Samplers / Sampling

Emu's latest sampler release is a new budget module to replace the ESI32. But with recent price drops from Akai and Yamaha's return to the sampling fold, have the company done enough to fend off the competition?

Boss's popular 'Doctor' range of inexpensive and useful studio gear is now over 15 years old, but remains very much alive, and the Dr Sample SP202 is the latest newcomer, offering quick and easy sampling for DJs or beginners in the field. Chris Carter gives it a full physical...

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.

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.

After a hiatus of several years, Yamaha return to sampling with the cheapest, most portable dedicated sampler yet. Derek Johnson coins a phrase...

Long-time Akai sampler user Paul Ward tries to stop his credit card from leaping out of his pocket as he gets to grips with the tempting additions to Akai's mid-range sampler.

Come on down, Akai's new low-cost sampler! Astonishing value for money at a mere £999, the basic S2000 is expandable to a top-of-the-range spec by means of add-on cards. Paul White spins the (data) wheel of fortune to see whether Akai have played their cards right this time...

Hot on the heels of the ESI32 and EIV samplers comes Emu's latest mid-price unit. We sent Paul Wiffen to find out how the E64 differs from its siblings

Once upon a time an Emulator was all eights: 8-bit, 8-voice, 8-outs, but that was a decade ago. Ten years on and the latest Emulator has more of the 128 about it: 128 voices, up to 128Mb of RAM. Paul Wiffen finds out if everything else about the EIV is 16 times as good.

The would-be samplist now has a wide range of samplers to choose from in the medium to high price ranges, but the sub-£800 zone has been looking decidedly bare — until now. Derek Johnson checks out the sampler that plugs the gap...

News of the ESi32 has set the hearts of ambitious but fiscally challenged samplists beating faster. Mike Barnes brings you this exclusive review of the machine which packs EIII sampling power into a box costing under £1200, and wonders 'Is it too good to be true?"

Emu took up the opportunity of a whistle-stop Autumn press tour to announce new products — including their lowest-priced sampler to date — which set the company's agenda for the coming months. Derek Johnson previews the new kit on the block.

Emu took up the opportunity of a whistle-stop Autumn press tour to announce new products — including their lowest-priced sampler to date — which set the company's agenda for the coming months. Derek Johnson previews the new kit on the block.

The S760 sampler represented excellent value for money on its release back in February this year. Now it looks even more impressive, with the arrival of the OP760/1 expansion board and the v.2.12 system software. Paul Wiffen checks them out.

The TX16W was about to go down in the annals of electronic instrument history as a brilliant-sounding sampler handicapped by a pig of an operating system — until a group of Swedish users took matters into their own hands. Duncan Werner investtigates the ultimate in third-party development.

Roland's latest offering in the 16-bit sampler stakes is more compact, more expandable, and less expensive (by a fair margin) than its predecessors. But have they had to make significant omissions to achieve this? Paul Wiffen investigates.

A chance to do some crystal gazing at product developments in the music / recording / visual fields.