vintage Sampler roll call !!

[Don Edgar]

I have an S900 here, replaced 2 S700s. I desperately WANT an S612. Someone should really make a modern hardware sampler with Analog Filters and a knobby interface...

[MarvinDog]

S3000XL and ESi32. Haven't used the Akai in a while. Love the Emu for drums and mangling voices.

[Say Again]

I've got a MPC60ii, Emax (x2), e6400 ultra. I live them all. I want an old akai rack soon.

2 floppy emulators coming in the mail and can't wait!

[living sounds]

Originally Posted by moogz

Akai:
8 x S612
S700
X7000
S900
S950
4 x S01 (which can do crisp and snappy percussion, especially with transposed layers)
S1100
S20

Yamaha:
SU10
VSS-200 (sounds great through an analogue filter)

Red Sound SoundBite... somewhere
Pioneer DJM-800 for meddling straight off the deck

Is the S01 the same sonically as the S20? How do they compare to the S2000/S3000XL/MPC2000 as far as sound is concerned?

[moogz]

Originally Posted by living sounds

Is the S01 the same sonically as the S20? How do they compare to the S2000/S3000XL/MPC2000 as far as sound is concerned?

the S01 and S20 are essentially the same guts, so i would assume they're either identical or very close - i haven't A/B'd the same material on both so couldn't conclusively suggest without speculating.
probably quite a departure from the S2k etc, but i've never pushed the input gain on the s2k/s3k/mpc2k; the s01 does have a very cool distortion sweet spot which can take a pedestrian source into attitude zone.

[Morechips]

Originally Posted by Don Edgar

I have an S900 here, replaced 2 S700s. I desperately WANT an S612. Someone should really make a modern hardware sampler with Analog Filters and a knobby interface...

You may have a sampler with an analogue filter already...as I have heard that both the 900 and the 950 have a type of analogue low pass filter!

[binman_uk]

i need to get myself a sampler. only for the sound quality of the converters really, to use in house/techno music.

i've been looking at s900s and s950s but they're going for well over £100 these days which seems an awful lot of money. are there any viable/cheaper alternatives which give a nice oldschool/lo-fi sound that i could look into?

thanks

[Karloff70]

Originally Posted by binman_uk

i need to get myself a sampler. only for the sound quality of the converters really, to use in house/techno music.

i've been looking at s900s and s950s but they're going for well over £100 these days which seems an awful lot of money. are there any viable/cheaper alternatives which give a nice oldschool/lo-fi sound that i could look into?

thanks

About a oner isn't a bad price for a tool you will love for a long time. Take a minute and remember what these USED to cost.....lol. The 900/950 do sound VERY house on the filter front. Other cool cheap toys are Casio FZ-1, Ensoniq EPS and Roland S-330/550/W-30. Plenty Emu of various types for around a oner, too.

[living sounds]

Originally Posted by moogz

the S01 and S20 are essentially the same guts, so i would assume they're either identical or very close - i haven't A/B'd the same material on both so couldn't conclusively suggest without speculating.
probably quite a departure from the S2k etc, but i've never pushed the input gain on the s2k/s3k/mpc2k; the s01 does have a very cool distortion sweet spot which can take a pedestrian source into attitude zone.

Thanks! Now I'd really like to hear an example of what the S01/S20 does... ;-)

[Martin78]

i have 2xS1100
S3000XL
2 x S5000 (one with failed psu)
yamaha A5000 A4000

check my blog
Akai | Martin78.com

[binman_uk]

Originally Posted by Karloff70

About a oner isn't a bad price for a tool you will love for a long time. Take a minute and remember what these USED to cost.....lol. The 900/950 do sound VERY house on the filter front. Other cool cheap toys are Casio FZ-1, Ensoniq EPS and Roland S-330/550/W-30. Plenty Emu of various types for around a oner, too.

Yeah you're probably right there mate. Gonna keep an eye out for one. It's about time I bought a s900 or s950 considering the style of music I make. Cheers .

[kpsiegel]

S3000XL that is not even in my racks anymore. I probably should use it again at some point but there are just so many toys you can play with.

Have a K2600SX but use it primarily as a controller/synth not as a sampler.
MPC 5000 which is also not primarily used as a sampler.

[robot gigante]

Originally Posted by Don Edgar

I have an S900 here, replaced 2 S700s. I desperately WANT an S612. Someone should really make a modern hardware sampler with Analog Filters and a knobby interface...

Agree 100%... really wanting an Emulator III myself, favorite sampler ever. The analog section was so nice...

[Dirty Halo]

Fairlight IIx

Emulator II

SP-1200

MPC 3000

-andrews

[Say Again]

If you had a toss up against a akai s612 and s900 for the same price of $120 USD - what would you pick?

I love the idea of a knobby one function one knob interface.

