New to the SP-404 (Good summary of tricks Ive learned)

[admbmb]

What's good, SP family? Ive been lurking on this forum for a while and have had a SP-404 (OG model) for several months now. Like everyone else, I'm having a hell of a time with the sequencer, but as a person who has used a barrage of gear and programs, the SP-404 is refreshingly inspiring in its limitations. Other programs and equipment offer so many ways to sequence and automate, but they dont have the rawness that the SP's do.

Anyway, I have trolled thoroughly the forum looking for tips and even though they have been posted in different threads through the years, I thought I would list my favorite ones:

Use DJ-FX Looper to pitch down short samples such as drum hits
A lot of times, tuning drums really enables them to pop out of a mix. This tip is essential.

Copying Patterns trick (non Flying Lotus method) using card reader:

So if you want to copy pattern 1 from bank C to pattern 2 bank c. simply copy DCOPTN024.BIN and rename it to DCOPTN025.BIN so when you start 404 if everything was done correctly it should appear next to the first pattern.

real simple. just remember that pattern numbering goes like this:

BANK C: Patterns 24-35
BANK D: Patterns 36-47
BANK E: Patterns 48-59
BANK F: Patterns 60-71
BANK G: Patterns 72-83
BANK H: Patterns 84-95
BANK I: Patterns 96-107
BANK J: Patterns 108-119

The "air swing"
Sequence your hats and snares with a small amt of silence at the beginning. Then you can go back and play with the start points so that you can slide your samples around to get a nice swing.

Two of mine:
One that I have is for basslines. If you want basslines to use for a certain project, use the subsonic feature and tune it until it is in the key of your sample chops (could be several notes). Once it jives well with the sample, roll it to full wet and resample it. Since a lot of notes comprise of a key, you can build a little "sub" group that you can play around with and improvise basslines.

Lastly, in production, one good thing is parallel compression. If you have a break, use the C.Canceller to scoop out the middle (eccentuating the lows and highs) and resample. Compress the dogshit out of it (vinyl sim) and resample the OG one with the compressed one (tapping both pads at the same time). It may be necessary to try this a few times with varying volumes on the compressed one, but in the end it will phatten your breaks.

Springer's final thought: everyone who reccomends reading the manual is 200% correct. I read mine in the bathroom, keep a copy under my pillow for night reading, and read on the low at work.

Anyway, great community on here...hope to have some fun trading knowledge.

[springwater]

nice tips man, or nice repost of past tips, whatever. nice you did that. alot of these go for many sp machines. i like the phatter breaks tips.

[Wonka]

alright fellas, I'm about to reveal my secret to beat making.

Take a drum loop and resample it with some reverb. Then take that resampled beat and resample it again with the vinil sym commpressor turned up. Experiment with the amount of reverb and compression to get a super dark sound.

[cartesia]

[greencarpet]

i cut an make almost all my shit in logic.
then export using a card reader.
if doing so try to keep the samples above one second.

from there i can resample down and what not tell i get what i want.
its cool too cause i get the best of 2 worlds all my synths from my mac and drums and youtube wtvr and the physical hardware relationship.
this is especially helpful when creating original drum loops cause they can be cut to accuracy very quickly.
as for a tip...
for crunch hard bass drums i use the isolator and then resample with some compression.
for house snare i use some distortion and reverb.
im a big fan of the remain pad.
cut to lofi to pull the poli up.
the fx 23 24 are probly my absolute favorite, cause they make great odd sounds.
you can also create a ducking effect if you fuck with the volume in comparison while recording through the mic.
example pre sample a square bass line both with a compressor.
then remain a kick drum with the bass line.
at some point you will find the womp.
resample vwala.

the manual is so important, cant tell yall how many times i had a question and the manual had an answer or a very good clue.

[kel]

my trick for a ghostly voice effect:

sample the vocal part,
reverse it and apply reverb,
resample it,
reverse it again.

[tape smoke]

^ good trick . the dude from led zeppelin invented it. its called reverse echo

[kel]

Dammit Zeppelin, when you gonna stop bitin' my shit!!!

[springwater]

ya man get the led out!

[plexxsounds]

Some good tips there admbmb. The copying patterns with a computer trick (the info was originally posted by Olby) is great. You can make 5 copies of a pattern in a minute or less. For some reason I think not that many people are using it though.

Here's my trick, which is just to have fun. Read your name backwards and sample it with the internal (or any other) mic. Put the sample in reverse and play it! Maybe this won't work too well with English language but I've had many good laughs with my daughter playing with this. When you get bored try singing or "rapping" something backwards.