Forum for all other samplers & synths such as Maschine, MVs, Akai S & Z series, Roland, Korg, OP-1, analog synths etc.
By LB82 Sun Feb 06, 2022 8:33 am
Hello everyone, this is my first post here

I recently began to look for a hardware sampler and understood that for what I need and my budget the best choice would be something like the S3000 (xl or regular) or the Z4. I'm reading the manuals of both units and I'd like to hear some opinions from experienced users to help me making my choice.

I'd like to sample in good quality (16 bit - 44.100 is fine) then use the sampler to edit the sound with filters, pitch tuning, envelopes, lfo, etc. I need at least 8 analog outputs to further process the signal with external gear and record them in my daw on separate tracks.

I found those models to be within my budget (S3000/xl or Z4) I'd like to ask from your experience which one would be the easier to learn/faster to use and easier to upgrade with floppy emulators (for the S3000/xl)/ram expansions/os upgrades for a smooth and quicker workflow, the devices I found have the 8 outputs card already installed.

Example of use may be: play and record my drum kit then slice some parts to create single hits samples or load drum samples/short synth samples from a usb hard drive.
I will use a Squarp Pyramid sequencer to sequence the samples via 5 pin midi, I would prefer to not have a pc editor involved and use the computer just to record the tracks in my daw.

Thanks!
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By NearTao Fri Feb 11, 2022 12:27 pm
I don't have the S3000... but do have the S950/S1000/Z8... so I can give you some thoughts in those areas...

Upgrading either of these will be pricey... a lot of the people selling the S3000/xl or Z4 are purposefully pulling boards out to sell them separately so that they can make more money. The upgrade boards have a steep markup, so be warned that if it isn't installed (whatever it is memory, fx, digital I/O, etc...) that you're probably going to pay a lot more. I'd suggest trying to get the system as fully loaded as possible.

I'll be honest... I'm not sure about the upgrade process for the Z4/Z8... never had to do it, but for the S3000, it's as simple as popping out the old chips and putting in the new chips if you just want it to boot up with a specific firmware. Honestly you just need to go slow, take your time, and make sure you put the right chips oriented in the right way, and most firmware sellers will give you pretty good information about how to do it.

The Floppy drive emulators are pretty basic, and people reselling them on eBay are putting a substantial markup on them. If you look around for sewing machine floppy drive for example... you can typically find the exact (or very close) to the same thing for around $25-$30 that people are reselling on eBay for $100 or more. There are some firmware settings and jumpers that may need to be set to get it to operate properly, but the markup over on eBay is honestly very crazy.

As for either the S3k/XL vs the Z4... they are both incredibly competent samplers. The Z4 is likely to sound a bit cleaner, but whether that is a good thing or not will depend on your use case. Honestly though, they are both cutting edge sampling technology of the time, so it's not like there were many if any corners being cut.

Personally, I'd probably go for the Z4 just because it is easily far more compatible with modern tech because it can load .wav files, store directly to USB, and it has an incredibly deep architecture underneath. That said, the older S series samplers have a lot of charm and are quite easy to work with, but you're just stuck a bit more within the confines of the technology of the time, which will probably keep you "working in the box" as it were a lot more.
By LB82 Sat Feb 12, 2022 6:59 am
NearTao wrote:I don't have the S3000... but do have the S950/S1000/Z8... so I can give you some thoughts in those areas...

Upgrading either of these will be pricey... a lot of the people selling the S3000/xl or Z4 are purposefully pulling boards out to sell them separately so that they can make more money. The upgrade boards have a steep markup, so be warned that if it isn't installed (whatever it is memory, fx, digital I/O, etc...) that you're probably going to pay a lot more. I'd suggest trying to get the system as fully loaded as possible.

I'll be honest... I'm not sure about the upgrade process for the Z4/Z8... never had to do it, but for the S3000, it's as simple as popping out the old chips and putting in the new chips if you just want it to boot up with a specific firmware. Honestly you just need to go slow, take your time, and make sure you put the right chips oriented in the right way, and most firmware sellers will give you pretty good information about how to do it.

The Floppy drive emulators are pretty basic, and people reselling them on eBay are putting a substantial markup on them. If you look around for sewing machine floppy drive for example... you can typically find the exact (or very close) to the same thing for around $25-$30 that people are reselling on eBay for $100 or more. There are some firmware settings and jumpers that may need to be set to get it to operate properly, but the markup over on eBay is honestly very crazy.

As for either the S3k/XL vs the Z4... they are both incredibly competent samplers. The Z4 is likely to sound a bit cleaner, but whether that is a good thing or not will depend on your use case. Honestly though, they are both cutting edge sampling technology of the time, so it's not like there were many if any corners being cut.

Personally, I'd probably go for the Z4 just because it is easily far more compatible with modern tech because it can load .wav files, store directly to USB, and it has an incredibly deep architecture underneath. That said, the older S series samplers have a lot of charm and are quite easy to work with, but you're just stuck a bit more within the confines of the technology of the time, which will probably keep you "working in the box" as it were a lot more.


Understood, thanks! I thought about the fact that the Z4 would better for what I'm looking for, the 3000 are way cheaper though. I'll think about it some more
By Christov Tue Feb 15, 2022 8:47 pm
I'd also go with a Z4/8, basicly for the reasons that NearTao already mentioned. Usb and wav-readability are so nice to have.

There are some for decent prices on reverb right now from what I can see, although they're all in Europe.
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By Pastor-of-Muppets Fri Feb 18, 2022 1:39 pm
Floppies are crap, emulating floppies just means you have hundreds of floppies stored. They're still tiny floppies though. SCSI2SD is a better option for the S-series imho. The WAV compatibility and other more modern tech on the Z4 makes me wish I'd got one of them instead of my maxed out cd3000xl. A S3000-era akai doesn't have the "character" that people talk about in the older s950/s1000 etc so I don't see any reason to prefer it to Z4 except for price. But by the time you've got RAM expansions, scsi2sd, optional unobtanium FX board etc for the S-series it's not cheap anyway.
By John Doobie Tue Aug 30, 2022 2:23 pm
Pastor-of-Muppets wrote:Floppies are crap, emulating floppies just means you have hundreds of floppies stored. They're still tiny floppies though. SCSI2SD is a better option for the S-series imho. The WAV compatibility and other more modern tech on the Z4 makes me wish I'd got one of them instead of my maxed out cd3000xl. A S3000-era akai doesn't have the "character" that people talk about in the older s950/s1000 etc so I don't see any reason to prefer it to Z4 except for price. But by the time you've got RAM expansions, scsi2sd, optional unobtanium FX board etc for the S-series it's not cheap anyway.


“Character” … the most overused word when describing gear. What does it even mean?

The S1000-S1100 is actually pretty clean sounding compared to say a S3000XL or MPC2000.
S950 has a low resolution -minor distorted- kind of sound because of the 12-bit. But no where near as dirty as an SP1200, and also very different from the MPC60, despite of people comparing them constantly.
Because of the way the filters sound, the Z-series actually have a very unique sound.
The S6000 is propably the most neutral sounding.
The S3000 is indeed a somewhat neutral sounding sampler too, but with some trickery you make it sound dirty as f*ck.