Hardware samplers

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Gorgon
Posts: 1233
Joined: 11 Mar 2016

04 Nov 2017

So, I am now the proud owner of a Roland SP-808. Anyone have one? The ZIP disk was fucked so I ordered another one from ebay, should be getting it in a week or so.

Nice addition to my Roland W30 and DJ70MK2 :)
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Carly(Poohbear)
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Joined: 25 Jan 2015
Location: UK

04 Nov 2017

Nice bit of kit.


I do have Roland W30 and a Casio SK5 (<-my first sampler).

Back in the early 90's Roland UK offered their sample banks out free, you just had to turn up at their head office and copy the samples your self, their head office was only about 15 minutes away so I spent a day there getting a hold of 100's of samples. (about 100 floppy disks worth) :)

I also have D70 (which I need to take apart yet again to blow the keyboard bed out, slightest bit of dust messes it up) and Korg T1 (my work horse). :)

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Vince-Noir-99
Posts: 449
Joined: 02 Dec 2015
Location: Russia

05 Nov 2017

The SP-808 has been my first sampler/workstation. Loved it!
The zips are a bit noisy. I remember they were already not so easy to find 15 years ago, and rather expensive.. Perhaps there are ways to use HD or SD?
The effects are quite nice, and there's also a virtual analogue oscillator that can be sequenced.
It was one of the first samplers with time stretching, and after long debating, I went for it as my first sampler, instead of the MPC-2000, because of the 4-track recorder, which I used extensively to record guitars and vocals. That's before I even remotely considered a computer as part of my musical activities :)
I used it to print audio and mix/arrange tracks from the MC-505. This type of workflow is something I try to emulate often in Reason. I like the constraints of audio against the forever editable MIDI.

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Gorgon
Posts: 1233
Joined: 11 Mar 2016

05 Nov 2017

Carly(Poohbear) wrote:
04 Nov 2017
Nice bit of kit.


I do have Roland W30 and a Casio SK5 (<-my first sampler).

Back in the early 90's Roland UK offered their sample banks out free, you just had to turn up at their head office and copy the samples your self, their head office was only about 15 minutes away so I spent a day there getting a hold of 100's of samples. (about 100 floppy disks worth) :)

I also have D70 (which I need to take apart yet again to blow the keyboard bed out, slightest bit of dust messes it up) and Korg T1 (my work horse). :)
Nice! Do you have the SCSI mod in the W30 also?
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Gorgon
Posts: 1233
Joined: 11 Mar 2016

05 Nov 2017

Vince-Noir-99 wrote:
05 Nov 2017
The SP-808 has been my first sampler/workstation. Loved it!
The zips are a bit noisy. I remember they were already not so easy to find 15 years ago, and rather expensive.. Perhaps there are ways to use HD or SD?
The effects are quite nice, and there's also a virtual analogue oscillator that can be sequenced.
It was one of the first samplers with time stretching, and after long debating, I went for it as my first sampler, instead of the MPC-2000, because of the 4-track recorder, which I used extensively to record guitars and vocals. That's before I even remotely considered a computer as part of my musical activities :)
I used it to print audio and mix/arrange tracks from the MC-505. This type of workflow is something I try to emulate often in Reason. I like the constraints of audio against the forever editable MIDI.
Apparently there's only one SD reader that works, and that's the one from the AKAI MPC2000-XL (the blue one). Everything else is a no go. I ordered a 250Mb ZIP drive instead. Shame that it won't do anything without a ZIP in the drive.
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Carly(Poohbear)
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Joined: 25 Jan 2015
Location: UK

05 Nov 2017

Gorgon wrote:
05 Nov 2017


Nice! Do you have the SCSI mod in the W30 also?
Not yet, it's something I have thought about over the years, do you have any drives\zips setup for it?

TBH I have not played my keyboards much (last 10 years) due to way my house has been setup, I'm hoping to move soon so all my music stuff will once again be together and then.... the fun can begin :)

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Gorgon
Posts: 1233
Joined: 11 Mar 2016

17 Nov 2017

My SP808 is alive with the new ZIP drive! Awesome!
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Gorgon
Posts: 1233
Joined: 11 Mar 2016

17 Nov 2017

Carly(Poohbear) wrote:
05 Nov 2017
Gorgon wrote:
05 Nov 2017


Nice! Do you have the SCSI mod in the W30 also?
Not yet, it's something I have thought about over the years, do you have any drives\zips setup for it?

TBH I have not played my keyboards much (last 10 years) due to way my house has been setup, I'm hoping to move soon so all my music stuff will once again be together and then.... the fun can begin :)
I got my SCSI zip working on the DJ70 but haven't tried it yet on the W30 (I'm not sure if the SCSI kit is in there).

