Forum for all other samplers & synths such as Maschine, MVs, Akai S & Z series, Roland, Korg, OP-1, analog synths etc.
By SLYMARTYR Sat Mar 18, 2017 10:43 am
Just stumbled across an esx1 and snatched it up. Impressed. Alongside my 2500 it's killer.

I've owned in no particular order. 500,1000,2500,404sx twice, octatrack, esx1. I was fanging for another 404sx but the electribe has killed that. Cheers.

Ill-Green wrote:
KORG Electribe SX-2004 to 2014 (this is an MPC on drugs, no lie)

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By Menco Sun Mar 19, 2017 1:06 pm
Menco wrote:Fruity loops- failure
Reason-Failure

Tryed them both for a month

mpc 500, sold it after 6 months
mpc 1000, have it for more then a year
s900, have it for 9 months, now in my basement for spare parts
s950, 6 months and still sitting on my desk
S3000xl, 6 months sometimes use it for multi samples
Reunited with reason in my setup
mpc 2500 since a few months after too many buttons on my 1k died


Sold the S3000xl and the S900. Going to sell the S950 as well. I simply don't use(d) them. It hurts my heart every time I sell a vintage Akai, but the machines are better off by someone who really work them. Also, when I moved 3,5 years ago I had to slim down my setup a little bit.

I added the MPC Studio which make things a lot easier for me. I always had problems getting my beats inside a digital environment with the desired results for postproduction.
My go to drummachine is still the MPC 2500. I can sample, chop and lay down the basic loop so damn quickly, nothing can beat that. Eqing/ mixing, adding FX/ vst's and arranging inside the MPC Software makes doing the post production fase inside Logic an extremely small task.
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By mr.thraz Fri Oct 02, 2020 2:11 pm
conrad wrote:What software you running? I run Linux for development but never got on with any music software on it always seemed a bit naff compares to Pro tools , sound forge etc


LMMS (With hydrogen and zynaddsubefx as plugins) i'll usually export the stems and mix them in Ardour (an opensource pro-tools clone)
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FLStudio20 With Akai Fire Running in WINE (i Can run all my Free Linux efx and linux VST's in FL)
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because I'm on Linux i get all types of free software and since Linux audio is modular everything plays nice and opens up as a plug in everything else.
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It all works out for me as money is an issue.
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By HanHuman Fri Oct 02, 2020 10:00 pm
An history going backwards it seems

> DAW
> MPC 1000

then more recently starting looking for some "older hardware texture"
> SP202 / SP303

and lately
> Ensoniq EPS 16 plus R

All great to play with obviously but the Ensoniq is clearly the one I want to have fun with and try things out for a long time.
The sounds and effects you can get out of it are nuts, more mellow than a s950. Every sound that goes through it has a magical sweet spot to my ears.
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By NearTao Fri Oct 02, 2020 11:29 pm
My introduction to music production was Acid, might've been version 2... or 4? I forget. Not really much of a sampler as such... but was definitely the version that came with Acid DJ when it was still boxed software. This was about a year of me bumming around in software, learning about how to manipulate loops, create envelopes, all that fun stuff. The software was quite easy to work with and you could get some fast results...

What really was a bummer for me though was that I really wanted more control of the sounds. I had no idea how to play keys, but I picked up a Korg Triton Studio and proceeded to pretty quickly max it out with the sound chips, memory, and moss board. I still have this synth today, and it is the one I definitely have the most nostalgia for the sound. I spent a fair amount of time sampling loops, sampling to create my own sounds, but I just never really jelled with the sequencer. I tried to love it, but Acid was just so much quicker for me to work with, which resulted in my making loops on the Triton, writing them to CD, and then loading the content into Acid to mess with as loops.

After this, I stared seeing a lot being written about Ableton Live 1.1 and Reason (version 2 maybe?), and I quickly bought both. I almost immediately just got Ableton Live clips, warping, and all that... and Reason was just great for sound design. In conjunction with the Korg Triton, I mean who could ask for more sampling and looping sonic power? This trio convinced me to go cold turkey on Acid, and honestly I never looked back.

I ended up digging deep into the N.I. ecosystem, but ultimately just couldn't hang with Reaktor or Kontakt. I really liked the circuit bending aspect of Reaktor, but Kontakt was like the worst idea of a software sampler to me... it just played content, but had no way to record it. I ultimately fell off the cliff with N.I. post Komplete 5, I got stuck between too many OS/software upgrades and just got sick of the game of things becoming unstable and never quite having it all work together.

I had always been keeping an eye on MPCs, and it was when the 1k black model dropped that I decided it was time to take the plunge. I quickly fell in love with the workflow, especially with how it complemented Ableton Live so well... and just about lost my mind with how effective JJOS was throughout the many releases and updates.

