Hardware Samplers - Studio Time: S2E10

Let's get physical... have a look at some of my go-to hardware, why and how I use them, and much more.
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[@vjrei]

Nice to see him playing with samplers. I remember when I was 18 years old and I had the ASR-10. I lost myself for 3 years in my room. I got out and I was 21 already.

[@jessihawkins9116]

I have to poop. wanna sample that? 😏

[@DonSolaris]

Excellent video!!! Tom, i hope i'm allowed to add some extras: 1) actually just two of the samplers in here use variable clock rate (sampler changing the sample rate to play the sample) and those are the Akai S950 and E-MU Emulator II 2) all of the others use realtime resampling, which means they have fixed clock sample rate just like software samplers. However they differ from most software in the way they interpolate the data, They use primitive Linear interpolation, which produces certain artefacts, while most of the software uses far superior interpolation algorhitms nowadays. However some software samplers like Reasampleomatic 4000 let you choose linear interpolation. There are two oddballs in the last group which i have to mention: a) Ensoniq Mirage uses fixed clock rate but uses drop-sample interpolation (31kHz clock) which is super crude. I don't know of any soft sampler which does that but i guess it can be implemented. Yamaha DX-7 (49 kHz clock) uses this interpolation method as well. And so does the Prophet VS (250 kHz clock) and the PPG 2.3 (195 kHz clock). b) Roland S-770. It uses something that resembles Sinc interpolation but with Roland's cooking recipe. No matter what you sample in 770, it sounds super musical, magical and super sexy. Roland are masters of ear candy! Just listen to Super JV, would you believe i tell you it contains 8 bit waveforms, but with a lot of magic behind to unpack them into 16 bit data. Addendum: Actually Akai once made a sampler with Sinc interpolation. In fact it has a separate circuit just for that. It is model S1100. It is Akai's Rolls Royce and comes with incredible FX unit that screams 90's techno! However, Akai figured out this interpolation was way too expensive to put in the follow up models, hence why with S3000 and XL models, they degraded them back to Linear interpolation. Again, there is a way you can implement interpolation, it can look perfect from engineer's POV, but might not sound best in musical sense! So just because software samplers now offer sinc, it doesn't necessary mean it is exact same sinc as Akai engineers designed theirs. Keep in mind this was super expensive back then, one can assume they pulled some trickery behind, which of course results in unique sound. Give S1100 a shot, just for that incredible FX unit. There is so much more to tell... perhaps some other time.

[@junkiexlofficial]

This awesome information!! Give it up for the DON!

[@scifu7e91]

Good Information :D.

[@scifu7e91]

+junkiexlofficial Have you a favourite Keyboard? My is "YAMAHA TYROS" (i only have the first version with a floppy disc drive), because it's easy to use. If you ever have the Time, you can listen my songs like: "AIR" "GUARDIAN MARCH" "} {" "WALKING WITHOUT TALKING" "SKY DIVER" ... which are made with this old Keyboard (and other songs comes). No high quality, but maybe you like one. I never know much about "how to make music", but as i have seen your clips and so i began to read a book to learn more, i think "what, so many things to do". And if i would win millions of money, i would give a lot to you for your studio to work and i only want make something music with you. It's great to see so many People who make music (or not) and give questions or say, what is better like DON. I don't want write you a so long text (sorry), but you are GREAT and the Greatest music/soundtrack person for me and i wish you for all what you make the best and other who make music or have other dreams too ♥. Have a great Weekend Tom, that nothing make you down and see you ;) d^^bV

[@Erik_Torstensson]

Wonderful sound 20:00 .. Beautiful!!

[@crosswick]

Also interesting on this topic of interpolation: the Synclavier actually does have analog interpolation, as each of its voices has their own D/A converter, the clock of which is adjusted to achieve pitch scaling

[@LeeDaHitman]

One of the greatest youtube videos EVER!

[@ovestegan]

A masterclass! The message is simple; know your gear.

