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Can anyone recommend a hardware sampler with a step sequencer? around £500 or less, was looking at the mc 909 or maybe an elektribe.

Electribe SX hands down. Resampling is quick and easy and it's by far the most fun piece of hardware I've ever owned. I'd recommend replacing the EHX tubes with something from JJ Tesla though (dead easy to do). If you are using it for production you might consider getting a noise reduction mod done on it as well. I found that if I recorded multiple stems off the Electribe and stacked them in my DAW the noise floor was pretty high.

wub wrote:

VirtualMark wrote:It seems that hardware people always get upset when someone points out that all of this big expensive pile of boxes could fit inside a laptop case. Its not that it doesn't look like fun, just that its expensive and doesn't offer a whole lot of advantages. I.e not very portable, have to set up wiring, hard to sync inside a daw etc.

I've always argued in these threads, i've yet to see a great demo of what hardware can achieve vs software. The only thing i have found is that some cheap softsynths sound weaker in comparison to some good hardware synths. Digital synths can suffer from aliasing, analog synths don't. So i'm thinking of buying a good analog synth, maybe something modular, just so that i have something truly analog to play with.

The old 'if you have the same synths you'll sound like everyone else' argument doesn't hold water - most synths can have millions of different timbres. Just program different sounds to other people, add lots of fx and arrange them differently.

Was wondering how long it'd be before you chimed in on this thread

If your main plus points to not using hardware are the ability to fit in a laptop case, and the fact it can be setup easily, then fair enough, this sort of thing isn't for you.

But as per your comments re; the sound of hardware vs. software...that's the whole point. Hardware doesn't have a squillion different options to it, it generally has less than software (with it's infinitely tweakable parameters). But the hardware still has a unique sound that software can't replicate.

303 vs. Massive
808 vs. Redrum
etc

Hardware has it's unique sound, same as software I guess. But I can spot a Massive tune a mile off, sure a lot of people on here can. Doesn't mean it's not a good tune, it's just that the accessibility of the software (Massive is a great example of this) has watered down the sound to such a level that it's practically devalued it.

You can't really say the same about a 303, or a Moog Prodigy.

Hm... you're saying it as if a 303 tune could NOT be spotted à mile off.
I was going to write à long post that would have proved you wrong, but english is my second language and it would just have been shit

bouncingfish wrote:Hm... you're saying it as if a 303 tune could NOT be spotted à mile off.

Not saying that at all...however, there are far more cracked copies of Massive out there than there are 303s, so whilst the sound may be just as obvious to the trained ear, there would be fewer instances of it appearing.

That's true, I forgot the whole pirating thing.
Damn you're smart!

hes wub.

I love the rat's nest of wires : )

Also, in the winter you don't have to heat your studio...but you sweat your balls off in the summer. Between my workstation, mixer, audio interface and a few bits of kit turned on I have to blow the hot air out of the room even with central air turned on...

I like using a combo of hardware and software. I just whatever the project at hand calls for. The tune I'm working on currently has only a bit of hardware in it (so far). A kick layer from my Mopho, and I'm running the bass through an analog rack filter. Unless you want to count Maschine.

I've done other tracks (when I had different gear than currently) that were composed entirely w/o a computer. Individual pieces of hardware aren't really "harder" to use than software. In both cases you just have to learn your tools. Audio Routing in hardware can be ...interesting : )

FWIW, with a few FX units I bet you could make sounds with a 303 that wouldn't have "that sound". Also, I bet you could do it w/o the FX units. People just tend to use them to make acid tracks ;p

Next on the list is the Strymon El Capistan tape delay pedal. It's fucking amazing. I have to have it : ) It uses DSP as it's sound engine...or whatever...and has some pretty damn amazing (if not perfectly accurate) tape sounds : )

Then I'm going to make some tough decision about the gear I have and whether or not I want to maybe save up for a DSI Prophet 08. I think if I did that I'd have to sell Mopho and possibly my Electrix Filter Factory (though I'm really loath to part with that even with the Prophet in the studio...)

I figure with Alchemy + Harmor + Sytrus and the Prophet I will have synthesis covered forever (HAHAHAHA...right). The Prophet will make an excellent workhorse synth, plus all the analog sound sources I can ask for.

I can route all the voices to my mixer, pan, EQ, compress, add delay/reverb add additional filtering with an all analog signal chain before going into the box for a arrangement/mixing.

I've wanted this bad bwoy for ages.....




A Blue Robbie mic pre.


I could use it for so many things... but it is mad expensive. sigh.

But you're Mad EP.

Checkmate.

SunkLo wrote:But you're Mad EP.

Checkmate.

Hahaha!!

missed out on an octatrack on ebay last night, just creeped out my budget

just bagged a roland sh09 synth,

trying to also grab a roland space echo, going to be a stretch, financially, but both at a good rpice.


Someone buy my Kurzweil, in Buy/Sell, great bit pf kit.

Ta

Friend of mine bought a good condition space echo for €700 a few months back.. thing is a beaut.

OllieScott wrote:Can anyone recommend a hardware sampler with a step sequencer? around £500 or less, was looking at the mc 909 or maybe an elektribe.

I can recommend the mc909. It is similar to the elektribe, but with much greater functionality. In no way dissing the elektribe, it is fun and immediate, and in my book that is 90% of the deal, but for a really powerful sampling workstation, with a step sequencer, the 909 is dopes.

But I feel it's internal sound architecture is somewhat of a miss, inordinately complex.

Just side note, another nice thing about the 909 is digital out. If your studio is fairly fat with analog gear, and your patchbay and audio i/o is overloaded with devices competing for inputs, that digi input will come in really handy.

Also a really big neg on the 909 is its storage format, which is a neg on all hardware samplers. Smart Media cards are hard to find and pricey.

Storage technology price curve is a U. It starts really high, drops incredibly, and then gets really expensive again. Suckit.

++

To old friends in this thread, miss you bitches.

I've managed to control my urges for far too long and need to get this off my chest, recently I have been wanting the following (in no particular order!)

- K&H o810 sub (to match my tops)
- x2 more GIK tri-traps (custom spec'd to fit the final gap in the corners)
- x1 Manley MAssive Passive (and Vari-mu while I'm there!)
- Summit Audio *drooooool*
- Just a few more plugins to be unlocked on the UAD (not sure what)
- A new midi keyboard (The one I have was a cheap and cheerful one I've had for around 5 years now and it has served its purpose but time to move on!)
- On the subject I want to replace this Saffire LE it sounds alright for the price but buggy as hell

I think I feel a little better now

Hi Nowaysj

I've had my eye on the Schiit Magnus and Modi. Discrete amp and 24/96k DAC for $200 for the pair? Mmm mmm, I just... might.... hafta...

I kinda want a Benchmark DAC1 or Grace M903 but I can't see myself spending that kind of loot. And if I do, I'd rather it go towards some ADC and analog ins too, not just a DAC.


I realized the other day though, that apart from the slutty gear that I lust after and possibly the Schiit boxes, there's nothing else really on my gear radar. I need a scissor stand for my MPK but that's about it. Now I pretty much have no choice but to stop procrastinating and get down to it.

Although I wouldn't mind a bass... And possibly some more headphones. And a Zoom H4N with a shotgun and contact mic. Hydrophonic mics look really cool too.



Fuck.

SunkLo wrote:I've had my eye on the Schiit Magnus

Word, it's it's schiit.

(I've never used it in my life)

Haha, what a name

SunkLo

Why would you rate the Schiit over something like the JDS Labs Cmoy?