this you should not forget about 12 voice polyphony of 404, that means you wont be able even from MPC1k trigger more than 6 stereo or 12 mono samples at the same time.

There is another way round for this. This is nice technique that came to my mind some time ago. Imagine you want to produce a beat using your 404 samples that you recorded somewhere else (for example live performance of some ill drummer) now you don't want nor don't have time to save those samples to WAV on 404 then transfer them to computer and then down to MPC or other gear. The best part starts here. You connect MPC MIDI OUT to 404's MIDI IN. Then connect MPC AUDIO L/R OUT to 404's AUDIO L/R IN and then hook up 404's AUDIO L/R output to your monitors.

Now you can trigger 404 samples and can play MPC samples together as well. But don't forget that for this technique to work you need to turn on EXTERNAL SOURCE ON on 404, so that you can hear vibes coming from MPC. 404 layers its own sounds on top of it and all this raw & ill shit is ported directly to 404's audio outs to whom are your monitors or computer is connected.

There are mad ways you can hook up your 404 in existing studio or using it in budget bedroom studio. There are really lots to do with it!

Cheers,
Olby