Samplers

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The modern sampler was born out of the early sampling delay units & is an instrument loaded with RAM memory chips which allows you to 'sample' or record any sound and then play that sound back at different pitches across your keyboard or do more creative things with the sound...

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Early 8-bit and 12-bit samplers

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Classic 8-bit & 12-bit samplers

Did we miss a classic 8-bit or 12-bit sampler from the list? Do you own any of these & want to give your own experience? Please leave your comments at the bottom of the page... No need to register, just tell us what you think.

Later 16-bit samplers

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Classic 16-bit samplers

Casio FZ-1

Arriving in 1987, this was the first sub £2000 / $2000 true 16-bit linear sampler & they are actually very good. 1Mb ram with a max 36 kHz sampling rate which delivers a max 14.56 seconds sample time or 29 seconds if expanded to 2Mb with the optional MB-10 RAM board. The FZ-1 is 8 note poly, with a 5 octave plastic velocity & aftertouch sensitive keyboard & delivers sound to the outside world via 8 separate mono outputs + a mix output. The FZ-1 also features a decently rich synthesis section. The rack mount FZ-10M offered twice the sampling memory as standard & an FZ-20M followed 2 years later adding a SCSI connection for hard disks & CD-Roms.

LYNEX sampler

The Commander Electronics Lynex 16-bit sampling system was designed by some boffins from Cambridge University & was ahead of everything else on release in 1988, offering an unheard of true stereo 16-bit sampling which always happens at 50Khz giving a frequency response in excess of 20kHz. Resulting samples were then downsampled in the digital domain to lower rates if saving memory was required & you get realtime audition of how the downsampled result will sound before committing the function. Digital downsampling resulted in zero distortion or aliasing. The rack units each attach to a metal box via a ribbon cable & the box itself slots into the port of an Atari 520 or 1040, but the Atari was NOT used for any of the processing which was all in the unit with the Atari only being used for screen delivery only. Two Lynex sampler can be attached to one Atari giving 16 total outputs. The entire sampling & editing process takes place in screen with mouse & keys. Even with the manual learning to work it is a MENSA test in itself, but the sound is amazingly clean or as grunky as you want it to be but without any distortion & other artefacts at the lowest downsampled rates. There was a planned memory expansion rack & a plan for it to read Akai & E-mu format disks, but none of that materialised, they couldn't compete with the big corporations and the Lynex simply & sadly fizzled out.

Akai S1000

Akai's 16-bit flagship sampler from 1988 & one of the first professional 16-bit samplers. The S1000 became so ubiquitous it's no exaggeration to say that if you wanted a job in a studio back then the first question you were asked was "Can you operate an S1000"? & it was in fact an opening into studio work for many younger people at the time as the older engineers often didn't know how to use them but it was absolutely required for any studio to have an S1000 complete with an experienced operative. 16-bit with 24-bit internal processing, stereo plus 8 separate outs, 16 voices, mono or stereo input, 2Mb of ram expandable to 8Mb & external HD expandable via an add-on SCSI accessory board. Initially the S1000 didn't actually have Time Stretch which was added with an OS 2.0 revision in 1989 when the S950 also appeared with Time Stretch included. Several S1000 version were made including the 61 key S1000 Keyboard version, the S1000PB Playback only version, & the S1000 HD with internal 40Mb hard drive. The S1100 came along soon after which was basically an expanded S1000.

E-mu Emax II

The 16-bit Emax II arrived in 1989, replacing the previous 12-bit Emax I. The layout of the Emax II is identical to the older Emax I it replaced, with the only difference other than the new black colour scheme being the 4 stereo separate outs on the back as opposed to the 8 mono separate outs of the Emax I. Other changes are the filters are digital, not the wonderful analog ones of the original Emax. A powerful machine at the time with a library taken from the Emulator III, but not the same as the original 12-bit Emax.

