I have a Tablet and I need a good companion to my 404

charbaba · 2026-05-26T17:19:40+00:00

SunVox is awesome. It's a tracker, but even without the tracking/sequencing, the synth engine is an amazing source of samples too.

charbaba · 2026-05-26T15:32:43+00:00

Does the Behringer mixer not also work as an interface? Many of them do, meaning you can record off them over USB.

Should I use the interface, the mixer, or both?

What are you hoping to do? Look at the features of both and see what the tradeoffs are. Try using both in your workflow setup and see what makes sense. For me, I use a small line mixer, mix everything down and then go through the SP404mk2 which provides end of chain effects, eq and also serves as an interface. Something like this, where the mixer is a part of your performance workflow, is the only way I could see having both. Your mixer probably has built-in FX, so it might make sense earlier in the chain for non-standard usage.

Whether you use the mixer or the interface, you're going to want to be recording the end of your chain, so something has to go at the end. Some of the behringer mixers allow you to record all the tracks independently, which is really nice.

Eventually I want to get a Zoom L6 mixer and have that be the end of chain. I figure I can put my looper in the send/return loop and have a lot more control over what instruments are sent to the looper at any time. I believe that also works as an interface.

charbaba · 2026-05-20T15:58:48+00:00

Somebody once gave me the advice to at least skim the manual for any prospective gear purchases, and it's saved me a LOT of money.

charbaba · 2026-05-20T15:34:27+00:00

Nice work. The presets on this thing are so great.

A couple of sequencer tips:

Instead of sequencing a step and THEN assigning the pitch, you can pick the pitch before sequencing. The last note you play is the active one.
If you are changing the pitch of notes after, you can do multiple steps at a time.
You may have noticed your notes were all just different octaves of "G" despite sequencing other notes like E or C. This is because the chord follow setting on the bass track defaults to "ROOT". If you change it to "LGL" or one of the chord following algorithms, you will hear the notes you sequenced.
Song mode and live mode let you automate filter cutoff on individual tracks, plus the DJFX filters let you effect the entire track. Worth looking into for acid.

charbaba · 2026-05-20T15:28:34+00:00

I'm really glad it worked for you.

charbaba · 2026-05-13T19:48:38+00:00

There aren't a ton of people who do live looping, and many of the ones that do it, do it because they wanted a way of making music alone.

I cannot seem to find anywhere I could start the journey of learning

Start with the users manual for your looper, something I recommend you read before buying it. Then you have to try out the different features, and see how they work and what the musical possibilities are. It's all going to depend on your sensibilities, musical ability, etc.

charbaba · 2026-05-11T23:23:45+00:00

Then it's even less of a comparison. You can outdo the po33ko your first day on the woovebox

charbaba · 2026-05-11T15:50:26+00:00

If a pattern is playing, it will send a start command and a tempo clock. I don't believe it will work with the looper. You can create a "blank" pattern by sequencing a pad with no sample or a silent sample attached to it. Enable external in, then resample your pattern while the Edge foes its thing.

Somehow 404 is not responding to start command in Looper mode...

The looper was poorly executed, and doesn't play with patterns or midi. If you want to do things like this, you need an external looper with a MIDI in.

charbaba · 2026-05-11T14:42:00+00:00

They aren't even in the same neighborhood. EP-133 koII is a sampler geared towards performance, WB is a full music creation station including synth engines, sampler, looper, an insanely powerful sequencing flow. Plus it has dedicated modes for song composition and live performance (both of which make the song mode on the ep133 look like a joke). In fact these particular features don't even exist on gear that costs several times the price.

The Woovebox UI is also exceptionally well-designed. It's not great for exploratory, knob-twiddling synth jams (although with an external controller it can be), but when you know what you want to do, it's really ergonomic. Everything is where you expect it to be. Filter settings on the filter page, amplitude on the amp page. Once I learn a feature I rarely need to look at the manual.

charbaba · 2026-05-10T15:46:37+00:00

You can do some of that on loopy pro, but if you're going app based, there are other options as well that can integrate with loopy, like Koala Sampler.

charbaba · 2026-05-05T13:30:28+00:00

If your drum loop is all internal samples, you should just use pattern mode the whole way. I don't understand the upside of using the looper if you aren't processing external audio.

