Forum for all other samplers & synths such as Maschine, MVs, Akai S & Z series, Roland, Korg, OP-1, analog synths etc.
By weeman123 Fri Jun 17, 2016 7:45 am
Hey guys i am thinking of buying s950 since one came up in my local market.It comes with the basic 750K internal RAM what do you think how much i should pay for s950 with 750K ? I have the 2KXL i will use that as main sequencer and midi trigger the s950 sample everything on there so the sound will be from s950. And another question for people who went from 2KXL and later to the combo with s950 how much soundwise the s950 will change things and is it worth it to buy one ?
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By jibber Fri Jun 17, 2016 11:42 am
Price depends where you are located. In europe prices have risen to 400-500+ for an S950 in good condition.

Sound wise you can't go wrong with an S950. They are absolutely killer when it comes to sound. Plus the filter is great. They sound VERY good. Your 2KXL sounds like a modern PC soundcard... what goes in comes out, very clean, transparent, no character. S950 sounds very smooth, with character... not "unbiased" like the 2KXL.
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By marrelarre Fri Jun 17, 2016 12:13 pm
If the price is right - get one, I had a 2xl around 2010 and got a s950 and i miss it nowadays, dunno if its gearlust or nostalgia but damn it was nice. You can do a lot with it soncially and my favorite part was sampling way too hot into it distorting the result = leaves you will killer drums.

You wont be disapointed! .... HOWEVER the prices on these units have skyrocketed with the whole 90s boombap lowpass trend thats been going on a few years, so it may be very expensive.
By weeman123 Fri Jun 17, 2016 1:12 pm
Thanks for the replies guys ! yeah for sure the rise of price today is quite big i think the last time i checked the guy was looking around 350 euros. Will be a problem the 750KB basic memory do i need more ?
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By distortedtekno Fri Jun 17, 2016 3:42 pm
weeman123 wrote:Thanks for the replies guys ! yeah for sure the rise of price today is quite big i think the last time i checked the guy was looking around 350 euros. Will be a problem the 750KB basic memory do i need more ?

750kb is ok for small drum samples. You'll be able to find another 750kb RAM module on ebay and max out the unit at 1.5mb if you want.
By LoopTheCrook Fri Jun 17, 2016 4:20 pm
I would buy ram upgrade and do every thing on 950. Use 2kxl for sequencing. Buy card reader...

Chopping long samples can be a pain with basic ram.
By weeman123 Fri Jun 17, 2016 6:03 pm
yeah i would like to be with full ram like you said i like everything to sample on there and sequence but the ram upgrade is so dam expensive
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By peterpiper Sat Jun 18, 2016 12:54 am
Don't think that 750kb is insufficient. You can do a lot with it. Yes it is a bit more work if you sample a long sample and want to chop it up in many slices thats true.
BUT you can avoid this either by sample not the whole sample at once but already small pieces which saves time cause you dont need to copy n-times, or by sampling at a higher speed (I guess you know that 'trick'). You also can choose the sample bandwidth depending on the material. I rarely use the highest bandwidth (only for hats/cymbals and not always cause I like a little frequency 'roll-off' even on the hats.
If you have really long samples, use the 2000 for this and use the 950 for the rest. The benefit of this would also be the combination of the sound of both machines which can be really nice.
The SP1200 only have 256kb, It has a fixed samplerate and people still make nice beats with it (yes it's more a machine for a specific style of music than a jack of all trades device). So of course you can make dope music with a 950 (no matter if used as only sampler or in combination with the 2000)


peace
By sjeff Fri Jul 15, 2016 3:42 pm
Glad I got rid of it, awful sound imo.. Would only buy one again if the price is right so I can flip it and make some good money

Overrated sampler
By dustymaestro Fri Jul 15, 2016 5:47 pm
sjeff wrote:Glad I got rid of it, awful sound imo.. Would only buy one again if the price is right so I can flip it and make some good money

Overrated sampler



You might have got a schitty one. Everybody has slightly different hearing and then comes preference. I don't think you can argue the countless records made with them though. :WTF:
By sjeff Fri Jul 15, 2016 8:14 pm
Why not, just because it got used a lot doesnt make it a good sounding sampler. Its easy to use and in that time there were not a whole lot of other options.

Maybe if those records were made on other machines it wouldve sounded even better.. I know for a fact that my music sounds way better now than when Ive used the 950. People talking about it being 'warm gritty crunchy and analog' sounding are completely off. That in mind, combined with the prices of today and what it can actually do makes it an overrated sampler to me.
By LoopTheCrook Sat Jul 16, 2016 6:10 am
sjeff wrote:People talking about it being 'warm gritty crunchy and analog' sounding are completely off. That in mind, combined with the prices of today and what it can actually do makes it an overrated sampler to me.


I gotta agree... prices are too high. I got mine right before prices skyrocketed.

Sound is very subjective thing. I love what that sampler does to drums and bass...
Not every one loves lofi sound even tho its hifi-ish comparing to other lofi machines.

First thing when i bought mine, i found that 950 eats a lot of sub information, thats why a lot of people find them dull sounding. I have an outboard eq with compressor... so i can enhance a little bit what was lost during sampling process and to lift high end for a little "shine" when sampling, lifting low end while sampling doesn't produce good results here :) i get better results lifting bass end while mixing :mrgreen:
By dustymaestro Sat Jul 16, 2016 7:27 am
LoopTheCrook wrote:
sjeff wrote:People talking about it being 'warm gritty crunchy and analog' sounding are completely off. That in mind, combined with the prices of today and what it can actually do makes it an overrated sampler to me.


I gotta agree... prices are too high. I got mine right before prices skyrocketed.

Sound is very subjective thing. I love what that sampler does to drums and bass...
Not every one loves lofi sound even tho its hifi-ish comparing to other lofi machines.

First thing when i bought mine, i found that 950 eats a lot of sub information, thats why a lot of people find them dull sounding. I have an outboard eq with compressor... so i can enhance a little bit what was lost during sampling process and to lift high end for a little "shine" when sampling, lifting low end while sampling doesn't produce good results here :) i get better results lifting bass end while mixing :mrgreen:



You might need a recap if your lows are gone.

The captain crunch machine is dull sounding? Wow, that's a first.
By dustymaestro Sat Jul 16, 2016 7:29 am
sjeff wrote:Why not, just because it got used a lot doesnt make it a good sounding sampler. Its easy to use and in that time there were not a whole lot of other options.

Maybe if those records were made on other machines it wouldve sounded even better.. I know for a fact that my music sounds way better now than when Ive used the 950. People talking about it being 'warm gritty crunchy and analog' sounding are completely off. That in mind, combined with the prices of today and what it can actually do makes it an overrated sampler to me.


Well your opinion is of course your right. The maybes are hard to agree with though.
My music sounds better than when I had a MPC 3000 60 and the others. That's me, not the machine.
Last edited by dustymaestro on Sat Jul 16, 2016 1:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.