u/sound_digger

Hey everyone,

Looking for a speaker to pair with my SP-404 MK2 for travel this summer. I’ll eventually get proper monitors for home, but that’s a separate purchase — right now I specifically need something portable enough to throw in a bag or suitcase when I travel.

The main source will be the 404 (beats, sampling, jamming on the go), and it would also be nice for playing back references and listening to music. It doesn’t have to be tiny — I’m thinking roughly around the footprint of a Yamaha THR5 (271 × 167 × 120 mm, 2 kg), and a bit bigger is totally fine if it really pays off in sound.

A few things I care about: stereo is pretty much a must since the 404 is very much a stereo instrument and mono kills half the fun. I’d want enough headroom to actually enjoy the beats, not just whisper-quiet bedroom level. Battery power would be a nice bonus but not a dealbreaker. And I’d prefer something with a reasonably honest response rather than a Bluetooth speaker that smashes everything into a smiley EQ.

Budget is open but reasonable, since the “real” monitors are coming later anyway.

I’ve seen people mention the Roland CUBE Street EX, Bose S1 Pro, and various small PA options, but I’m curious what people here are actually using on the road with their 404. Recommendations welcome 🙏

This afternoon I was walking along the promenade between Marina Mall and Hassan II Mosque when I saw a young boy sitting on the ground, throwing packets of tissues down in front of him out of what looked like pure despair, anger, frustration. I came closer, picked them up, handed them back, and asked what happened.

He’d been selling sweets, chewing gum, biscuits. A group of older boys had jumped him and taken everything, including the 90 dirhams he’d managed to make. He told me, almost matter-of-factly, that he was trying to earn enough to help his family buy a sheep for l3id.

I didn’t have cash on me. I walked all the way home, asked some people close to me to chip in, took some of my own savings, and went back hoping he’d still be there. He was.

I asked if he was hungry. He said a little. I told him let’s go eat — we were right next to the mall.

We didn’t make it past the entrance. The security guard stopped us immediately :

« He can’t come in. You can, but not him. »

« Why? »

«  It’s forbidden. It’s the rules. We can’t let people like that in. »

I told him this was illegal, that discrimination based on social origin is prohibited under Moroccan law. I asked him to call his manager. He did. It changed nothing. We stood there for a while. I didn’t lose my temper. We left.

I sat with the boy on a bench outside. Told him to ask for whatever he wanted, that I’d get it. He said he wasn’t really hungry anymore. I gave him what I’d brought, plus the taxi money I had left, and walked home again.

What stuck with me wasn’t the guard. It was how unsurprised the kid was. He expected it. It didn’t even register as an insult to him — it was just how things are.

And this isn’t a one-off. It’s a pattern you see all over Casa, and beyond. Our society is already divided enough as it is, and what makes it worse is how easily people accept those divisions — or actively reinforce them — when it serves their own interest. A guard protecting his job. A mall protecting its clientele. Everyone has a reason. The kid on the ground has none of those.

Has anyone else witnessed this kind of thing at Marina or elsewhere in Casa? Is it worth raising it with the mall’s management publicly? Are there local associations (Bayti, INSAF, others) that already work on this and would be better placed to push back?

Curious what this sub thinks.

Hey everyone,

I’m trying to recreate the bass tone from Love Galore (SZA), specifically the live version — the one where the bass feels super warm and airy.

I’m working in Ableton and using Kontakt to recreate a real bass sound.

If anyone has tried to replicate this tone or has insight into how it’s achieved live vs in studio, I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks.

Hey,

I’m trying to build a setup that I can eventually run without a computer, but for now I’m still using Ableton a bit. What I’m really looking for is a hardware sequencer that can act as the brain of everything.

I’m not really a keyboard player, so I’m not looking for something to perform melodies live. I’m more interested in programming and structuring tracks, then performing them. Ideally I’d like to be able to create patterns in advance, chain them into something that feels like a full track, and then play with that live.

A big thing for me is chords. I’d like to be able to play simple chords on a synth or MIDI keyboard, record them into the sequencer, and then have them properly sequenced and triggered. I don’t want to enter everything step by step if I can avoid it. Being able to assign those sequences to patterns and move between them live is important too.

I also want something that lets me add variation and movement while playing, not just looping static patterns. So some level of modulation or per step changes would be great, but I don’t necessarily need something insanely deep if it kills the workflow.

For context I’ll probably use a TR-8S for drums, so I’m not looking for a drum focused machine. This would really be more about melodic sequencing and overall structure.

I’ve been looking at things like the Digitakt, which seems amazing for sequencing and live performance but maybe not ideal for chords, and the Keystep Pro which looks better for chords but maybe less powerful as a central brain. The SQ-64 also came up but it looks a bit too programming heavy. Circuit Tracks seems fun but I’m not sure how far it goes long term.

I’m a bit stuck between these options and wondering what people actually use in this kind of setup. If you’ve built something similar, what ended up working for you as the main sequencer ?

How does Kanye West sample old soul and R&B records and then add his own drums on top without clashing with the original drums already in the sample?

How does he remove or work around the original drums from those old tracks? Does he isolate them, EQ them, chop around them, or just layer his own drums in a way that works musically?

Also, how does he choose which songs to sample in the first place? What is his general process for finding the right records and turning them into beats?