The MPC 1k actually led me into the sampling culture, and got me interested in checking out the S950/S1000. I was able to get these both for relatively dirt cheap at the time, and both gave me a much broader appreciation for how older systems both worked and how to really squeeze what you could out of them with limited sampling time and memory. Seriously, this is probably what informed most of my future thoughts and methodology of music making than anything else. I know a lot of people feel constrained having to work with under a minute of sample time, but for me it just keeps everything so much more in your face and makes it so important to balance clarity with frugality.

There's probably a six year gap or so in my music/sampling timeline... usual stuff... having a kid, and going back to school to get my MBA really made me prioritize things a lot.

I did however see the MPC Live drop, and promptly picked one up soon after it released. Followed by picked up a second hand Mpc X about a year after. Both of these really wowed me for the most part, and barring some of the workflow issues in the new series, and overall lack of polish compared to JJOS, there is so much more power under the hood. This also took me out from only making my own music... whatever that may mean... to seriously thinking about flipping samples more frequently. With the lack of time between family and school, it was an avenue for still being creative, without having to fully commit to the music making process... and has taught me quite a lot.

The last couple of years I went from dipping my toes into Eurorack, to building out some pretty insane sampling power... I won't bother going hard here, because I'm not sure people care much... but it has been an adventure.

I did take a detour into the OP-1, OP-Z, and PO-33... and have to say I appreciate them all... but it's been the PO-33 with the 40 second sample time that has probably inspired me the most... and caused me to seriously dust off the S950 and S1000 over the last year to get back into old school sampling. I can handle all the old school sampling, but honestly, sequencing in modern systems is just so much better for me.
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By Monotremata Sat Oct 03, 2020 5:30 am
EMU ESI32 (Long gone)
Akai S2000 (Long gone)
EMU ESI4000 Turbo (Long gone)
EMU E5000 Ultra (Recently gone)
EMU E6400 Ultra (Never parting with it)
MPC Live (This one too)
By Christov Sun Oct 04, 2020 5:10 pm
Christov wrote:Not counting software it's basicly this:
- ASR-10 (sequencer sucked, but I still regret selling it)
- Akai S950 (still have it)
- maxed out MPC1000.

Perhaps gonna get me a EPS16+ or a ASR10, just for the sound.


After this post I bought a mpc2500 for the extra outputs and the mtc option.

Sold the 1000 to a friend. Got a sp404 which I absolutly hated but was able to flip for a small profit.

Finally found a eps16+ last year, havent used it much but I love it's sound so much I'll keep it around cause I know I'm gonna use it sometime in the future.
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By Danoc Mon Oct 05, 2020 3:16 am
History is Akai S950, 2000, 2000XL and MPC Live. Giving the form factor of how Akai is moving l have 0% interest in buying a standalone sampler or any for that matter.
By Komatos Records Mon Oct 05, 2020 6:06 am
All except the current MPC X long since sold to pay bills over the years.

1.) Yamaha SU10 (portable sampler from 1996 with a scratch pad ribbon and approximately 40-50 seconds sampling time). Bjork used one on a few tracks.

2.)Yamaha SU700 (1999): similar in workflow to the Akai Force somewhat. Upgrade from SU10. First semi-professional sampler.

3.)Yamaha RS7000 (2001): best sample/remix sequencer I ever owned. Wish I didn’t have to sell it back in 2009 to pay bills. Most comprehensive hardware sequencer I ever had the pleasure of working on.

4.) Akai MPC 1000 (2010-2011): I thought I’d try taking up music gear again after selling all my equipment to survive. The MPC workflow never gelled with me at the time, having come from the Yamaha world with its Phrases, Tracks, Sections, Patterns/Styles, Pattern Chain and Song way of composition.

5.) Beat Thang (2012-2017). Yeah, I owned one and loved it when I had time to work on it. Best hardware specs until I bought the MPC X, and built like a tank like the MPC X is. The last firmware released before BKE Tech went silent actually made the unit rock solid as far as stability issues that plagued the unit originally.

6.) April 2019 - Present: Akai MPC X. One last try before I give up my hobby for good. I figured I’d go all out and make it my studio workhorse/centerpiece, if I decide to add other gear in the future. Love the 16 Q-Links with individual OLEDs. Useful feature for people with old-brain like me.
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By Danoc Mon Oct 05, 2020 4:51 pm
:lol: My boy had the SU700. I remember he let me get the sounds off the SU disk :lol:
RS7000 :shock: cost over $1,000 USED on ebay. Dam. It must be good.

Komatos Records wrote:All except the current MPC X long since sold to pay bills over the years.

1.) Yamaha SU10 (portable sampler from 1996 with a scratch pad ribbon and approximately 40-50 seconds sampling time). Bjork used one on a few tracks.

2.)Yamaha SU700 (1999): similar in workflow to the Akai Force somewhat. Upgrade from SU10. First semi-professional sampler.