Need to open it up anyway to replace an encoder.
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Gorgon
Posts: 1233
Joined: 11 Mar 2016

07 Dec 2017

So now a guy from Spain sent me a new OS for the SP808 and also the original demo disk. Isn't internet awesome? :D
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Re8et
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Posts: 1511
Joined: 14 Nov 2016

26 Apr 2021

My take on the Casio Sk1 to the Op1... wondering if also the Sk5 makes this kind of fat-highcut sampling.
I just put the midi kit in the Sk1 after years of hesitation...
Does also the Sk5 auto-power off? I hate that... I lose my samples every time if I'm not fast enough... :(

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Re8et
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Joined: 14 Nov 2016

26 Apr 2021

Carly(Poohbear) wrote:
04 Nov 2017
Nice bit of kit.


I do have Roland W30 and a Casio SK5 (<-my first sampler).

Back in the early 90's Roland UK offered their sample banks out free, you just had to turn up at their head office and copy the samples your self, their head office was only about 15 minutes away so I spent a day there getting a hold of 100's of samples. (about 100 floppy disks worth) :)

I also have D70 (which I need to take apart yet again to blow the keyboard bed out, slightest bit of dust messes it up) and Korg T1 (my work horse). :)

This reminds me of the early Reason 1.0 exporting projects on floppies.... :) good times :)

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Despondo
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Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: Charlotte, NC
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27 Apr 2021

Still rocking my Ensoniq ASR-10. Installed an internal Zip drive many years ago to replace the external SCSI Syquest drive I started with. I still have that drive kicking around somewhere in storage. Haven't really used it much since I converted all of the samples and instruments over to NNXT filled combinators in Reason. ;-)

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fullforce
Posts: 849
Joined: 18 Aug 2018

28 Apr 2021

Despondo wrote:
27 Apr 2021
Still rocking my Ensoniq ASR-10. Installed an internal Zip drive many years ago to replace the external SCSI Syquest drive I started with. I still have that drive kicking around somewhere in storage. Haven't really used it much since I converted all of the samples and instruments over to NNXT filled combinators in Reason. ;-)
ASR-10, great machine.
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bxbrkrz
Posts: 3810
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

04 May 2021

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raymondh
Posts: 1776
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

04 May 2021

Cool thread guys!

I used to have a W-30, 25 years ago. What a great sampling workstation.
I still remember the demo "This is my song". :)

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fullforce
Posts: 849
Joined: 18 Aug 2018

12 May 2021

raymondh wrote:
04 May 2021
Cool thread guys!

I used to have a W-30, 25 years ago. What a great sampling workstation.
I still remember the demo "This is my song". :)
This is indeed a great thread. It was started by an awesome guy. A legend in some parts.
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bxbrkrz
Posts: 3810
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

12 May 2021

I forgot I used to own a Roland S-50. It was plugged to a black and green monitor.
757365206C6F67696320746F207365656B20616E73776572732075736520726561736F6E20746F2066696E6420776973646F6D20676574206F7574206F6620796F757220636F6D666F7274207A6F6E65206F7220796F757220696E737069726174696F6E2077696C6C206372797374616C6C697A6520666F7265766572

madmacman
Posts: 786
Joined: 18 Jan 2015

14 May 2021

bxbrkrz wrote:
04 May 2021
Great machine! I have the rack version FZ10M. But currently out of order, because it heavily requires service: backlight & some broken output jacks. :(

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bxbrkrz
Posts: 3810
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

14 May 2021

madmacman wrote:
14 May 2021
bxbrkrz wrote:
04 May 2021
Great machine! I have the rack version FZ10M. But currently out of order, because it heavily requires service: backlight & some broken output jacks. :(
Have it estimated and, if it's not too insane, fix it. Maybe fixing it yourself could be a surprising possibility. From my personal experience with old gear, once I knew the outcome no matter what, it felt less than a dead weight in my head and my little Oasis.

You never know :puf_smile:
757365206C6F67696320746F207365656B20616E73776572732075736520726561736F6E20746F2066696E6420776973646F6D20676574206F7574206F6620796F757220636F6D666F7274207A6F6E65206F7220796F757220696E737069726174696F6E2077696C6C206372797374616C6C697A6520666F7265766572

madmacman
Posts: 786
Joined: 18 Jan 2015

14 May 2021

bxbrkrz wrote:
14 May 2021
Maybe fixing it yourself could be a surprising possibility. From my personal experience with old gear, once I knew the outcome no matter what, it felt less than a dead weight in my head and my little Oasis.

