spunktronics Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 I've reached max polyphony on loads of occasions on my mpc2500.... I dropped using the computer a few years ago cause i just kept making the same song over and over ... I have a few samplers that i use for creating sounds but i want one to sit along side my/triggered by mpc to do a lot of work... Must be well made, loads of ram, loads of polyphony and have a few outputs, i looked at the Akai Z4 but it seems they don't make any hardware samplers now which aren't just performance based.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Sensi Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 The Akai Z4 or something like the E4 Platinum are really the only samplers I can think of that will meet your requirements for ram and polyphony. Yamaha A5000 & the Akai S5000/6000 are also choices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundwave Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 Emu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TubularCorporation Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 I don't know them that well but there's an E-mu ESI-2000 on eBay right now that looks like it's going to go for next to nothing. Space is the only reason I'm not considering it. Not my auction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingwe Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 try and get one that lets you set up patches on it from the computer with sysex messages and / or you can drag and drop samples off your PC with no probs. it's just easier than trying to program it like a friggin alarm clock. which is basically only the later akais (s5000/6000, z4/z8, and later mpc's), unless the yamaha a4000/5000 have usb ports. (never looked into these) or if you install a sd card reader in a e-mu ultra with the latest os (4.7), then you can load samples onto the card from yr computer that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingwe Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 I don't know them that well but there's an E-mu ESI-2000 on eBay right now that looks like it's going to go for next to nothing. Space is the only reason I'm not considering it. Not my auction. i bought one of these new back when it came out, pretty cool overall. you'll need some sort of scsi hard drive or zip to save samples (unless you want to load dozens of floppies each time) it goes for cheap because the e4 ultra series are better, for sometimes only $100 or $200 more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TubularCorporation Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 Honestly, I think my dream sampler would be a clone of an E-Mu Emax 1 in a smaller form factor (with surface mount components and smaller ICs I bet it could be fit in a half rack, 1u box today) but with SD storage and maybe a half gig of RAM. Back when the rack versions wer eunder $200 I always kind of lusted for one but they were just too big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweepstakes Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 Yamaha A(x)000 is great for sound, polyphony, parametric control, filters and effects but you'll probably need to get creative with storage as there's no USB, just IDE and I think SCSI. Also the interface sucks and I never got the editor working. The Octatrack might be an option too if you're looking for something that does tricks others can't (retriggering, morphing effects, live resampling, polyrhythmic sequencing) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ascdi Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 I have an S5000. There is USB-related software for it but it's a pain in the ass to run an old enough OS to use it. It is indeed built like a tank though. And the crispy Akai ish sound is pretty inspiring. They don't make em like that anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TubularCorporation Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 I read someplace last year that the classic Akai sound (at least in the 2000 series MPCs) comes from an OS bug in the resonance control of the filters that makes the filters have a bit of resonance even when it's set to zero, so with the filters wide open and the resonance on zero there's still a bit of a peak somewhere in theupper part of the spectrum. No idea if it's true or if it would be true for any of their other samplers even if it's true in those specific MPCs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modey Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Anyone know anything about the emu e6400? I've been offered one for free and wonder if it'll be useful beyond finally having a hardware chromatic sampler.. though it looks pretty large so taking it to gigs would be an ordeal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingwe Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Anyone know anything about the emu e6400? I've been offered one for free and wonder if it'll be useful beyond finally having a hardware chromatic sampler.. though it looks pretty large so taking it to gigs would be an ordeal it's one of the nicest late 90s samplers. very deep mod matrix, can have decent ram and polyphony depending on how it's been expanded. lots of filter types and many ways to get creative with the sounds. good sound quality, decent timing but not as tight as akai. on the downside, if it doesn't still have a working hd, you're stuck with scsi/floppy. or you can install an sd card reader. also the buttons on the front can fail and start to double-trigger which is quite annoying. pretty nice for free (if working) but may be too much headache if yr not used to old hardware samplers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingwe Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Honestly, I think my dream sampler would be a clone of an E-Mu Emax 1 in a smaller form factor (with surface mount components and smaller ICs I bet it could be fit in a half rack, 1u box today) but with SD storage and maybe a half gig of RAM. Back when the rack versions wer eunder $200 I always kind of lusted for one but they were just too big. yeah i have the keyboard, it's enormous. would be cool to have a smaller version w better storage, although someone would need to clone those ssm filters as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modey Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Yeah I'm gonna give it a go if it's still available. If anything it'll be cool to trigger from my guitar's midi pickup or control it with the monomachine and get wacky. I really wish a company would make a cheap compact version of something like that though! Surely sampler tech like that can be miniaturised?