looking for a cheap sampler, need help

i'm just looking for a fairly basic and inexpensive sampler (ideally $100 or so? if that's possible?) just to fuck around with, but i don't really know where to start. i've heard akai namedropped a lot in the small research i've been doing.

if anyone has any advice i'd appreciate it.

is this the kind of thing i should be after?

cheers

I much prefer the user interfaces on emu samplers, their filters sound way warmer than Akai and the MIDI control functions are great too.

Something like this would be good.

Ewan

thank you. anyone else have any info?

why hardware?

if there's no real reason for mucking about with an akai or yamaha hardware job, you're best looking at soft sampler like Halion or Kontakt. That and a lappy gives you more power and ease of use than a 10-15 year old box.

  ~ism said:

why hardware?

 

if there's no real reason for mucking about with an akai or yamaha hardware job, you're best looking at soft sampler like Halion or Kontakt. That and a lappy gives you more power and ease of use than a 10-15 year old box.

word.

i'm thinking that this...

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  blicero said:

  ~ism said:

why hardware?

 

if there's no real reason for mucking about with an akai or yamaha hardware job, you're best looking at soft sampler like Halion or Kontakt. That and a lappy gives you more power and ease of use than a 10-15 year old box.

 

word.

 

i'm thinking that this...

 

 

+

 

 

>

 

i concur

the nice thing about hardware is that it's more dependable, and the hands on aproach you get from dealing with one instrument is great. and you don't have to wait 5 or 10 minutes to get everything running, it's just there.

with hardware you don't get distracted so easily. at least i think that's the main problem for me, the possibilities that the computer has. i sometimes don't do anything for days just because im toying around with all these programs, checking them out..

  Forlon said:

i sometimes don't do anything for days just because im toying around with all these programs, checking them out..

I do agree with that. Thats why I don't download software... I just use what I buy. It makes me focus on what I have. I hope to master the few programs I have, and be truely proficient with them, instead of have lots of crazy stuff, that I just twiddle knobs with to get random results, because I don't know the program fully

i forgot a couple pieces... fixt

yeah totally agree, but it takes discipline. it's just compulsive behavior to go on a downloading spree like i do sometimes.. but it passes.

you know i sometimes miss the days when the internet wasn't such a big place. you really had to work with what you had, you know? no beta software and all that..

*reminisces

yeah i'm stoopid but i still don't believe there is any real point to having a sampler if you already have a computer with a pentium 1.4 or greater

dude, i see where you're coming from, i don't even own hardware other then a midi keyboard. but that's what i imagine would be cool about having some hardware. i'm sure you can think of some reasons as well.. i mean if you have the money, why not eh?

excellent discussion guys. that padkontrol thing does look quite good and would be very practical. couldn't find any on ebay, they seem to be about $200. no chance of getting one for cheaper?

A BOSS SP-202 is pretty cool. Lo-fi, but great for quick sampling. Real easy to use.

Or you could go with the Electribe ES-1. Sampler and sequencer rolled into one for about $150.

I have an Electribe SX and love it, but they go for around $400-500.

My opinion about hardware is when you have everything set up, you have a much more commanding role over the sound. You can twist knobs and things much more easily while recording than you can with a mouse. Controllers are nice, but I don't think they give the same impression and personality as actual hardware. Plus improv is a lot easier [and less boring to watch] with hardware.

  kiteless said:

excellent discussion guys. that padkontrol thing does look quite good and would be very practical. couldn't find any on ebay, they seem to be about $200. no chance of getting one for cheaper?

it's just out ron - thats why none on ebay yet.

only launched at Winter NAMM in Jan.

bear in mind though, if you have nothing yet - it may be wise to consider a Kontrol 49 or microKontrol. Basically that padkontrol is just the Kontrol keyboard minus the keys. The pads are on most Korg controllers these days. In fact the pads are on most controllers now, period - M-Audio's axiom series and Edirol have pads.

Take yer pick.

  kiteless said:

excellent discussion guys. that padkontrol thing does look quite good and would be very practical. couldn't find any on ebay, they seem to be about $200. no chance of getting one for cheaper?

i just got one for $179 as a promotional NAMM preorder deal. they're just out... i doubt you'll see them on ebay for at least 6 months. it's hard enough to find them retail.

  ~ism said:

bear in mind though, if you have nothing yet - it may be wise to consider a Kontrol 49 or microKontrol. Basically that padkontrol is just the Kontrol keyboard minus the keys. The pads are on most Korg controllers these days. In fact the pads are on most controllers now, period - M-Audio's axiom series and Edirol have pads.

yeah, but the pads on this are waaaaaay better then the all-in-one controllers. they are comparable to pads on an mpc. each pad has programmable velocity curves and i don't know of any other krog midi controllers that have an X/Y touch pad, other than the kaoss pad.

the padkontrol is the perfect addition to someone who has a midi keyboard and would like more trigger options.

ahh ok. thanks for the info guys. once i get some money rolling in hopefully i'll be able to pick one of these up.

  thisket said:

my friend had one of these a long time ago until it broke. we had a lot of fun times playing with it :on2long:

that korg thing is exactly what i'm looking for. wooooot

anyone know a good place to buy the padkontrol?

in the uk

  awkward said:

in the uk

dolphin?

anyone with experience with the korg , im def considering getting it? looking for a cheap vercitile synth with sequencer too, any ideas???

i have an emu e4xt ultra hardware sampler as well as emulator x on a pc and kontakt on a mac. i love the sound of the e4xt, it sounds so warm and huge and fat and rules for bass sounds that shake the earth, but all in all kontakt is my sampler of choice now and i don't even touch the e4xt. kontakt sounds damn good too, though not quite as good as the hardware sampler for bass sounds, but it's the best sounding softsampler i've come across.

a $100 hardware sampler is not going to be very good, hell a $100 softsampler is not going to be very good (unless you get a crack of something and pay nothing). i can't say enough good shit about kontakt.