Roland S-770 / S-750

1990 - Roland release their flagship S-770 sampler costing almost £5 grand! The S-770 features 24 voice (mono) or 12 voice (stereo) polyphony, a pre-fitted 40Mb internal hard drive and 2Mb ram which was expandable via the RAS770 memory expansion board which then allowed further OMS770 2Mb upgrades to be added up to 16Mb maximum, but as the S-770 accepted standard SIMM memory you could use that instead at a much cheaper cost. The S-770 was NOT released with Time-stretch, but this came with a later s/w update which was fully included in the cut-down S-750 which debuted a year later in 1991, so if buying a s/h one make sure it's got that update. The S-770 features L (mono) + R stereo outs + 6 further polyphonic outputs & SCSI fitted as standard to bolt on external drives. It was also Roland's first sampler to support the industry sample rates of 44.1 & 48kHz & could load the entire library from the previous 12-bit Roland machines. This was & still is today a superb flag-ship sampler offering all the on-screen & mouse capabilities of the previous 12-bit S-50 flagship & it's siblings & came with the Roland MU1 mouse included in the price. The S-770 was and still is an amazing sampler with a superb sound & better creative synthesis features than the Akai S1000 competitor of the time, but Akai had established the studio standard for a sampler format and the Roland machines didn't read Akai disks & thus were always holding down a bit-part in the studio sampler story.

Ensoniq EPS16 Plus

1991 & Ensoniq release the follow up to their best selling 12-bit EPS with the new ESP16 being a true 16-bit linear sampler with mono sampling, 20 voices max & 24-bit internal FX processing, the effects from which could be re-sampled (just like in the later ASR-X). There was also a flash memory option in two sizes which kept samples in memory on power down. There was also a SCSI option & the OEX6 Output Expander which added 6 additional stereo outs. The EPS16R Plus rack-mount version came with 4 stereo outs fitted as standard.

Roland S-760

1994 - The S-760 sampler was the next-gen update to the older flagship S-770 & S-750 machines but was substantially cheaper with a £1700 launch price compared to the S-770's almost £5000 & the S-750's £3000 launch prices. The S-760 essentially updated the older S-770 engine with more RAM which was standard SIMM fit so also cheaper, better editing, and most importantly the ability to read Akai S1000 samples (only over SCSI, not from floppy disk), however in other respects it was cut-down from the previous flagship models with only 4 polyphonic outs as one example. The S-760 was also cheaper than Roland's previous flagship samplers, being delivered new without the digital I/O or the screen & mouse connectors, however those options were available via the OP760 1 expansion board which also featured an additional four digital outputs. These could then be connected to a further optional external DA-400 converter box which converted to 2 stereo digital connectors from the OP760 to four additional analog outputs.

e-mu esi32

1995 and E-mu caused a stir by coming back from the dead after company takeover by Creative & releasing their first sampler for several years the ESI-32 which offered fantastic features & E-mu sampling for just over £1000. 32 note poly or 16 note in stereo (hence the name), 2Mb ram expandable to 32Mb using standard 30-pin SIMM memory & 4 polyphonic outs + expansion for SCSI & Digital I/O. A real workhorse sampler which sold by the truckload.

Yamaha a3000

Yamaha comes back into the sampler game in 1997 after an almost 10 year exodus since their much earlier TX16W 12-bit offering. The story I heard back in the day was that in the early days of samplers they were seen primarily as a means to accurately reproduce an acoustic instrument & thus Yamaha decided physical modelling was the area they would pursue for imitating real instruments. However the hiphop & dance music popularity of the 90's firmly established samplers as a means to do OTHER things & thus Yamaha got back into the game to cash in on it. The A3000 is a 16-bit stereo sampler with a big 64 note poly, 2Mb ram expandable to a huge 128Mb using 30 pin SIMM memory plus decent synthesis, including a Multi-mode VCF for every sample. The A3000 also features a AWM2 tone generator built in & basic sequencer. You only get L/R main Out & Assignable L/R Out on the back, but the A3000 has a very comprehensive internal FX & decent Eq section to boot. Another big, 'not Akai' studio workhorse from the late 90's, but it CAN import Akai samples from floppy disk.

