
About ten years ago, the mighty workings of youtube’s algorithm recommended a video by a dj named Beatpete. I clicked on it and ended up staying there for like the next three years. I mean Pete is good with the mixes and it’s soothing just to watch him do his thing with the vinyl, and I found a bunch hiphop artists that were new to me through his channel like Ivan Ave, Quasimoto, and Ras G. But the first impression I had was a beat set with him and Wun Two. Pete played a few records then alternated with Wun Two tapping out a few beats on the sp-404sx sitting on his lap. Maan, the whole thing just hit me in the sweet spot of good ‘ol hiphop feelings. And it made me see the sp-404, which I thought was unattractive, in a whole new light. When I took a closer look, I started to see the beauty of this little sampler with the portal-eye digital clock display screen and 48 hrs of stereo sampling time. But the effects are the real secret sause in this little guy, and you just can’t get anything like it anywhere else. Next thing you know I’m looking on the Guitar Center website wondering if I can spare $500 for a new beat-machine.
Peace!
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