Korg Forums

I wanted to find a dedicated hardware setup for backing tracks so I tried to find something that could pair with the EMX since I already have it. I found the SP404SX and it looks like that would carry all the backing tracks (L-Bass R-Synth/FX) for all the songs just fine.
I would like to know if I could some how trigger the samples through MIDI to play when I click play on the EMX?

I'm using the EMX to play the metronome to my drummers ears while keeping in sync with the sample that is triggered once when I press play for each song.

Will this work?
Thanks!

it's pretty easy but it depends how long those backing tracks are... and that they are recorded at a stable BPM. dont expect long backing tracks to stay synced to the click track from the EMX as the sample will be playing independent of the MIDI clock on the EMX and the longer the sample the more likely it is to drift off the backing track.

Setting up starters:

go to MIDI utility, midi filter and make sure 'N' is on.. ie 'O' and not 'X'
then the EMX is sending note info to trigger the 404.

prepare your backing tracks samples on the 404 by making sure they are a known BPM, a steady BPM and that the sample starts on the first beat of a bar.

when turning on the 404 hold down the pad number of the MIDI channel you want to use. the 404 uses 2 channels.. so if you hold down pad 1, it will use 1 and 2. If you want to dedicate just one channel then use channel 5.. but then also make sure the backing tracks are sampled into the first 'page' (ABCDEF) of the pads on the 404.

set up the backing tracks so they are NOT on 'gate' mode so that when they are triggered they will remain playing until the end or retriggered.

Write into your EMX sequence a single note at the beginning of the measure, corresponding to the pad/backing track you want to trigger on the 404.

(obvious step I missed out.. plug MIDI cable from EMX out into 404)

now when you hit play on that EMX sequence the first note of the measure will start the sample of the backing track on the 404, mute that part on the EMX (ie synth part 5 or whatever) before the end of the sequence or when the pattern starts again it will retrigger the backing track sample.

lost yet? no? good.

You're awesome man!

My only thing is when you say this
"dont expect long backing tracks to stay synced to the click track from the EMX as the sample will be playing independent of the MIDI clock on the EMX and the longer the sample the more likely it is to drift off the backing track. "

is that because of the slight TIMING issues between the EMX and the sample? So with some experimentation on where the sample starts (milliseconds) I could keep it in sync 100%?

Thanks so much

edit: since some of our songs have tempo changes, I was gonna use song mode and map out the entire song with the trigger pattern being the first one in the song. I'm assuming it works the same?

Its more that the electribes have a bit of slop/wobble in their clocks so as the pattern keeps looping it's unlikely to stay in perfect time with a really long sample. You might find that you will need to chop your backing tracks into shorter sections to get it tight... Like 16 measure samples, run the EMX pattern twice then switch to the next pattern that triggers the next sample and so on. Or you could get lucky and things stay nicely in sync.

tylovejoy wrote:edit: since some of our songs have tempo changes, I was gonna use song mode and map out the entire song with the trigger pattern being the first one in the song. I'm assuming it works the same?

You could do that to only have to hit play once, but then you might need to chop the samples up as stated in my previous response.. Whenever you have a tempo change I would think it would be less likely to go wrong if you had a separate sample for that section and an associated pattern on the EMX to trigger that sample..

For example;

8 bars 120 - EMX pattern 1@120BPM, 404 sample 1
8 bars 120 - EMX pattern 2@120BPM, 404 sample 2 (or if using 16 bar sample 1, blank EMX pattern
8bars 100 - EMX pattern 3@100BPM , 404 sample 3
8bars 120 - EMX pattern 4@120BPM, 404 sample 4 etc

Experiment and see just how well it works and work out if you really need to go to the lengths of chopping the backing tracks up further.

Oh right I didn't think of splitting up the samples! I think this will work for me.
Thanks!

Be mindful as you deliberate- the SP 404's only have a single track sequencer- so no muting of parts within the pattern etc.