Ensoniq ASR-X

1997. ASR-X was a serious competitor to the MPC 2000 of the time & frankly beat it for sampling duties although the MPC's fully featured sequencer still ruled supreme for creating entire songs. The ASR-X features resampling with FX amongst other things (a feature carried over from the 1993 ASR keyboard sampler) & included an Ensoniq ESP2 Pro quality effect chip built in with 40 high quality FX, 18dB resonant filters & the MR synth engine. It's a 16-bit sampler with 32 voice poly, 2Mb ram upgradeable to 32Mb and includes a 16 track sequencer. The ASR-X could be further expanded beyond upgrading the Ram by adding a further 26Mb of ROM sounds via the MR-EXP Wave expansion boards, one of which was the MR-EXP3 'Urban Dance Project' board containing over 500 sounds & 400 waves including around 40 drum kits. Outside world connection could also be upgraded with an 8 output & SCSI option board, but with the ASR-X's comprehensive synthesis, EQ & a quality FX section all combined with easy re-sampling, separate outs was not such a huge requirement as with other samplers. No time-stretch on this machine however. The SR-X was released with an RRP of £1199. As used by J. Cole & others.

Ensoniq ASR-X Pro

1998 - The ASR-X Pro followed on from the ASR-X a year later and basically added more, doubling the max RAM to 66Mb & having a SCSI port as standard for external storage & also adding Time-Stretch. The ASR-X Pro included Master Zap's Stomper drum synth which was licensed & built into the box giving ready to go drum synthesis of analog sounds from thudding kicks to Syndrum style toms. The ASR-X Pro came with basic stereo out but like the previous ASR-X could be upgraded with the X-8 eight output module. 3 upgrade ROM sound boards were available as with the older ASR-X - The 24Mb EXP1 (£361) which featured World and ethnic waveforms and sounds, including 441 waves & 500 sounds and kits. The 16Mb EXP4 (£289) Piano Sounds board, featuring a Steinway D Grand and electric pianos, and the 24Mb EXP3 (£361) 'Urban Dance Project' which featured loops, grooves, pads, hits, basses, synths and SFX, including 369 waves and over 400 sounds and kits. The ASR-X Pro retailed at £1499 on release.

Did we miss a classic 16-bit sampler from the list? Do you own any of these & want to give your own experience? Please leave your comments at the bottom of the page... No need to register, just tell us what you think.

The MPC samplers

The Akai MPC series is a much misunderstood product line. From the very first model released - the MPC-60 - the MPC series was always designed & marketed as a hardware sequencer with added sampling drum machine all in one, designed to be the centrepiece sequencer of a MIDI based studio. The clue is in the name, MPC = Midi Production Centre. The sounds the MPC's turned out could be achieved with any other sampler of the time, but it was the sequencer part that made the MPC king, with it's quantise settings & 'groove' no other sequencer could match combined with ease of creating MIDI patterns & drum beats.

At the same time as Akai updated & released subsequent MPC models they also continually released their fully-featured rack & keyboard 'S' series samplers, with the MPC's always having the primary role of being a sample drum & loop player with combined hardware sequencer all they way through until the early 2000's at which point finally Akai started to bring what you'd call 'full sampler features' to the MPC series and from that point forwards Akai samplers & their MPC series started to become interchangeable as full fledged samplers allowing mapped sample sets with velocity layering and all the things you'd expect from a fully fledged sampler.

Through the 1990's the MPC became a fairly standard tool in Hip-Hop production because it offered the entire beat-making setup required - sequencer, drums & loop-player (plus FX on later models) - all in one simple unit which could be bought secondhand & was an easy choice compared to buying a separate sequencer, sampler etc and wiring it all together. But as the new generation of beat makers hit their teenage years in the early 2000's this was no longer the case & the family Windows PC running a crack of (usually) Fruity Loops software was a cheaper (free) & immediate fix for making hiphop / grime productions of beats, loops & bass-lines, and the MPC started to wane. This decline was in some ways further compounded by Akai's disastrous marketing decision to drag the MPC away from being a stand-alone device & tie it to a computer which was no doubt strongly influenced by the meteoric rise of Native Instruments Maschine over previous years since it's release in 2009.

