hardware samplers- better for drums?

[MitchK1989]

I had an MPC 1000. I sold it and I don't miss it. It was like using software, but with a smaller screen and no awesome effect plugins.

I also had an electribe ES-1 MK2. That I do kinda miss. It was a pain in the ass as far as getting samples onto it (smartmedia, urgh), and it didn't sound any better than software (worse, actually)... But the sequencer was nice to play with.

I wouldn't bother getting a hardware sampler unless its:
A) A very lo-fi 12 or 8 bit one that significantly affects the sound.
or
B) One that has a very fun and un-software-like sequencer to give a different workflow

If only you could get both in one unit... Maybe with an MPC 60 if you like the MPC workflow, but personally I don't find it any different then you can get using trigger pads and ableton live...

[aallvor]

Regardless of hard/soft/better/worse - adding a different flavour to your music can only be a good thing. And what's the going rate for old Akais these days? £50-100? I say go for it, you can always sell it if you don't like it...

[dreaddd]

I was hoping to hear from people who may have already half gone back to hardware.

Computers are great but can also be the biggest waste of time ever.

personally im slightly putting back on action some hw bits , time by time...and the trend of the market seems to go dsp all the way (hence HW and outboard) in the future, so i guess that after all these years of ALL sw action on most cases, there will be a slight return of hw devices...
just take a look at that new baby by Arturia ..i just can love it on paper
it depends a lot on your needs for the workflow...i know people doing crazy things using only reason, and other doing simple arrangements and still hooked to their oldish hw setup...so its really a matter of personal choice at the end, mostly based on the way of working you may have---
for live usage anyway, im all for outboard hw if possible ...at least if sth goes wrong is def cheaper to take a substitution...

Peace

[decurion99]

I owned an MPC 1000 as well and sold it.

Now I regret it and yesterday I auctioned one of ebay.

Originally I sold it because I also owned a Yamaha Motif and tried to make songs with it - whicht was very tedious.

What struck me with the MPC was the punchyness and groovyness of the machine. It was a revelation. When you tap your drums into it, for the first time, you might be a little disappointed because all imperfections of human live input a meticulously recorded. I say this, because I do not play an instrument and was accustomed to the programming way of doing music.

After a little bit of practice though, I found making drum loops with the quantize function to be really cool.

What really in the end sold me back to the MPC was the fact that I played around on one at my friend's studio and be sample programmed basslines to just remingle them with the pads. Together with the groove function I was able to produce basslines I'd never thought possible.

So in terms of sound alone I'm not sure if there's a relevant difference nowadays.

But an MPC still has something going for it.

...

My 2 cents

[musikmachine]

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