what makes a good sampler?

strangefruit · Post by **strangefruit** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 10:31 am

just doing some research on hardware samplers..I need people with experience on samplers to give me some advice... what to get and what to avoid..and the brands too... budget <$300

dank you veddy much!

JohnDavisNYC · Post by **JohnDavisNYC** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:11 pm

1. sound

2. ease of use

3. reliability.

my favourite sampler of all time is the Akai S950... they sound really good, are easy to use, and mine NEVER crashed on me... plus they look like 80's medical equipment, which is a big plus.. like they should be hooked up to an EKG or something...

cheers,
john

antonlamont45 · Post by **antonlamont45** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:19 pm

i love my s950 too especially 4 drums. magic. i will never sell it (partly because they are not worth anything to most people. i bought mine on craigslist for $150 w expanded memory!) its also like 20 inches deep making it the biggest rack gear in my studio. wtf goes on in there? i opened it up and ther are like 200 ICs. it does look like hospital equipment with the baby blue buttons and utilitarian faceplate lol

what kind of music are u doing and what kind of sound are you going to sample? drums? keys? bass? everything? also how much sampling time do you need? do you need a sequencer also? will you be using it live or just in the studio? that will narrow things down and determine what makes a good sampler for you. for $300 you can choose from many things because no one wants hardware samplers anymore. zzz...

WillMorgan · Post by **WillMorgan** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:57 pm

If you are interested in looping, e.g. sampling say a guitar part and then playing over the top of that, this is a great site to peruse:

http://www.loopers-delight.com/

I like my boomerang because of the features and ease of use, for my next looper i'm looking for better fidelity and a usb interface...

Boss has an interesting new device, i hope on the way to the US...
http://www.musik-service.de/boss-rc-50- ... 593en.aspx

Mark Alan Miller · Post by **Mark Alan Miller** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:09 pm

I love my Ensoniq EPS. I will (not might) buy an ASR-10R (the rack unit) very soon too. I thing the OS is easy to navigate and they have a sound to them that always worked for my ears.

And I agree; Sound, then the OS (ease of sse), then stability (reliability).

antonlamont45 · Post by **antonlamont45** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 7:29 pm

yes i second the EPS as well--great cheap sampler, i am partial to 12 bit sound, however. with any of these old samplers make sure you get maxed memory. stock leaves you with very little sampling time.

Mark Alan Miller · Post by **Mark Alan Miller** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 7:46 pm

antonlamont45 wrote:yes i second the EPS as well--great cheap sampler, i am partial to 12 bit sound, however. with any of these old samplers make sure you get maxed memory. stock leaves you with very little sampling time.

Yes. The largest the EPS could have was a "4X memory expander" that also featured a SCSI interface (I used a 40MB Syquest drive with my EPS for ages..!)
The EPS was 12 bit, then the did an EPS 16+ that, aside from being 16 Bit could also double as an FX unit and had a few extra processing features.
The ASR-10 and -10R are stereo samplers, with an expanded feature set like the 16+ and then some. Avoid the ASR-X. Crap piece of DJ-market kit that just never sounded or worked right every time I had to use one. At least that's my experience with this line of samplers.

Knights Who Say Neve · Post by **Knights Who Say Neve** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:59 pm

You might be able to snag a K2000 or K2000r for that. If it has the sample option you can go into that, if not you can still load samples from SCSI. For creative sampler uses (sound design & synthesis) it's still a killer machine, though not as "street" as an ASR10 (which is also a nice machine, but very different- grittier, but less flexable). You can still get OS upgrades and memory for it too.

Another thing to consider is dedicating an older computer for sampling. Kontakt will run just fine on a 1.2 Athalon which you can probably get for free or dirt cheap from someone who upgraded.

Karlos the Jackal · Post by **Karlos the Jackal** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 4:08 am

Hey, I was just about to post about this same thing -- I've got the same budget, even (~$300)! Pardon me while I piggyback a little...

What do people think of the Korg KP2 Kaoss Pad, or the Korg ES1MKII Electribe S? Or the Boss SP-303? Useful, or overpriced toys?

(I dunno about Haodama's reasons, but I'm looking specifically for hardware, too -- just because I use computers all day anyway, and I'd like to be able to get away from them when doing music. I need something that can be controlled by my Roland MC-300, but anything that's MIDI should be compatible, right?)

I'm looking for something to make drum sounds and supply a few random sound effects. Nothing too fancy, but I'd like something a little more powerful than my SK-5.

Thanks in advance for your advice, and for advice both forthcoming and already given to the original poster.

--K

earl parameter · Post by **earl parameter** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:45 am

im being buried with my asr-10. i think that says enough, but let me add that i doubt you could find one for $300. if you do find one though, make sure it has a SCSI card or you'll be kicking yourself. finding just the card is almost impossible and about $300 by itself when you do.

this is nice too...

http://www.chickensys.com/products/soun ... oy+Effects

having said all that. i was in a band with a guy that had an emu esi-4000 turbo. if i were to buy another sampler for about $300 it would be the first thing i would look at. the O.S. might not be the best but it is a great setup for the price. the filters alone are worth that price.

heres a review i didn't read that lists the specs well.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan98/a ... emuesi.htm

blakbeltjonez · Post by **blakbeltjonez** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 9:10 am

crashsick wrote: having said all that. i was in a band with a guy that had an emu esi-4000 turbo. if i were to buy another sampler for about $300 it would be the first thing i would look at. the O.S. might not be the best but it is a great setup for the price. the filters alone are worth that price.

you can find the big brother E-64/6400/Ultra series for $300 if you look - i got an E-6400 with 72MB RAM for $200 about a year ago, the EOS operating system is a lot nicer than the ESI series samplers. not that the ESI samplers are bad at all, but in this era of through-the-floor sampler prices you can get a really great sampler for not much money.

earl parameter · Post by **earl parameter** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 7:43 pm

good to know. i remember when these were all $3000 - 4000 machines. i paid $1000 for my asr about 11 or so years ago, and i felt like i was robbing the guy.

Knights Who Say Neve · Post by **Knights Who Say Neve** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 10:22 pm

Hey Karlos, the es-1MKII is a useful thing to have around for sure. It sounds good, has a killer step sequencer and is ultraeasy to use. The Boss one I was not so impressed with.

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what makes a good sampler?

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