Which Roland S sampler??

muteoscillator · Post by **muteoscillator** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 11:18 pm

Hi Everybody.
I want to buy a Roland S Series sampler.
I'm especially interested in the 750, 760 or 770.
I'm gonna use this samplers for general purposes , sampling everything from drums to loops to synth sounds.
Of course I'm very interested in the vga video option.
Any opinion and advices on which is the best buy is welcome.

Thx in advance

P.S. Opinions about the other S samplers ( 330, 550) are welcome too...

D-Collector · Post by **D-Collector** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 11:58 pm

Hi doctor Nick!

I have not personally tried the 7xx series samplers, but they are newer than the S-330/550/50, have 16 bit sampling as opposed to the 12 bit 330/550, bigger memory, and an excellent sound library available. You can use a screen with it like the old ones, it does not have a dedicated sequencer as far as I know but you probably won't need that anyway. From what I have read it should make great purchase if you like old samplers. I saw a couple online recently, they are quite cheap now.

I own a S-330 which I use with a little monitor. You can also attach a mouse, remote controller, digitizing tablet for drawing own waves, making it very versatile. The 330/550 also have their own sequencer, the "Director-S". Pattern sequencing with chaining. It is fun to sample with and easy to operate with the screen attached. It can access the whole S-550 and S-50 libraries, so there are a lot of possibilities. Easily serviceable and movable, being a 1-unit rack sampler. Also very cheap, I got mine for around $50. All in all I like it very much!

Best of luck in finding your sampler!

muteoscillator · Post by **muteoscillator** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 2:14 pm

Hi and thx for your advice...
Your 330 setup is very nice indeed.
Fact is I am plenty of 12 bits samplers, so I'm gonna looking after a 7xx model.

Thx again sir!

Post by **aeon** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 12:45 am

There’s a lot of programming potential in the Roland S-7xx samplers, but it comes with a very high price — an absolutely Byzantine structure and operating system. Granted, that multi-angle approach allows for many timbres from a single set of samples, with swank MIDI control and such, but if you just want to sample and go, it may not be the best choice. The S-760 addresses some of these shortcomings to some degree to make for a faster workflow. That said, it isn’t an Akai or Emu, or even Yamaha (and their UI quirks), or a softsampler for that matter.

On the other hand, if you take the time to create a good set of samples and partials, you really can use the S-7xx samplers as a polysynth, in good part because of the simply awesome filter.

With some patience, you should be able to find a S-760 with full (32MB) RAM, output expansion, video expansion, a good set of libraries, and perhaps an optical drive, all for a good price.

Note that these machines, being 16-bit and equipped with good interpolation routines, are essentially hi-fidelity. Do not get a S-7xx series machine if you are looking for inherent color and character.

There is some reward with these machines, but it is going to require a serious investment of your time, and I think you have to really ask yourself what your intentions are and how much you value the time you have. Well, if you are going to do your own sampling and sound programming, that is. The Roland S-7xx series are wonderful library machines if you have interest in that way.

Some would argue the only reason to get a studio-oriented hardware sampler of this kind is for vintage sound character; in all other cases, one would be better off using any one of a number of excellent softsamplers — a few of these are even free. To my mind, there is some real weight to that argument. In this regard, a Roland S-7xx series sampler would not be a good choice.

I hope that helps.

cheers,
Ian

V301H · Post by **V301H** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 7:20 am

The S-760 is the only sampler in the Roland S-series that will read Akai S-1000 format samples if that's of any importance. It takes a long time for it to load Akai samples from CD-ROM but once loaded you can then save them to a ZIP drive with any edits for fast loading thereafter. I recommend getting a CD-ROM drive from SCSI for Samplers if you will be using existing libraries. They will set it up to work with the S-760 and include your choice of several sample disks with purchase. You will also probably want to get a SCSI ZIP drive which can usually be had cheaply off eBay.

I've found monitor connection to be a problem with these as there are very few monitors that will connect to these without some cable modification.

The S-760 does have the best sounding digital filter I have heard in a sampler. It has Resonance and can be controlled dynamically with Velocity, Aftertouch, etc.

muteoscillator · Post by **muteoscillator** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 10:30 pm

thx guys
really appreciate your advices!

will buy a s760!!

