Need help choosing a hardware sampler

[fragments]

Spend the money on kontakt and spend some time to learn it inside out,you will realise that it is seriously feature packed.Also there are tons and tons of sample packs geared at making the most of the sampler,check big fish audio to see where i'm coming from.I owned a akai z8 and a mpc 2500 but sold both as i just found hardware can be a bit fiddly and slow down the work flow.Kontakt 5 for me is feature packed and very very easy to use + plenty of tutorials online for anyone from beginner to advanced.
Really if you look at it you will always find better tutorials for software as its affordable for the "bedroom producer".I have a access virus and that was a bitch to find decent beginner tutorials compared to say massive,fm8 or absynth.

+1 I wouldn't fault someone for wanting to use hardware as I use quit a bit, but these days there is less and less support for hardware samplers. Even Korg stopped producing the Electribe series, which is probably one of the best groove box series ever made IMO. I know a lot of house/techno guys who started out producing on just an Electribe back in the day.

I'm still curious about what the OP wants the sampler for, maybe we could help more. I can't imagine wanting a hardware sampler for very many things, MAYBE triggering some samples while playing out live.

And as a side note if someone was thinking of going the MPC route I'd say go for the Renaissance/Studio MPC or Maschine.

[lloydy]

I don't think adding hardware is ever a bad thing,i actually started on hardware with my first set up.For me software is just a lot easier for speeding my workflow up.Op buys a hardware sampler and knuckles down with learning it inside out his workflow will more than likely match mine in a short period of time.It's just personal preference in the end.
Honestly though other than the z plane emu filters you won't find much more in hardware samplers that kontakt can't do + some.It really really is a beast.
Saying all that the one good thing is obviously saving cpu as kontakt with big sampler instruments can get a bit heavy on my laptop.On my tower i can have massive libraries open and it doesn't touch the cpu so really if a big computer is a nono then i can see why someone would want to go the hardware route.

[Undrig]

Main reason I want it is to trigger my own sounds with electronic drumpads in realtime. Using a software sampler introduces a certain element of latency that makes timing an obvious issue. In my search I came across this unit that is coming out later this year. Looks like it fits exactly what I am looking for.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MPX8

[wormcode]

Main reason I want it is to trigger my own sounds with electronic drumpads in realtime. Using a software sampler introduces a certain element of latency that makes timing an obvious issue. In my search I came across this unit that is coming out later this year. Looks like it fits exactly what I am looking for.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MPX8

There should be 0 latency. What soundcard or interface do you use? I have had a few MIDI drum pad controllers and none of them had any latency at all.

That MPX looks a bit awkward to use, if I were you I'd test it out in a store first.

[Undrig]

Honestly after purchasing a new desktop and saffire 40, I realize latency is no longer an issue. I can use fxpansion bfd 2 at 32 samples and that works fine.