Finally bought a W30 again

Want to talk about music hardware or software that doesn't include Reason?
User avatar
phasys
Posts: 199
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

05 Aug 2015

And wow, it is some machine. No wonder Liam Howlett stuck with it for so long. Getting re-acquanted with it. Last time I had one, Rebirth wasn't even out yet.

User avatar
SoulState
Posts: 308
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

05 Aug 2015

Sold mine a couple years ago. Had it since 1991. Never quite got the hang of it. Only really used it for sampling. Then Cubase VST came along and later Reason and that-was-that... didn't seem any point in keeping it just to play/trigger sounds in my DAW; so it was garaged for years, then eventually sold.
Still wish I'd kept it though; never like selling gear.
Now you're going to tell me about all the amazing sounds you're easing out of it and make me feel all crap.

Ps. Miss my yamaha CS 1X too :?
:reason:

User avatar
raymondh
Posts: 1776
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

05 Aug 2015

What sort of W30? Roland W30 Sampling Workstation? (I used to have one of those - it was a great machine!)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

User avatar
eusti
Moderator
Posts: 2793
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

05 Aug 2015

I think the Cassandra Complex used a W30 for this song... Seem to recall that the orchestral sound was a popular one for that sampler...



D.

User avatar
Benedict
Competition Winner
Posts: 2747
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Location: Gold Coast, Australia
Contact:

05 Aug 2015

What a cool song.

I absolutely adored my two Emu Emaxes (I & II) and only sold Emma X (Emax II) after it made no sense to keep as I was 100% Reason and going outside was a PITA (no MIDI).

I still miss them. The limits and time taken to do things made you focus more on the craft of your song. Enjoy your W30

:)
Benedict Roff-Marsh
Completely burned and gone

User avatar
raymondh
Posts: 1776
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

05 Aug 2015

Benedict wrote:What a cool song.

I absolutely adored my two Emu Emaxes (I & II) and only sold Emma X (Emax II) after it made no sense to keep as I was 100% Reason and going outside was a PITA (no MIDI).

I still miss them. The limits and time taken to do things made you focus more on the craft of your song. Enjoy your W30

:)
Happy Birthday Benedict!

User avatar
Benedict
Competition Winner
Posts: 2747
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Location: Gold Coast, Australia
Contact:

05 Aug 2015

Thanks Ray

:)
Benedict Roff-Marsh
Completely burned and gone

User avatar
eusti
Moderator
Posts: 2793
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

05 Aug 2015

Happy birthday from here as well! :)

D.

User avatar
Benedict
Competition Winner
Posts: 2747
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Location: Gold Coast, Australia
Contact:

05 Aug 2015

Thanks Eusti

:)
Benedict Roff-Marsh
Completely burned and gone

User avatar
SoulState
Posts: 308
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

06 Aug 2015

raymondh wrote:What sort of W30? Roland W30 Sampling Workstation? (I used to have one of those - it was a great machine!)
:thumbs_up: Ya that's the one.
:reason:

User avatar
raymondh
Posts: 1776
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

06 Aug 2015

SoulState wrote:
raymondh wrote:What sort of W30? Roland W30 Sampling Workstation? (I used to have one of those - it was a great machine!)
:thumbs_up: Ya that's the one.
Ah, yes I've just listened to that video and yep that Orchestral sound was one of the sample disks.

It certainly is a really nice machine. 12 bit sampling from memory but the sounds were great.

I think it was used by a lot of people. Remember U Can't Touch This by MC Hammer? :-)

User avatar
phasys
Posts: 199
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

06 Aug 2015

SoulState wrote:Sold mine a couple years ago. Had it since 1991. Never quite got the hang of it. Only really used it for sampling. Then Cubase VST came along and later Reason and that-was-that... didn't seem any point in keeping it just to play/trigger sounds in my DAW; so it was garaged for years, then eventually sold.
Still wish I'd kept it though; never like selling gear.
Now you're going to tell me about all the amazing sounds you're easing out of it and make me feel all crap.

Ps. Miss my yamaha CS 1X too :?
I had one around 1997/1998. Invested quite a bit of time in learning how it worked so eventually I knew my way around it quite well. Used it in conjunction with an Atari ST with Cubase 2.0. The built in sequencer is quite cumbersome to use, but not unusable. And the built in sounds are pretty cool as well, and it has LFO, Filter, etc. And the 12 bit sampler (although it has 16 bit DAC) and 30khz rate give it a nice crunchy sound. I usually did my drumloops on 15Khz, to make them extra crunchy and save space (it only holds 14.4 secs of 30khz data).

