Any basic modern ROMplers available?

[rickyd]

Looking for a basic modern rack-mount ROMpler with your avergae bread-and-butter sounds - Think of Roland's U-110 in this regard - that's realistic like a Yamaha Motif ES8 or so. I don't need a lot of extra features like effects, sequencer, appregiator, sampler, etc. I was going for the Yamaha Motif Rack ES but my budget is kind of small, like $500 on down. Kinda fell on hard times here lately so if you wanna call me cheap, then so be it.

Just curious if there is a module out there that fits what I'm looking for, that's all. Vintagesynth doesn't list all available synths, and I'm not big on the latest thing out there and all of that jazz, so I wouldn't know.

Thanks in advance

[Z]

Roland JV-1010 is just over 10 years old but has pretty sounds.

[braincandy]

Roland XV-5050, XV-3080 or maybe even a 5080. They were the predecessors to the Fantom line.

I personally like the Kurzweil K2000 series and you should be able to pick up a K2000r for under $500.

[rickyd]

Thanks for the recommendations guys. How realistic are the acoustic type sounds on the modules you guys mentioned I wonder? For pads and stuff that real synths call for, I got my wavestation and FM8, so I'm not really focused on pads for now.

[braincandy]

"Realistic" is a matter of taste and it's subjective. It's basically my word vs. someone else's. For $500, it's going to be difficult to find a rompler with completely crystal clear, totally "realistic" sounds.

Have you considered an older sampler? Akai and Emu samplers are going for the price range you're considering and instead of sample + synthesis, you're dealing with straight samples.

But for wanting to do comparisons your best bet is to check out audio demos/samples either on YouTube or these sites:

http://www.synthmania.com/

http://homepage.mac.com/synth_seal/html/

[rickyd]

"Realistic" is a matter of taste and it's subjective. It's basically my word vs. someone else's. For $500, it's going to be difficult to find a rompler with completely crystal clear, totally "realistic" sounds.

Have you considered an older sampler? Akai and Emu samplers are going for the price range you're considering and instead of sample + synthesis, you're dealing with straight samples.

But for wanting to do comparisons your best bet is to check out audio demos/samples either on YouTube or these sites:

http://www.synthmania.com/

http://homepage.mac.com/synth_seal/html/

Well, yea true. As far as "realistic" goes, I just want basic acoustic sounds (Woodwinds, Strings, Brass, Percussive, Guitars, Ethnic stuff, and maybe Piano - I don't really work with the latter for my type of music but may need it later.) that doesn't sound synthy or with poor multi-samples. Doesn't necessarily have to be crystal f**k clear and stuff like that ya know, just that it's expressive and has instruments that sound at least close to authentic or passable (I know that a ROMpler would probably never exactly pull off the real thing).

[braincandy]

I had variations of the Roland JV/XP/Fantom series and while they were good, they sounded a little more "compressed" to me than the Kurzweil K2VXs, which is one of the keyboard variations of the K2000r. I can't put my finger on what it was besides that, but I felt comfortable using the Kurzweil for "real" instruments, especially strings and plucked instruments. Check out the synthmania demo on the K2000 if you want to get an idea of what it sounds like (granted those are presets).

[meatballfulton]

Used Motif racks are around in the $500 range, as well as Korg TR-Rack and some older Roland Fantom racks.

[CfNorENa]

Kurzweil PC2R?

[Ashe37]

used Triton Rack, XV-5050 or a used Motif ES.... you might be able to fight for a used Fantom rack on ebay for that price but they usually run $600-$700

[cartesia]

Proteus 2000 series? Z-Plane filters!

Although everyone used to say the roland JV had better real instrument sounds.

[rickyd]

Used Motif racks are around in the $500 range, as well as Korg TR-Rack and some older Roland Fantom racks.

Thanks everyone for the recommendations, but if I can find a used Motif Rack on ebay for that much then I'm good to go. I was checking ebay before, but they were priced pretty high and with alot of bids, so I thought I was S.O.L.

Seems like the Motif Rack ES and Motif Rack XS series are currently the only ROMpler modules out there with the most authentic sounding samples; of course this is based on what reviewers said on some other site I came across some time back.

[b3groover]

The older Motif Rack (not the ES) usually goes for under $500. The sound quality is the same. The big difference is the older unit has some MIDI timing issues when you're using it in multi-timbral mode... at least, that's what I remember. I could be wrong.

[rickyd]

The older Motif Rack (not the ES) usually goes for under $500. The sound quality is the same. The big difference is the older unit has some MIDI timing issues when you're using it in multi-timbral mode... at least, that's what I remember. I could be wrong.

I just won, well.........purchased a used Yamaha Motif Rack for $470 . s**t comes with additionally loaded Hammond B3 patches too according to the details. I did read also that the original Motif Rack has MIDI timing issues with Multi-mode. I dunno if that will affect me or not, as I probably have no reason for using the sequencer and stuff like that.

I wanted the better ES rack, but there weren't any that I could BUY NOW that was under $500. I hope the Motif Rack can still provide what I'm after though. You said the sound quality is the same between the two, so I guess it will give me what I want. I'll see when I receive it.

[rickyd]

Well, just received my Motif Rack yesterday, and I'm lovin' it ! Admittedly, a lot of the voices are not ones that I can see myself lusting over, but it was the "Natural" acoustic sounds that I was going for and I got it.

Fortunately the rack can be expanded. One at a time, I am going to TRY to get the PLG150-VL, PLG150-AN, and PLG150-AP boards. I heard a mp3 preview of a few voices from the PLG150-VL board, and the authentic realism of those winded instruments just made me drool; I can only imagine how the other acoustic voices on this board sound. I was thinking that maybe for the most natural sounding acoustic instruments on a synth, I would have to maybe later save up for a Motif Rack XS, but looks like that's not even necessary now .

I've read that the PLG150-AN board is basically half a Yamaha AN-1x. I wonder how fat and lush are the analog sounds from this board.