12-bit Sampler

If you cant find or afford an s950 try looking for an ensoniq eps-m. Its a rackmount version of the classic Ensoniq EPS sampler that kneebone show'd a picture of. 13 bit. If you find one they usually are only around $100-$200. Great sound IMO. Good Luck.

Ras Desta wrote:Just to put it out there, 12-bit samplers are way overrated IMO. I think ppl spend way to much time praising these machines for their sound alone. There's a lot more to be gained, programming-wise, from these samplers than sound coloration. I just feel like buying these old samplers just for the "sound' is a waste of money. I own s950, eps, s612, and asr 10, and they're fun to play with, but I would rather have software and a maxed out 4k any day. I will give the asr-10 credit for being an awesome and user-friendly machine for advanced wave synthesis, but it can't do anything you couldn't do on a computer. SO before you folks go throwing your money away at retro audio hardware, I at least suggest you dload some free (legal or not) bit-reducer plug-ins (Izotope Trash is a really good one if you can get it free.) No, it's not gonna give the exact same sound as those old samplers, but hell, it's free so what have you got to lose? I also find that bit reducer and distortion plug-ins can be very well suited for what you have in mind, because they are very tweakable as opposed to fixed amount of color and/or distortion had from a single sampler's converters

But whatev, that's just my spiel, and you don't have listen to me

Great post. I myself have gone the software route in regards to "dirtying" up my sound. I have had alot of fun making "8 and 12bit" drumkits to use with my S3000 by running samples through the Sonalksis TBK2 bit reducer and Izotope trash plugins. I know its not an sp1200 or 950 but ive been getting decent results. The 12bit samplers are great indeed but there are other creative ways to dirty up your sounds.

No doubt you can get similair results with software on a pc, I just prefer the dedicated software in a box that was made in 1988 route

64hz wrote:No doubt you can get similair results with software on a pc, I just prefer the dedicated software in a box that was made in 1988 route

Yeah im a hardware man myself but, but more hardware would mean i need more space in the studio! I think its time for me to invest in some rack gear or a new desk!!!

@beduin

I just bought my second FZ1 from ebay for 35 Euro. One of the out jacks is broken and it doesent have the original floppydrive but the backlight for the display is new and so I swap the whole display board of both FZ1s. It was not such a big deal. This thing is heavy 18 kilo.
The OS is a bit a pain when you use it first. You have to press many buttons to get some functions done but I really like the sound (especially the crazy filter) and the crossfade loop is great too.

@Ras: Absolutly right. If its just the sound, people could download nice free PlugIns. I recommend these for a ringmodulation kind of lofi sound

jb Timemachine http://www.jeroenbreebaart.com/audio_vst.htm
mda degrade (part of the VST pack at http://mda.smartelectronix.com/)

I started with hardware samplers and when PCs got more powerfull and affordable I switched to software but loosen all the fun of creating music. For me, there were too many ways to go with software. Since 2 years I switched back to hardware and have that fun of pushing buttons again. Personaly I need a limited piece of music machine. It help me keeping the focus.
But there is no reason to buy old hardware for someone who is just after the sound but really dont want to walk on the "hard way" of handling old machines.

peace

The thing is workflow changes on each machine. Your palette changes on each machine. So inevitably your creativity reflects what brushes, colors, and materials you have to work with -- to some extent.

Some people like working with paint, some like pencils -- some like Photoshop. The likelihood of you making something technically comparable to Picasso in Photoshop isn't so likely -- not to say that you couldn't make something totally different that people would like with equal fervor.

Different strokes for different folks. As someone who uses vinyl for almost all his samples the Audacity > Recycle > Reason workflow seemed brain dead. By the time I heard something on a record and wanted to flip it I had already wasted 15 minutes getting the thing into my computer and the thrill is already gone.

Boom bap Hip-Hop relies heavily on dedicated hardware in my opinion.

bedouin wrote:The thing is workflow changes on each machine. Your palette changes on each machine. So inevitably your creativity reflects what brushes, colors, and materials you have to work with -- to some extent.

Some people like working with paint, some like pencils -- some like Photoshop. The likelihood of you making something technically comparable to Picasso in Photoshop isn't so likely -- not to say that you couldn't make something totally different that people would like with equal fervor.

Different strokes for different folks. As someone who uses vinyl for almost all his samples the Audacity > Recycle > Reason workflow seemed brain dead. By the time I heard something on a record and wanted to flip it I had already wasted 15 minutes getting the thing into my computer and the thrill is already gone.

Boom bap Hip-Hop relies heavily on dedicated hardware in my opinion.

+ big 1 on this

1. workflow - PC is just a box, a screen and horrible mouse&keyboard
2. sound - well if your audio system (speakers/amp/ADA/pres/compressors/others are budget ones, I doubt you hear a BIG difference, but they are ! really
important thing is s900 series samplers got awesome converters, and those converters are responsible for a sound
try clipp s950 a bit...well, record/sample sound on high pitch and then slow it down
I had a ups/downs with my s950, mostly because it's bulky, large and heavy unit and I don't have a room. I even put it in closet for couple months, and then actually I decided I will give it one more, last try. Well I sampled a classic HH bit with bit overdriving inputs, and then......
s950 is back in my rack
I love how it sounds
However beeing experienced sound engineer and sound designer I can achieve very similar sound to sp, s950, or emax within 5 minutes, using hardware only !

sansamp classic, analog filter, compressor, EQ

bless

PS. BTW sp12 or1200 are extremely overpriced

1900 bucks ?? WTF....

bedouin wrote:Some people like working with paint, some like pencils -- some like Photoshop.

Some people like both. (Hardware + software). But, I sold my MPD and don't use Reason, lol.

peterpiper wrote:But there is no reason to buy old hardware for someone who is just after the sound but really dont want to walk on the "hard way" of handling old machines.

Someone like me. A couple of years ago I bought some classic samplers (SP-12 Turbo, Emax, S950, MPC60II) just out of curiosity. It was fun getting to know the machines that were used to produce so many classic tracks, but in the end I got myself a plug-in that produces a similar sound instead. I could have saved one of these just for resampling purposes, but a plug-in works way easier, faster and more flexible in my software-based setup. The SP and MPC did make me yearn for a dedicated controller more than ever before though. But that's solved too...

Lotuz wrote:

peterpiper wrote:But there is no reason to buy old hardware for someone who is just after the sound but really dont want to walk on the "hard way" of handling old machines.

but in the end I got myself a plug-in that produces a similar sound instead. I could have saved one of these just for resampling purposes, but a plug-in works way easier, faster and more flexible in my software-based setup. The SP and MPC did make me yearn for a dedicated controller more than ever before though. But that's solved too...

Just curious, what plugin do you use if you dont mind me asking? (me - sonalksis tbk2 & izotope trash)

The Two Best 8 bit Samplers:


Ensoniq Mirage
EMU Emulator II


The Emulator is actually 8, but it "Emulates" at 13.

My shit:

^^^
Hey Grub,

Do you actually sample with the mirage? I've heard it's hard as hell!
Especially editing samples...

It sucks. I have a shit ton of floppys I use though. It's great to sample just one snare, then control it via midi, or re sample into an mp or asr.

How realistic is this Mirage emulation?

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/2609.html