But the fact its back up system is the most obscure thing ever turns me off. But like someone said here. Maybe it's just a "record it live machine".

[sublevel]

recently purchased an MPC3000. so much fun!

Had an EIII a while back, what a beautifully sounding unreliable POS!

[Karloff70]

Originally Posted by Say Again

If you had a toss up against a akai s612 and s900 for the same price of $120 USD - what would you pick?

I love the idea of a knobby one function one knob interface.

But the fact its back up system is the most obscure thing ever turns me off. But like someone said here. Maybe it's just a "record it live machine".

Backup? lol.....I would put something in it, perform with it to DAW and switch him off again. Bugger fecking around with saving. Think like a patchless mono synth.

[Karloff70]

Originally Posted by robot gigante

Agree 100%... really wanting an Emulator III myself, favorite sampler ever. The analog section was so nice...

+1

I want a MicroMac with samples as optional oscillators!!! But polyphonic!!

[Say Again]

Regarding the s612 - Yeah, pretty much as it seems. Basically it's a "do it now" machine. Kinda a far out concept for me and my relationship with sampler and building libraries.

But I kinda like the idea. Fast and dirty.

[SlutButtMcNabb]

Yamaha SU10 (filled with Commodore 64 drum samples) and I still have my Amiga 1200, which was my main source of sample playback back in the day. Pretty much use my Electribe ESX for sample duties now though. Is that considered vintage yet?

[MixedSignals]

Originally Posted by Popbott

Ensoniq ASR-10r

-8 outs
-8 part multi-timbral
-Full blown multi-effects processor

Does that thing get hot too like my board version?
Actually the Record and Edit buttons got shifty crooked from being used so much, piece of duct tape over them keeps them level BTW. And i'll be damned if i ever used a head cleaner on the drive- anyone ever used them?/make a difference? I sometimes get Disk Data Corrupted, but i assumed it was from 15 year old floppies....

[TheBrightSide]

Originally Posted by MixedSignals

Does that thing get hot too like my board version?

Hey I just remembered how my old one used to cook.
I once spent a cold winter in Berlin, and we used to turn it on just to heat the room up. It really did help.

[MixedSignals]

Originally Posted by TheBrightSide

Hey I just remembered how my old one used to cook.
I once spent a cold winter in Berlin, and we used to turn it on just to heat the room up. It really did help.

Yeah and if it is too cold, it takes time to warm up for the tuning..you can even hear it expand *crack* a bit sometimes..mine's seen all the hot and cold and humidity.

[Silverfish]

I think I might be a total sampler slut.

Machinedrum UW+mkII
Akai MPC60II
Akai CD3000xl
Akai S2800 (came with the CD3000xl and haven't decided if I want to keep it yet)
Roland S-550
Casio SK-1
Roland SP-808 (does that count?)
TWO Ensoniq EPS (Came as a pair. Anybody wanna buy one?)

The worst part is that I've got all of this and I can't do anything with it right now, as my gear is in another country. Immigration is a bitch.

I will say that it's amazing how much character different samplers can have. Sure, they all do about the same thing, but they all do it differently and sound unique. How do I explain this to my wife?!

[TheBrightSide]

Originally Posted by Silverfish

I will say that it's amazing how much character different samplers can have. Sure, they all do about the same thing, but they all do it differently and sound unique. How do I explain this to my wife?!

You just said it perfectly. Also add that samplers only increase in value, so you are sitting on a potential goldmine.

[Yoozer]

Originally Posted by Silverfish

How do I explain this to my wife?!

Dump the rack samplers in a closed rack box and cover the front with something. SO's never notice any new rack units; it's like visual teflon (unless you make the mistake of buying a bright yellow Waldorf Q rack)

The keyboards and the MPC are going to be a bit harder to hide, though.

[Dominic Owen]

s950 and s3200 collecting dust in my studio

[stixman]

2 Roland W30's will never sell plus SP808 which I love as well! I mainly use Roland gear....

[in_effekt]

MPC3000
3 X S950
E6400 Ultra - gonna sell it though

[bluegreengold]

Originally Posted by Say Again

But the fact its back up system is the most obscure thing ever turns me off. But like someone said here. Maybe it's just a "record it live machine".

I think it's worth it to save the samples sometimes. Especially if you like to send it through one of the akai synths. If you've got something good, you can do a midi dump. There are definately some 'one offs' that I wish I could bring back to play with. Recording the output might capture the sound character, but that hardly allows you to play it like the hands on instrument it is.

If you use a PC or a PPC era Mac you can pretty easily run an atari ST emulator and use atari s612 sample dump programs to back up your samples. I don't think there is currently a good solution for Intel Macs -- Windows XP virtual machine running an ST emulator? I have my doubts the midi would get piped correctly.

The s612 will also interface with a commodore datasette if you want to be really old school, but not have to deal with the impossibility of quick disks.