Samplers / Sampling

Using a sampler without some sort of hard drive is just not an option these days, which means that some understanding of SCSI is necessary. Devoted Akai samplist Paul Farrer explains some of the pitfalls that can befall the unwary user of SCSI'd up samplers, and examines some of the other cross-platform issues that can complicate sampling.

Using a separate sampler, sequencer, synth and drum machine? With the new Ensoniq ASRX you could take just one box into the studio. Chris Carter just samples and goes...

The release of the S20 means that £500 now buys you into the prestigious Akai name — and gets you a supremely easy to use sampler which will perform both on stage and in the studio. Chris Carter goes completely loopy...

Given the wide range of studio and synthesis equipment Yamaha make, it's perhaps odd that there's been no serious sampler in their catlogue for almost 10 years. Now, after putting a toe in the water with the well-received SU10 mini-sampler, they're taking the pro sampling plunge once more with the A3000. Chris Carter finds that still waters run deep...

A new expandability has come to Emu's professional range of samplers. Paul Wiffen lifts the bonnet of the top-of-the-range model and finds an e6400 lurking inside.

Akai's S1100 hard-disk recording option caused quite a buzz on its release, and even now makes this well-specified sampler even more versatile. Chris Carter passes on some hard-won tips for making the best of S1100 HD recording.

Darius Pocha suggests that one of Roland's 'ones that got away' is an excellent second-hand buy: the S330 sampler. Additional material by Derek Johnson.

Akai's new CD3000XL features the 32-voice polyphony, expansion options, DSP functions and other goodies of the S3000XL, but adds a built-in CD-ROM drive for good measure. Paul Ward takes it for a spin.