Sampling Help?

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muzeman

muzeman

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Hi all,

I was wondering if some of you guys with sampler/sequencer setups could help me out?

Here's the thing,

I'm looking to get some drum/synth sounds for my setup.
Iv'e been looking at a decent synth or sound module.

In the past Iv'e owned two drum machine/synth modules.

It was the same thing with both,I had a total of over a thousand sounds between the two of them,and used only one drum kit the whole time I had them.

What I would like to do is try sampling.
I'm only looking for a handfull of sounds,and I can't see buying an expensive module for this.

Problem is I have no clue at all about sampeling!
I have between $4-500 to get me started.

What I'd like to know is,
Can I mabey get a sampler now for that much,use it for synths and add a sequencer later?

Do they make a unit that just plays back samples you buy,and are high quality samples available?

I don't use a computer,my DAW is completely midi ready though.

Most of my stuff is acoustic,so I'm looking for high quality,clean sounds.
Any help you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Pete

Sorry about the cross post,I wasn't sure which forum to put this in.
 
hmm...

correct forum, wrong budget... maybe search the classifieds for anything you can afford that says sampler and not includes the words: groove and dj...
 
Look into some older samplers like Akai or Kurzweil 2000.
You can play from the Kurz loads of presets as well as you have a seq inside and most important, you can load samples done by some excellent pros, of drum samples on a CDrom.
They sound way better then most drum mouldes and a good Cdrom could cost you no more then $200-$300.
 
Shailat,
I wouldn't know where to look for a used one I could trust.

I was just looking at this one;

EM-U-6230 ESI-2000 Sampler-$599

64 voice polyphony allows you to layer and playback huge sequences. Upgradeable to 128MB of RAM (4MB standard) lets load gigantic sounds and banks 64 digital 6-pole filters (19 different types) to tweak your sounds and fit them in your mix. 4 analog outputs (expandable to 8 plus a stereo-effects output and S/PDIF digital I/O with the Turbo Option Board) for maximum flexibility. It also features a full suite of editing DSP tools, plus doppler, Aphex Aural Exciter, tuning, time compression/expansion, and transform multiplication. SCSI interface for easy integration with your computer, CD-ROM, and other storage media. A huge sound library is available from E-Mu and third party companies.
Features:


1,000 presets
16-part multitimbrality
4MB of RAM expandable to 128MB
4 analog line level unbalanced outputs expandable to eight (adds four S/PDIF) with Turbo Option Board
2 analog inputs (also with S/PDIF added with Turbo)
Full suite of editing DSP effects, plus Doppler, Aphex Aural Exciter, tuning, time compression/expansion, and transform multiplication

What do you guys think?
Is 4 meg enough ram?
How is the sound quality on the E-MU stuff?
When they say sound library from third party companies,what do they mean,any company or only those involved with E-MU?

Thanks,
Pete
 
Third partys means other companies that are compatable with EMU.

4 MB may not be enough. It depends on the size of the sample and how many do you want to load at once and play back at once. RAM isnt to bad these days check out buying 16meg as a starter.

I'm not a expert of EMU but that are a good company and reliable.
Give Sweetwater a call in your area. Allthough they can be more expensive, they are one of the better shops when it comes to old synths-samplers. They also might have in stock some Samplers like old Kurzweils that they fix up and sell with a garentee.

Tell them what you need and you might find out there is a better solution like loading cdroms onto a software and playing the samples from there using a midi keyboard.
I'm not aware of such a program (but that doesnt mean it doesnt exsist). They might save you a couple of bucks.
You also might find some decent samples of real drums on the web in the shape of wav files. I have seen a few here and there.

Good Luck
 
muzeman said:
What do you guys think?
Is 4 meg enough ram?
How is the sound quality on the E-MU stuff?
When they say sound library from third party companies,what do they mean,any company or only those involved with E-MU?

Thanks,
Pete
Click to expand...

4 megs ain't much.. really ain't much... but you can allways expand. The ESI is an exellent sampler. Really good, like the rest of E-MU's products..
 
Unfortunately high quality, clean, acoustic samples are what everybody wants and that is where the most expensive samplers excell.

Emu does have good stuff for the price but I bought a Proteus 2 Orchestral Module a few years back. It sounded great in the store but once I really dug into it I didnt like it as much.

There are some software samplers like Gigasampler that you can get for under $500. The main cost will be getting the sound libraries.
 
Thanks very much for the help,I really appreciate it.

I'm definatly going to call Sweetwater and check them out,I didn't know they delt in used gear.

I called Sam Ash about the E-MU today,the guy said it was a dicontinued item,I thought it was new.
I'm still not clear about how it operates though.

With a sampler you need a cd-rom to load samples,unless you record your own,an external media to save to,an almost definatly more than 4 megs of ram.
Is that right?

It also says it comes with 1000 presets,are they sound samples?

I really like the idea of being able to get samples from differant places and being able to tweak them.
Really cool!
Just looks like it might be to much money right now.
The E-MU does look good,just seems like I'll need another $500 or so just to be able to do any real sampling.

On the flip side,I am still looking a synths as a possibility.
Track Rat did a cover tune last week using an Alesis QS7.1
Man the organ in that sounded great.

They sell for almost $700,again to much right now.
Just so happens Sam Ash sent me a card in the mail today saying their blowing them out for $499 this weekend!
Has anybody heard the rest of the samples on it?
Is it a good machine as synths go?
The salesman I called said it was a discontinued item,I wonder if that could be a problem in the future?

Anyway,thanks for all the help guys,I'll make a decision by this weekend,gotta it's my B-day.

Hey Tex,
That Proteus 2 Orchestral Module you were talking about,was that an E-MU?

Thanks again,
Pete
 
The Proteus 2 is an EMU and you can probably find one in your budget used. The sounds seem very real but they are a little thin. I was using it with a Korg M1 and Kurzweil K2500 and it added a nice high end, rosin string sound to the warmth of the others.

To be honest you are asking alot for $500. Prot2 might be your best bet. If you cant find one let me know. I still have mine and might consider selling it.
 
Tex,

Thanks very much for the offer!

I know $500 is not enough to get into sampling.
I'll have to buy a cd-rom,sequencer&hard drive just to be able to do anything.

I think I am going to go with a sound module for now.

I just ordered a Kurtzweil micro piano,see how that sounds.

Thanks again,
Pete
 
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