[@apollocarvalho8689]

My job once as an Audio Producer for MTV Brazil (early 90's) was basically an Akai S1000 for EVERYTHING, even the voice overs,and I remember loving it's sound. Then when I sampled on software it was never as much fun. Now I got an Emulator 2, the Nalbantov USB thing and it's just addictive

[@rogerfelez7478]

I can't live without my S3000XL, the AD/DA converters are very good!

[@user-vg5rv5xf4u]

Agreed,I like to sample my breaks at 10hz.

[@jessihawkins9116]

when it finally breaks down and isn’t repairable your going to have to.

[@christoroppolo8742]

Bob moog said the following to me at a namm show. "Chris"..in the very near future a little trick called sampling will make it possible to record a sound from any source which means all that expensive gear that you might not be able to afford can be taken on the road or in the studio all inside one simple and elligant box called a workstation. He was doing demos for farlight then and that changed my life and how i do electronic music. Peace christo

[@junkiexlofficial]

awesome!

[@christoroppolo8742]

junkie ! Thanks for listening brother! Peace christo

[@tadvo8670]

Dear Tom! I think humanity need some time to understand what You have done! So much information, so much experience goes with Your words. And You share it for free! All that videos... That's the spirit! Believe in humanity just got restored again! Thank You....

[@danl9407]

Come on mate....'humanity need some time...@ ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaa

[@raymondsamuel4431]

Didnt realize I just watched 30 minutes of old school synths I got an emu e64 ultra, Akai 1000, kurzweil k2500 I find myself still playing these wonderful machines.

[@LeeDaHitman]

This is a goldmine of a video right here

[@Arc.hitectureMusic]

That piano from hell patch on the Yamaha A series sampler was simply mind blowing. Thank you for making these videos as accessible to everyone. Long time sampler fan since 2000.

[@russell_szabados]

"Yamaha has a tendency to make everything overly complicated." - Junkie XL. Yes! Thank you Tom, I am vindicated! 😄

[@leo081969]

This could be a TED talk on sampler history, Very informative

[@DanielHerreraDesign]

I'm having the best breakfast with this.

[@thomasnielsen7229]

Now I am having lunch! lol.

[@DanielHerreraDesign]

Thomas Nielsen lol

[@DuduAram]

i'm having dinner

[@manrez5295]

DHRRRA lol i just did that too :D

[@achillesamusic]

Dinner here ;")

[@amonster8mymother]

Hi Tom. Thank you for taking the time to go through your sampler collection. I have several samplers and I am considering more. 👍

[@mm7wabanamateurradiowomble30]

Always loved my old Mirage, I had the keyboard version that we built an interface for so it was linked to Amiga A2000 computer systems providing synthesis, sampling and control with the Music-X software running on one of the Amiga computers. It ended up with a VFX SD, Roland D10, TB-303 and various other fun boxes from back in the day. Looking back now it was somewhat over complicated but provided a wonderful blend of hardware and software allowing for multi-track sequencing, incredible sample layering, analog and digital synthesis & FX. After many years away from music I have recently dived back into electronics and started building my own custom analog synths and a hybrid analog/digital synth rack is gradually growing. One thing that has not changed over time is that synths and audio gear always needs way more space than expected. :-) Keep up the good work Sir. !

[@L33Br34k]

You're doing such a great job, Tom! Amazing knowledge, you're an excellent teacher and providing a huge wealth of information to the scene! Thanks!

[@jameshutchins7042]

This is absolutely priceless. I thank u for how much I learn from you.

[@janipashkvan797]

The sound of the noisy cable is great, very cool idea!

[@Mandy-Lane]

thank you junkie for showing how you work in your studio.. um the best series so far on youtube. regards

[@marksoutheron4032]

great video, ive got the s750 ,s330 , and all the akai's. i love these old samplers, I guess i couldn't afford them back in the day

So after coming back a bunch of times to this video to witness the Ensoniq Mirage, I happened to buy one, so thanks Mr XL x)

[@TheBelse]

I'm a big fan...this guy is concise, digestible and likeable...great knowledge too.

[@yorganyog]

So much equipment. And the most cool, he really dig and mastered all. Amazing.