Akai returned to their roots in 2017 releasing two new MPC's which both worked stand-alone & both were great machines, but by then the die was cast & the laptop running a software had taken the MPC crown for an all-in-one production & beat making device (at a much cheaper price), and by this time the MPC had already lost that monopoly on groove, swing & quantise it once had enjoyed, with every DAW now able to offer the same timing & feel. The 2020 MPC One came along recently & again is a great machine, but it's not a truly standalone portable device as it requires mains power & has zero wi-fi in an era where it is now competing with tablets and laptops.

Anyways here's the MPC line up:

The MPC sampler / sequencers

MPC 60

1988 - designed by Roger Linn - The Akai MPC60 was basically the Roger Linn designed Akai ASQ10 sequencer with bolted on sampling drum pads. 16 velocity-sensitive pads, 16 voice polyphony, four pad banks (64 voices per program). Sampling & playback was via 16-bit ADC/DAC with samples then stored in 12-bit format. The MPC60 came with 750kB sampling memory which was upgradeable to 1.5MB, an internal 3½” floppy drive, and a large tilting LCD screen seen on many later MPC models.

MPC 60 II

1991 - MPC60 MK2 1991 - The Akai MPC60II picked up where its predecessor left off as it was nearly identical to the MPC60. This version featured a headphone output, and a plastic case, instead of the metal one the original used.

mpc 3000

1993 - The last model which involved Roger Linn, the Akai MPC3000 brought the machine up to a new production standard with 16-bit 44.1 kHz stereo sampling, increased memory, 32 voice polyphony, expandable storage via SCSI, and built-in effects and filters. This legendary machine is still used by some of todays top producers over 25 years after its original release date. Deceased legendary hip-hop producer, J. Dilla, has his Limited Edition MPC3000 in an exhibition at the Smithsonian. The MPC3000LE (Limited Edition) is identical to the MPC3000, except for its black custom design. It was released by Akai in 2000 and limited to 2000 units.

mpc2000

1997 - The Akai MPC2000 was the first of the series that Roger Linn wasn’t involved in developing as the company didn’t want to continue paying him royalties for using his name. The MPC2000 is a 64-track sampler/sequencer that comes with 2 MB sample memory as standard, and can be expanded to 32 MB. It supports a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, in 16 bit stereo or mono.

mpc2000 xl

2000 - The Akai MPC2000XL is another edition of the MPC series that is still widely used today. The MPC2000XL is similar to the MPC2000 but with many newer features; including four independent pad-bank keys, number of samples stored doubled to 256 on the XL. If you wanted to alter sounds to a different bit depth or sampling rate. Time stretching was also added along with other features. In 2004 the 2000XL-MCD version featured a Compact Flash card reader as standard in place of the floppy or zip drives used in the earlier editions.

mpc 4000

2002 - The Akai MPC4000 (eBay) took us into the 2000’s with its biggest upgrade to date as it introduced this as its flagship product. The most fully featured MPC product incorporated the sampling engine from the latest model in the Akai standalone sampler range, the Z8. By the end of 2003, Akai revealed the MPC4000BL Plus that replaced the original white model in 2004. The upgraded version featured some extra hardware extensions and came in a blue casing.

mpc1000

2005 - The MPC1000 (eBay / Amazon) was the first of two releases that Akai gave birth to in 2005. This 64-track sampler/sequencer came with 16 MB sample memory as standard (expandable to 128mb). It supported a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, in stereo or mono. It also included a USB port, internal CompactFlash card reader, two MIDI inputs and outputs, effects and multiple analog outputs as standard. While there were many issues with the pad sensors on the blue casing model, Akai upgraded this when it released its MPC1000BK-N in 2007.

mpc2500

2005 - The Akai MPC2500 (eBay / Amazon) was the second release Akai made in 2005 and is the mid-range of the Akai line of MPCs. It has a 100,000 note, 64 track mixer with 64 assignable MIDI channels. Upgradeable to 128MB RAM, this version also had easy computer connectivity with its USB port. It contained a CompactFlash slot for storage of samples. This also included Chop Shop that was a feature built to chop a sample into as many as 64 pieces. A CD-R/DVD drive could also be added for burning and reading capabilities.

