A few questions concerning samplers and sound modules

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About all i know about samplers is that they store bits of sound for playback, and that i should buy an Alesis.
But it seems that there are so many different types out there that i can't really tell the difference between the functioning
of the groovebox/samplers and keyboard and synth samplers. The grooveboxs seem like they would be interesting if i could load them with my own sounds and have more control over the groove factor. I think this is one of thier functions but im not really sure. How does this differ from the roland sp505? An alesis? Or a virtual analog synth/sampler?
I would like to have the feel of an easy to play/manipulate model, something with nobs or keys that can tweek sound/tempo, and play multiple samples at a time for less than 1,000$.

Im also equally confused about what a sound module can do. Can i just plug my k-mart keyboard into a q-rack, or a groovebox and play with those sounds?
 
I didn't even know that Alesis made a sampler... besides, they just went bankrupt...

The line between a "sound module" and a "sampler" is a little blurry. Sound modules are basically boxes that make sounds in response to MIDI messages sent to them by an external controller (keyboard) or sequencer. There are many different kinds for different uses -- there are multipurpose ones that have all sorts of sounds, and ones that have emulations of famous "old" analog synths, and ones that just have drum and percussion sounds...

The sounds in these boxes can be generated in all kinds of different ways, but most commonly they are wavetables, which are stored samples form the basic building blocks of the sound.

A sampler is a specific kind of sound module that adds some extra tools for actually creating your own sampled sounds by recording them and otherwise manipulating them. Many sound modules offer very deep editing and some can load samples made elsewhere but true samplers include the hardware to actually plug in a mic or line in, digitize, and store a sound.

I hope that helps clarify things.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but a sound module (basically a synth without the keyboard) will let you modify a sound within a preset number of parameters, whereas a sampler will allow you to "filter" a sound to whatever you want it to be.
 
Again, the line gets blurry. Mostly because the higher end of both types of units allows some fairly elaborate manipulation of the basic stored patchset. This includes EQ/envelope filtering etc.
The basic difference between the units is the sampler can produce synth patches from scratch. The sound module just plays back presets in ROM. Don't get all fuzzy in the brain about creating your own cool patches. You can have plenty of fun, but patch sets aren't as simple as recording a sound and calling it a patch. A true patch set is very carefully recorded and adjusted (be it one by one or through interpolation) for each note and for each velocity value) across the possible range of values. For some sounds this is very, very important. For others it's not such a big deal. Problem is, you'll probably want to use sounds in BOTH of these categories.
 
thanks for the input guys...any thoughts about which is good for a 'hands-on' feel..will be using for mainly noise/electronica/drum-n-bass stuff.
 
Thanks Bruce, that model has been recomended to me before, so im keeping that one in mind.

AlChuck, by 'hand on' i mean something with knobs or pads that will allow easy access to the samples i want to play around with. Maybe im just clueless about how to use a sampler, but this leads back to the original question...there seems to be so many different types out there...and some of the Akai samplers (not alesis) seem not to have a 'playable'
interface...just one window, and a scroll button. This is why grooveboxs, and analog synth samplers are attractive to me...but im not sure how they would operate differently from something like the ESI2000.
 
Oh, OK... sorry, I have little to no experience with different samplers and sound modules, almost all I do is internal on the PC...
 
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