You never know :puf_smile:
Absolutely! I‘m not shy of repairing stuff myself. :thumbup: My trusty TG77 recently got a treatment with new battery, all new display (blue) and button replacements. It‘s more a matter of spare time and getting the parts for it. But is is on my todo list. :-)

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bxbrkrz
Posts: 3810
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

14 May 2021

madmacman wrote:
14 May 2021
bxbrkrz wrote:
14 May 2021
Maybe fixing it yourself could be a surprising possibility. From my personal experience with old gear, once I knew the outcome no matter what, it felt less than a dead weight in my head and my little Oasis.

You never know :puf_smile:
Absolutely! I‘m not shy of repairing stuff myself. :thumbup: My trusty TG77 recently got a treatment with new battery, all new display (blue) and button replacements. It‘s more a matter of spare time and getting the parts for it. But is is on my todo list. :-)
I bought a couple of 2032s recently for my old friends myself :puf_smile: :thumbs_up:
757365206C6F67696320746F207365656B20616E73776572732075736520726561736F6E20746F2066696E6420776973646F6D20676574206F7574206F6620796F757220636F6D666F7274207A6F6E65206F7220796F757220696E737069726174696F6E2077696C6C206372797374616C6C697A6520666F7265766572

danc
Posts: 1017
Joined: 14 Oct 2016

18 May 2021

bxbrkrz wrote:
14 May 2021
madmacman wrote:
14 May 2021


Great machine! I have the rack version FZ10M. But currently out of order, because it heavily requires service: backlight & some broken output jacks. :(
Have it estimated and, if it's not too insane, fix it. Maybe fixing it yourself could be a surprising possibility. From my personal experience with old gear, once I knew the outcome no matter what, it felt less than a dead weight in my head and my little Oasis.

You never know :puf_smile:
My first hardware sampler was a second hand FZ-1... it had barely any memory and the UI was fiddly - very fiddly. Great bit-crushed dirty sound though. I also had a Casio VZ-10m synth which had some very interesting sounds (well - mine was the replica Hohner HS-2/E). Plus a Casio CZ-101.

I then sold the FZ-1 and got a brand new Ensoniq ASR-10 in 1992.. I think I went with Ensoniq because at the time Adamski was well into his Ensoniq gear and I liked his Killer track and aspired to do similar. Anyway the ASR-10 had a SCSI drive and all the memory upgrades. LOVED IT!
Check my Soundcloud:

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bxbrkrz
Posts: 3810
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

18 May 2021

danc wrote:
18 May 2021
bxbrkrz wrote:
14 May 2021

Have it estimated and, if it's not too insane, fix it. Maybe fixing it yourself could be a surprising possibility. From my personal experience with old gear, once I knew the outcome no matter what, it felt less than a dead weight in my head and my little Oasis.

You never know :puf_smile:
My first hardware sampler was a second hand FZ-1... it had barely any memory and the UI was fiddly - very fiddly. Great bit-crushed dirty sound though. I also had a Casio VZ-10m synth which had some very interesting sounds (well - mine was the replica Hohner HS-2/E). Plus a Casio CZ-101.

I then sold the FZ-1 and got a brand new Ensoniq ASR-10 in 1992.. I think I went with Ensoniq because at the time Adamski was well into his Ensoniq gear and I liked his Killer track and aspired to do similar. Anyway the ASR-10 had a SCSI drive and all the memory upgrades. LOVED IT!
Is there any good emulations for the FZ-1 and Ensoniq?
757365206C6F67696320746F207365656B20616E73776572732075736520726561736F6E20746F2066696E6420776973646F6D20676574206F7574206F6620796F757220636F6D666F7274207A6F6E65206F7220796F757220696E737069726174696F6E2077696C6C206372797374616C6C697A6520666F7265766572

danc
Posts: 1017
Joined: 14 Oct 2016

18 May 2021

bxbrkrz wrote:
18 May 2021
danc wrote:
18 May 2021


My first hardware sampler was a second hand FZ-1... it had barely any memory and the UI was fiddly - very fiddly. Great bit-crushed dirty sound though. I also had a Casio VZ-10m synth which had some very interesting sounds (well - mine was the replica Hohner HS-2/E). Plus a Casio CZ-101.

I then sold the FZ-1 and got a brand new Ensoniq ASR-10 in 1992.. I think I went with Ensoniq because at the time Adamski was well into his Ensoniq gear and I liked his Killer track and aspired to do similar. Anyway the ASR-10 had a SCSI drive and all the memory upgrades. LOVED IT!
Is there any good emulations for the FZ-1 and Ensoniq?
Yes... D16 Decimort emulates the sound (but not the GUI).

https://d16.pl/decimort2

EdGrip
Posts: 2343
Joined: 03 Jun 2016

18 May 2021

The TAL Sampler also emulates various classic sampler ADC/DACs, (as well as Akai timestretching), though I'm not sure it does those specific ones. It's a really fun machine for messing with samples.

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