mpc500

2006 - The Akai MPC500 (eBay) was the first ever truly portable MPC as it could be run on 6 AA batteries (also a 12V DC plug). It combined a 48-track MIDI sequencer and a 32-voice stereo digital sampler. This was the only MPC to have just 12 velocity-sensitive rubber pads. Like the rest of its family that was released a year prior, the MPC500 came with a CompactFlash slot, was upgradeable to 128MB RAM, and had a USB port for computer connectivity. With just one stereo output, this was the only MPC that didn’t have assignable outputs.

MPC 5000

2008 - The Akai MPC5000 (eBay / Amazon) was its last standalone sampler released in the 2000’s (and last until 2017’s MPC Live and MPC X). At the time of its released, it was considered to be the flagship MPC. While it did boast some new enhancements, hip-hop producer Just Blaze ripped the product in his blog for being a downgrade from its previous flagship MPC4000 product when it was first released. While the MPC5000 lacks some of the sample editing capabilities of the older MPC4000, and also some of the hardware specs are lower than the MPC4000 (max. 192 MB RAM vs. the 4000’s 512 MB, and slightly smaller screen), with the updated and more stable operating system OS 2.0, many new features were introduced that gave it a slight edge above the 4000.

MPC Renaissance

2012 - The Akai MPC Renaissance (eBay) was the company’s first pivot away from a true standalone sampler/sequencer as its the first MPC to take the power from an external computer (with its own software). The Renaissance could take on the look of the classic MPC 3000, sharing its transport buttons, jog wheel, and arm rest while the LCD screen shared the same look as the MPCs 1000, 2500 and 5000. This was the first MPC to include back lit pads that change colors for velocity, step edit, etc.

MPC Studio / Elements

2012 - The Akai MPC Studio (eBay) was its second sampler/sequencer released in 2012 and came in a more compact size built to fit easily in a laptop bag or backpack. It’s USB-powered with low-profile knobs and brushed aluminum body, and includes MPC Software for Mac and PC with 128-track sequencing capability. With 16 backlit genuine MPC pads, legendary MPC workflow, MPC Swing, plus four touch-sensitive knobs providing enhanced MPC software control. Its large LCD screen (360 x 96 dot graphic LCD) allows you to make tracks without having to look at your computer.

MPC Live

2017 - Akai return to their roots with two proper stand-alone machines

MPC X

2017 - Akai return to their roots with two proper stand-alone machines

MPC One

2020 - Akai return to their roots with two proper stand-alone machines

Did we miss a classic MPC from the list? Do you own any of these & want to give your own experience? Please leave your comments at the bottom of the page... No need to register, just tell us what you think.

Groovebox style samplers

Groovebox or Phrase style samplers were yet another product category which spawned out of the dance music craze of the 1990's. In some ways they are related to guitar sampler pedals which allowed the user to simply play a 'phrase' & loop it and then play over the top of the looping 'phrase'.

Phrase samplers & Groovebox samplers therefore offered deejays & musicians a less complicated and less fully-featured means of adding loops and phrases as well as single hit samples to their sets and productions.

A 'Groovebox' style sampler would - in theory - include the Akai MPC series, because in many ways they are the original blueprint for this category, offering a sequencer with the ability to trigger and playback custom samples of either single hit sounds like drums to longer samples like drum loops and other loops or phrases, but the Groovebox sampler category here is all other devices which fulfil that criteria of a sampling based drumbox & phrase machine from other manufacturers but which are usually not full-fledged samplers (a full-on 'sampler' which can map samples across keys etc).
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Classic groovebox & phrase samplers

Sequential Circuits Studio 440

You could say the SCI Studio 440 is the daddy of the sample drum machine & hardware sequencer groovebox, released as it was in 1987 a year before the first Akai Roger Linn MPC-60. In truth it was a direction a small handful of companies at the cutting edge of synth technology were pursuing at the time, including E-mu of course who equally influenced things with their SP-12 sampling drumbox which debuted in 1985.

