Vintage Sampler Review Yamaha A4000

This amazing sampler has a nice warm and detailed sound. It is deep and easy to use.

[@NachtSchreck13]

I recommend finding YAMAHA's TWE (Tiny Wave Editor) and A4000/5000 editor, which gives you on screen access to every setting and parameter, every knob and button function. It allows you to give the front panel knobs a break and makes things a bit faster. Look up Martin78's web page and find the Yamaha A-series page for a bunch of tools to use with the sampler. Also check out Dissidents Sample Wrench (now freeware). Propellerheads Recycle version 2.1 (2.2 dropped MIDI SDS Sample Dump I believe). Older versions of Sound Forge (4.5 and 5.0 are great for MIDI SDS Sample Dump). Elektron's C6 Sample Dump tool. For anyone using older hardware samplers, it's a good idea to get a cheap Windows XP machine for all of the old software editors and tools, librarians, etc. made for these devices. You probably already know all this stuff, but maybe it's useful for someone watching the video.

[@NachtSchreck13]

The filters on the A4000/A5000 are amazing. They have a totally unique, plastic-ey sound and SCREAM when they self-oscillate. The overall sound is very present, dense, and 3-Dimensional, with something in the gain staging that accentuates percussive transients. The AD/DA converters are excellent, of course. It's Yamaha. They weren't playing around when they made these. They were the direct competition to the AKAI S-Series (S5000/S6000) and E-MU E4 line. Like I always used to say with my e-mu e6400, no matter what you sample into these machines comes out sounding better somehow.

[@freefinancialadvice]

Hey man I read that these downsample at about 10hz. Do u get that crunchy 90s sound with that setting? Might sound a little too crunchy. I have an s550 and it’s a pain to work with. Micro granny is too crunchy sometimes

[@maccagrabme]

So you wouldn't recommend a s550 for sound or usability? That's off my list if so.

[@NunyaB1s]

@@freefinancialadvice I’ve never heard that, but I did get one of these because of its ability to sample as low as 5khz.

[@NunyaB1s]

@@maccagrabme the older you get, the harder to use. But the sound you get from the older gear isn’t easily reproducible. Roland had some secret sauce they applied to the S series such that, yes, things sound better just by being recorded.

[@atlantaguitar9689]

$50 is a fantastic price. The filters and effects on the A4000 are awesome and were in fact a big reason why I bought one back in 2001.

[@PedroAnastazi]

$50?? Dude!!! Youre gna love it!! Even as an effect box, youre not gna regret it!! These can handle up to 64mb + the onboard native 4mb... but with clever sampling, bitrate, speed adjustment u can get ALOT out of this. Also be aware theyre akai compatible, so your akai multisamples for your s6000 CAN be read by this Good find!! I can only wish!! Once u get the hang of it and u get ur head around its workflow, you'll have those AAAAAAAHHHHHH so THATS how u do it... moments... This is basically an RS7000 in a box, without the sequencer and without the synth or higher end effects.. the base 97 effects (i beleive) are the same though.. Oh and you should have 16 or 18 filters i cant remember, but the latest OS has one of those 2 numbers, like the a3000mk2 (which is what i have)

[@NachtSchreck13]

Sweet. I still have my A5000. I got the very last one at Sam Ash in NYC when they did a blowout sale and sold their stock off around 2003. They were going for like $400, I think, brand new in the box. Max out that RAM, get a SCSI ZIP drive or even better an HXC floppy emulator. Also, extremely useful is the AIEB1 or AIEB2 output expander. It gives 6 additional analog outputs, + AES/EBU digital I/O and optical I/O. That can make sample transferring very fast if you want to dump samples into your computer for editing and then back into the A5000. I find it faster and more convenient than HXC floppy emus because you don't even have to bother with plugging/unplugging the flash drive.

[@WARDISWARD]

10:49 I see you're struggling getting the end loop points right Nifty trick , you can push the encoder and set the start and end loop point by hearing ., think it is s-catch , e -catch ( two last encoders ) Sampler is on the top shelf now :) , so can't test it

[@ShallRemainUnknown]

The A4000 has 4MB permanent factory RAM directly on the motherboard that is summed with any SIMM RAM added by the user, however if SIMM RAM is maxed-out at 128MB, the motherboard 4MB is disabled (so you can't go beyond 128MB total). So, if you indeed added 2 x 16MB SIMMs, you'd therefore have total of 36MB (including the 4MB on motherboard.)

[@littlebritain64]

I have read once from a fan that every sound You sample into it becomes at once more pleasant and analog-sounding. Is that true?

[@cfcreative1]

It impressed me for sure. I have an Emax2 and an Akai Cd3000xl as well.

[@hugocaldeiravinagre]

Thanks for this demo. im considering to buy one for live use, but i have some questions. does it receive midi program change messages? i really need that for live performance. and also, does it come with a factory library with real instruments, like strings, flutes, trumpets and stuff like that?

[@cfcreative1]

I am pretty sure it does that. I haven't used that feature. Search and download the pdf online and it will tell you for sure. Because it is an older machine the load times are slow just to be aware of that. I think you would have to source your own library of sounds.

[@ShallRemainUnknown]

You can real-time control almost ANYTHING with this unit, including envelope parameters, fx parameters (up to 20 per effect for each of the 3 or 6 fx processors) , etc, etc. Fantastic MIDI implementation.

[@PedroAnastazi]

yes.. and i wouldnt stresa too much about what it comes with, as theyre demo-centric, so u wont get what u want specifically, HOWEVER this IS Akai compatible, so if u can find cheap akai discs in akai format multisamples, u can go nuts... Yamaha do have afew sample banks, but this can read virtually any wave file. What id suggest, would be to search soundfont banks (multisample banks, in .sf format shell housing .wav multisamples.. u crack these open and voila, instant multisampling with loop point markers, properly pitched across the kb without the need to timestretch... U wont regret it... PC changes are Yamahas specialty..so the midi setup is wonderful and the fact u load up everythin into ram, so it doesnt actually act like a sampler having to load patches.. theyre all already htere, loaded into ram.. so if u have afew hundred patches, load them all into a project/program and just bounce around like a rompler Really phenomenal unit...

[@NunyaB1s]

They have full midi implementation. (Manual is online.). I wouldn’t use these outside of the studio though. They’re pushing 20yrs now. Also, if you’re not a keyboard player, there are much easier to use options nowadays like the MPCs and the Blackbox. The encoders on these are famously bad, so unless you were going to use it as a sound module ONLY and kept it in a military grade enclosure, keep ‘em primped and proper.

[@aristotlekumpis7095]

$50?! I’m looking at one for $150 and I thought that was a deal.

[@cfcreative1]

Ya it was a crazy deal on Craigslist. I had to snap it up.