Nice "gritty" sampler for EBM/industrial

[Audity]

So right now, all of my sampling work is being done on a Korg Electribe ESX-1. It's a great piece and very versatile for live use and such, but I'm seriously looking into adding some dirty-sounding sampler beast of yesteryear to my studio rig.
Like the title says, I'm very influenced by early EBM/industrial acts like Front 242, Throbbing Gristle, Das Industry, Nitzer Ebb, etc...
What were some popular samplers back then with that scene? I know Front 242 used various Ensoniq samplers, but that's about it. As I've got a very nice sounding Electribe already, I'd LOVE my next sampler to be something old and gritty, that will add some nice coloration to my vocal and percussive samples. It's gonna be a studio piece, so the sound is more important to me than user friendliness or tweakability.
Whats out there these days thats fairly cheep amd awful (in a good way) sounding?? Any tips or suggestions?

Thanks!!

[blavatsky]

Boss SP202/303/505 are gritty...not vintage really but capable of some dirt/grit/character you won't get out of newer cleaner samplers.

[Z]

I know F242 used the Emu Emulator 2 on their 80s albums.

You really can't go wrong with the Akai S900. You can usually pick them up for around $150 these days

[Infinity Curve]

Probably a silly question, but have you tried re-sampling your stuff through the bit crusher on the ESX? Might get you where you want to be without adding additional gear.

[thehighesttree]

I just bought an SP-202 for $50 and it's gritty as fuke. Sampling starts at 32 seonds-worth of 31.25KHz (16-bit) and 3 more halved increments (15.63KHz, 7.81KHz [the best compromise @ 2:10 of sampling time], and the super-crunchy 3.91KHz) for total lo-fi. It's pretty barebones with poor polyphony (max 4) that gets chipped away when you apply effects, but the features are good for a rudimentary sampler and compliment the gritty sounds. I dig the built-in mic which has surprisingly good pickup, and it runs on 6 AAs for about 8 hours. If you need something fun and easy to play gritty vocals or a quick 'n dirty piece you can take to sample anything anywhere, this does the trick. Check its "Mark" feature too, and it's got reverse-play and a great ring mod. MIDI is worthless though, only allowing you to trigger the pads by note#...not even clock control.

Speaking of fundemental limits, the thing's main downfall is its ancient fossil memory cards: a unique 5-volt SmartMedia card that's only available on ebay for about $60+, which just isn't worth it for this peice mainly due to its shoddy poly. If you can get an SP-303 people say they're way better, and they use the more common 3.3v SmartMedia cards, but no battery power or mic. Likewise, if you can find a 202 WITH THE CARD for under $100 then it's a fun thing to have, just keep in mind that you'll have to sample the sampler to get your sounds off it since there's no resampling and the cards are deprecated to h**l. Pure grit though!

[Audity]

Awesome, thanks guys! Definitely gives me a good idea of where to start looking

And Infinity Curve, I use the heck out of my ESX's bit crusher. It's just that I plan on putting my Electribe in a live rig soon and I think it would be cool to have a dedicated "lo-fi" sampler dedicated to studio duties.

[tallowwaters]

Route your samples out of the ESX through an amp mic'ed with a crystal/ceramic dynamic. Record samples with tape recorder and f**k up the tape. Plenty of ways to rough up a sample "organically" as well, limited only be your creativity.

Also, Ensoniq Mirage or Yamaha VSS30 are cheap options if you can run across them.

[GuyaGuy]

The ES-1 sounds naturally dirtier and old school than the ESX-1 if you just wanna swap one for the other.

[Audity]

Route your samples out of the ESX through an amp mic'ed with a crystal/ceramic dynamic. Record samples with tape recorder and f**k up the tape. Plenty of ways to rough up a sample "organically" as well, limited only be your creativity.

Brilliant! Never even considered re-amping/micing and recording to tape. This definitely calls for some experimentation

[cgren72]

I actually was thinking of using a tape recorder that I have that has a mic input and chopping samples in Edison. If you really wanted to get "old school" you could manually slow the tape in its playback with a pencil or fingernail (carefully) to create some interesting sounds/dirt. Or if you really wanted to have fun, you could record one tape onto your computer or sampler, and then duplicate it onto a second tape. From there you could play and record both tapes at once, but slow the speed of one to give even better dirt/chorusing. This was my plan after I read this post Friday, I didn't think of what Tallow said about amping it. If you ran both tapes through amps or preamps, that would be even better

[divineaudio]

Cheap and awful sounding (in a good way)? sounds to me like you need an SK-1.

[Audity]

Cheap and awful sounding (in a good way)? sounds to me like you need an SK-1.

Hahaha wow!!! 8 bit, 9.38kHz sampling. How deliciously lo-fi.

And if I'm not mistaken, a local antique shop has an SK-1 (or a very similar looking cheesy little vintage Casio) in original box. May have to investigate tomorrow

[divineaudio]

... local antique shop...

Check your local thrift stores and craigslist first. Don't pay $60+ for one if you don't have to.

[Audity]

Eh, it was like $20 I think. Thrift stores and CL here are just full of overpriced MPCs and consumer c**p. It's been a long time since I've seen any good vintage gear for sale around here.

[Jabberwalky]

Ensoniq Mirage

This is exactly what you need. Used extensively by Skinny Puppy. The Mirage is the "gritty" sound any self respecting masochist needs.