The Studio 440 sported an onboard sequencer which could also sequence external MIDI equipment & could be SMPTE sync'd to tape, functioning as a full-on studio sampling and sequencing command centre hardware unit. It even sported the new MTC sync functionality.

Essentially based on the core of a Prophet 2000 (and with the ability to load Prophet sample disks), the Studio 440 is a 12-bit sampler with 512k memory yielding 12 seconds total sampling time at it's max 42kHz sample rate or a longer 16 seconds at the lower 32kHz rate. A max 32 samples can be accessed using the 8 rubberised pads in 4 banks of 8, but the entire sample memory is available for long samples if required.

Although the 440 was primarily seen as a sampling drumbox, it sported full-on sampler features such as multi-directional looping and auto zero-crossing point detection while also having comprehensive filter & envelope features and more. The internal sequencer allowed creation of drum and other patterns played from the 8 pads, but you could connect a midi keyboard and with a sample preset set to Mapped mode, play sounds across a piano key-range in a traditional sampler format & record that external MIDI playing to the onboard sequencer alongside internally create patterns.

All in all a powerhouse unit of the era well ahead of it's time. The Studio 440 cost £3,500 on release & if you can find a good one today you'll pay much more than that to own it.

Akai Remix 16

Akai's deejay phrase sampler groovebox attempt which debuted at NAMM in 1996. It's a 16 bit sampler which allowed you to layer sample loops and phrases with a button based 4-track sequencer. Features stereo Line and Phono inputs to sample direct from vinyl. Akai added in an instant time-stretch feature to easily line-up loops & phrases together. Can be expanded with 72 pin SIMM memory & additionally could have SCSI board fitted to plumb in large hard drives for greater sample storage than offered by the built-in floppy disk drive.

Yamaha SU10

1996 & Yamaha release their first sampler since the old TX16W in the form of the SU10 pocket-sized phrase sampler costing £299 GBP, following up on this a year later with their 1997 fully-fledged A3000 rack sampler unit.

Roland MS-1

Akai S20 phrase sampler

1997 & Akai get in on the market for Groovebox style samplers with this cut down MPC derived S20 Phrase Sampler. 8 voice polyphony & 16-bit with an expandable SIMM based memory costing just under £500 GBP when released.

Zoom Sampletrak ST-224

Released in 1998, and like Zoom's often overlooked drum machines of the time, the ST-224 doesn't get the props it deserves, because this unit is a super easy-to-use, lo-fi loop machine you can drop into any hardware or DAW/hardware hybrid setup. A maximum 32kHz sample rate yields a huge 60 seconds of sample time, with two lower rates of 16kHz and 8kHz offering even longer total sample time. The ST-224 delivers 8 samples max playback with mono samples or 4 with stereo samples, and features a really simple auto-sync feature which matches the tempo of a loop on any pad to any other pad designated as 'Master', with the option to either use pitch change or time stretch as the sample changes length. The ST-224 sports a 5000 note sequencer to record your button presses, plus 22 onboard effects & with a MIDI in socket you can trigger it from any sequencer. Storage is via smart media cards. The ST-224 cost a measly £199 GBP on release and can be picked up for peanuts on Ebay.

Korg Electribe S (ES-1)

The Korg ES-1 was released in 2000 hot on the heels of Korg's previous year 1999 Electribe offerings the EA1 modelling analog synth & ER1 drumbox. The ES1 features a TR style sequencer along the bottom, an FX processor sporting 11 FX, realtime recording of on-board controls to patterns, 53 build in sounds which are instantly available on power-up, and it can even do 'Recycle' style slicing duties. Cost on release was around £429 GBP

Korg Electribe SX (ESX1)

The Korg SX or ESX1 was released in 2004 as part of the next-gen updated Electribe range and functions more as a sampling music production centre unit than a more restricted 'Phrase Sampler' , offering as it does, drum & synth tracks in the sequencer which can be augmented with sampling. The SX has features like slicing & more plus an arpeggiator and effects and the entire output can be re-sampled at any time to bounce down whatever is playing to a new sample. The Electribe SX cost £599 on release.