[@KarzenX]

My first keyboard/ sampler was an S-50. Had my Mom co-sign a loan. Still have it. Converted all samples for use in my Mac. Haven’t used it in years due to a really noisy output. S-770 was always my favorite and easiest to get things done with.

[@jessihawkins9116]

a loan?

[@KarzenX]

@@jessihawkins9116 yes it cost 2200+ and I did not have that kinda loot as a teen ☝🏽😄 made monthly payments for like 2 years. Financing through local banks used to be huge.

[@Synth2000]

Thank you VERY much for sharing this! it's not so usual to have an insight to the sound of this great machines.

[@hDansRandomCrud]

Thanks for doing a hardware sampler series. I'm just "rediscovering" an old ESI sampler I have, and your video is inspirational. Can't wait for part 2!

[@middle_pickup]

I would be interested in hearing who the "doctor" you keep referring to is. Where do you send these magnificent machines for repair?

[@rgcmusic]

This is by far one of the most informative videos I've ever watched. ❤️

[@von-fur-wegen-gegenolli9196]

Great Tour! I don't have a Hardware Sampler but i like the TAL-Sampler PlugIn from Togu Audio Line. It's not that complex than Kontakt is but you can just load Samples in it and playing around with the massive filter and modulation stuff!

[@KONNECTORAS]

Ok!!! Thumbs up! I have K200S, K2500R & K2600S since 1995 (for the 2000). Still use them and still love them! Keep sampling and synthing dude!

[@keschgelb]

Now i am happy, that i kept my E-MU ESI 32 Sampler. You made me start experimenting again.

[@WilmarBoer]

I recently sold all my equipment to go with the “all in the box” approach. NI machine, a macbook and every sound from VSTi's. To be compact and quick in producing. But now you made me want to buy samplers and sound modules again! :-)

[@Arc.hitectureMusic]

Wilmar Boer Having dome both extensively, the only thing I really like about in box is total recall. Lately I’m doing everything on a ASR10 and Atari based setup. I prefer the Atari/sampler setup so much more now.

[@androoow]

been into all this music tech since 83 when i started buying.. seen a lot of studios through the years , and loads on line.. ive never seen anyone have as much stuff as Tom has... he has almost everything !!! amazing.

[@Tommass79]

Great hardware sampler memories flood back seeing his collection in action.🙂

[@shirkophobe]

Aaah. Sampler NIRVANA! The Roland S-50 was my first sampler. I had it, a Roland R-8, a Technics 1200MKII turntable and an Alesis MMT-8 hardware sequencer. I miss that setup. The video out was so cool! And when I discovered subtones? WHOOO!

[@JohnLRice]

Thanks for the video, Tom! Wow, that sound at 20:00 is absolutely gorgeous! And the sound right after at 20:30 is also great.

[@1ksweatyrikers455]

Glad to see the love for the Ensoniq Mirage. I still have a keyboard version tucked away under my desk.

[@PereRevert]

Fantastic ! Tom, you're our hero !!

[@Claidheambmor]

This is absolutely brilliant, thank you so much for shedding light on the hardware and techniques, as a new convert to sampling (SP-404 and MPC 1000) I am truly humbled.

[@MrScrooge1980]

Living Legend, Salute! Great Video!

[@desreb3385]

Man, thnx for the information.. I want my S-50 and Mirage Rack back.

[@MythixMusic1]

I have no experience with hardware samplers, but I am blown away by the quality. How does it do that!? Wow!

[@spark198rus]

...Junkie XL will tell, the future in the sampler hell...

[@sunilsolanki]

Loved this episode so much. Really enjoyed the history of the machines. Best part was when you played the samples on the Yamaha a 4000 and the Mirage. Just beautiful. Thanks so much for this Tom.

[@AttilaSVK]

I regret to this very day that I sold my Oberheim Matrix 1000, and that I haven't bought an Ensoniq Mirage (or any other Ensoniq gear) when it was dirt cheap about 10-12 years ago. However I bought a Yamaha A5000 back then, and I'm not letting that sucker go anywhere.

[@pongtrometer]

Superb Overview.

