samplers?

[scottST]

anyone got any experience with using hardware samplers?

what i'm looking for is something i can load samples onto via PC (flash memory, USB, something like that) and can use onstage to trigger a sample at the touch of a button. the ability to manipulate the sound would be a bonus (a'la KP3), but not essential.

can anyone make a recommendation?

cheers

[Pierre Von Mondragon]

Probably something in Akai's legendary MPC range, the MPC 1000 is about 600 and looks pretty good,

Akai Professional

But it always pays to check out a few things, so I have never had a hassle with Roland/Boss gear and the SP 555 seems competitively priced at 395-ish

Roland SP-555 Creative Sampler with Performance Effects :: Overview

The Akai's are famed for their swing function, used on loads of Hip Hop records since the 80's, and in the case of the MPC 3000, the bit of kit solely responsible for the creation of 'Endtroducing' by Shadow, as well as all his early stuff. Looking at the Roland site they seem to be pitching it as a dance orientated sampler so, horses for courses. My old electronic band, Optoplan, used the old Roland SP 808 with Zip drive and it was a bit fiddley at first, but VERY reliable, and sounded ace.

[spellchecker]

for a more percussive approach the SPD-S is also an interesting option, our drummer has used one of these since 2003

Roland SPD-S Sampling Pad :: Overview

limitations we have found are that the compact flash memory cards it accepts are limited up to a size of 512mb, even though you can obviously buy much larger cards these days. it just means buying multiple cards and swapping if necessary at gigs if you have particularly long samples. they are pretty sturdy and are built to take a bit of a beating.