Roland SP-808

Released in 1998 at £1100 GBP, Roland marketed the SP-808 as a phrase sampler even though it included an 8 track hd recorder & really can be thought of as more of a sampling music production unit.

Boss Dr Sample SP-202

1997 and Roland introduce the SP-202, the worlds first of this type of 'Phrase Sampler' product which is designed to sample and playback loops & one-shot samples like drums but cannot map samples chromatically across a key-range for playing as a pitched instrument like true samplers can do. A built in microphone and battery operation made the 202 truly a portable solution.

The SP-202 is a 4 voice 16-bit device & a max' 16 mono or eight stereo samples can be recorded to the two internal banks plus 2 additional banks with the Smart Media card added. The SP-202 offers 4 sampling rates: 31.25kHz or 15.63kHz plus two 'Lo-Fi' rates of 7.81kHz or 3.91kHz. At the top 31.25k rate - and with unexpanded internal memory only - the SP-202 delivers 32 seconds of total sampling time increasing to a much larger 4 minutes 27 seconds in mono for the lowest grunky 3.91kHz Lo-Fi rate. These total sample times can be increased by adding commonly available SmartMedia card storage up to a max 128Mb.

Recorded samples can be processed with any of the 6 FX which are: Pitch, Time, Delay, Filter 1, Filter 2 and Ring Mod, but FX have limitations. While all samples can use the pitch effect together, only one sample at any time can use any of the other effects which means for example that with all samples playing back simultaneously only ONE sample can use the Time Stretch or either of the two filters or the delay or ring-mod.

Using the SP-202 is very much an old-skool style working method, but you can create complete backing tracks in the current revivalist old-skool hip-hop or grime style of one or two loops layered with a beat & bass line.

The way these SP devices seem to work is by using small amount of buffer ram and sampling/saving & loading samples from SMART media card storage on playback via that small RAM buffer. As a consequence you can increase storage/sampling-time by adding bigger storage cards but ram cannot be upgraded at all. The SP-202 cost a very reasonable £299 GBP on release but they are quite hard to find now secondhand & can often cost the same price as when new or even more if you can find one.

Boss Dr Sample SP-303

2001 & the Roland release the SP-303 which is the updated version of the original SP-202 with added features like being able to read & use WAV or AIFF files if they are pre-loaded onto the memory card with a desktop SmartMedia card read/write device. The SP-303 also adds re-sampling with FX or to a lower sample rate and you can even 'bounce' down multiple samples/pads to a new 'sub-mix' sample so to speak. The SP-303 also updates the older SP-202 effects roster, offering a total 26 effects as opposed to the older SP-202's five, but again with limitations on their use as with the older 202.

On release the SP-303 was priced exactly the same as the previous SP-202, at £299 GBP & like the older SP-202 they are now quite hard to find secondhand which tells you that owners are reluctant to give them up once purchased.

Boss SP-505

Released in 2002 the SP505 updated the SP series while dropping the 'Dr Sample' title, offering greater features for sampling & sample editing, such as LCD display of waveform for editing, Recycle style slicing and added built in ROM sounds including 808/909 kits, bass & synth sounds and more. The SP505 offers smart media card sampling, coming with 4Mb standard and samples at 44.1k, 22.05k & a lo-fi 11.025k

Roland SP-404

Released in 2005 this next installment in the SP sampler series was badged with the Roland rather than BOSS name.

Roland SP-606

Released in 2005 the SP-606 was a more feature rich version of the SP-404 & like the SP-505 that followed in 2008 the SP-606 can function as a USB audio & MIDI interface with Windows or Mac computers. Cost on release was £549 GBP

Roland SP-555

Released in 2008 the SP555 again updates the previous which was the SP-404 with more of everything - more sample time, more effects etc - and adding a D-Beam controller & their new 'Loop Capture' feature which allows you to on the fly capture a loop of everything playing on the unit including D-Beam moves. Additionally the SP-555 can function as a USB audio & MIDI interface for a computer DAW (although whether it still works with current 2021 Windows & Mac operating systems you'd have to check). Like with previous SP units the FX are restricted in use but can be resampled to new sample slots. The SP-555 has a max 12 voices polyphony & offers 16 pads X 10 banks for a possible total of 160 sample slots, with 32 slots (16 pads X 2 banks) available via internal memory & the rest (16 pads X 8 banks) being available by adding SmartMedia card memory. Like with previous SP units, samples are triggered in either Gate, Loop (toggle on/off) and Reverse modes. The SP-555 was priced at around £400 GBP on release.

