Sampler Suggestions

U

ubik

New member
I am interested in buying a sampler. I don't want to spend more than say $1,200, but I'd much rather spend less... I want something that has decent memory, a scsi port, so I can easily connect my SCSI cd player for those fancy CD ROM sample discs.

I assume that I can use the sampled sounds as a sound module for my keyboard and sequence the samples. (Isn't that what a sampler does???)

Any opinions??? I was looking at a few of the AKAI's and they seemed pretty good for the money...

ALSO, if I am using a keyboard sequencer, can I combine the internal sounds on the keyboard with the samples on the same song, or is it one or the other??????

Thanks for you input...
 
If your keyboard has MIDI you should be able to assign some channels to be output to the sampler so that playing the 'board makes the sampler sound;furthermore it should be possible to either turn off or leave on the corresponding channels on the'board so you can have both sounds or not.I have yet to hear it,but EMU has a new model out that lists for I think $1195 which is supposed to be a good value for money.Cheers!
 
This is a bit of a late reply...

Do you want the sampler to have a keyboard on it, or do you already have a keyboard to control it from? Have you considered Gigasampler? It's a software sampler that runs on your computer. It's probably a good cost-effective solution. Plus, assuming your PC has a CD-ROM drive, that solves the CR reading problem easily.

I have a Kurzweil K2000 that I really like. I don't think you can get a new one for $1200, but you might find a refurbished or used one for even less. You'll end up getting more than just a sampler. It also has a very extensive synthisys architecture, a 32-track sequencer, a SCSI port, and a user-friendly interface.

Yes, you can use a sequencer from anywhere to control the sampler's sounds. The sequencer might be in the sampler itself, it might be in a different keyboard, or running on your computer. If you use a sequencer that's in a different keyboard, you just need to connect a MIDI cable between the two. Then you can have both keyboards playing back at the same time and it will be synchronized.

Another thing to consider with a sampler is whether or not you want to record your own sampled sounds. For example, do you want to record your own voice and play it back from the keyboard? There are a couple of ways to do it. Taking my K2000 as an example, I have an optional sampling module in it that lets me plug a microphone directly into the keyboard and record that way. Another way is that I can record my voice into my computer using my sound card and store it in a WAV file format. Then I can transfer that sound over the SCSI cable to the K2000. (So, I really don't need the sampling module). Also, instead of sending the sound over the SCSI cable, I could send it over a MIDI cable using the MIDI Sample Dump Standard. That's much slower, though. The advantage is that MIDI cables are a lot cheaper than SCSI cables, and they're allowed to be longer.

However, if you're only interested in using sounds from CDs, then maybe you can forget most of what I said. BUT, keep in mind...some CDs come with sounds that are already formatted to be loaded into your sampler, like Akai format. These are are easy. But some are just audio CDs. You'll have to sample them yourself somehow. So you'll need someway to record (sample) the sound.

Jim
 
Hey Jim:

Thanks for the input. After checking out many a sampler option, I went with the Yamaha A4000 and it is awesome. Does everything I need and more than I ever thought possible. Best of all, it is fairly intuitive and it has knobs that make it easy to navigate...

Thanks for the input!!
 
Hey, great choice. I guess I didn't have to write all of that. :) I have a review of the A4000 (the A5000, really) in Keyboard mag from June. Sounds like a really good one. Although there are one or two areas where I think I still like the K2000 better, the A4000 really shows where the K2000 is getting outdated. The A4000 has a lot more voices, much better effects, and sampling and hard drive(?) come standard. A great value.

Jim
 
Yeah, the A4000 is fantastic... However, no hard drive standard and only 4meg of RAM standard which you can't do much with. I purchased 64meg of additional RAM and now I can really do a lot with it.

I also just finished my first recording using the A4000 and I cannot believe the sound quality. Fantastic...

Thanks again for the input!!
 
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