wise wisdom right there… are you using koala on an iPad or something? i have a copy on my phone but haven’t spent the time to get any sort of workflow with it — not even on the couch or whatever, where it would be ideal. it’s always encouraging to hear people cranking out bangers with koala.
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Yes using koala for all of these. I just find the chopping super straight forward with it.
And you can import videos and convert to audio super quick. So I just screen record youtube.
It lacks some features for sure needs, some workarounds here and there, but is very easy to use and on point imo 
great app
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I tried a more experimental approach on the OT, what do you guys think?
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Damn these sound great! Youre very productive as well using just koala it seems…
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Very dope. I love this style of beatmaking. Right off the bat I was thinking it would be dope for some Kool Keith abstract raps.
The only constructive criticism I would give, and it’s just really a personal preference, but I think maybe some kind of low pass filter or tape sim on the output might be nice. Some of the sounds are a little crisp for my tastes and I think rounding off the edges might glue everything together in a nice way. I probably just spend too much time with tape though, other people might prefer the fidelity as is.
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Yes, i fell into the ipad music/visual rabbit hole again.
Yes, I’ve been listening to a lot of BlackMothSuperRainbow.
Yes, i still consider it hiphop @ 78 bpm.
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Thanks, thats actually really welcome criticism! Like you, I generally like music to sound warm and lofi, but sometimes I feel like my tracks lack some high end compared to most commercially released music. As a result, I’ve been trying to get things to sound more crisp, even though doing so often feels counterintuitive to me. This is one of the tracks that I actually tried to get to sound more crisp than usual.
Your comment made me realize that this is not ‘better’, but a matter of taste, and I should just stick to the sound that comes natural, so thanks for that! Also, I’ve just put my beloved AR back on my desk, and it’s physically incapable of sounding this clean haha.
By the way: I truly love the sound you get out of your sp404/tape setup. It’s really recognizable and everything sounds like it’s straight from some jamaican homestudio from the 70’s.
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Great drums, and I love the way the synth are full sounding but very focussed at the same time.
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Cheers, man. I think you are right that it’s best to do what you love, and I really appreciate the compliment. It’s kind of a joke among my friends that I don’t listen to anything after the late 70s anymore, so that probably influences what sounds “right” to me. Also, as you said, I think I’m so used to hearing you on the AR. You’ve got a really discernible style as well, which I love.
I need to start recording more again. I actually just bought a new looper (Boss RC600) to pair with my SP/Portastudio in order to do just that. I’ve been playing a lot of guitar lately, and have been collecting some pretty cool Japanese effects from the 1970s (go figure). I want to start incorporating more live instruments (guitar, bass, percussion, electric piano, flute, etc) into my recordings, so I’m hoping this looper will allow me to do that more easily. It’ll take a bit of time to get the workflow dialed in, but stay tuned. 
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Thank you
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Adding some live recording to your tracks would be awesome, it would fit your sound perfectly I think, and also add an extra element to the usual workflow/limitations on the 404.
I’m planning to add some more live instrumentation to my workflow on the AR/404mk2 combo as well. Do you know if the skipback in the 404 captures external sources? If so I could just play drums on the AR and play instruments into the 404 until I nailed a loop and then get it through skipback… that would be cool.
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Yep! Just have to turn external source on. Works with USB and the inputs.
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Cool! Will try this later today.
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Definitely hip-hop. Loved the shuffle-y drums and the visuals. 
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Made some beats with serato sample. Really nice software. The time stretching is super nice.
Really like this demo - nothing you couldn’t do on any other sampler, but I like the beat
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Man that’s hot… some mad doom vibes going on… nice…
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Thanks
very smooth. i’m torn about picking up serato sample whenever it goes on super sale vs. just using simpler in ableton. on some level, it feels like i can already do what sees to does with stock tools, though there are a few conveniences. the beats i’ve been working on for the current battle have serato in them, so i’d better finish mine before the trial ends.
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Thanks!
Feels not essential, but still very convenient. I like tools that make things easier than others
Me too I’m totally down with less friction, I could use simpler but sample can do some stuff simpler can’t like warp timing per slice… to me that’s a very neat and useful trick…
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