Members wasjamieb Posted November 29, 2015 Members Share Posted November 29, 2015 In my nearly 30 years as a working keyboard player, I have never owned a sampling keyboard or module. Always been mainly a "meat-and-potatoes" guy. Have done a little programming, but that is it.Anyway, current band situation is gonna require some basic sampling. Not trying to rrecreate my acoustic piano or anything, A recent song topic like "Uptown Funk" would be an example. Just The vocal samples and such. My rig, as it stands now, is a Yamaha MO8, Hammond XK-3C, Roland JD-XI and I have my old Yamaha MM6 in there. Thought about adding the sampling expansion card to my Triton LE and adding it back, but that card is out-of-production. Oh, and I have no knowledge of computer-based synths, but am open to ideas. Again, affordability is a major factor!Thanks in advance! jamieb+++++ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan88z Posted November 30, 2015 Members Share Posted November 30, 2015 Roland SP404SX is a standalone sampler that uses and sdram card so there is no load time for the samples. Under $400 new and could be found used for less. There are other even cheaper models out there, I think Alesis has one and Akai, that are small little boxes that could sit on the keyboard. I have the Roland, but don't use it anymore because my FA08 has the same sampling capability built in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wesg Posted December 1, 2015 Members Share Posted December 1, 2015 If they are single-shot samples (i.e. you're not "playing" them) you should consider the Akai MPX-8. I am planning to buy one in the not distant future. Wes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wasjamieb Posted December 1, 2015 Author Members Share Posted December 1, 2015 If they are single-shot samples (i.e. you're not "playing" them) you should consider the Akai MPX-8. I am planning to buy one in the not distant future. Wes A little playing, mostly one-offs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted December 1, 2015 Members Share Posted December 1, 2015 Jamie.... good seeing you here. Sorry to hear about your accident, but good to see that you are healing up and still playing. I use a 10 year old Roland SP404. It's a pain in the ass to load and set up (will only read .wav files at 16 bit) but I will say it performs flawlessly. I own a Akai MPX8 and it's been pretty disappointing. The menu and bank navigation is confusing and the pads don't trigger as well as the SP404. The SP404SX can read MP3's with is handy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted December 1, 2015 Members Share Posted December 1, 2015 Every keyboard player I know in town has a keyboard that samples. You get a sample the keyboard simple. Get up with the times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wasjamieb Posted December 2, 2015 Author Members Share Posted December 2, 2015 Roland SP404SX is a standalone sampler that uses and sdram card so there is no load time for the samples. Under $400 new and could be found used for less. There are other even cheaper models out there' date=' I think Alesis has one and Akai, that are small little boxes that could sit on the keyboard. I have the Roland, but don't use it anymore because my FA08 has the same sampling capability built in. [/quote'] Dan, can I use MIDI with that, and assign multiple samples across a keyboard zone? It will be for stuff like "Uptown Funk" where the vocal sample covers 5-6 different notes, spanning a P5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wasjamieb Posted December 2, 2015 Author Members Share Posted December 2, 2015 Jamie.... good seeing you here. Sorry to hear about your accident' date=' but good to see that you are healing up and still playing. I use a 10 year old Roland SP404. It's a pain in the ass to load and set up (will only read .wav files at 16 bit) but I will say it performs flawlessly. I own a Akai MPX8 and it's been pretty disappointing. The menu and bank navigation is confusing and the pads don't trigger as well as the SP404. The SP404SX can read MP3's with is handy.[/quote'] Grant, thanks, man. Glad to still be able to play. Didn't know until later about your Dad. So sorry to hear. I have read good things about the Roland. Just trying to decide if it will work for what I am needing. The one-offs it would be ideal for, but on anything that needed multiple samples spread out over a keyboard, would it work? Again, thoughts and prayers for you and your family. I can't imagine. jamieb +++++ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wasjamieb Posted December 2, 2015 Author Members Share Posted December 2, 2015 Every keyboard player I know in town has a keyboard that samples. You get a sample the keyboard simple. Get up with the times. Um...I think it's pretty obvious in my original post that this is what I am doing. Did you have anything actually USEFUL to contribute? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted December 2, 2015 Members Share Posted December 2, 2015 Um...I think it's pretty obvious in my original post that this is what I am doing. Did you have anything actually USEFUL to contribute? Not sure what your budget is, but maybe consider "trading" your MM6 for a used Motif. You can probably find an ES6 for $700 or so or an original Motif6 for around $500 and maybe get a couple hundred for your MM6. You'd have similar (but better) sounds and a really good sampler board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted December 2, 2015 Members Share Posted December 2, 2015 Anybody ever use one of those Korg Microsamplers? I never have, but I see them used all the time for a couple hundred bucks or less. If you're looking for something small and light and don't mind the little keys---maybe that'll do the trick? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wasjamieb Posted December 2, 2015 Author Members Share Posted December 2, 2015 Anybody ever use one of those Korg Microsamplers? I never have' date=' but I see them used all the time for a couple hundred bucks or less. If you're looking for something small and light and don't mind the little keys---maybe that'll do the trick? [/quote'] David, I just looked at a few of these on eBay. Seems pretty workable, but I haven't found any info on how much sample memory or if you can "zone" multiple samples. jamieb +++++ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted December 2, 2015 Members Share Posted December 2, 2015 Um...I think it's pretty obvious in my original post that this is what I am doing. Did you have anything actually USEFUL to contribute? Yes I do. Cheap solution if you have a computer is ableton live a small USB controller. Could even be one of those micro controllers. Sample the hits you want, trim them to taste, assign to midi controller and you're golden. There may even be some solution using a piece of software on an IPad with a small micro controller attached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan88z Posted December 2, 2015 Members Share Posted December 2, 2015 Dan, can I use MIDI with that, and assign multiple samples across a keyboard zone? It will be for stuff like "Uptown Funk" where the vocal sample covers 5-6 different notes, spanning a P5. It has midi in but I never tried triggering samples that way. It was all one shot sound effects stuff for my Pink Floyd tribute. I know on the FA06/08 you can assign samples to the keyboard. I looked at the manual and you can trigger from a keyboard. It's also got a built in sequencer so you could chain the samples together and hit 1 button to have it run vs playing it from the keyboard. The one advantage of an SDRAM based sampler is there is zero load time. Keyboards like the Motif that have samples to load into memory can take a long time to boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted December 2, 2015 Members Share Posted December 2, 2015 David, I just looked at a few of these on eBay. Seems pretty workable, but I haven't found any info on how much sample memory or if you can "zone" multiple samples. jamieb +++++ It says it has 160 seconds of sampling time per bank -- and there are eight banks. So unless you're doing really long samples, it should be plenty. Doesn't look like it can do multiple samples across the board though. Then again, looks like you can pick one up on eBay for about $100. Something you could buy and try and if you don't like, resell it and get your money back at that price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wesg Posted December 2, 2015 Members Share Posted December 2, 2015 Grant - thanks for the mini-review on MPX8. Frustrating - I need a /small/ solution or I need to replace a keyboard in my rig. I have too much crap already; I thought about using my MPC 2000XL but there's no place to put it without adding another stand and hence clutter. Buying a new keyboard would be fun, but it's an awful lot of money to spend on one song that we play every 4-5 gigs. David, if you get a microsampler, let us know how it goes. I'm also going to keep an eye out for an SP404. Probably won't buy the MPX8 now unless I can get a good deal on it. Reliable triggering is really important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members trevcda Posted December 3, 2015 Members Share Posted December 3, 2015 I have the SP303 Sampler which was obviously the predecessor to the 404, it quite similar in operation. It's a fun little sampler and would probably do what you need it to do, more so on the 404. The editing is a little clunky but workable and it is playable via midi keyboard/zones. My biggest issue with them is their memory format. CompactFlash card slot; 404 supports up to 1GB card. As an old format they are getting harder to find. Particularly on the 303 which will only do a specific voltage and sized CF card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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