3.)Yamaha RS7000 (2001): best sample/remix sequencer I ever owned. Wish I didn’t have to sell it back in 2009 to pay bills. Most comprehensive hardware sequencer I ever had the pleasure of working on.

4.) Akai MPC 1000 (2010-2011): I thought I’d try taking up music gear again after selling all my equipment to survive. The MPC workflow never gelled with me at the time, having come from the Yamaha world with its Phrases, Tracks, Sections, Patterns/Styles, Pattern Chain and Song way of composition.

5.) Beat Thang (2012-2017). Yeah, I owned one and loved it when I had time to work on it. Best hardware specs until I bought the MPC X, and built like a tank like the MPC X is. The last firmware released before BKE Tech went silent actually made the unit rock solid as far as stability issues that plagued the unit originally.

6.) April 2019 - Present: Akai MPC X. One last try before I give up my hobby for good. I figured I’d go all out and make it my studio workhorse/centerpiece, if I decide to add other gear in the future. Love the 16 Q-Links with individual OLEDs. Useful feature for people with old-brain like me.
By Komatos Records Mon Oct 05, 2020 5:46 pm
Yeah, the SU700 was unique for it's time. Had 3 ways to program (Loop, Composed Loop & Free Pads). There were 10 pads x 4 banks (switchable with 4 Track Bank buttons): 2 Loop, 4 Composed Loop, 4 Free. The Loop pads would always play unless they were muted. Great for full looping drumbeats, etc. The Composed Loop pads were for composing beats that would loop over X number of measures (whatever you set their length to be). The Free pads were for one-shot samples that you only wanted to play at certain places throughout the song. The only gripe I had with that was that it took forever to save/load song sets to floppy disk or SCSI M/O drives due to a low-order processor on the motherboard being relegated to disk duties.

The RS7000 is unfortunately way too expensive on the used market for me to consider repurchasing. I paid $1100 for it when I got it in 2001 and had to sell it for $500 in 2009. The eBay scalpers want $350-400 for the AIEB2 expansion board alone, which only originally cost $200. The only thing that I can say bad about it was that it used SmartMedia, which maxed out at 128MB storage and were notoriously finicky, which is why they didn't became a standard like SD/microSD cards did. At least Yamaha saw fit to include the SCSI on board, unlike with the SU700, where you had to install an ASIB1 SCSI expansion board for saving to M/O drives and an AIEB1 board if you wanted 6 additional analog I/O and TosLink (optical) and S/PDIF (digital) Ins & Outs.

I wish Yamaha would release a follow up to the RS7000. I would buy that in a heartbeat if it had modern specs like the MPC X.

I used to be the list owner/moderator for the Yamaha SU700 Support Group and the RS7000 Group at Yahoo Groups back in the day when I owned the gear (for about 8-10 years). So I feel for what MPC-Tutor and Lampdog have to deal with on a day to day basis.
By terry towelling Tue Oct 06, 2020 1:58 am
there is a su700 for sale atm for $400 in australia. on gumtree. but it's in perth.

1985 -- akai s612 sampler. great machine
casio sk1
1987 - roland s10. not so good. 4 secs sampling time and quick disc storage
1990 -- ensoniq eps. gift from friend who landed record a contract and sponsorship or something with ensoniq
2005 -- alkai mpc1000
2006 -- akai s3000xl
2008 - ensoniq asr10 rack, gift from friend again
2012 - roland mv8000, swapped my mpc100 for the mv (what a great trade that was)
2014 casio sk200
2015 - teenage engineering OP1
2020 - ensoniq asr10 keyboard (swapped asr10 rack for the keyboard).

currently have eps, asr10, OP1 and mv8000 and casio sk200. really happy with this set-up
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By Danoc Tue Oct 06, 2020 4:36 am
:lol: great swap indeed you smart swappin rascal lol :lol:
Yo l love the MPC 3000 Le, and MV8800/ 8000. You know why?

Has the VGA port on the back. Let me ask you, have you connected a larger screen to your MV8000? If so how you like it?

terry towelling wrote:there is a su700 for sale atm for $400 in australia. on gumtree. but it's in perth.

1985 -- akai s612 sampler. great machine
casio sk1
1987 - roland s10. not so good. 4 secs sampling time and quick disc storage
1990 -- ensoniq eps. gift from friend who landed record a contract and sponsorship or something with ensoniq
2005 -- alkai mpc1000
2006 -- akai s3000xl
2008 - ensoniq asr10 rack, gift from friend again
2012 - roland mv8000, swapped my mpc100 for the mv (what a great trade that was)
2014 casio sk200
2015 - teenage engineering OP1
2020 - ensoniq asr10 keyboard (swapped asr10 rack for the keyboard).

currently have eps, asr10, OP1 and mv8000 and casio sk200. really happy with this set-up