[@eddiemaiden2012]

I'm impressed with your knowledge about all of your equipment thank you

[@allio3340]

The patch of emu I remember my hammon and reclick second sound repitins in lesli but in your studio , great thanks

[@thedrumunkey8582]

A new shirt!!!

[@oraz.]

I've got a fascination with Emu samplers because of the 98 drum and bass days.

[@HOUCEMATE]

I can watch these videos forever

[@firozefp]

I wish my son had a private tutor like you who teaches with all his heart... :) You are truely an amazing Person Sir!! GOD BLESS YOU. Btw we do get to learn a lot from your videos keep up the good work :)

[@junkiexlofficial]

thank you!

[@PosyMusic]

Love these videos. How you explain the hardware, demonstrate it and your passion for it :-) Groetjes uit Holland

[@NNITRED]

What drew me to the K-200RS is that you can run any sample through the VAST synth engine. It also had unheard of features like replicate, Mix beat, mix echo and the automatic ability to sample itself that pt it head and shoulders above anything that Akai had at the time. It's a beast to reckoned with even today - for those willing to look under the hood.

[@thechronicnoizeco.6675]

This is like my new favourite TV show.

[@mikehydropneumatic2583]

Basically soundwise the shortcomings of the hardware became the go to character and sound. The Fairlight is in particular very recognizable.

[@rebornmusic7900]

i can watch this all day

[@kohlemainen]

Tom, het is allemaal heel schandelijk en onzedelijk. Fijn om even een half uurtje bij je te zijn vanuit mijn Friese huiskamer. Wat een feest. En ja, hier heb ik mijn W30 aan de Gotek tegenwoordig. De tijd vliegt, maar mooie samplers blijven mooie samplers. Hartelijke hartelijke groet! Peter Sijbenga,

[@fischergreen4134]

Inspirational Video. I have a ASR 10 keyboard which I mothballed when I stopped live performance. This has motivated me to plug it back into my set up and play around. Thank you.

[@adytech5788]

the ASR 10 is clearly the best sampler that have been made (dp4 inside) i had also the Yamaha A3000 and the filter was very cool , i miss it a lot ...

[@saren6538]

Half a dp4 inside

[@TimskyOfficial]

Thank you so much Tom, the arpeggios of the emulator brought tears into my eyes. You reminded me of the incredible sound of my own samplers, the newer emulators. I was always missing something from the DAW samplers, now i´ll go and get my machines back to work! Thank you!

[@campbell1175]

Excellent, really enjoyed that. Gave me some reassurance that I'm not the only old school sample nerd out there. You can keep all the modern convenience. Not even relevant. It's the sound that matters. Maybe I'm just old!

[@WoodyPianoShack]

great vid, was really fun to revisit those old digital classics, what a treat! thanks

[@Kirk-Monteux-Production]

Back the days I used a Emax II which had also incredible analog filters. For a very special job where I had to design pretty dark sounds for a modern stage play of "Danton's Death" I played sample up to 5 octaves below without any aliasing. Never did find this quality again.

[@ntrsnofficial8328]

The Emax II had digital filters only the 8 bit 12 bit d/a Emax 1 and Emax 1 se had analogue curtis filters .

[@theshadowman1398]

How on earth haven't I found this channel sooner. Awesome stuff.

[@freshmint5130]

Absolutely fantastic. Thanks for sharing this info!

[@kerzwhile]

Excellent video! Mind numbing collection. SMH.. Just incredible!

[@r3r3]

Thanks, awesome episode! The mirage and the emulator II omg..

[@JonGriffinMusician]

Bringing back memories. I had an S550 when it came out.

