name the ultimate hardware sampler

[soultrane]

these seem a good price right now... since everyone uses giga or other soft...

surely some of these $4500+ (when new) 8 output monsters w. 24 filter types, fx, 128 note polyphony etc. must be a pretty good deal at well under $1k?

what is your deluxe hardware sampler? either in terms of sound, vibe, or functionality.... does anyone still use hardware samplers? s950, anyone?

[robmix]

Nothing beats the Synclav . . . . .

http://www.vintagesynth.com/index2.html

16 bit, 100khz sampling rate, 128 voices, tons of synthesis options and it'll keep your hosue warm in the winter .

[Syki]

Originally Posted by robmix

Nothing beats the Synclav . . . . .

http://www.vintagesynth.com/index2.html

16 bit, 100khz sampling rate, 128 voices, tons of synthesis options and it'll keep your hosue warm in the winter .

Yep What the above said synclavier was the best....and if you can find a Roland s770 in good working condition ...snatch it up bro or let me know

[soultrane]

ha ha what a beast! the ultimate in sluttiness.

ok keep em coming... maybe a little less than refrigerator size..

[FalconerHK]

My vote would be for an Emulator 4.

Plenty of outputs, up to 32 MIDI channels, 128 note, 128mb, and IMHO the most musical filters/outputs/processing along with extremely musical interpolation. Used to be that the E4 with the Miroslav library was "the" film composer's rig. I think you should be able to find them for a good deal - certainly less than the $8k (loaded) price as new.

[octatonic]

Think about why you want it....

You could do worse than any of the following:

Ensoniq ASR10/88
Roland S760/770
Akai S2000/3000/5000/6000
E-MU Esi series

Going the vintage-fetish market route isn't really recommended.
Any of those above should be well under a grand- you certainly wont get a working Synclavier for a grand.

To be honest- unless you really want the sound of the filters then you may be better off triggering them from a computer.
My last sampler (Roland S770) had only 16mb of RAM- my powerbook has over a GB.

Even a fully stocked S6000 isn't going to compete with that.

[GuruInSpace]

Originally Posted by richmondjames

Think about why you want it....

You could do worse than any of the following:

Ensoniq ASR10/88
Roland S760/770
Akai S2000/3000/5000/6000
E-MU Esi series

Going the vintage-fetish market route isn't really recommended.
Any of those above should be well under a grand- you certainly wont get a working Synclavier for a grand.

To be honest- unless you really want the sound of the filters then you may be better off triggering them from a computer.
My last sampler (Roland S770) had only 16mb of RAM- my powerbook has over a GB.

Even a fully stocked S6000 isn't going to compete with that.

Over the years ive owned alot of gear, one of the pieces i hated most was the dfegad E-MU Esi2000. Such a pain in the ass to use. I didnt like anything about it. Two thumbs down!

[dementedchord]

ahhhh... the synclavier..... i still have the original brochure here somewhere...lol... but on a more practicle slutty note... gotta go with E-4 emu.... when we were buying/affording the akai/roland/hell i even owned a profit 2000..... we were lusting after emu's

[reid]

mmmm,

avoid the Akai S2000 - it's a complete dog. Likewise the ESI...... The Roland 760 is usable, but the 770 is a joy to use.

Like the man said; go for an EMU E4 in any its incarnations; cheap, fruity sounding and built like a tank

[PhilE]

The EMU E4 was cool I recall but also I have an S3000xl which is just fine for when I actually use it(!) I'm not into sampling as such so I guess it doesn't get the abuse that many might give it but from the experience I've had I'd say go for that- so cheap now!! (hated the S6000 btw)

[atma]

i'd have to say the kurzweil samplers are among the sickest. to this day, no soft sampler can come anywhere near the level of DSP functionality those things are capable of.

Dont go classic get a new model (LOL if you can call any Hardware sampler New).

Get one of the Akai Z series units. Trane, a z4 or Z8 would be beautiful 512MB of 24 bit sampling, 60-80GB harddrive, and akai sys for file management.

(Or throw in a few more bucks and get an MPC 4000 and have a sequencer built in.)

[alcohol]

Roland S760

Don't know how they do it or why; but, sample something already recorded and the S760 sample will sound better than the original.

[entropy]

My vote is the Roland S760 or S770.

Nice bottom end, filters are good (although not as good as the Emu's) and you can plug a VGA monitor in and use a mouse.

And a SP1200 for snares 'cause ur a slut and need 2

[squelch]

Thumbs up for the S5000/S6000, on release, it was a disaster - the early OS versions were buggy and terrible but eventually it got cleaned up and works perfectly now (v2.14).
Also, with the USB card you have drag and drop from your PC/Mac desktop which is great. You can also use an ADAT card for 8 outs if you want digital.
I wont part with mine!

Peace
Dave

[kechuan]

I'm still very keen on my yamaha A4000 and A3000 samplers, filters sound good, overall sound is great, the fx are pretty cool and I like its architecture, althought i've heard some people hate it

I also still have my akai s950 which has a great sound but i need to get it repaired. Great thing about this unit is that because you don't have gb's of storage space it forces you to work around its limitations and sometimes lead to creative solutions you might not otherwise come across.

my 2 cents

[edham]

I loved my E4's but its hard to beat the S6000's detachable screen!

Plus the mainframe of the S6000 pretty much makes your house hurricane proof as wind of the highest velocity is incapable of budging it even one inch.

[soultrane]

thanks everyone.

i think i've narrowed it down, pricewise, to the e4x or the s5000;

i like the s5000 because of the usb and the aksys software...

but, i guess the e4x / scsi should be ok (can anyone confirm?)

both of these beasts have monster spec.... anyone care to comment on the audio character, midi timing, fx, etc. on each?

[allencollins]

I think the ultimate hardware sampler in this century is
called a PC. They come in 2 styles desktop and laptop

[soultrane]

Originally Posted by allencollins

I think the ultimate hardware sampler in this century is
called a PC. They come in 2 styles desktop and laptop

yes, well you could say that about the ultimate mixer, the ultimate drum machine, the ultimate compressor, the ultimate reverb, etc... its all in the computer.

i was looking at ebay and found a sampler with 128 voice polyphony, 8 outs, an fx card for serial fx on 8 busses, cd-rom, compatability w. windows xp, etc.,
it sold for $250 bucks...

right above it, an unlicensed version of kontakt sold for $255...

now this piece of hardware once went for over $5,000.

the pedigree of this brand sampler was that it was used by major artists as the "sole" creation piece on the making of some major albums/scores...

its like the thread about the "would you buy a lexicon plug in..."

is the idea that a lex 480 is only as good as the software in it, the other $10k+ that goes into the cost of the unit is just the old fashioned way of doing things, and if you just port the software into vsti you will capture the entire essence of the 480?

aren't the algorithms of a 480 made to coincide with its converters?

do u really think you can get a pc rig to have the functionality/performance of an akai s6000 for under $500?

in other words, you think a $200 computer, $150 soundcard, and $150 worth of software will stomp an e4x?

[mikesilence]

The Synclavier is amazing but the most punch and best sound had the Fairlight MFX2 with the CMI inside...

Greetz,

Mike