EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 53, Issue 04 This issue's topics: Samplers (8 messages) Your EMUSIC-L Digest moderator is Joe McMahon . You may subscribe to EMUSIC-L by sending mail to listserv@american.edu with the line "SUB EMUSIC-L your name" as the text. The EMUSIC-L archive is a service of SunSite (sunsite.unc.edu) at the University of North Carolina. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1993 17:07:00 BST From: Alistair Crowe Subject: Samplers I intend to buy a second-hand sampler and am considering a number of machines including the Akai S950, Yamaha TX16W (I think thats right), Cheetah SX16, Roland W30, Casio FZ1. Does anybody have any recommendations ? I am also trying to get full specs on these machines, e.g. polyphony, multitimbrality, stereo/mono, num bits etc. I would appreciate any information you have on these. If I get enough response I'll compile the info together and mail it back out. The addresses of any sources of sampler info on the network (e.g. a sampler faq) would be great. Cheers, Al. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1993 13:26:58 CDT From: "Kevan L. Moore" Subject: Re: Samplers /Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1993 19:24:41 BST /From: "Paul A. Franklin" /Subject: Re: Samplers /To: Multiple recipients of list EMUSIC-L / /Akai S950 is a 12 bit, 8 part multi-timbral/polyphonic sampler, which /can hold 99 samples in memory at once the classic EPS is a 13 bit sampler/ 8 part multi-timbral polyphonic sampler which can hold 128 samples in memory at once. sample rates are from 6 to 44.1 khz and about any editing feature you want it has. (it has its own keyboard. i think they're going for < $1k. /comes with 750kb RAM as standard which is expandable to 1.5Mb /Sampling frequencies vary from (I think) 20-44.1 kHz /The editing is apparently better than the S1000 series in some respects /i.e. it can edit more parameters, although I don't know enough about the /operation of either machine to say whether this is valid or not. klm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1993 19:24:41 BST From: "Paul A. Franklin" Subject: Re: Samplers Akai S950 is a 12 bit, 8 part multi-timbral/polyphonic sampler, which can hold 99 samples in memory at once comes with 750kb RAM as standard which is expandable to 1.5Mb Sampling frequencies vary from (I think) 20-44.1 kHz The editing is apparently better than the S1000 series in some respects i.e. it can edit more parameters, although I don't know enough about the operation of either machine to say whether this is valid or not. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1993 01:57:04 GMT From: Scott Fisher Subject: Re: Samplers "Kevan L. Moore" writes: >/Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1993 19:24:41 BST >/From: "Paul A. Franklin" >/Subject: Re: Samplers >/To: Multiple recipients of list EMUSIC-L >/ >/Akai S950 is a 12 bit, 8 part multi-timbral/polyphonic sampler, which >/can hold 99 samples in memory at once >the classic EPS is a 13 bit sampler/ 8 part multi-timbral polyphonic 20 voice >sampler which can hold 128 samples in memory at once. sample rates >are from 6 to 44.1 khz and about any editing feature you want ^^^^^^^^ 56 kHz >it has. (it has its own keyboard. i think they're going for < $1k. Expandable to 2 Meg with 500K of dedicated sequencer memory. Has play while load (useful feature) and an 8 track (+ 8 virtual) sequencer. Scott. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1993 11:33:58 GMT From: Hendrik Jan Veenstra Subject: Re: Samplers Alistair Crowe writes: >I intend to buy a second-hand sampler and am considering a number of >machines including the Akai S950, Yamaha TX16W (I think thats right), >Cheetah SX16, Roland W30, Casio FZ1. Does anybody have any >recommendations ? >I am also trying to get full specs on these machines, e.g. polyphony, The Yamaha TX16W (that was right indeed :) : 16 voice polyphony, 16 times multi-timbral, standard 1.5 Meg RAM, expandable to 6 Meg, up to 64 samples in memory, sampling freqs: 16k (mono), 33k (mono and stereo), 50k (mono). Lots of synth-features, like 16 (!) different filter types, LFO's for pitch filters and amplifiers, Envelope generators for pitch, filters and amplifiers, ability to remap controllers, etc. And there's a quite lively TX16W-newsletter, and a TX16W ftp-site with lots of high-quality PD samples. And a new "super duper" third party operating system being released somewhere in the next few months... -- Hendrik Jan Veenstra (hjv@phil.ruu.nl) Dept. of Philosophy University of Utrecht ... and they built up with their bare hands The Netherlands what we still can't do today ... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1993 12:36:42 GMT From: Hendrik Jan Veenstra Subject: Re: Samplers Alistair Crowe writes: >I intend to buy a second-hand sampler and am considering a number of >machines including the Akai S950, Yamaha TX16W (I think thats right), >Cheetah SX16, Roland W30, Casio FZ1. Does anybody have any >recommendations ? >I am also trying to get full specs on these machines, e.g. polyphony, The Yamaha TX16W (that was right indeed :) : 16 voice polyphony, 16 times multi-timbral, standard 1.5 Meg RAM, expandable to 6 Meg, up to 64 samples in memory, sampling freqs: 16k (mono), 33k (mono and stereo), 50k (mono). Lots of synth-features, like 16 (!) different filter types, LFO's for pitch filters and amplifiers, Envelope generators for pitch, filters and amplifiers, ability to remap controllers, etc. And there's a quite lively TX16W-newsletter, and a TX16W ftp-site with lots of high-quality PD samples. And a new "super duper" third party operating system being released somewhere in the next few months... O, it's a 12-bit beastie.. -- Hendrik Jan Veenstra (hjv@phil.ruu.nl) Dept. of Philosophy University of Utrecht ... and they built up with their bare hands The Netherlands what we still can't do today ... -- Hendrik Jan Veenstra (hjv@phil.ruu.nl) Dept. of Philosophy University of Utrecht ... and they built up with their bare hands The Netherlands what we still can't do today ... