A friend just grabbed an es-1. I’d kind of dismissed them before for some reason (always feel sketchy buying gear that old…). I checked out some vids, this one made me think it might actually be a great drum/weird stuff box. Super cheap. I’d been considering RYTM or/and the retrokit cable for my volca sample. But for less than £100 the es-1 is pretty tempting for a drum box for shows/fun studio tool. Anyone paired one with OT, they get along OK? Thanks
just to say - i can recommend the retrokit cable for the volca sample without hesitation. Retailers should bundle it with the volca!
Yeah looks like it totally transforms the VS for integration with other stuff, especially OT 
Pretty sure I’ll grab it some point regardless of other stuff I’m figuring out atm…
I had an ES-1 for about a week before I put it back on eBay to buy an Octatrack. Fun for what it is, but there’s nothing you can do with it that you can’t do better with the Octatrack, and I think it has been bettered with the Volca Sample. Since you already have both of those, I’d probably pass.
80% of songs I run out of OT tracks before I get to drums (unless I’m using drum loop/slices) so I need to grab something just mainly for beats… I love the volca sample but besides portability/p-locks I’m a little surprised to hear you say it beats the Es-1? I’ll have a proper play with my friends es-1 asap and see how it goes…
The ES-1 is awesome and I’ll recommend it to anyone. It’s super gritty and definitely has a signature sound, and perhaps needs a bit of post-processing, but it’s a very good rhythm sampler with some great effects and features. I use it alongside my monomachine, running one MnM output into the input of the ES-1 (which appears on its own track, and can be gated rhythmically/effected), and then the output from the ES-1 into a MnM input. Mental!
I vaguely miss my ES1, was a lot of fun & had a chunky rough & raw sound.
Kept my smart media cards as I suspect another one will visit home one day.
Looks pretty fugly & oversized compared to modern tech, but actually built tough & has a few advantages over the volca sample…
128 patterns (versus 16) + 16 songs
Patterns can be 64 steps (versus 16 on volca)
Dedicated delay + an fx unit (versus reverb & that eq thing)
Can actually sample by itself.
Can receive program change info to change pattern
These aren’t minor things, but if sequencing & processing via an OT, then with a retrokit cable the volca would probably be best, except not sure it can change patterns/sample kits from PG messages which would make me throw it out if so.
yeah, changing kits remotely on the v samp does not work 
also, no way AFAIK to change te samples on the tracks via MIDI… So the level of integration with an ES-1 would be superior.
tbh I wouldn’t be using a v samp at all if it weren’t for the SOUND - it complements perfectly my other instruments, creating a whole that sounds “mixed” just by raising the faders 
Agreed, the V Samp sound/character is great 