[@sanchitgide6316]

Those sounds omg!!...just can dream of having these great samplers

[@claudius3124]

Wow! That was a great episode! Million thanks for that tour of your wonderful wizard's world.... ;-)

[@PhilipValdesMusic]

The modular wall in the back has one hell of a patch going

[@fairplay1200]

its really wonderful what This guy is doing

[@Wazoox]

The TX16W is running on an MSX computer (actually I'm pretty sure the Roland S-330/550/7x0 do, too). Crazy people from Sweden IIRC released a new, much better operating system for it in the late 90s (many years after its heyday). Usually the Roland S50/S550/S7x0 where used with the external monitor and mouse. That made them much easier to use than other samplers of the time. The TX16W, S950, S50/S550 where using 12 bits samples with 16 bits converters. The older S900 and lower end S330 had 12 bits converters and therefore much higher noise level. The Emu samplers had analog filters up until and including the EMUIII. They all sound fantastic :)

[@jessihawkins9116]

the s50 tablet is the same as an msx tablet

[@johndean5860]

Please do a short video on your synth stands!!!

[@AndersEngerJensen]

You have the most envious studio setup!!! 😱 I'm surprised you don't have a couple of S-760s too though, better OS and editing, but still no effects. Anyway, I'm drooling here... 💖😜

[@chenguefer156]

Wow, from 20:00 and on: pure beauty.

[@theIVANoMUSIC]

Amazing, thank you Tom!

[@aaronedwards6507]

this guy is the king of music technology he has errrrthang

[@jbforce10]

The thing about the Kurzweils is that they are incredibly flexible synthesisers that you can use your own samples as the foundation waveform. I don't think this clip really does them justice but I guess he has a point if just talking about simple sampling and replaying without additional synthesis. Of all of the hardware samplers that I've owned over the years from Akai, Ensoniq, Sequential, E-mu, Oberheim, NED, Simmons, and Linn, I kept the Kurzweil K2000 & K2500 and the Synclavier but regret selling the Emulator III (keyboard) and Simmons SDX.

[@junkiexlofficial]

I just started using the additional synthesis! Its awesome...

[@poserp]

As someone who's spent a significant amount of time with VAST, I gotta say... It takes a while to get into it. I got my first K2000R in (IIRC) 2003 (I'd bought a JP8080 from GC but returned it after I didn't gel with the interface). It sat mostly unused for at least 2 years, until one day I sat down and decided that I was going to put in the time to properly learn VAST. As a computer programmer professionally, I feel like I have a bit of a leg up w.r.t. gelling with the Kurzweil way of doing things. I haven't looked back since, but I don't have the kinds of bookings or income from music to justify owning lots of synths. So, I can nerd out all I want because nobody's paying me to be musically productive... Anyways, I hope that your journey into VAST is fun and rewarding. And, great video -- your collection, knowledge, and discography are truly epic.

[@RDJ134]

I sold my S950 last year, that whas a very good toy that i used for many years. Tom,. dank je voor al deze video's, het is echt een pracht om naar te kijken.

[@SeraphimArchives]

The Kurzweils are absolutely beasts. V.A.S.T. Still holds up as one of the best

[@ThomasUeber]

Great video! First time i watch your stuff. From now on i will come back to your channel.

[@chriscollinson725]

Tom, this is a brilliant tutorial. Nice one mate! I’ve learnt loads about my studio of various hardware samplers just from 30 mins of your time. And yeah, I just bought an 8 bit Mirage after watching this :)

[@toomuchcables3154]

I would totally love to see you in this studio with a MPC One and giving some in depths about everything you think about its sound!

[@sideshowbob1544]

I can only stand in awe ...

[@arthurtsal-tsalko2288]

Hi Tom, I would like to thank you for you all that work and time that you put into these episodes. They are very informative, entertaining and the topics you chose to talk about are super interesting! This episode in particular really helped me out and answered a lot of my questions about hardware samplers. I would love to see the second part of this, where you compare the workflow, the advantages and disadvantages and the sound of working with kontakt and these samplers. Cheers, Arthur

[@renemunkthalund3581]

Thanks for a great series, Tom. S950 was my first sampler, still have it! My workhorse was S3000XL, used them live until 2008 - same OS as 3200XL and just wonderful. A friend helped me modify them to load from CompactFlash cards sitting in a module replacing the floppydrive - the card comes up in the OS as an internal HD - technically connected via an SCSI-IDE conversion chipset :-)

[@Heathcliff_hensel]

Back in 2013 the price of 2nd hand samplers hit rock bottom. I got a Emu e6400 for $60, Akai s-900 for $50 and a Roland s-750 for $90.00.

