Recommendations for a hardware sampler?

[Mivo]

I'm toying with the idea of getting a hardware sampler, but it's not an area I have any real experience in. Are there any particular samplers you guys would recommend? Price range would be $1300 tops, but less is certainly better.

[ZenPunkHippy]

Depends what you plan to do, but the Elektron Octatrack is brilliant. This video is a bit dry, but should give you a good idea ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjavTXRvZBE

[thecontrolcentre]

There are some great second hand deals to be had on A-series Yamaha Samplers ... from around £100. There are bargains on older Akai's around too.

[lfm]

Haven't used one myself - but Kurzweil K2000 and K2500 goes for not a fortune.

I thought about having a look at these.
10 years ago prices were just about the same as now - so I gather they are in demand.

[Wormhelmet]

I just bought a used MV-8800 sampler. It's huge though and you can play it like an instrument. Great sampling options in it as well as outstanding sequencer modes. Used on eBay can get you some low low prices.

Not a lot of stuff in its native format available though. Uses Roland .mv0 file for instrument patches. Chicken Systems has a translator if you want to convert other formats to mv0 though. As long as formats don't use encrypted sound files and just use .wav or .aiff it will convert ok is what I hear. It's more a production workstation sampler. I have upgraded mine with new DVD reader/cd writer, 512MB RAM, 160GB hard drive and custom skinned it. Added a one in, 4 out midi thru and use it for sequencing all my hardware stuff. You can attach a mouse and monitor to it for easier viewing and menu selections.

You need a sampler that does multisamples or just a phrase sampler? MV does both phrase and multi's. I always liked the MPC's (2500, 4000, 5000) and Roland SP units too (606, 555, 505, 404SX, etc).

Kurzweil has some great used options also. In fact, many older rack mount samplers on eBay all the time.

[Cynosure]

I am planning on getting an Akai MPX16. It is very simple and straight forward, and the price is great. I use Ableton Live for sequencing anyway, so the lack of a sequencer is not a concern for me.

[Mivo]

Thanks for the responses!

I also learned today that the new Korg Electribe (the sampler version) will come out in March (the synth version sooner), so I may wait for some reviews on this. Generally a fan of Korg's stuff.

[mztk]

yeah you might want to examine the editing capabilities first, and compare
with the operation of an akai. my *old* ES1 is pretty basic, the new one may
be more sophisticated. what a shame the s3000xl never had direct wav load,
those old samplers are da bomb. what am i saying? i should be picking one up
before talking it up.
(same for my esi4000 turbo - great on paper, but in use, even with a copy of
whatsitcalled ChickenSystems, it isn't that immediate integrating it with PC)
so Z-series Akai looks (ugly) like having a good spec.

[Wormhelmet]

Let us know what you get. I use my MV-8800 all the time now and it's my centerpiece for music gear where my PC used to be. Roland S770 sampler engine in it, but a whole lot more capabilities than just those of the S770.

That Octatrack looks wicked, but a little afraid of the 80MB per project RAM limit, although it appears you can stream directly from flash media. If that is the case, then that's got to be one of the wickedest new samplers on the market. My MV definitely doesn't stream directly from disk, but the large capacity of RAM (512MB and 502MB per project available) is plenty for very big sample sets. Size of the Octatrack looks friendly too. My MV-8800 is a beast for size, but built like a tank too.

Akai MPC 4000 uses Z series sampler engine and is pretty wicked too.

Both MV-8800 and Akai MPC 5000 share the feature of a built-in synth. I think the Akai built in synth has a few options the Roland synth doesn't, but not sure exactly. The built-in synth on the MV is pretty easy to twist out new sounds on. Part of their COSM fx list. It has little boxes for various synth functions that pop up on the screen for easy editing of oscillators, adsr's, filter types, modulation routing, etc.

Those units are probably overkill though if you are just looking for rack mount sampler for multisamples to use with a PC or Mac DAW.

I'm guessing though that an Elektron Analog 4 synth and the Octatrack in one of their two-tier stands, would be a hardware tweakers dream compact setup. They have put much thought into their products.

I have personally never played with an Electribe S, but they do look fun too.

I love all the hardware stuff available today. Seems like the market has a little something for everyone and covers a wide variety of budgets.

I did a lot of research before purchase. Highly recommend reading about feature sets and limitations before taking the plunge. I lucked out. Mine far exceeds my expectations and is rewarding to work on. That coupled with used price I got it for and being able to customize it for next to nothing and max it out for RAM, Hard Drive, DVD reader/CD writer, custom pads, custom skin, all really made it that much more worthwhile.

[Wormhelmet]

Sometimes I hate target audience marketing too. When researching samplers, try to look past target audience marketing hype. Mine was billed as a hip hop makers sampler, but that's just marketing again. Sure, I make the occasional hip hop song, but really that's the least style I do with mine. It can work with any (and I mean any) style because of the extensive time signature options. If your sequencing it from a DAW, then same thing. Use whatever time sigs you want for any styles you like.

[grabme]

Akai S5000 you cant go wrong with.

[LimboLoves]

I'm going quiet until the elektribe sampler comes out. If it takes until July, or something, that will be more money saved up anyway. If Korg is telling the truth, the Elektribe will chop samples like an MPC will. With all the FX korg is including, as well as the portability, I think it's a no brainer at 400 dollars.

The wait begins...

[Wormhelmet]

I'm going quiet until the elektribe sampler comes out. If it takes until July, or something, that will be more money saved up anyway. If Korg is telling the truth, the Elektribe will chop samples like an MPC will. With all the FX korg is including, as well as the portability, I think it's a no brainer at 400 dollars.

The wait begins...

Looks pretty cool. Sweetwater is taking pre-orders now for $400 and states Korg expects to ship in March.

It really looks appealing for the price tag.

[Mivo]

I've been getting conflicting information. I talked to a guy at Thomann who said they might get a few devices in late November, early December, but that they have so many preorders that it's unlikely that they can ship any before February even if I preordered one now. Other stores list March, though. so it probably will be March.

Then again, I think I should finally learn the lesson not to preorder stuff. Being completely honest with myself, I end up regretting 75% of whatever I preorder, either because it's not as good as it promised to be (or that I imagined it would be) or because it gets a hefty price cut shortly after. In a rare moment of responsibility (damn hard to be an adult sometimes), I just cancelled my preorder for the Nexus 9 after reading every review I could find (didn't really need it anyway, but I expected it to be a bit better than "it's okay").

That leaves me with almost 500 un-budgeted bucks. I could hang onto them and buy an Octatrack in early December... (So much for being responsible.)

[ZenPunkHippy]

The synth version of the Electribe is out in a months time.

The sampler version is out in March.

Which given how popular these are might mean May or June before it's actually available.