one of the coolest things about the Autosampler feature of the MPC is that in addition to being able to make instruments out of whatever your favorite vsti’s and presets you can run whatever your auto sampling through any of your outboard pedals /FX to create some truly unique instruments for you to use In your production… for a genre like hiphop this is almost holy grail level capability for a sampling beatmachine… it’s phenomenal!
and making polyphonic synths out of your mono synths sheeeeeit!!!
when you consider what some creative minds have been able to accomplish with 16 levels the autos ampler feature is absolutely bonkers… I only wish they had made the mpc one battery operable as well.
yeah man, got one of those in my near future, how many hours of heavy use are you getting with it and have you come across anything else as comparable that is the same size or smaller?
I’ve heard it can go for 6 hours. And I believe it, I don’t have to recharge it very often. Also, it holds a charge really well. I didn’t touch the MPC for a month, and the charge hadn’t dropped at all. It has a simple led display to let you know how much battery life is left.
There may be less clunky options out there. I just know this one was confirmed to work well and not cause problems. And I decided to go with the safe option.
Digitakt. I’ve used the Volca Sample, and loved it! Then the Digitakt and was swept. The OT has been a bumpy road. Sampling, not such a breeze comparing it to the DT. Once I’ve gotten used to the extra steps, sure a sinch in it’s own right like any instrument once you’ve learned it, and overall the OT is simple in it’s execution of many features through a quick interface and simple structure.
But I feel lately the OT has just been more a midi controller for my mono synths and occasionally I’ll dabble in a track but get no where. Makes me think the OT is for people who have a more avid attack. I still feel I’ll get there but as a hobby I think it is more a comfort to have it and when I want it I can do it but to have it and not be getting where I intended is becoming a drag. But I need to deal with other things so it’s just there in the lurch, ready.
Octatrack is my number one sampler. It pretty much does everything in terms of sampling and can be used in many different ways allowing the user to chose a workflow that suits them most.
Number 2. Sp404. Very easy to learn, not to many bells and whistles to distract, no menu diving, gets the job done.
Yeah! I too love using MD resample engine. Actually, track 13 is almost always RAM R1, and 14, 15 and 16 P1
I like to go wild on the plocks (specially retrigs), with filter + exp LFO on cutoff, and carve a bassline out of it.
OT own workflow is definitely coming from here. Only a bit more complicated.
I find live synchronized resampling + immediate sample looping/mangling a very convenient feature. Do you know other samplers than can do this?
My other loved sampler is DT.
So focussed on what it does!
And I love how it sounds, even before you play with the compressor.
Made me discover how mono samples can be powerful.
Last one is OP-1.
Would love a hifi modern version of this. Today I would go for the Deluge I guess…
But the OP-1 is way more fun and crazy. What other sampler has this insanely fun vibe, today?
Tape, Monkeys, CWO, G-force, FM radio… Even the choplifter game!
I’m on the Akai side as well, I have both a Digitakt and Force, and had plenty of samplers in the past, but the MPC/Force sound just way better than anything else, sampling is quick and easy, whether it’s directly to a clip, to a pad, loop or multi sample.
The workflow is not as polished as the Elektrons, but the sound is great.
I’ve been through a lot of samplers and still have a bunch, and I love 'em all. I think there’ll always be something magical for me in the act of sampling, so anything that does it has a spark of magic from the bells & whistles of the MPC One to the bare metal of the Kaleidoloop. I guess the exception is the OPZ, which I don’t sample with often enough to remember the interface (and the minimal i/o doesn’t help).
I think my personal top slot would have to go to either the OP-1, which is the device that seems to best embrace that magical exploratory feeling, or the Octatrack, which takes the concept of sampling and runs with it like nothing else - recorder trigs straight back into p-locked playback trigs is a genius setup, and it looks like there will always be things the OT can do that far more technically capable devices struggle with or don’t get at all.
But my position is: if you get a chance to try any sampler, take it.
Of the ones I’ve personally used, there are many out there that I haven’t-
Sound quality: Toraiz SP-16 (amazing converters and stereo analog filter) followed closely by the Digitakt, ASR-10 and Emax 1.
Ergonomics/ease of use: Gotta go SP-16 again. The MPC2000 was also dead simple to use.
Sound design: FieldScaper iOS app kills it, LFOs for everything, circuit bending, extreme pitch transposition… if it was available as hardware I’d pay tons for it. The E4 Ultra series had an almost modular approach and able to patch almost anything to anything via the mod matrix, super deep. Octatrack too obviously, but never really got on with that machine.
Worst: Roland SP-808 (what a mess) but really any sampler can produce something usable if you work with it long enough.
This is SO true. I still have my E4 Jaz disks and just thinking about them gives me anxiety.
Big fan of the Ensoniq samplers from yesteryear. EPS16+ and Asr-X mk1 were my main two. Also had a Yamaha RS7000 that I liked too.
Currently, the MPC Live and 1010 Blackbox are my 2 main samplers. Got a few others lying around that I’ve not used for a long time.
Would like to see an updated Yamaha RS in Digitakt sized footprint or, maybe, a company that specialises in bringing classics back to affordable life taking on the Ensoniq Asr-10 or similar.
For speed, a two-button press to shout something into the mic and you can start manipulating the sample aka using Deluge’s built-in mic. Reminds me of my SK-1 in the past hehe.
When I gave my earlier advice about taking any chance to use a sampler, I’d clearly forgotten about the time I spent with the MC-909. I should update it to specify any sampler without a D-Beam.
When I gave my earlier advice about taking any chance to use a sampler, I’d clearly forgotten about the time I spent with the MC-909. I should update it to specify any sampler without a D-Beam.