Just a sampler!

[Electronicant]

Hi, I´m looking for a simple hardware sampler but with the highest quality. Is there any sampler which could be comparable with the best samplers on the market but with only the basic functions and without sequencer, effects, filters, keyboard etc? 16 bit or more!

[jksuperstar]

What do you consider basic features? As simple as a phrase sampler? or a bit more, like pitch shifting, envelopes, loops?

Boss makes a simple sampler, with basic effects (SR-202). Many iterations of it, so for various features, look for a different model year. That's about as simple as I think they come.

[kvnvk]

really depends what you want to use it for... if all you're looking for is something along the lines of a phrase sampler or something to do loops I'd suggest either the Boss/Roland SP line (202, 303 or 404) or the Digitech JamMan pedal. if you want something to sample for drum parts and building songs just grab one of the better samplers (from what I keep reading really good samplers are going cheap on the used market right now) and just ignore all the extra bells and whistles that come loaded with it.

[Kassen]

I don't think any samplers that are 16bits or more yet don't have filters exist, actually, I don't think I ever heard of a 12 bit sampler without a filter.

Anyway, the EMU's are very good and very cheap 2nd hand as well, in the 16 bit or higher ranges I think the EMU's sound better then AKAI. Then again; AKAI stuck to the manifacturing of high-end samplers longer then the rest of the world so they still made some models that had USB support and so on. THose models would still cost a significant amount, anything else should be dirt cheap.

[Mohoyoho]

There's this:
http://www.loopers-delight.com/tools/echoplex/echoplex.html

[Electronicant]

I wish there was a modular sampler and some clever way of storing the sounds. The only one I can think of is the Doepfer sampler module, but that one is only 8 bit and overall as simple as a sampler can be.

[elektro80]

Most conventional hardware based samplers like the Akai´s have a pretty fixed architecture. The obvious next step is a computer with lots of ram and harddisk storage and a sampler app like Kontakt 2 or whatever. Many of the high end software based samplers can just as well be seen as synthesis powerhouses using samples as VCOs instead of simply being merely playback engines for those house and r&b samples collections you can get for free using bitttorrent

[Cat-A-Tonic]

[Arnaud06]

[robsol]

The Akai S20 is one of the simplest samplers there is. After switching on, you are three button presses away from an instantly looped sample, and I mean instantly! Storage is floppy, which is cumbersome, but it makes for a great live performance tool.

8 voices, reduced to 4 with stereo samples, can be used as a multi-timbral module and it is quick to program. I would rather leave it on than bother with storage, esp if you have the extra 16 mb installed.

It also sounds pretty decent.

I have not seen one for sale for a while, but when they do come up they are dirt cheap.

My only gripe with it is that when you capture sounds live with it, you can some times get clicks at the loop points, which reduces it's use as a live toy. You can edit the start,end and loop points though.

Also, forget about the onboard "sequencer" - it's not useful for much.

http://www.vintagesynth.com/akai/s20.php

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/jul97/akais20.html

There is also the mono S01, which is a step too far into budget country in my opinion, and rarely costs any less then an S20 anyway, second hand.

[jksuperstar]

An S20 was my first sampler...great fun! It is INSTANT, even if it uses floppies I used in together with a Nord Modular (1st gen)...simply great fun.