By
mpc3000
Mon Aug 23, 2004 2:47 pm
I've owned a couple of ASR-10s (and now own the S5000 along with some other samplers).
Things to consider when buying an ASR-10:
Never but one without SCSI (unless you plan to scavenge it for parts).
Never buy one that has has defects in the screen. Those older style LED dispalys eventually go out and if you see them going out they get worse. I personally would never buy one that unless it has the new LCD type display.
Always test the floppy before buying. Format, load and save. Replacing a floppy is pretty expensive.
Be aware that parts for the ASR are pretty hard or impossible to get. T soniq may have some stuff but you would have to send the ASR to them for repair (about $50 one way shipping).
Be aware that it is heavy. Always ship and store in a hard case.
After owning a couple of Akai samplers, I sold the ASR's:
Akai's come with SCSI as standard and are less finicky about what can be used with them.
ak.sys or MESA: It is pretty nice to control everything from a computer.
I can still get parts for the Akai's.
I can still get support for the Akai's.
There are more sample libraries that the Akai can use or import.
I can be real lazy with 256 mb memory.
I cannot think of anything that I can do on the ASR that I could not do on one of the Akai's (except sequencing, but not many are masochistic enough to want to use the ASR sequencer).
The ASR can be a great machine, but I work much faster on the Akai's. I cannot spend days trying to write one tune.
There are some things that I miss about the ASR and mostly that is the poly-AT keyboard (but this would not apply to anyone writing hiphop). I would consider $400 an average deal, even if it had SCSI. I have found them cheaper (with SCSI, LCD, case).
