Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
steko
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by steko » Sat Sep 18, 2010 2:05 am

+1 E-MU !

I love my e4xt ultra (upgraded from e6400) through Mackie SR24•4 - great sound! (also Beat Munger!)

Photek was the reason I bought mine in the 90s - lots of money (fuck you WaveRider! :o :lol: ) …http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyKuzY52hWU&#t=1m04

I'd have loved to have two E-MUs for online sample editing back then …
Rahad Jackson wrote:My Awesome Mix Tape #6

RoCi
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by RoCi » Sat Sep 18, 2010 3:26 am

try the ensoniq asr-10

Pitch Black
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by Pitch Black » Sat Sep 18, 2010 9:25 am

RoCi wrote:try the ensoniq asr-10
the asr-10 has a quite wicked built-in multi fx board. Great character.
MBP M1Max | MacOS 12.7.2 | Live 11.3.20 | Babyface Pro FS | Push 3 (tethered) | a whole other bunch of controllers
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The Carpet Cleaner
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by The Carpet Cleaner » Sat Sep 18, 2010 10:45 am

Hardware samplers are like hardware synth, guitars, even shakers !
You can do EVERYTHING quite correctly in the box.
If you are broke, or want to be 100% efficient, you'll probably want to just use Live (suite) without anything else.

But this is true in theory. After months of practice, you just want to discover and try new way of doing stuff.
You can go for 1 year doing right click > slice to sample. It works very well. Or you can open Sampler, and toy around. Then few months later when you feel tired of doing the same thing again and again, you want to try new things again... and it never ends.

There is something else as well that I'm personnaly experiences.
I remember 2 years ago when I was starting to produce, I wanted to control everything. I wanted lots and lots and lots of possibilities, lots of control, infinite control. And now that I feel more confident with my skills, I kind of know what to do, I now what I need, I'm looking for fun. Less "learning", more fun. Less control, more toying around with something. I'm fed up using the mouse and trying all the different combinason of butons/faders of a soft synth or a sampler and see if this sounds better, or this thing, or this thing again. That really kills the fun.

I bought Maschine recently (1 or 2 months ago), and it's my first gear beside a keyboard. And I found those habits that I had when I was playing guitar when I was a kid. Just "playing". You load something, and you play, and you record. If the tool is well made, even though you're playing, the result will be good. I think that's why for example Roland SP series are popular, because it's very simple but the effect are okay and you play with it and get something cool.

And seriously if the hardware is good (and maschine feels like it's a peice of hardware even though it's not), you can go very fast, doing fun things while the quality is still here. This is where the important point is and where I give you my answer to the initial question of this thread.

If you want to buy an hardware sampler of synth or whatever, just make sure it's a good peice of hardware, that works well and is efficient. Don't buy a toy that is fun to play with for just 5 minutes. Good hardware sampler seems like toys but you can actually have fun and discover things from it for a long period of time.

Right now for example, I have Live and maschine and a keyboard. I don't need anything else.
But when I visit my friend and play with his gears, I want them as well.

kb420
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by kb420 » Sat Sep 18, 2010 11:32 am

pamplemousse_mk2 wrote:
Hi,

could you tell me why you need an MPC (is it an MPC60?)? Is it because its samples sound better than Live? Or is it because, like Silverfish and drchoc said, having hardware limitations bring you more creativity?
v00d00ppl wrote:nice 3000 kb420....what do you think about the overall sound of the 3000? or do you just use it as a controller or sequencer for software?

Even though the MPC 3000 is 16 bit 44.1 khz, it still has a signiture sound that is hard to duplicate with software. It may be the D/A converters. I'm not totally sure, but whatever it is, when you put your drums in it, it sounds great.
"That which does not kill us makes us stronger..........."
-Friedrich Nietzsche-

Klinikal
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by Klinikal » Sat Sep 18, 2010 12:35 pm

The Carpet Cleaner wrote:Hardware samplers are like hardware synth, guitars, even shakers !
You can do EVERYTHING quite correctly in the box.
If you are broke, or want to be 100% efficient, you'll probably want to just use Live (suite) without anything else.

But this is true in theory. After months of practice, you just want to discover and try new way of doing stuff.
You can go for 1 year doing right click > slice to sample. It works very well. Or you can open Sampler, and toy around. Then few months later when you feel tired of doing the same thing again and again, you want to try new things again... and it never ends.

There is something else as well that I'm personnaly experiences.
I remember 2 years ago when I was starting to produce, I wanted to control everything. I wanted lots and lots and lots of possibilities, lots of control, infinite control. And now that I feel more confident with my skills, I kind of know what to do, I now what I need, I'm looking for fun. Less "learning", more fun. Less control, more toying around with something. I'm fed up using the mouse and trying all the different combinason of butons/faders of a soft synth or a sampler and see if this sounds better, or this thing, or this thing again. That really kills the fun.

I bought Maschine recently (1 or 2 months ago), and it's my first gear beside a keyboard. And I found those habits that I had when I was playing guitar when I was a kid. Just "playing". You load something, and you play, and you record. If the tool is well made, even though you're playing, the result will be good. I think that's why for example Roland SP series are popular, because it's very simple but the effect are okay and you play with it and get something cool.

