In '96 I bought a secondhand Gemini Scratchmaster DJ mixer with the 8 second sampler built in. It didn't take me long to make perfect loops with it. I didn't have money for a real sampler back then. But I had a Boss DR-550mk2 that I got for Christmas in '95 and used it along with the Scratchmaster, a mic, a distortion pedal, and a mouth harp. I made that shit sound like a ghetto TB-303.
Before that, I used to use a cassette deck as a sampler, making "trip-out tapes" back in the '80s. I got a few of my friends to make their own back then too. We all used to trip out in the woods at night and bug out to all that shit. Good times back in the day.
I don't think I owned any real samplers in the '90s. But I built my first PC in '98 and started using Wavelab to record and edit samples. It was never the same as using an MPC, which I should've saved up for instead of parts to build a PC. But I don't regret it. I learned a lot back then between everything. I learned the basics with my friend's MPC2000 around that time as well, and liked that more than everything else.
In 2002, I was seriously getting bored with software samplers. Reason's samplers didn't sample back then (not till version 6 in recent years). I still wanted an MPC. But I never managed to save the money to buy one then. I really wanted a Roland TB-303 and wasn't looking to drop the money for that either. I thought I'd kill two bird with one stone and buy the MC-09 Phraselab. The sampler section took ages to load samples and there were no real editing functions, from what I remember. The TB-303 emulation was disappointing as well.
In 2004 I bought the MPC1000. I had my ups and downs with the machine and with Akai, as some of you might remember. I spent a lot of money between upgrades, OS's, etc. and I really had fun with the JJ OS. I should've kept it. But I sold it to a forum member here in 2011 or 2012.
In 2005, I bought an S2000, S950, and S2800. I bought them all fairly cheap. I didn't care much for the S2000. The S2800 was cool, and the S950 was my favorite out of the three. But I sold them a few years later. I wish I still had the S950.
I also bought a Casio SK-1 around that time and I circuit-bent it. I bought a Yamaha VSS-30 and ended up selling it before I could ever get around to circuit-bending it.
Last year a friend of mine gave me two MPC2000s that needed repair. So I took all the parts and rebuilt myself a good working unit. I still use it at times. But I bought a brand new SP-404SX for $300 a few months back, and I've had more fun with it than any sampler I previously owned. It pairs up well with the MPC, since both units make up for what the other lacks in features. But mainly, I just fire up the SP-404SX and use it standalone. It's the perfect sketch tool to come up with new ideas, then use it with the MPC or Reason when I wanna bring it to a different level. I'm very content with what I have now. I'd still love to own an SP-1200. But that's beside the point.
