laptop Recording

[TheSeer91]

Im new to the forum and only got my roland sp404 sx two days ago and I want to record onto my laptop using audacity but my laptop has no line in
what should I do ?

Thanks

[LoneStar]

Im new to the forum and only got my roland sp404 sx two days ago and I want to record onto my laptop using audacity but my laptop has no line in
what should I do ?

Thanks

Two options:
1) Try using the mic input, start carefully with low volume settings in the software mixer because a mic input is much more sensitive than a line input. Thats the cheap and suboptimal solution.
2) Get a USB/FireWire/PC-Card audio interface, whatever your laptop has. Benefits: much better quality (than a possible onboard line input too), better drivers, good results.

Oh, and welcome to the forums
Maybe you could introduce yourself a little so we know who we're talking to.

[TheSeer91]

Thanks i think I might go with the usb external soundcard option.
Quick Introduction:

18 from north west london, the roland sp 404sx is my first hardware equipment i've been on fruity loops since the age of 12 using FL 4 until I was 16 and FL8 up until now, I also used battery 3 with FL8.
Main inspirations and influences are portishead, photek, source direct, DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, Fat Jon, DJ Cam, RJD2, Mr Scruff, Amon Tobin, Derrick May, Carl Craig, Andrea Parker, David Morley, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Basic Channel, Theorem, Horsepower Productions, Dabyre, Massive Attack etc.

[LoneStar]

Oh nice, another electrohead! We're a rare species here on thew forums you know, most people are into rap/hiphop.

That said, the SP-404SX is great for electro/techno/general electronica, just make sure to read the manual carefully and use resampling a lot

Having fun learning the machine, you will. Or so Yoda said.

[V-F!]

I would recommend and audio interface. Mbox mini is good because its cheap and comes with pro tools software, so you are goo to go. Maudio firewire 410 is another good one. Quite frankly the idea of recording beat through an 1/8th inch jack makes me cringe. If thats all you got that all you got though(and you dont got it).

[meager prophit]

hey, i use a 404sx and until recently had been recording using the mic jack. you just gotta make sure your volume is way down and its not too bad at all, just bounce it back into the 404 a couple of times and it will eventually come out sounding reasonable. However i just got a creative soundblaster USB soundcard of of a friend who upgraded and the results have been so much nicer.

Ultimately i would recommend getting the external soundcard but until then just get used to recording with the micjack, its fine when you're getting your head around things.