And seriously if the hardware is good (and maschine feels like it's a peice of hardware even though it's not), you can go very fast, doing fun things while the quality is still here. This is where the important point is and where I give you my answer to the initial question of this thread.

If you want to buy an hardware sampler of synth or whatever, just make sure it's a good peice of hardware, that works well and is efficient. Don't buy a toy that is fun to play with for just 5 minutes. Good hardware sampler seems like toys but you can actually have fun and discover things from it for a long period of time.

Right now for example, I have Live and maschine and a keyboard. I don't need anything else.
But when I visit my friend and play with his gears, I want them as well.
Well I had the same experience. First (from the year 2000) when I started producing with computers I was amazed by all this technology. Reason, then Ableton Live - great stuff. But there was always some sort of hardware gear lust.

Last year I noticed how boring is making music with computer. Mouse clicking was killing my creativity. I bought many MIDI controlers but that was not it. So I decided to buy some real hardware gear. I went for Electribes: KORG EMX-1 and ESX-1. Then I added mini-KP for some live effect tweaking fun. Currently it is the setup I use for my production and live performance.

I noticed that people who are producing music using computers for long time, are switching to hardware devices and vice versa.

MacGuffin
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by MacGuffin » Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:34 pm

my tx16w is simply amazing, has a great crunchy 12 bit sound, and with typhoon OS it's not too hard to use.
the fact that it's sort of a pain in the ass to use is what makes it fun, I end up with unpredictable results.

best 40$ i've spent on gear... that and an EHX pulsar ;)

WaveRider
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by WaveRider » Sat Sep 18, 2010 8:34 pm

Zeddy wrote:How do people feel about the Elektron Octatrack? It seems kind of like a new 'generation' of hardware sampler, mixed with a Machine Drum. Pretty cool looking. It might be worth checking out if you want a hardware sampler.
yeah that thing is sure promising, and will be kind of a new way to work with sampling. I am sure it will be lots of fun... plus it opens up a whole area of new sampling effects

hps909
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by hps909 » Sat Sep 18, 2010 11:32 pm

had S01, s3000xl, MPC 2kxl, have now an s2800 and a s2000 always loved akais...

my s2800 uses the preset sinewave purely for sub beefing up of basslines ... my s2000 with the 8 out board is a drum machine .. i use mesa on an old p4 pc to organise shit... yeah it takes ages to set stuff up in the beginning but once the multis are setup it's a matter of loading in a kit from zip .. and the sound is miles ahead of anything a computer based sampler could achieve...
macbook pro 2.5 i5 os 10.12 , TC Electronik Konnekt 48, Live 9, Cubase 9, event 20/20, Waldorf Blofeld, roland tb-03, roland Jx-03, korg mikrokontrol, novation nocturn, akai lpd8

Pitch Black
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by Pitch Black » Sun Sep 19, 2010 12:56 am

hps909 wrote: i use mesa on an old p4 pc to organise shit...
That's dedication, squire! :mrgreen:

hps909
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by hps909 » Sun Sep 19, 2010 7:22 am

;) we're not here to fuck spiders :P

yeah mesa sucks balls it's reallt the only thing to use with an s2000 the screen is too small .. at least you could work on the s3/3200 without a computer
macbook pro 2.5 i5 os 10.12 , TC Electronik Konnekt 48, Live 9, Cubase 9, event 20/20, Waldorf Blofeld, roland tb-03, roland Jx-03, korg mikrokontrol, novation nocturn, akai lpd8

lord toranaga
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by lord toranaga » Mon Sep 20, 2010 5:38 pm

In the last 3 weeks I have purchaed ,mpc 2000, MPC 2000xl, Ensoniq ASR-X-Pro, Yamaha RS7000.

I went a little crAzy for the bet machines.

I'm going to make a few youtube videos.
Peace & Love, Lord Toranaga

Yeh
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by Yeh » Mon Sep 20, 2010 5:48 pm

I've bought a Yamaha A3000 v2 in 1998. Sold it in 2004 and got it back in 2007. Yes, it has its own charm and sound. But it's too much work. Software samplers and DAWS work so much faster. I won't sell it again but rarely use it.

My main DAW's are Cubase and Live with softsynths and Halion3. But I've got a parallel setup with Atari STe, Virus Classic, A3000 and Emu Xtreme Lead. For nostalgic moments...
Kind regardz,

Jos
http://www.portonova.nl

Ableton Live 8, Cubase 7, Melodyne Editor 2, Halion 4, Presonus Audiobox 44VSL soundcard, Windows 8, 64 bit, i5, 6 Gig RAM

lord toranaga
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by lord toranaga » Mon Sep 20, 2010 6:25 pm

you're right. too many extra steps.
Peace & Love, Lord Toranaga

ChiDJ
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Re: Harware Samplers - anyone still rock them?

Post by ChiDJ » Mon Sep 20, 2010 7:53 pm

Image






Love the downsampling, love the filters, love the arpeggiator. If my EMAXX II had a vagina, I'd sleep with it. 8)
"Let you're body feel the sound! Let it cover you up and down!"

Image

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