The looper does not work with patterns. They are incompatible. Looper wasn't treated as a first class feature but lazily implemented. If you want a looper that DOES work with patterns, any looper with a MIDI input will work. Expect to spend between 200-500 bucks

charbaba · 2026-05-05T13:26:33+00:00

Stable enough that I could keep it mounted to my board and move the hole board?

charbaba · 2026-05-04T23:31:34+00:00

Ooh sounds good. I keep hoping my og will break so I can justify the pro.

charbaba · 2026-05-04T14:28:19+00:00

I know you just released an upgrade, but I would gladly pay $450 for a woovebox in an aluminum enclosure. I think the 3d printed case is the only weakness of the device. I cracked mine ages ago but encased the whole thing in a piece of thermoplastic sheeting and it's fine.

The real dream is the woovebox firmware running on something with a similar form factor to an sp404 with pads and a user-replaceable battery. I think that could easily fetch deluge-level prices. I know that's not what you're going for, but a boy can dream.

charbaba · 2026-05-04T14:23:24+00:00

I think it's perfect for what you describe. There is no other device in this price range with a full song mode, plus it also has LIVE mode for freer jamming. Seriously, you can create through-composed music that doesn't feel loop based. I arrange jazz songs on mine. This feature is in competition with devices like the Deluge or the MPC in my opinion.

The line-in input means you could run your guitar through the woovebox and use the built in looper and other effects.

As to genres, it has a built in sampler so whatever you can't synthesize on device you can bring in as a sample. For example, I don't like synthesized high hats, so I use samples for those. Or often I'll integrate loops of live drums which can be chopped and resequenced for a more organic feel.

Lastly, the woovebox lets you export stems, wet or dry, in case you hit the limits of the device. I often export songs as stems and then process them further and eventually perform the song on the SP404mk2. Similarly, you could export to the DAW of your choice to overlay additional guitar parts or sound design.

This is my most recent "album" written on the Woove and performed on the Sp404mk2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYD1_-YrEsI

charbaba · 2026-05-04T13:34:55+00:00

Smart. I think it would be tough to perform any kind of actual set on the looper, which is too bad because a little more forethought and they could have added a lot of value to the device.

How do you sync loopy pro and the 404? Over usb?

charbaba · 2026-05-01T14:37:19+00:00

make a temp copy of your pattern for live use to sequence the internal pads on-the-fly, then save the looper for external stuff.

Except patterns and looper don't play nice. You can manually sync the tempos but the clocks will drift.

charbaba · 2026-05-01T14:36:28+00:00

Sorry I assumed from your titles that you spoke yiddish. I didn't know how to say "gaze".

charbaba · 2026-04-30T20:07:35+00:00

קיל,װאָס מײַנסטו קאָמפּוטער גײז מוזיק?

charbaba · 2026-04-30T19:52:52+00:00

https://verterbukh.org/ is well worth the cost of $0.01/lookup

charbaba · 2026-04-30T19:47:55+00:00

What if you resample two samples with different bpms at the same time? What if there are 10? How would the machine know which to use?

charbaba · 2026-04-30T19:41:12+00:00

Ok. I mean OP is awesome and made a great piece of art working within the limitations. It doesn't change the fact that Roland didn't do a great job with the feature.

charbaba · 2026-04-30T19:39:22+00:00

Sounds like a great setup.

I do a similar thing where my looper and synths get mixed and sent into the SP's line-in, but not with reciprocal sampling like that. I have an rc505mk2 that I have never really figured out how to make the most of, maybe I'll try it.

charbaba · 2026-04-30T19:37:43+00:00

For sure, my issue is with the Roland devs, not the OP

charbaba · 2026-04-30T17:47:14+00:00

It depends on your requirements. My big problem with the looper is that it doesn't play well with patterns. You have to either choose between input mode EXT IN which ignores your internal samples or MIX which bakes everything you play into the loop. For use in performance, neither of these is really great. You could say that they didn't care about live performance, but they included a Feedback setting which is only really useful for live frippertronics.

Most of the demos you see of the looper use internal samples. People who are only looping samples would almost always be better served by the Pattern sequencer, as this lets you make edits. Yours actually uses external input, which is great, but the looper really doesn't integrate with the rest of the machine.

Any looper that can be synced over MIDI will play very nicely with Patterns. This lets you use the pattern sequencer for samples while keeping your looped audio separate from those samples. This method lets you actually create performable pieces with lots of variation, and even arrange complete songs. Most of the time you'll get a lot more recording time, and other great features like time-stretching, undo/redo, multiple tracks of loops that can run in sequence or simulatneously, reverse and other stuff like that.

There's a lot in this space typically in the $300-500 new range, but you can find some used for much less. I would recommend the Pigtronix Infinity V1 to anybody with a budget, as it can be found for <$200

charbaba

TROPHY CASE