samplers for live use?

[megregit]

hello people, I have a question for anyone experienced with samplers.. particularily in live settings but it doesn't really matter

i have a microkorg synth which is amazing and im looking to buy a sampler rather than using my laptop live, im thinking the mpc 500 or 1000 or a korg electribe (don't know which one yet) but i don't really know anything about hardware samplers so I would really appreciate some help!

specifically i'm looking for something that can hold a lot of sounds (external flash cards preferably), with polyphony (at least 4 voices), audio in/out and would be nice to have midi in/out. a lot of pads/banks and some filters/effects would be cool. I'm thinking that during live shows I would be playing my korg keyboard seperately from the sampler (not interchanging midi with each other or anything) but i would be using them both fully so ofcourse a VERY QUICK and easily manipulable interface would be great. i'm not sure whether i prefer outlet or battery power so that doesn't really matter.... any thoughts?

*id be using the sampler mostly as a bank, probably not to actually sample much (live) but primarily almost as a synth i guess

also, i own a mac if that matters and using Logic Pro

 

[witzendoz]

I have used a MPC1000 on stage, the band used to (my old band) have live sequencing, samples and all the keyboard presets controlled by the MPC. From memory (mine not the mpc LOL) you can have up to 64 different samples on each song project. Our MPC ran an external drum machine (Boss Dr Groove) as a drum sound module, had samples from all of our external keyboard modules (so we did not have to take them to the gig) plus some of the extra samples we used in the songs, voices, voice effects, guitar parts that we played in the studio that there were no free hands to play, etc.

The MPC either uses a memory card or you can fit a hard drive internally with the adaptor kit.

We only scratched the surface of what the MPC could do, and we used to hit play and let it go as we were all playing instruments, if someone was actually running the MPC live with hands on it can do a lot more. It was a whole lot easier and more reliable than using a laptop live. Does this help?

Alan.

 

[Crunkfingaz]

We use an MPC 2000XL for our touring band and it's a tank. Haven't had any major issues with it, only those human errors that we like to blame on inanimate objects, but all in all it gets used about 4 times a week with rehearsals and shows.

Originally started off with a 1000 but the pads couldn't take the pounding that 2000's can take. Apparently you can get replacements pads for it that withstand more pressure, but it used to cause a bit of anxiety hoping it would last a week before a repair was needed.

It's fun to mess with the filters and touch velocity during a show, though you have to be pretty confident skipping through the screens while playing as we use it to feed the drummer his click track too.

 

[witzendoz]

Originally started off with a 1000 but the pads couldn't take the pounding that 2000's can take. Apparently you can get replacements pads for it that withstand more pressure, but it used to cause a bit of anxiety hoping it would last a week before a repair was needed.

The MPC1000 mk2 The black version (mk1 was blue), had a revised pad. You could retro fit the mk2 pad into the mk1 and all the replacement pads I believe are mk2 pads. We had the mk1 but did not use the pads live that much as we triggered the sounds via the inbuilt sequencer or via on stage keyboards.

Cheers

Alan.

 

[BaronEstelle]

Hardware samplers seem to be making a comeback. Personally I believe the Akai S5000/S6000 are the best hardware samplers made. I have an S5000 so I'm biased. The computer/software possibilities with Ableton, for example, give
a great deal of organization and detail that would take much more manual work to reproduce using no computers. There's not much of an argument there.

However, the only response to that is that the sound quality of EMU and Akai samplers were and are exceptional, the filters were on parr or superior to the vintage Obie and Moog things. Even Peavey's odd "Analog Filter" rack mount thing is outstanding in sound quality.

I'm currently putting together a live setup to reproduce the Enigma early series albums like Sadeness in a series of
prescription concerts and I'm dealing with the issue of not only samplers but how to get the highest quality sound
out to an audience. You can't use use cheap PA's in boutique tribute concerts, you have to go uber-quality.

I'm building up a collection of QSC and Crown, and Yamaha natural sound amps with JBL speakers. I'm trying to find the "pre Harman" JBL things but they had a way of being large and heavy back then.

One of the truly difficult things I'm looking at is what sampling rate to run the channels/master and master stereo outs through. I'm looking at the RME ADI 2 DAC that runs a stereo pair at 784K which is really detailed. That much detail can show as much about the PA as about the music you are putting into it.

But to circle around to the original question, Akai, overall, is the best answer, in my opinion. Gotta admit, yoo, that
the S6000 with that cool removable front panel is the bomb. The USB port also allows you to shoot sample straight out to the memory of the sample and map the samplers automatically.

So what's next, SSL for the tube amp driven PA?

 

[rob aylestone]

What were the old Akai stats? was it 93% of those returned for service had never had any sampling done inside the box, just replaying other people's samples?
I used them for replaying sound effects - great things.

 

[Papanate]

hello people, I have a question for anyone experienced with samplers.. particularily in live settings but it doesn't really matter

i have a microkorg synth which is amazing and im looking to buy a sampler rather than using my laptop live, im thinking the mpc 500 or 1000 or a korg electribe (don't know which one yet) but i don't really know anything about hardware samplers so I would really appreciate some help!

specifically i'm looking for something that can hold a lot of sounds (external flash cards preferably), with polyphony (at least 4 voices), audio in/out and would be nice to have midi in/out. a lot of pads/banks and some filters/effects would be cool. I'm thinking that during live shows I would be playing my korg keyboard seperately from the sampler (not interchanging midi with each other or anything) but i would be using them both fully so ofcourse a VERY QUICK and easily manipulable interface would be great. i'm not sure whether i prefer outlet or battery power so that doesn't really matter.... any thoughts?

*id be using the sampler mostly as a bank, probably not to actually sample much (live) but primarily almost as a synth i guess

also, i own a mac if that matters and using Logic Pro

I second the MPC 2000XL that @Crunkfingaz mentioned - I tour as well and it’s rock solid and doesn’t break under stage use.

 

[BaronEstelle]

I was guilty of that for a long time, just playing back other samples. The EMU e64 and e6400 had such fantastic Oberheim type four pole filters and libraries of sound I was just fascinated to file through those sounds on SCSI. I'm going to change that with the S5000. I am looking to basically put a whole show's worth of music on several Akais, run out to a high sampling frequency DAC, then hit the mains mayeen.