Which sampler would you recommend?

[Kobb]

I'm very interested in getting a sampler - especially because I want to use the Mellotron CD-Rom to get some of those classic sounds.

http://www.mellotron.com/cdlist.htm

 

But I also think that it's time I add a quality sampler to my setup, and I'm looking at the Akai S6000 Studio or the Emu E4XT Ultra.

 

I'm kind of leaning toward the Akai S6000 because the user interface on the Akai looks so user friendly. I've heard a few grumblings about the Akai being a bit buggy. Have the bugs been fixed?

 

Has anybody had experience with these two units that might help me make a decision?

[Anderton]

Akai has been pretty good about fixing bugs in their OS. There was an upgrade recently that hopefully fixed any major problems. Perhaps some S6000 owners can reply and tell us how the new OS works.

 

Emu's samplers have a solid history, and have always been pretty cutting-edge from a technology standpoint. The interface on the S6000 is beautiful, though. IMHO, both are capable of giving you great sound quality and expandability. I suggest you go to a store with both, and see which one "feels" best to you.

 

Any Akai/Emu fans out there who want to make a case for their favorite?

[Guest]

I just traded in my Akai S2000 for an E-MU E5000 Ultra, and I love it. There's really no point in comparing the S2000 to the E5000 as the S2000 was very outdated. But As far as the E5000 vs. an Akai S5000, the E-mu has more effects, a lot more filters (and very interesting ones at that), beat munging (sort of like ReCycle), and is cheaper than the Akai. It's incredibly easy to use. I was able to loaded in all my old Akai files with no problem. In fact, I've barely looked at the manual.

 

The E5000 offers a huge amount of modulation capabilities (you can use just about any controller to modulate almost any parameter), and I think (i'm not sure) the envelopes have 6 steps (it's definitely more than 4) so in effect, it's as much a synthesizer as it is a sampler.

 

Nothing against the Akais, but to me they're sort of boring and uninspiring (maybe it's that off-white color that makes me think it's a blender or a food processor) -- but that's just me. The E5000 offers some serious bang for the buck. The MESA software that lets you load in sounds and edit programs from your computer is cool, but notoriously buggy, so if the interface on the S5000 doesn;t float your boat, the option (MESA) is not necessarily going to solve your problems.

 

You might also want to check out the Yamaha A4000 and A5000. They seem to do just about everything the E5000 does, but the interface is pretty confusing (on the other hand there are 5 nice knobs onthe front that let you control parameters in real time).

 

Check out David Frangioni's forum. He posted a fabulous postcomparing various samplers last week.

 

Jonathan

[xhavokmail.com]

I am also looking at getting a new sampler. I am looking at the EMU E5000 or the Yamaha A5000. Akai to me is just borring. I myself am a big fan of Yamaha, I own quite a few yamaha synths (EX5, AN1X, and CS6X to name a few) I find Yamaha to be a very creative company, and will more than likely go with the A5000... It can hold an internal Hard drive, and internal ZIP drive, 32 parts multitimbral 126 notes ploy. excepts ALL formats AKAI, AIFF, WAV, whatever... 96 effects types etc. etc. etc. checkit out. Oh and it comes with a software editor, so if your like me, you wont even have to worry about annoying menues, sub-menues etc. Also comes with 9!!!! CD-roms of samples, for less that the price of an E5000!!!

X.H.

[alphajerk]

i bought an akai s2000 because it was the cheapest thing out at the time. i use it for drum sample replacement and building kits. the output on it is so beefy to me.

 

and mesa just plain sucks. god forbid i load two programs in a row without a massive glitch.

 

i would be all over that emu if i was looking at samplers. or gigasampler and use a pc.

[Guest]

Alpha's right about MESA: sucky sucky sucky. The Akai's seem to have a slightly hyped output (boosted lows and highs). I boost the lows and highs on my mixer and my E5000 sounds just like my old S2000 when I want it to.

 

The Yamaha samplers are definitely impressive, and offer a lot of value. I just didn;t like the interface at all. Compared to the E-MU, it's cryptic. It's got a bunchof features I wish my E5000 had. Oh well, I love my E5000, and can get around really easily on it.

[Guest]

I have owned several E-mu samplers over the years. Currently I have an E64. Very easy load in samples and create presets. It is the fastest sampler I have ever used or owned. I also think the converters and pitch transposition sounds better than my K2000. I highly recomend the E4 series, but have no experience with AKAI.