KVR Audio

bluelife · Post by **bluelife** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 8:56 am

hi

years ago I used to stand and look through shop windows at things that were impossible to afford, and now all the old stuff is so cheap, and I much prefer mucking around with buttons and stuff, it's inspiring:)
So I just bought an ancient 12 bit ! sampler on ebay, the ensoniq EPS M (rack version)( http://www.synthzoo.de/ensoniq/epsm.html ), think I'll buy an EMU too - they used to cost $5-1000 - amazing nowadays - I know, fiddly to use out of date etc. but it's fun!

Hope it will come next week (got it on ebay), will play around a bit:)

Anyone else think that collecting retro gear is nice?
Bought a proteus 1/2 XR last week too.
Also have an old mesa-boogie studio premap and an ada ampulator:)

cheers

blue

quincy · Post by **quincy** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:11 am

I've been pissing about with software for over 10 years and I think I may be heading down the same road as you, I'm considering buying a groovebox and/or a synth of somesort just for the sheer hands-on fun!!

Like you say, its all so cheap on ebay and the like!!

bluelife · Post by **bluelife** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:16 am

yeah, you know I write most of my stuff on guitar anyway, so the computer is just a tool- and sometimes it kills me. I'm thinking of trying some kind of lo - q industrial sounds, not sure, we'll see.
So, you like knobs too

))

My mate has an MPC 2500, good stuff (he does hip hop)

cu

blue

himalaya · Post by **himalaya** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:22 am

I'd say it's not only nice, but can lead to more creativity.
I had definitely noticed a difference when I moved all my production to the PC.
Maybe it's to do with just being more physical in the studio, having to reach to the fx rack, then the mixer, re-patch this to that, curse a few times at the small LCD on the synth, then get very happy thet the result was better than expected, etc etc. And I hate the mouse !

But it is nice to be able to kit your room with stuff that used to cost so much, and now is given away with a bag of cornflakes. My Emu sampler ( still in the rack) was £1500, now, £350 perhaps ?

bluelife · Post by **bluelife** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:30 am

350, probably more like €2-300 (euros). I got that ensoniq for €83 ! - not sure if it has a scsi option or 8 outs or anything, the description was a two line automatic translation. The action ended at 6 in the morning (dudy for me), which helped me with the low price though.

cu

blue

quincy · Post by **quincy** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:39 pm

I nearly just bought a first generation Nord Micro-modular off ebay, would've cost me about £120 including postage i think, but I was put off by the low polyphony and some reviews that said the sound is a bit thin.

I think instead i'm gonna try to find a groovebox or some other old synth box to play with!! Ebay is addictive

Patch2006 · Post by **Patch2006** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 6:39 pm

i own a broken casio HT700. I have had it since i was 12 but it broke years ago. i might sell it for parts.

blatanville · Post by **blatanville** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 6:50 pm

Patch2006 wrote:i own a broken casio HT700. I have had it since i was 12 but it broke years ago. i might sell it for parts.

ah...the HT700...my first keyboard...
sold it in first year university for $300 (this was 1989)...

Bought a used EPS keyboard two years later for ~$800, with a box full of floppies and a 2x RAM expansion (for a whopping 2 Megabytes of sample ram!)
Got the 8-output expander a year later, and was recording a demo EP when my Amiga 500 died in the middle of recording...

Got a PC and did more sequencing with Cubase 2.5, and the creative flow was still there, the interface of the EPS was like my best friend for a few years...

Then I got a Juno 106, nearly mint, for $400!

Hadda sell the EPS and the Juno during a bout of unemployment...

and when I got back into music, it was all virtual (for me, and my budget).

But how I miss that EPS's interface. I "pwned" that machine!

Anybody wanna code me an EPS VSTi? doesn't need to have eight instrument slots, just needs to have that architecture.

thanks for the memories...

bluelife · Post by **bluelife** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:24 pm

hi

got the sampler last night, been buggering around with disks, found out I need some DD disks, no worries.

Made a sample just to try it out - also found out it is a 13 bit sampler, not 12 - anyway, this is the effort of about 1 minutes work - I think this will be fun - much better than seeing wave forms.

Rough and ready, guitar through a mesa boogie, reversed and doodled:)

http://www.littleblueroom.net/mp3/demo_eps2.mp3

There are not FX or real time controllers on that (except static filters and pitch bend).
And it is just one short 3 secs sample being messed around with.

I think some good pads could be done, layering and stuff, will try it.

cu

blue

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:32 pm

I still have tons of hardware synths, but I'm not into hardware samplers anymore. After 20 years of mucking about with an Emu Emax SE and ESI-32, Ensoniq EPS, and Kurzweil K2000, I am only too happy to trade that sampling methodology for Kontakt and Sound Forge. Okay, I admit that I'm thinking about getting a Doepfer sampler module, but thats a different beast entirely.

terragong · Post by **terragong** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:38 pm

get a roland MC 505 full of midi grooves and run it thru any thing with real
tubes...

duncanparsons · Post by **duncanparsons** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:28 pm

on a related note, can anyone tell me much about MPC60? I'm doing some work for someone, and they want something akin to the sound it has. I understand it's 12bit with a 40kHz samplerate. Are there any filters or waveshapers in the signal chain to give a particular sound, or will just bit decimation and a smidge of filtering do the trick?

Any info would be greatfully received

DSP

Just bought an ancient sampler:)