Post by **cornutt** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 8:11 pm

The 750 and 770 are essentially the same thing; the 770 has a built-in disk drive where the 750 does not. The disk interface is SCSI and there is a limit to how much space it will actually use on a drive. I use my 750 with a pair of old Syquest cartridge drives, which are 44MB per cartridge. That's about the largest disk it will format. Main memory is IIRC 2 MB and that's as large as it can be unless you can find a memory expansion board, which is extremely rare.

The video output is CGA standard; it's meant to plug into the older monitors with the M-block connectors (the phenolic rectangular connectors with the huge pins). Roland originally offered an alternate video cable for connecting to VGA monitors. It's long out of stock, but you can make your own -- you just have to be able to solder a transistor into the cable at one spot.

The way to learn your way around the OS is to initially ignore all of the alternate workflow paths (sampling from patch, sampling from partial, etc.) and stick to the basic sample-partial-patch-performance progression. Once you figure all that out, you can set up some of your own jump buttons and use those to get around. Then if you wish you can start exploring the alternative workflow paths, but you have to be aware that they may change how a particular screen works depending on how you got there.

Also, if you can find an RC100 controller, that's a big help with certain things like setting loop points. It has a jog wheel that you can spin with your fingertip, unlike the one on the synth itself, and it also has a numeric entry keypad.

D-Collector · Post by **D-Collector** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:41 am

I made a quick demo with the S-330 and Director-S:

Nannerfan · Post by **Nannerfan** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:35 am

Sweet!

I just picked up the DT-100 actually.
It's HUGE!!! Thought i was gonna be much smaller.

Quick question.
If you have the S-Director software... how do you use the mouse/tablet? Since the S-Director dongle takes up the ext controller input?

Am I missing something?
Is the RC-100 the answer? If so that stinks.. .since I have an S-50 and don't need the RC-100.

D-Collector · Post by **D-Collector** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:02 am

Good find! I've been meaning to get a mouse and possibly the tablet.

Yup, that is the curse of the dongle, which is why I'm using the cracked version. Works perfect. I can mail it to you if you want to.

Nannerfan · Post by **Nannerfan** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:33 am

that'd be great!

Aren't they different thought for each S-series sampler?
I believe the S-50's is the SYS-503

Silverfish · Post by **Silverfish** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:46 am

I'm intrigued by this Director-S stuff. Is this something that's easy to track down or should I give up before I start?

D-Collector · Post by **D-Collector** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:24 am

Nannerfan wrote:that'd be great!

Aren't they different thought for each S-series sampler?
I believe the S-50's is the SYS-503

That's right, and SYS-553 for the 550, SYS-333 for the 330. The program is more or less the same though.

Just PM me your mail adress and I'll send it to you.

Silverfish wrote:I'm intrigued by this Director-S stuff. Is this something that's easy to track down or should I give up before I start?

Well, the S-330 can be found for like $50, can use all S-50 and S-550 library disks, you can get the working Director-S sequencer from me or Jim Atwood at http://synthjapan.com. It's no hassle.

Post by **nathanscribe** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:32 pm

Don't forget the W-30, which has a decently sized screen, sequencer, disk drive and 8 outputs as well as an aftertouch-sensitive keyboard. SCSI was an option rather than standard, and the chips are hard to find these days. I don't use mine very much so get on just fine with the 3.5" floppies.

D-Collector · Post by **D-Collector** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:08 pm

I think the 8 outs on the S-series and W-30 is such a great feature.

I have come to buying a W-30 close a couple of times. It's a sexy keyboard and from what I have heard a kick-a*s sampler.

Which Roland S sampler??

Which Roland S sampler??

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Re: Which Roland S sampler??

Re: Which Roland S sampler??

Re: Which Roland S sampler??

Re: Which Roland S sampler??

Re: Which Roland S sampler??

Re: Which Roland S sampler??

Re: Which Roland S sampler??

Re: Which Roland S sampler??

Re: Which Roland S sampler??

Re: Which Roland S sampler??

Re: Which Roland S sampler??

Re: Which Roland S sampler??

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