The polyphony drops to 3 or 4 when you use the resample feature. I originally got the 404sx to accompany my 555 so I could sample back & forth and skip this limitation, but it just didn't work out so well. Sometimes when resampling, the 404 and 404sx will 'burp', loosing audio data or skipping ahead while sampling. You don't hear it until you play back.
I really like the 555, for what it is. The only downside was no built in battery (I use a 9V battery pack from eBay and it works for many hours on a charge, even with phantom power on the mic preamp). Also the 15-second limit on Loop Capture / no loop undo feature
. If you could use the Loop Capture for longer than 15-seconds, this thing would win my heart. Would like the option to load samples into Loop Capture, but this cannot be done either. Instead I use the 555 for quick ideas, Jamman looper for longer loops, or for more complex loops, the Electro Harmonix 45000. If you could set the D beam to control additional effect parameters (or maybe send as MIDI data
) I would be overjoyed.
You can, however, make your short loop in Loop Capture, assign a pad for Sampling mode, play your loop & enter Sampling mode. This will play the loop continuously and allow you to 'overdub' to a much longer sample. This can only be done once per loop. (Still a bummer no Resample + Sampling mode.) Was also interesting this was not explained in the manual, I just happened to try it one day
When saving the captured loop, the 555 will 'auto mark' where it thinks the end is. Usually you want to unmark your new saved loop before playback, as the 555 usually cuts it short. Also, when saving the loop to a pad, sometimes there is a high-pass degradation of sorts, muffling the sound slightly. The effects on the 555 are slightly different than on the 404sx (including Reverse which is cool). I like using both the vinyl sim and the djfx looper at the same time.
The price tag was generally only $100 more than the 404sx for used ones on eBay, so it's worth it in my opinion if you like looping or sampling with a trigger pedal / D beams / the cool but very basic Synth mode.
BUT--- There's no option to have mute groups or even have monophonic playback with the 404, 555 or MS-1, unless you run a bunch of empty samples in a pattern & try to overload the poly. Doesn't work right. This was my main question to you guys.