But man is it fun to play with! And also quite usable as a master keyboard. :) I bought it because the sampler and such is so intuitive and fun to use so I hope that this will bring some spark to boost my creativity.

User avatar
phasys
Posts: 199
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

06 Aug 2015

raymondh wrote:It certainly is a really nice machine. 12 bit sampling from memory but the sounds were great.

I think it was used by a lot of people. Remember U Can't Touch This by MC Hammer? :-)
Prodigy made the first album on the W30 (actually on two), and still uses them to this day.

User avatar
SoulState
Posts: 308
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

06 Aug 2015

phasys wrote:And the 12 bit sampler (although it has 16 bit DAC) and 30khz rate give it a nice crunchy sound. I usually did my drumloops on 15Khz, to make them extra crunchy and save space (it only holds 14.4 secs of 30khz data).
"Yeah that CRUNCH" My mate who had one before I did used to go on about the crunch. I didn't have a clue what he was on about then...do now ;)
:reason:

User avatar
phasys
Posts: 199
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

07 Aug 2015

SoulState wrote: "Yeah that CRUNCH" My mate who had one before I did used to go on about the crunch. I didn't have a clue what he was on about then...do now ;)
I'll keep you posted. :D For now I'm planning to hook my iPhone 6 to the sample input and sample all kinds of Figure and iMaschine beats/loops/shenenigans.

User avatar
phasys
Posts: 199
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

16 Dec 2015

Connected it now to my Focusrite Saffire, audio out goes into the Focusrite audio in (using a small mixer). Midi goes out to the computer. So now I can use the W30 to record audio from, or as a master keyboard. Old meets new and it's a happy marriage. :D

Yeah, that also means that I can use both the W30 sound and a sound in Reason at the same time!

User avatar
eusti
Moderator
Posts: 2793
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

16 Dec 2015

Hehe, wanted to post the link to that Cassandra Complex video again... Am glad I checked before! :P

D.

User avatar
phasys
Posts: 199
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

28 Dec 2015

My W30 was a bit lonely so I also picked up a DJ70mk2. :D

Now all I need is a zip drive.

jallen97
Posts: 61
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

28 Dec 2015

I have a W30... How much do they go for? Didn't see any listed on eBay or Amazon. Been meaning to sell it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

User avatar
phasys
Posts: 199
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

28 Dec 2015

jallen97 wrote:I have a W30... How much do they go for? Didn't see any listed on eBay or Amazon. Been meaning to sell it.
If it's in good condition you should be able to sell it for 150-200.

User avatar
decibel
Posts: 974
Joined: 07 Mar 2015

28 Dec 2015

phasys wrote:My W30 was a bit lonely so I also picked up a DJ70mk2. :D

Now all I need is a zip drive.

wow, i had forgotten all about zip drives untill you just mentioned them, i have a bunch of old vector based art on disks tucked away in a box somewhere, i wonder how hard it would be to find a drive and view them again ? i would probably need a really old mac running antique versions of the software i used to create it all yeah. maybe some other time, probably more trouble then its worth eh lol

User avatar
phasys
Posts: 199
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

29 Dec 2015

decibel wrote: wow, i had forgotten all about zip drives untill you just mentioned them, i have a bunch of old vector based art on disks tucked away in a box somewhere, i wonder how hard it would be to find a drive and view them again ? i would probably need a really old mac running antique versions of the software i used to create it all yeah. maybe some other time, probably more trouble then its worth eh lol
There's USB zip drives, so that's not a problem. I'm pretty pissed off, I ALMOST had a deal for an Akai S2000 with two scsi zipdrives but it was just sold. But there's loads on ebay and stuff.

jallen97
Posts: 61
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

29 Dec 2015

phasys wrote:
jallen97 wrote:I have a W30... How much do they go for? Didn't see any listed on eBay or Amazon. Been meaning to sell it.
If it's in good condition you should be able to sell it for 150-200.
Thanks!!! Just wanted to make it sure I hadn't missed something and it was worth big bucks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

User avatar
phasys
Posts: 199
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

29 Dec 2015

jallen97 wrote: Thanks!!! Just wanted to make it sure I hadn't missed something and it was worth big bucks!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well you could always ask more :D

It's all about bartering I guess, I talked mine down from 150 to 50 when I showed that the value knob was unresponsive. That's the advantage when you as buyer know the product and the seller doesn't. :D

User avatar
Jagwah
Posts: 2549
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

04 Jan 2016

One of Liam's live rigs:
liam howlett set up.jpg
liam howlett set up.jpg (73.52 KiB) Viewed 3372 times

Post Reply
  • Information
  • Who is online

    Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 17 guests