Elektron Digitakt

The Elektron Digitakt is a more recent product released in 2017. Digitakt allows easy sampling and then assignment of samples to the pad-buttons for sequencing patterns using hands-on button-mashing, or you can use the pads like a TR style sequencer to trigger samples on steps (up to 16 buttons x 4 for up to 64 step patterns), which includes abilities such as sequence steps triggering different start points along a sample length, adding step repeats and many other parameters. The Digitakt is very much geared to live performance with performance mute buttons, realtime controllers and more, but it functions equally well in the home studio. While only having stereo outs, by using the 100% free Elektron Overbridge software suite the unit can actually function as a 2 in 2 out audio interface for your computer, and further can feed the 8 Digitakt tracks to your DAW as separate audio streams. The Digitakt costs around £625 GBP.

1010music Blackbox

The 1010music Blackbox is a very small, compact & portable sampling drumbox which uses a touchscreen panel in combination with a limited selection of hardware knobs for control & editing functions including playing sounds using either a piano keyboard or pad display. Samples can be edited and played into sequences which can be layered. Samples are stored on easy to buy Micro SD cards and can optionally auto-play when scrolling through the list to make a selection (very handy!). Editing of samples is very detailed for such a small unit with comprehensive zoom and trimming features, 2 Octave +/- pitch adjust, a hi-pass / lo-pass filter, ADSR envelope, Loop start/end points & forward or reverse play modes. Samples can be assigned to Trigger, Gate or Toggle playback modes & the unit does auto-slicing as well. Output assignment allows samples to be sent to any of the 3 stereo outs or to either Left/Right side of the three outs, effectively giving 6 mono outputs. The Blackbox really is an incredibly well thought out & portable unit which would easily produce an entire backing track in the grime or hiphop genres (and more) for studio or live use. Price is around £560 GBP or $599 USD.

Did we miss a classic Sample Groovebox or Phrase sampler from the list? Do you own any of these & want to give your own experience? Please leave your comments at the bottom of the page... No need to register, just tell us what you think.

Software samplers

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James

23-July-2020

SDR-1000+ Reverb has to be one of the most subjective tools in audio. Undoubtedly the SDR has some interesting heritage (Sony) in additon to some useful features that make it more flexible than other comparable units from that era (true stereo, basic routing of L & R processors, midi patch selection). But compared to other verbs around the same price point ($100-200 range), Im not feeling any baseline "magic" from its sound. More like a workhorse, again within the scope of the time period these were being made, which isnt necessarily a bad thing.

Perhaps if you're hunting down a specific production chain or setup (some well known artists apparently used these), otherwise much better uses of rack space available out there for the same money imho.

Heading

an underated usb interface, Tascam has continued to update drivers and improve performance for this product. I own two of them, and like the size, sound quality and mulitude of connection and paths available.

I use the 64 bit windows 7 driver without problems. These are available used quite cheaply and are handy for vocal and guitar recording.The only drawback is the low profile knobs, which were designed not to snag when carried in a backpack or bag. it takes a while to get used to using two fingers to turn the knobs, instead of 1 finger and your thumb, but it becomes intutive like scratching a record. I colored the knobs on mine with different color sharpies to make it easier to quickly see which knob I wanted to adjust.

awesome sound. capable of mybloodyvalentine type swirling sounds, as well as verve-y sonic paradise sounds. it is a permanent addition to my setup.

i bought this delay a couple of months ago to use in my synth/drumachine setup. I was expeting kind of lofi style but was suprised with this "meaty" analog sound.. very musical and at once became a favourite.. it sounds like a instrument! love it..

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