[@junkiexlofficial]

there you go!!

[@thisislooplounge]

But After this video the market rate will rise AHAHAHA

[@Wazoox]

I remember vividly the S750 for its ridiculously big RAM upgrade kit :) It came originally with 2MB of RAM, and the 16 MB expansion was a board almost half as large as the sampler itself, and really hard to properly install and get running! And it was also very shock-sensitive... In fact using a 16 MB S750 on tour proved to be nigh impossible, because of this board...

[@Heathcliff_hensel]

Emmanuel Florac That some good info I bet the Ram upgrade was probably expensive too back then ram was allot of money.

[@Wazoox]

Yeah in the mid-90s the complete setup cost was crazy expensive, more than twice as expensive as a high-end synth like a D70, or an Akai S1000. But the Akai had no resonant filters, and sounded like crap compared to the S7x0 :)

[@urbannpa]

Liked your video, you are so right about Yamaha over complicating. I had a chance to get one of their digital mixer and chose Tascam instead even though the Yamaha had more features there was a higher learning curve involved.

[@fakshen1973]

The first sampler I owned I bought used in 1990 was a Ensoniq Mirage for $400 with burger-flipping money. The K2000RS was NICE. You could edit waveforms on the front panel: crop, loop, etc. It also had a decent sequencer and mixer built into it. The real expense was the memory and the hard drive. 32MB of memory and 750GB of hard drive set me back another $2000. But it was a really cool synth with a great sampling option on it. It also had multiple routing set-ups available in the V.A.S.T. synth engine. Oh, it could even time stretch samples if I recall correctly. It was crude. But it maintained pitch.

[@pinkponyofprey1965]

Yes!!! The ASR10 is still fantastic! I have the keyboard version with patch select buttons and polyphonic aftertouch. The sound is to die for! I also had a Mirage but at the time it was in this "almost new" valley were great gear seems to suck even if they don't so I kind of just disowned it haha! shame really, now! There were some sounds worth saving for now ... oh, well. eBay? :D

[@gerryjamesedwards1227]

As an avowed solder-fume junkie, I'd personally love to see some repair videos, Tom!

[@JohnSmith-ut9ti]

Mind Blown. Thank You!

[@joeboygsxr]

I'd quite like to see how you are powering all the gear in your studio and how the power is wired in as regards the studio.

[@els1f]

I agree completely. I think about this whenever I see any large studio full of equipment. I'm only now thinking of power, and my setup is comparatively VERY modest.

[@joeboygsxr]

John Smith no but somewhat knowledgeable in the topic, I do odd jobs here and there as well as repairs on some gear and building effects. Only 16 at the moment but I'd like to go down the path of electrical engineering or something of the sort for a career

[@jabelsjabels]

Same! Are you able to turn everything on at once without blowing a fuse? I wonder how warm the studio would get!

[@joeboygsxr]

Jeremy Abel I'd either do it in stages or integrate a soft power up system to prevent the sudden high current spike

[@alphatumeric]

You can call your electrical supplier for three phase electricity. You can also add solar energy. You have options if you want to.

[@michaels8597]

It's a great video..Usually,it makes sense to power the samplers from a junction box,to a voltage regulator/UPS system,then to good surge boxes,since brownouts and other nasties might hurt the gear.You can do the same with your computers,and dont put other kinds of gear on the same circuits.Stay clear of microwaves,heaters,ACs,fridges,and other devices with compressors,and keep your media in the dark,cool,nonmagnetic places...I have multiple samplers and always will no matter what software they make.

[@wariusgaius]

YES my man the super producer talking about my favorite things in the world: samplers :)))))

[@Vonaan]

I was about to throw away my three TX16W's. Two only have 1Mb, one the full 6MB. After seeing this video I will keep them. I have the Typhoon OS somewhere too. It was made by a Swedish guy and really improved the user interface and added some features.

[@chenguefer156]

Awesome video!. Very clear concepts, very instructive. Many thanks!.