Akai s20 or Roland MS-1

Hello,
I'm new to the forums. I've never used a sampler and I'm kinda interested.
So I want to buy a cheap sampler. I have a lot of questions though:

Which one should I get?
I found these on ebay:
- an Akai s20 for 50 €
- a Roland MS-1 for 20 €

Would I need some other equipment?
What exactly can you do with the floppy drive?
Can you put samples on a floppy disk and edit them on your computer?

Thanks in advance,
subliem

you record the sounds into the sampler... edit them in the sampler... and save those sounds to the floppy disks so you can reload them later.

I think maybe the s20 would be better... and later on maybe you can get an mpc once you have the cash...

Most samplers have volatile memory.
This means when you switch off the power, the samples (etc) that you have recorded in the machine will be gone. there fore the floppy (or other device) is to save the data to so you can reload it when you turn the sampler on again.

A cheap (ish) sampler that does not have volatile memory is the Boss SP202. There may be others. But if you are seriously going to get into hardware sampling you need to get used to the storage options.

mr_debauch wrote:...
I think maybe the s20 would be better... and later on maybe you can get an mpc once you have the cash...

The s20 it will be!

*Pilchard* wrote:Most samplers have volatile memory.
This means when you switch off the power, the samples (etc) that you have recorded in the machine will be gone. there fore the floppy (or other device) is to save the data to so you can reload it when you turn the sampler on again.)

Yeah I understand that. And can you put, like 16 samples on one floppy?

I will say though... when you get that s20, keep it. don't sell it to get other gear... someday you will wish you still had it.. plus those are a secret weapon to some producers (famous ones and underground ones too) many times I have heard people talking about that machine as a secret weapon people overlook.. it does something unique to samples. so keep it, later when you get that mpc, it will still add onto that mpc as a dope piece of gear to use with the mpc.

I have owned a Akai S20 for about a year now, but I hardly use it now. I found it fustrating to chop samples, could never find a online manual for it (unless I wanted to pay some website $18 to dl it), and I probably won't use it for a whole lot, but.....I still like it enough to keep it.

What it's really good at is pitching samples up or down. I had one sample where they rap so fast and it sounded like a chipmunk, but I never could figure out what they were really saying. The sp202 almost was able to do it, but it still didn't do it in a way where I could understand it. The Akai S20 allowed me to pitch it down until the rapper's flow sounded normal, and not only that, I understood every word he was saying. For that, it's a keeper.

I use a sp505, and sometimes I tag them together, not really sequencing things, but using the sp505's effects to color the sounds for the akai S20 to sample. I tend to find I can't use all the pads of the S20 before I fill it's memory. It doesn't always save every floppy I've managed to find for it. Sometimes it gives me a error message when I try to format it. It's a bit of a shame to waste .75 cents, but that's how it goes I suppose.

A S20 shouldn't be your only gear by any means. Include a mixer, a mpc, a synth, DAW, etc, and you'll have enough to get you started. But you do get more power from a sp202/303/404/404SX/505/555 with all the effects at your disposal.

a rilly special trick it does yall is pitch the sample up or down--woah nelly