I was going to buy an Elektron Octatrack, but I recognized one of the actors in the commercial for it, and I prefer the warmth of samplers that have only no-name actors in their commercials. Can anyone recommend me a sampler like that? Also, it should be made by the Dell of music gear.

I wouldn't recommend the Nocturn as it has not so many knobs and no MIDI ports.

I'd go with an Evolution UC-33 for tons of knobs and faders, a UC-17 for fewer knobs and a crossfader, or a Novation Remote Zero (either mkI or mkII) for Automap, more knobs, a screen but bigger.

Oh s**t, the backlash on this piece has hit early! I'd jump on, but I'm holding out for the Octatrack-backlash backlash.

I would definitely hit that. Vostok is my dream monosynth, and even if you buy it and then turn around and think, "I DON'T LIKE THIS AND I REALLY DIDN'T HAVE $1400 TO SPEND ON A SYNTH!" you can get your $$ back on a re-sale.

If you are REALLY good with a soldering iron you can do it without removing the main board, I did it that way on my old SQ-80. BTW- if you have a disk or cartridge, there's no real reason to worry about the battery, just don't save your patches on the internal memory. I only changed my battery when...

Do you need to play more than one sample at once? If not, something from the Digitech JamMan line might be good. If so, the 404sx might be good (dunno, never had one), or the SP-555 has basically the same functionality as the 202 plus a simple sequencer and live looper. Might be more than you need, ...

I installed my SCSIforsamplers CF card reader in my E4 last night and I was blasting samples back and forth in no time. Highly recommended.

You could get a USB zip drive and a SCSI zip drive and transfer back and forth between the 2.

You could get a SCSI CF card reader and a USB card reader and transfer back and forth between the 2 (this is what I am doing for my E4 Platinum I just got).

Look at scsiforsamplers.com

The plug size on my MAM rack gear (Warp9 and RS3) is 2.1mm barrel, the same as boss or 1spot or whatever common power plug. I daisy chain both units off of a single Jameco 12V AC power supply using one of the 1spot daisy chains. Not sure what current the Jameco is capable of. You could just grab the...

Another friend got that same email. It's a scam.

as far as I remember, you have a feature where you can line up any number of samples in a sample editor, the load that to the OT as one long sample. then you can set "trigger points", so that when you hit trig key 1 (the 16 sequencer input buttons) you play back a section of the long sample, say a ...

just out of curiosity, just what were you hoping for? ES-1 on steroids (unlikely) tons of resynthesis stuff (unlikely) elektron sequencer (check!) full-featured mixer/router (to be determined) Cool FX with flexible routing a la SP808 (to be determined) Tons of polyphony (TBD, but it doesn't look li...

An interview with Elektron a while back said 1200 Euro, but who knows if they'll stick to that. Also, with each slide they release about it, I'm less and less interested in buying it. It seems ok, but just not at all what I was hoping for. Oh well, I'll have to find something else. I think a lot of ...

If your audio interface doesn't filter out DC (MOTU, Alesis I/O line, maybe some others?), you can just use 3 outputs on that and the Expert Sleepers Silent Way. I don't know what that Kenton costs, but it might be more than an Alesis I/O audio interface plus the Silent Way plugin.

Here's another pedalboard tip: Ikea GORM shelves ($3 ish) make rad pedaltrain-style slat boards so you can route cables underneath. Combine with bike chain style for the ultimate in haggard pedal securing technology.