Sampler keyboard recommendations

[CROYBOY89]

I used to be a regular here on vse, probably 2-3 years ago, but anyway i am looking for a sampler keyboard. I really like an emulator II, I think thats the direction i'm looking in from watching videos and reading reviews it seems to be very easy to use. Also I'd like to be able to hook up a mic, and start recording whatever I can imagine, and then spread the sounds across the keyboard and store them. Although I like an emulator II, the thing is a beast and looking around it seems that people want alot more for them than I'm willing to pay. so here's what I'm looking for:

-Sampling Keyboard
-Storage capabilities (preferrebly something fairly modern)
-At least 61 keys
-Fairly easy to use
-Something that will suit me for many years of sampling (not a toy)
-Not as big as the Emulator II (not that I dont like it, its just not practical for my current situation)
-Under $500 Us


If anyone has any recommendations that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks ,
Croyboy

[aeon]

Save a little more coin (like $250) and go for a used Roland V-Synth.


cheers,
Ian

[CROYBOY89]

Save a little more coin (like $250) and go for a used Roland V-Synth.


cheers,
Ian

Those are way out of my budget range

[HideawayStudio]

The EII is a lovely sounding sampler and indeed very easy to use but I'm not sure it's ideal as it is huge, extremely heavy and they require a lot of upkeep as they really don't like being moved. There are also currently very few options for getting samples into these beasts other than floppy disk and via ancient Apple Macs (RS422).

If you want an E-mu that is easy to use and sounds great and supports SCSI drives + MIDI sample dump for not a great deal I recommend the E-mu EMAX II keyboard. It's extremely well built, very reliable and sounds lovely - in fact it's got much better transposition capabilities that the EII. The EII can only pitch shift by +-1octave - the EMAX II will go right across the whole board and sounds brilliant with it - it's lovely for smooth ambient stereo samples pitched right down. Much of the EII samples were converted to the EMAX. It's also 8 outputs ie. one stero mix pair (M) and 3 aux stereo pairs (A,B&C). The sample front end is really good too.

I own EII+, 2 x EMAX IIs and an EIIIX.

Save a little more coin (like $250) and go for a used Roland V-Synth.


cheers,
Ian

Those are way out of my budget range

[tallowwaters]

Emax II
E4k

[gcoudert]

I have an E4K (Emulator 4 Keyboard) and I love it. It only cost me £225 about 3 years ago. 64-voice model, 128Mb RAM (standard 72-pin SIMMs). Amazing modulation routings, built-in effects, 76-note keyboard, internal HD, SCSI, separate outputs (4 stereo pairs usable as 8 mono outs if you wish), ASCII keyboard input, reads Akai S1000 and EIIIX CDs and HDs over SCSI, I could go on forever... It even has MIDI

Gilles

[CROYBOY89]

I went and did a little research on the emax and the e4k. both seem like really good boards, and definately rank high on my new sampling list. does anyone have any personal input about the casio fz-1?

[tallowwaters]

I went and did a little research on the emax and the e4k. both seem like really good boards, and definately rank high on my new sampling list. does anyone have any personal input about the casio fz-1?

Why not check the sticky thread named CASIO FZ-1 ?

[Userfriend]

Ensoniq ASR-10 is cheap, easy to use, sounds good and has many features.

[King Julien]

Ensoniq EPS likewise