Toraiz SP-16

[salwa]

[garranimal]

This is very cool. It looks a lot like MPC Touch but not chained to a laptop. Hope it has waveform display and editing like the Touch. Street price soon?

[Ashe37]

Street price 1600 euros.

[meatballfulton]

$1800!!!!!

[Aaron2]

I think $1,499 is actually the street price. And, yes, it looks like an MPC Touch without being chained to a computer. But with a couple of differences. The MPC will be using version 2.0 of the software, which as I understand it, will basically be a full-on DAW. And since the price is only $799, that makes it a pretty good deal. Then again, you've got that DSI analog filter in the Toraiz, but you're forced to work on the relatively small touch-screen -- there is no software. So it's a bit of a trade-off. All in all, I think the MPC is a better deal, and probably more flexible.

[Ashe37]

The $1600 figure was based on what i could find it listed for at the time.

[Aaron2]

Sweetwater, zzounds, and other U.S. online retailers now have it in stock. Juno has it in the U.K.

I can't believe this isn't getting more attention on this forum! As a sampler arranger and sequencer, it's probably got one of the best workflows I've ever seen. Plus, it's standalone (no computer needed) and you can actually sample with it (unlike, say, the Volca Sample).

If I could sequence external gear with the Toraiz, I'd sell my Octatrack and buy it tomorrow. (OK, I'll probably buy it tomorrow anyway. ). In terms of ease of use, it seems to be miles ahead of the quirky Octatrack.

[Aaron2]

So I got my hands on one of these -- I couldn't resist -- and it's spectacular. The workflow is every bit as good as I imagined. Because it uses x0x-style sequencing, you can pick it up and start making beats almost instantly. The machine itself is much bigger than I imagined it would be -- it's bigger than an Elektron box, and is more like the size of a Roland TR-8. It's mostly plastic except for the faceplate, but I can live with it. The screen is big, bright, and readable. The Dave Smith filters sound good, but they're noisy when the sequencer is stopped. You can disable them entirely to eliminate that slight analog hiss, if it bothers you.

Sampling is really easy too. You navigate to the sampling page, connect your external sound source, and and you're two button-clicks away from sampling something. I sampled in a bass loop from an ARP Odyssey in one go, literally seconds after reading the manual. The sample was perfectly trimmed to one bar, ready to use. Just for kicks, I sampled a drum loop from an Akai Tomcat too, and it was very easy. OTOH, I've had my Octatrack for years, and still don't fully understand how to sample with it.

Again, the only thing missing from the Toraiz is the ability to sequence other gear via MIDI. Although I rather doubt it will ever happen, Pioneer could add this feature and basically kill off the Octatrack (and possibly the MPCs, for that matter).