b3keys Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Hi, I am interested in getting a sampler or a sample playback machine and am thinking about the Roland products listed above. Can anyone provide me with the key differences of each, advantages/disadvantages. I primarily want to use the module for sample playback. Or would i be better off with a Kurzweil K2661 with its capabilities. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 My advice is try to hold out for a couple of months and check out the Fantom X Rack. I think it will have much more available sample memory than the others. Robert This post edited for speling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b3keys Posted January 23, 2004 Author Share Posted January 23, 2004 Rabid, Thanks for the reply. I am interested in the Fantom XR, however, I've learned that it will only play WAV files and nothing in the Roland S or AKAI format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeronyne Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Of the three, I'd recommend the 5080. The 760 is way cool, but it's starting to show its age. Still if you can get one REALLY cheap, and you can get all the options for it (video out, mouse, etc), it's not a bad choice if you only use sounds that are less than 32mb. The VP9000 is not a sampler in the regular sense. Unless you are into sonic mangling, this isn't the box for you. It's not really the best thing to play piano samples, etc. The 5080 is a monster...I'm waiting for it to slip under 1000 before picking one up...it's at 1099 at my local GC. Hurry up, Fantom XR!!! "For instance" is not proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil B Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 Originally posted by b3keys: Rabid, Thanks for the reply. I am interested in the Fantom XR, however, I've learned that it will only play WAV files and nothing in the Roland S or AKAI format.There will be conversion software provided by Roland for the Fantom-X that will allegedly convert them, if that does it for ya' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synthetic Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 "Should I buy a horse, a mule or a camel?" Software streaming sampler, dude! 3GB piano sounds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 I can say the XV-5080 is very handy becasue you don't have to use it as a sampler. I bought mine when it first came out. Now I cringe when I see the current price. But, if the price drops some more .... Robert This post edited for speling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b3keys Posted January 24, 2004 Author Share Posted January 24, 2004 Thanks to all for the great replies. I will wait for the XR, but keep checking the prices on the 5080. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Folkson Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 While I've got several sampling synths, streaming samplers with 3G piano samples, sampling drum machines etc.... You can take my 760s from my cold dead hands. - Jan Folkson http://www.janfolkson.com "How do you know when it's music and not just a bunch of noise" - Dennis the Menace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Ventura Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 I can't believe anybody would ever want one of those, today or 10 years ago. Beats me. Max Ventura, Italy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 Originally posted by Jan Folkson: ... You can take my 760s from my cold dead hands.I notice a lot of professionals still hold on to theirs. They do have a good sound that is hard to match. Robert This post edited for speling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Folkson Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 Originally posted by Max Ventura: I can't believe anybody would ever want one of those, today or 10 years ago. Beats me.Because it sounds great! - Jan Folkson http://www.janfolkson.com "How do you know when it's music and not just a bunch of noise" - Dennis the Menace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 If you don't need sampling, the 5080 would be a great way to go. I've got one and it's just a great module, very useful. Make sure you have the SCSI CD-ROM drive to load sample libs in, and also SCSI storage for saving your sounds. Storage and loading/saving have kind of been the achilles heal on this unit for me. Unfortunately, the smart media memory card has never worked reliably for me at all, and is very slow in addition. So whatever you do for storage, it's got to be SCSI and portable if you want to take the 5080 to gigs and load the memory. A ZIP drive would work fine. Overall the 5080 is a killer synth box, expecially once you start loading up the expansion slots with sound cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realtrance Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Albert, It might be instructive for some of us to hear why having a seemingly "lower quality" hardware sample card -- with comparatively puny sample RAM -- might have advantages over the seemingly "higher quality" 3GB piano sample played on a software sampler. Thoughts? I also take Jan's comments as further evidence that it's not the specs and features that matter, it's what you're familiar with, what works for you and what sounds good to you. rt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Originally posted by realtrance: ... It might be instructive for some of us to hear why having a seemingly "lower quality" hardware sample card -- with comparatively puny sample RAM -- might have advantages over the seemingly "higher quality" 3GB piano sample played on a software sampler. Thoughts? ...I'll jump in here for a bit. 99% of your live audience will not notice the difference between a 3 gig piano on a soft synth and a 64 meg piano on hardware. 100% of your audience will notice if your computer crashes in the middle of a song. Thankfully, in music, it is not how big it is, it is how you use it. I have GigaStudio 160, Kontakt, SampleTank, B4 and LoungeLizard. Before loading them on a lap top or rack mount computer and going on stage I would ask myself, what will I really gain over my XV-5080 and Motif ES? I have been using drum machines on stage since the days of Sequential Circuits and computer sequencers on stage since the days of DOS 3.1. It has always been risky. Crashes are not fun. When your audience is standing around thinking "Why don't they just play?" 100 software instruments can not replace 1 good, stable, reliable piece of hardware. Face it, 3 gig pianos are acceptable for recording if you cannot use the real thing. There is always something better. But, if you are going to load up a computer and take it on stage, are you doing it for the audience or for yourself? Robert This post edited for speling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reverend Rhythm Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Can I add that it's a lot easier to go with what you know. It takes me longer to learn a piece of software that it does for a new piece of hardware. I'm gradually going more and more soft (In more ways than one!), but it takes time. And... hardware has a sound, and if you like it, it makes it hard to give up. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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