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1993 13:52:13 GMT From: JOEL STERN Subject: Re: SAMPLERS Alistair Crowe writes: >I intend to buy a second-hand sampler and am considering a number of >machines including the Akai S950, Yamaha TX16W (I think thats right), >Cheetah SX16, Roland W30, Casio FZ1. Does anybody have any >recommendations ? >I am also trying to get full specs on these machines, e.g. polyphony, The Yamaha TX16W (that was right indeed :) : 16 voice polyphony, 16 times multi-timbral, standard 1.5 Meg RAM, expandable to 6 Meg, up to 64 samples in memory, sampling freqs: 16k (mono), 33k (mono and stereo), 50k (mono). Lots of synth-features, like 16 (!) different filter types, LFO's for pitch filters and amplifiers, Envelope generators for pitch, filters and amplifiers, ability to remap controllers, etc. And there's a quite lively TX16W-newsletter, and a TX16W ftp-site with lots of high-quality PD samples. And a new "super duper" third party operating system being released somewhere in the next few months... -- Hendrik Jan Veenstra (hjv@phil.ruu.nl) Dept. of Philosophy University of Utrecht ... and they built up with their bare hands The Netherlands what we still can't do today ... ------------------------------------------ THIS IS A REPLY TO THE ABOVE MESSAGE SUBJECT OF THE REPLY: REPLY ------------------------------------------ Hendrik Jan Veenstra wrote about the Yamaha TX16w. Sounds like a pretty decent machine. Anyone know how much these beasties go for (if indeed there are many around)? TIA Joel stern@mail.loc.gov ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1993 19:36:43 BST From: S L Gilbey Subject: Re: Samplers >From: Alistair Crowe >Subject: Samplers >I intend to buy a second-hand sampler and am considering a number of >machines including the Akai S950, Yamaha TX16W (I think thats right), >Cheetah SX16, Roland W30, Casio FZ1. Does anybody have any >recommendations ? >I am also trying to get full specs on these machines, e.g. polyphony, >multitimbrality, stereo/mono, num bits etc. I would appreciate any >information you have on these. See the end of this mail for some specs. > If I get enough response I'll compile >the info together and mail it back out. Yes, please do. While we're at it could we include some of the older samplers too. It's relatively easy to find specs of the new machines but for the poor second-hand buyer it's a big problem. I keep cuttings of specs and reviews from the music magazines I read but don't have anything much before 1992. For example, I see that the AKAI S700 is often sold very cheaply now, but is that because its specification is so poor as to make it unacceptable nowadays? Specs or comments anyone? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sampler specifications from "Sound On Sound" magazine, Feb 92, and from "Keyboard" magazine, December 1991 : --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Of course, like me these mags don't always get everything right, so I hope Emusic-L readers will chime in with corrections where necessary...) Cheetah SX16 ------------ 1U rackmount module, 16bit, Stereo, 512k standard memory expandable to 2Mb, DD drive (Hi-D option), 8 voice poly, max 16 samples in memory, 6-48kHz sample rates, 8 poly outputs, 1 x LFO per voice (pitch mod), 7 selectable decays per voice, Velocity & Dynamic Crossfades, velocity & channel aftertouch response, truncation & crossfade looping, supports Midi sample dump standard. Reads Akai S1000 disks. Roland W30 ---------- 5-oct. Keyboard, 12bit, Mono, 768k RAM and 512k of sounds in ROM, 16 voice poly, max 32 samples in ram, 15-30kHz sample rates, 8 poly outputs, 1 LFO per voice (pitch mod), 1 x digital LPF per voice, 2 x 8 stage envelope per voice, velocity crossfade and cross-switch, velocity/channel-aftertouch/continuous- controllers response, mix/splice/filter/smooth processing. Reads Roland S550 disks. Includes 16 track sequencer. Casio FZ10 (SOS only; can't find FZ1 in either) ---------- Keyboard, 16bit, Mono, 1Mb standard memory, Hi-D drive, 8 voice poly, max 64 samples in memory, 9-36kHz sample rates, 8 outputs (parallel), 8 stage DCF, DCA envelope, LFO; 2Mb memory expansion. Casio FZ10M ----------- 3U rackmount module version of FZ10, with 2Mb standard memory Akai S950 --------- 3U rackmount module, 12bit, Mono, 750k standard memory (expandable to 2.25Mb) Hi-D or DD drive, 8 voice poly, max 99 samples in memory, 7.5-48kHz sample rates, 8 mono outputs + stereo, 1 VCF per voice, 1 LFO per voice (pitch mod), 2 x ADSRs per voice, 1 AR for pitch, velocity/release-velocity/channel-after- touch/continuous-controller response, positional crossfade, velocity cross- switch, splice/time-compress/time-expand/sample-rate-convert processing. Reads S1000 disks. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | email: Steve.Gilbey@bristol.ac.uk | | Steve Gilbey | ----------------------------------------------- | | Bristol University, UK | 'They were all of them fond of quotations' | | | Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of the EMUSIC-L Digest ******************************