Wow, I've sparked a heated debate. I'm proud of myself. I don't mind using the computer to manipulate the samples, but honestly I feel it a waste to have to spend $1000+ on a laptop fast enough to handle the overhead of realtime playback, $200+ on a software sampler for it, $200+ on an audio/MIDI in...

Seems like the sampler industry has gone soft on us..... Kontakt, Emulator X.....so many software samplers, but it seems new hardware samplers are now in the domain of a feature on expensive workstations or shoddily implemented in drum machines. And perhaps I'm a slight technophobe, but I find the i...