hardware sampler questions

[DaWhole9]

There is Akai, Roland and E-Mu sample libraries. Those are the big 3. Akai and E-Mu are basically the better of the 3. Certain E-Mu samplers will read all, but you lose things in the translation. The libraries are designed to take advantage of the particular features and designs of that particular sampler, so translating it to work in other boxes is pretty much a wash. You can find better for your particular sampler. E-MU has the best library. Most people who score films, have racks of these samplers. The polyphony of these ESI-4000's are 32 voices. The ESI will read the vast amount of E-MU sample library, but the fun is in the creation. The best way to do this is go to a music store and ask them to show you how each one will do it. You will quickly see that some samplers are very easy to operate, and some are very difficult.

[MissHiss]

A couple of caveats about the ESI 2000 (which I own). One, it only comes with 4MB of RAM, which is really stupid because it means you can only load about half the sample banks which Emu provides on the CDs which come with it. This appears to be a gambit to get people to buy some of their ridiculously overpriced chips ($279.00 for a 64 MB SIMM). However, you can get them elsewhere for about a fourth of that price.

Second, you'll need a SCSI CD-ROM to load samples from the CD. The only other way to get samples in is to either record them or use the floppy drive. But if you want to get in the samples from the CDs which come with it, you'll need a SCSI CD-ROM.

So be prepared to spend more than 600 bucks.

That having been said, I have to tell you I'm extremely happy with mine. I use it every day. I haven't even come close to learning all the creative possibilities. I'm scoring a very low budget movie project for a friend and --being a video editor myself by profession-- I'm quite stunned at the difference it makes. It really makes the project seem much more like something out of a Hollywood studio.

[Homebelly]

Dave if your looking to get a G4 latter in the year then i would have to say save your 600 bucks and go soft,,your getting some great advice on hardware here.however In my experiance i'v spent the last year trying to get rid of all my wires and cables,,SCSI drives,Zip drives,Jaz drives,format issues,midi cables up the ying-yang,,,blah,blah,blah
As for STYLUS,no you dont need a hardware sampler for this and it may work for what you are looking for,,it's an RTAS plugin with a huge library of loops and single hits,although i think the single hits are just the slices from the loops.It's aimed at the R&B Dance market so thats the kind of sound and feel you'll get.Go over to the SPECTRASONICS site and check out the song demos,they are a digi partner so there will be a link on this site some were.
You might also want to do a search on the net for free drum loops or single hits then you can cut up and build your own loops in PT,,this might get you by till you buy your G4,,

[jetson]

I kind of agree with the software approach. I wish I didn't have as much hardware - BUT - I also agree with the hardware approach because it keeps your CPU free for Protools. Something many users wish they had more of.

It looks like I'm outweighed by people dissing Roland stuff - whatever, it's all completely subjective and a 44k sample is a 44k sample. The Roland OS has no bearing on the subject as far as I know. Unless you're talking file format - which is Roland proprietary - damnit!

Mind you, I'm not a roland fanatic, I just picked one up to replace my Ensoniq ASR-10 that I had to sell (sigh). And I've been very happy with it, It doesn't get in my way and there's zero learning curve. The sample quality is as good as the source material.

Good luck with this, sounds like you have some good choices!

[davidp158]

Good info, folks. Keep it coming, as I'm getting the gist of this stuff.

I'm open to a software sampler, as long as I'll have CPU power for PTLE. I'd be willing to deal with a hardware sampler if it allowed me to get more out of PLTE versus a software sampler. I'll need a way to clarify where the performance threshold is between hardware vs software samplers, when working alonside of PTLE.

I talked with one of the guys at Spectrasonics about Stylus today. Nice guy, patient at listening to and answering my dumb questions about samplers. The Stylus product would be a great stop gap solution to getting a sampler, but the sounds and grooves are geared towared hip hop, dance, acid, etc, and I'm looking for rock, pop, blues, country and other styles that aren't prominent in the Stylus product. Still, I'd like to spend an hour going through some of the beats in Stylus, and will try to find a store for a demo.

So much stuff to learn. Thanks for all the help,

dave patterson / knobville

[DaWhole9]

ESI 2000 which is the scaled down 4000, but every bit as powerful. My ESI 4000 came with 16mb RAM standard. Never expanded. Yes it needs a scsi cd-rom, but an apple external unit used is say $30? Available at any good apple store, or on ebay all day long. So an ESI 4000 which comes with 16mb RAM and a SCSi drive is less than $300. I got a 2nd unit for $250. I liked it much better than the S770 I used. And yes the roland OS is relevant because of operation and ease of use. If you used an ASR 10 then you know the difference in operation and ease. Yes you can do it, but why? Good luck.

[jetson]

Ok - I offered "one" possible solution to the question regarding "inexpensive" hardware samplers. It works for me, and the OS being difficult and backwards is simply a "subjective" opinion. As I said, I have no problems working with it - the menu system that is. It is very intuitive, maybe because it wasn't really designed to be a "top of the line" sampler for the serious musician. I don't know. Again - with digital I/O, 44k sample rates, virtually unlimited sample lengths due to disk instead of RAM, and ability to convert wav and aiff - it makes a great sampler IMO.

Different manufacturers have different systems. Sometimes we favor one over another, for me the ASR-10 was easy to use but it was bulky, heavy, and expensive. It also had a RAM limitation that I didn't want to be restricted by.

As I said before, given the need to sequence drums, the SP-808 probably isn't a good choice anyway.

[DaWhole9]

point taken....i am just offering another solution. i have used both systems so i was offering my subjective opinion. the roland is a great sounding sampler. in fact when it was introduced the s770 was ground breaking. it does what it's supposed to do. i just prefer the e-mu for funcionality and ease of operation. i prefer the ensoniq asr-10r(the module) the most, but it isn't as cost effective, isn't made anymore, and doesn't have the library of the e-mu....