Hi Alecio

What will you use the sampler for? Do you need it to do drums? Loops? FX? Immitative orchestration (orchestral strings, brass, etc...).

You can really answer the above questions by knowing what libraries you wish to use. Any thoughts there? Do you have existing libraries? What kinds?

Let us know and we'll see if we can come up with suggestions.

BTW, I saw a picture of you and Fernanda Abreu on your site...I _really_ dig her music. I used to go to Brazil to train the local musicians for Yamaha. They turned me on to her music. Very very cool stuff.

Hey Alécio,

I use SampleTank as my soft sampler. It's okay but, at least for me, lacks the personality of a hardware sampler. I've used GigaSampler and it's great, but I don't have a PC in my place, so don't get to use it often. I see a lot of MPC samplers when I work with the rap/hip hop crowd, but it is pretty limited for a tweakhead like me. I love my Ensoniq ASR-10. It's easy to use, especially the looping and its ability to do crossfades. Having 8 layers is really nice for velocity switching. However, the FX are only fair and there is no resonant filtering. It seems wierd that a board or box full of microchips should sound more "organic" than a DAW, probably because of the AD/DA converters, but it has a whole different vibe.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I like to mix and match depending upon what I'm looking for sonically. If I'm just triggering static samples a soft sampler is what I'll use, but for really twisting and warping things I'll go hardware.

Uncle Bob

:p:

Hi guys, thanks for your info!
Nate, Fernanda Abreu is a very nice singer and human being.
Man, you need to see her live shows. They can not be compared to the studio CDs, which are reasonable to good.

I would use the sampler for orchestra stuff, some drum loops and bass guitars.
At the moment I just use the SRJV cards that have the bundled loops, intalled at my XP.

Many years ago we played with the W30, but hey... it had 8 discrete outs although extremely limited to today standards -lol

Thanks for the info
:)

Hi Alecio

I look at it this way, if you need something to sound "real" you need huge memory and lots of articulation switching. So, if you need to create a realistic sounding orchestra, you need Giga (I use this on a separate PC), HALion or something like that.

For doing drum loops, munging SFX and that sort of stuff, you need something with a lot of synthesis features. Maybe Kontakt, EXS24, SampleTank (I dunno, I've only used Kontakt out of these).

Hardware is ok for drums and single shot stuff. I'd get an MPC something or other. Hardware is also good for playing live.

Nate, last year I wrote a very long thread at the DUC and many people complained about the weak support of TASCAM towards Giga.

In fact it is pretty nice, cheaper than many other options I guess.

Digi sampler has just been discountinued, right? well, I am not going to spend any money on sub-applications they release, as Masterlist.. Man, I threw $500 in the trash.

Also, do you guys think that Yamaha A5000 is reasonable? and what about match5?

I really would like to be able to adress tracks/parts or whatever they call it to diferent outputs, not being locked to a main out pair, let us say 1-2 or 3-4.

So?
thanks again
:)
:w:

Hi Alecio

I guess I would only invest in a hardware sampler if:

- I was doing a lot of Hip Hop. Then I would get some sort of MPC thing. Why? Because its geared toward doing that kind of music.

- Live playback of loops and SFX.

Otherwise, I'd use a software sampler or a dedicated computer running a software sampler.

I'm using GigaStudio on a separate PC. You can route outputs however you want, its really just up to the soundcard.

Thanks Bud!
For the MAC scenario, what do ya think would be the best cost X benefits option?

Hi Alecio

HALion or Kontakt. I've never used SampleTank so you might wanna check that out too.

If you're using Logic, I'd say the EXS but you said you were running a Mix rig. Are you running PT software too?

I use an A5000 and a 4000 in my setup and I love them, I also use a samplecell card and softsample cell, they are ok but they suck next to the Yamahas, Kontakt is a very good option like Nate said, I'd also consider Reason 2.5 if you want bang for the buck, there's a nice sampler there with a buch of synths and FX

cool. But are they doing fine under OS X, Pro Tools HD?
Nate, I use PT 5.1.1/Mix system TDM. I am waiting for PT 7 and HD+.
Nice tuesday
:)

As far as hardware samplers go, I'm in love with Kurzweil. I have a K2600S and it serves my every need. I can tweak to my hearts delight, great 5 channel effects and 8 outputs. Plus there are about 10 years worth of sample libraries out there. The drawbacks are 128MB of ram, 48 note polyphony and small UI. But I love it none the less. Tweakability and effects are really miles beyond any other sampler I've used, soft or hard.

Howdy

Actually, that's a good point. I had forgotten about the Kurzweil stuff for sampling. They were really popular in their heyday (and still are for some folks) because in addition to being samplers, they were really good synths.

As Rufuss indicated, the instrument is a bit long in the tooth. So, it wouldn't be my first choice for doing big memory imitative stuff.

It might be a good choice for munging samples and loops.