Any decent multi loop samplers for live jams?

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

I’m in need of a sequenced sampler that can have a bunch of patterns, of 16 tracks, each with their own sound, kits, fx, independent track and step length, easy handling, quick and fast operation. The idea being I can sample in loops from various sources, then jam, mix and match and perform freeform mixes.

I have no interest in using a computer or it would be very simple.

Obviously the Octatrack isn’t suitable for this on a number of fronts, and I use it for other more specialised stuff anyway, the Toraiz maybe? But is there anything else out there?

Pioneer DJS-1000
Help me find a Looper?
#2

Not a sampler but maybe look at something like the RC-505? Perhaps you could combine it with something like the MPC Live or a Digitakt.

Just a thought because I really love my RC202 for looping.

#3

I’m really struggling with the RC-202. I think what I can’t get around is that when you loop, there’s no option for stopping the signal passing through. I guess i need to use it with a mixer to loop from, say the DT.

#5

Heh, I have tried quite a lot of these kind of thing but not yet the Toraiz or newer gear, I did try the RC-505 but didn’t gel with it, plus really need at least 12 stereo tracks for the kind of things I want to do (separate percussion parts, bass, melodies etc to recombine and what not)

Current samplers I have are DT, OT, OP-1, electribe sampler and Electrix Repeater, none of them fill this particular need though, I’m trying to avoid using multiple machines to keep it simple although undoubtedly at the cost of flexibility. My old RS-7000 can do it, but sample loading takes forever and it only has 64mb.

#6

MPC Live?

#7

And the Deluge, of course. That one’s wicked and getting nastier still.

#8

@darenager
Do you need foot control?
Edit:
Just curious. If the Looperlative 8 track rack looper was still made, it might be ideal with any midi controller. But ×2, since you need 16 tracks :thinking:

#9

@Tanburi no foot control needed, probably something more like the sampling groovebox paradigm is what I mean rather than a traditional looper, I have a repeater which is really superb but only 4 tracks and not easily adaptable to the kind of mix and match performance style that I’m after.

I have just ordered a Zoom Arq-96 which whilst I have reservations about the handling/interface it seems to have at least some sequenced looper capabilities, although it is not clear from the manual or any of the video demos how well it will fit my criteria, but it was cheap enough not to worry about.

@andreasroman I wonder if the MPC might be a bit overkill, in that it seems like a computer DAW and might not be immediate enough. I keep thinking the Toraiz might be the best fit, but as usual it seems difficult to ascertain without trying one, and the firmware development seems to be a low priority for Pioneer now. The Deluge looks nice but I can’t imagine using a sampler without a display, mainly for naming and trimming purposes.

Ha, bloody difficult to please ain’t I?

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#10

First thing I thought of was the newer Pioneer unit, the DJS-1000.

#11

@Prints Didn’t you have a Toraiz? Could it have lots of patterns in memory at a time each with their own samples and could it do tracks of different lengths within a pattern? Do you think the new one is more capable?

#12

I only had mine for a bit. I don’t think you can have different track lengths per pattern. The new one has some live-sampling/looping features that haven’t made their way to the SP-16 yet. @djadonis206 is the person to ask. He’s had both, and prefers the DJS-1000.

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#13

it’s global … i’m afraid…
i think you can’t set different time signature by PAD.

As long as 64 seconds of Sampling limit for you is ok… you get those 16 tracks.

Effects list are not finished yet. You can’t mix and processed without resampling as they are not 2 FX Slots by PAD (EQ, Filters are FX… a shame there’s not a mixing page by track at least + A FX Slot) only 1 FX + 1 Global Send FX

Apart from the limitations the Toraiz SP16 is very nice with the Filter in term of Sound

Therefore DJS1000 have Live Sampling but only 32 seconds of Sampling limit and without filters which those warm the sound a lot compared to the DJS1000…

You can’t beat the Toraiz on those requests… it is ! exactly that. Still, i do think matrix modulations is very limited and should have been better…

Also, i would like to tell you that the SP16 have 8 Outputs, so it can give 4 Stereo Bus or 8 Mono Outs (or a combination) to external mixing then… not convenient but, for now that’s one workaround.

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#14

NI Maschine, can sample endless, intuitive workflow - just hit sample. Can use pro grade audio card as interface - best converter one can afford. Works with digital mixer etc etc… its an obvious choice :smile: And its cheap.
It can do midi scenes, instrument definitons, mixing scenes… lots of features.

I use it mostly with my prophet 12 module and tempest. Great for recording if you do loop based stuff. It has 4 Stereo Inputs, or 8 mono. Gets constantly new features. All that at the cost of beeing connected to a laptop.

#15

The computer is the problem for me, I just don’t have the patience to use them for music, if I did I’d probably not bother with hardware at all.

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#16

I’d use two OTs if it were me (but sounds like you don’t want to go the OT route) or go modular with something like the Bitbox (which can also alternatively be Fxbox or Synthbox).

#17

The Zoom ARQ96 arrived today, seems quite powerful so it might actually be useful for some of this, I am currently thinking about a SP-16 too, but I think I will wait and see if anything gets announced at NAMM.

I’ll do a bit of a write up on the ARQ once I have had a proper play around with it.

#18

Thanks for the suggestion - and I might actually use 2 OTs* (or just one) and the Toraiz SP-16, I returned the Zoom as it crashed a few times and I found the ring/pads a bit crap really.

*Got a mkII and backed the full version of @Rusty OctaEdit - I think the combination of the mkII interface enhancements and a solid way of organising on the computer will eliminate the reservations I had about using the Octatrack, not sure yet if I will keep the mkI or get another mkII or just go with 1x mkII and the Toraiz. I will probably have to think about how I am going to structure things and go from there, and because the OT is so flexible I reckon I have my work cut out, but ultimately it should be fantastic if I can maintain easily memorable setups WRT scenes and whatnot.

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#19

I have OT 2 and toraiz. I’d prefer two x OT2 tbh.
The sequencer on toraiz is limited to the point of annoyance. The multiple outs are useful for external fx as I have a bunch of guitar pedals.
I had planned to pair toraiz with OT2 but right now have two setups centered around each. I had a couple of hours today using the toraiz with lots of fx routing, a tb3,tr8 and an AS1. To be fair, I had a blast.

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#20

DJS-1000 and an Octatrack 2 no question. Don’t muck around why not get the best two samplers on the market

#21

More a DAW production powerhouse not immediate enough compared to the other samplers mentioned here