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TubularCorporation Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Not to derail, but kind of MIDI guitar setup do you use, modey? How well does it track? I just started making a guitar that's going to be all about stereo split pickups, but when that's done I've been thinking about building a MIDI guitar, but I don't have much experience with them and don't really trust them to track well enough to justify the cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TubularCorporation Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Honestly, I think my dream sampler would be a clone of an E-Mu Emax 1 in a smaller form factor (with surface mount components and smaller ICs I bet it could be fit in a half rack, 1u box today) but with SD storage and maybe a half gig of RAM. Back when the rack versions wer eunder $200 I always kind of lusted for one but they were just too big. yeah i have the keyboard, it's enormous. would be cool to have a smaller version w better storage, although someone would need to clone those ssm filters as well. Yeah, even the rack Emax was huge (I saw one a few years back and it was I think 3u and almost as deep as an s900, which means it wouldn't even fit in most rack cases). But those filters! And they have analog envelope generators and VCAs per voice, right? Like a budget Synclavier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Chesney Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 I have been waiting for decent midi guitar implementation forever. I had a go on the Moog guitar fully intending to buy it and deplete my savings but it played like a cheap Ibanez. The midi and the actual pickups were really cool but the guit was wank. They would not even sell me the guts so I could build a guit around it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modey Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 I'm using the Roland GK-2A pickup with a GI-10 interface. It's pretty good, but I definitely play differently when using the MIDI pickup compared to when I'm just playing normal guitar sounds. Interestingly, it seems to track differently depending on which synth is being controlled—if I use my QY70 as a sound module it can get a bit temperamental with bum notes here and there, but the Microbrute seems to adapt to the guitar's dynamics a bit better. Maybe because it's monophonic and the little ghost notes aren't given priority, who knows. Not to derail, but kind of MIDI guitar setup do you use, modey? How well does it track? I just started making a guitar that's going to be all about stereo split pickups, but when that's done I've been thinking about building a MIDI guitar, but I don't have much experience with them and don't really trust them to track well enough to justify the cost. Here's the microbrute being controlled by the GK-2A/GI-10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20z8VBf-KD4 And the QY70 being controlled by the same setup: The tracking differences may also be down to the different guitars; the pickup needs to be in a pretty specific position in order to track optimally. Mesh: Polyphony is great. The pickup is divided so it actually sends 6 monophonic signals to be processed individually, so with the GI-10 you can actually map each string to a separate MIDI channel. This means that pitch bend data is transmitted polyphonically as well—if you just map all strings to one channel, pitch bend doesn't really work properly unless you're only playing monophonic solos. I have been waiting for decent midi guitar implementation forever. I had a go on the Moog guitar fully intending to buy it and deplete my savings but it played like a cheap Ibanez. The midi and the actual pickups were really cool but the guit was wank. They would not even sell me the guts so I could build a guit around it. The Moog guitar seems cool but it's pretty gimmicky. I love my Steinberger, even though it's a cheap one. I think I'm going to end up getting one of the high end graphite ones at some point, and build the Roland GK pickup into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psn Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 The Fishman seems promising. Has to go via a computer, though. https://youtu.be/Cy9Eu_YYndE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TubularCorporation Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 How much do you think the pickup itself matters? I figured I'd get a Roland hex pickup regardless of what interface I ended up using, because it seems like they're the de-facto standard for hex pickups, and what little research I'd done made it look like a lot of the more high end (and out of my price range) interfaces got paired with them as often as not. I figured I'd make something vaguely Steinbergerish (probably not headless, but small, minimalist body and headstock; probably neck through with some hefty carbon fiber bars running the whole length to try to get the tuning as stable as possible) with a Roland hex pickup installed and then choose an interface later, try some out before I bought if I could. But if the pickup needs to be matched to the interface more carefully than that it changes the plan. I've probably got until next summer to figure it out though. It's too bad that Fishman needs a computer, their pickups always seem to do what they are meant to do very well, whether it's something I personally like or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modey Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 The GK pickup is pretty universal, at least with Roland gear; you have a lot of options, pedal/rack wise. I'm looking into getting the GP-10, since it seems to have a lot of sound design options (even amp and guitar simulators) and can be externally controlled/programmed via USB. It also has some wacky pitch features where you can detune certain strings, set the pedal to smoothly interpolate from one tuning to another for pedal steel effects, etc. If you don't want to be limited to Roland synths though, the GI-20 is purely an interface for generating MIDI data from the pickup. I have the GI-10 which already has some great features, but the 20 has a USB port so if that matters to you it may be worth looking into. It'd probably even be possible to build the GI into a guitar if you were so inclined.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Sensi Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Anyone know anything about the emu e6400? I've been offered one for free and wonder if it'll be useful beyond finally having a hardware chromatic sampler.. though it looks pretty large so taking it to gigs would be an ordeal Coincidentally, I, too, was also offered one for free many years ago. Fully maxed out. I was too cheap to pay for the shipping. It was a stupid decision that I have probably lost some sleep over. Moral of the story, take the fucking sampler. It's a beast. Deep matrix, which has already been mentioned and probably some of the best filters ever put into a hardware sampler. It was good enough for this guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TubularCorporation Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 The GK pickup is pretty universal, at least with Roland gear; you have a lot of options, pedal/rack wise. I'm looking into getting the GP-10, since it seems to have a lot of sound design options (even amp and guitar simulators) and can be externally controlled/programmed via USB. It also has some wacky pitch features where you can detune certain strings, set the pedal to smoothly interpolate from one tuning to another for pedal steel effects, etc. If you don't want to be limited to Roland synths though, the GI-20 is purely an interface for generating MIDI data from the pickup. I have the GI-10 which already has some great features, but the 20 has a USB port so if that matters to you it may be worth looking into. It'd probably even be possible to build the GI into a guitar if you were so inclined.. Thanks, when I was comparing them last fall I somehow missed the DI-10 and GI-20 (probably because I go for secondhand older stuff first but in this case newer should be much better, pitch tracking has improved a lot), those look like just what I need. The size of the GS stuff kind of put me off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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