Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    There was the Yamaha VSS200 for 129 Pounds (UK).  3.4 seconds of sample
    that you can loop, distort, reverse etc.
    
    matty

    
    If you're willing to consider used equipment, you could probably get a
    fairly professional sampler for under $500. Some of the older Roland
    boxes or an Ensoniq Mirage can be had for that kind of money. (BTW, I
    have a friend who's trying to sell a Mirage now for around $400.)
    
    Rob
    

    Well, I've taken your advice and pretty much decided on a Roland
     S-10  used for 350 $$     are the "quick disks" that they use
     still available , and can they ( the s-10 ) record over disks??

    The quick discs never seemed to catch on, and were overly expensive.
    
    S10 is a decent machine tho...
    
    Edd

     Are there any Compact discs available with cool samples on it , or
     are there any noters out there willing to share some of thier samples
     via cassette tape ? I guess the quick discs are
     A. unsupported or outdated
     b. incredibly expensive
     
     I'm having fun with the sampler, but samples seem to be hard to find.
    
                 Jon

    There are entire libararies of samples on CD. The MaGill University
    series comes to mind, but they are pretty expensive. On the idea of
    $69 per CD in lots of one.
    
    Of course, ANYTHING can be a source for a sample. I made a nice bass
    out of 12' length of plastic sewer pipe dropped on the ground...
    
    Edd

    69$ FOR 1 CD ? WOW..........I would think that industrious people
     would pool thier resources and make a cassette of thier favorite
     samples and exchange them

    Check the classifieds in magazines like EM and Keyboard, a few
    companies sell samples on Dolby cassettes.  The CDs that are out there
    are all pretty expensive; in addition to the McGill set, there are ones
    from Valhalla, Korg, Sound Ideas and others.  The pricing reflects the
    pro market. A commercial studio can easily justify buying a few of
    these.
    
    Quick Disks can be purchased in bulk for about $3 each from Valhalla or
    East Coast Sound.  Also check an office supply house, since QDs were
    used in a couple of self-correcting typewriters.  I've even seen
    two-packs hanging on the wall in the office supplies section in Sears.
    
    							Brian

    Yeah.  Not to mention that your sampler will probably NOT be able to
    sample many of the sampels off CDs very well ... like vibraslaps.
    You need a sampler with much more horesepower to do that.  Ah,
    MIDIlust, it's a terrible thing ...
    
    Steve

    Sorry to possibly ruffle feathers again, but I believe copying such
    sample CDs to cassette for sharing constitutes a violation of the
    copyright law, not allowed under the "fair use" provisions.
    
    len.
    

    Which brings up an interesting question...
    
    If I sample off a CD, can I then distribute a record made with that sound
    on it?
    
    Edd

Ask James Brown

    The best source of samples I can think of comes from a microphone.
    The world is full of sounds you could turn into instruments.
    
    I have a CD of music where every instrument is a sample of the
    call of some animal.  They used an Emulator II and III.  The
    liner notes tell you which sounds are used in which instruments:
    
    	Brass = elephant
    	Kick drum = ruffed grouse
    	piano = dolphin
    	bass melody = walrus
    	   and so on
    
    Of course everything is so processed that you would have a hard time
    recognizing any of the animals...

     I checked out the back of Keyboard magazine and one of the company's
     had cassettes ( high bias XL11 dolby B )  for 25$ apiece or 3 for 60$
     with a multitude of samples . So I ordered 3- I'll review them here
     later.
                          Jon

     RE.   .9    Jeez, I was led to believe that a sampler could sample
     any sound in the Universe, I don't think that I'd even want Vibroslap,
     but I'd almost bet that even a Casio sampler could get a rough 
     approximation of the sound. or any other for that matter.
      (set flames low, .9 just sounded Way too smarmy to me)

    A sampler CAN sample "any sound in the universe", but some don't do
    a very good job of it...
    
    Lots of memory and bigger words are "better"....
    
    Edd

    Smarmy?  Moi?  I mention the vibraslap because I used to own a Roland
    S-10 and got some sample tapes that had a nice, clean vibraslap sample
    that I wanted to use.  It could not sample it.  I could get good horns,
    toilets, finger snaps and such, but not a good vibraslap.  It's a cool
    sound.  It's kind of a clicking sound that dies out with a period
    that's about the same as you get when you hold down a key on your
    keyboard and let it autorepeat.  I think there's another name for it,
    but I don't remember.  Similar to cymbals, this is a sample that I use
    to measure samplers against.
    
    Hey, just try it and see.  Even though the S-10 (or even S-50) has good 
    internal resolution, it lacks the bandwidth for this type of sample. 
    Lesser samplers probably do worse.  Would be interesting to see how
    badly a Mirage would mangle a vibraslap.
    
    Steve

    The Mirage does have a vibro-slap sample on one of the disks. While
    it's recognizable, I can't say it's a good sample. (Never heard the
    original!)
    
    The Mirage, while certainly not cutting edge, shouldn't be overlooked.
    A 50K sampling rate (with MASOS) certainly allows some decent sounds
    to be obtained... (in spite of 8 bits!)
    
    Edd

    
     The 1 problem that I have with the S-10 is that I cant get it to loop.
     after I sample something (CD music for ex.) , It say's looking for
    loop (something like that) and in about a minute it comes back showing
      ____________     and will only play 1 shot. I change the parameters
     to manual or auto and the sample still doesn't loop. Any ideas??
     
     BTW. Roland manuals are poorly written IMHO 
    
     Maybe because the cd music that I sample is still playing when
     the end of the sample comes ??
    
             Jon

    Actually, looping control is one of the S-10's strong points.  As I
    recall, there are two or three automatic ways to control looping and
    manual.  If the automated ways don't work, do looping manually.  The
    instructions have it in there, though I agree that the documentation is
    lamentable.
    
    Didn't know the Mirage had a 50K sample rate!  That's why you can get
    avibraslap with it.  As I recall, the S-10 is limited to, what, 30K
    sample rate?
    
    Steve

    I wonder if the reason that I can't loop the Roland s-10 is that I'm
     recording OVER a disk that I didn't like ( Vibes ), Possible when
     the disk drive Reads the disk, it has stored ( on the disk itself )
     information telling the S-10 NOT to loop ??
    
     I haven't got any blank disks as of yet.
    
         And if anyone knows where to get them in Southern New Hampshire
         or Northern Mass. , Please let me know. Right now I've got
         20 disc's that came with the S-10. Is it A good idea to get
         new "blank" Quick disk's or to sample over the disks thay I'm
         not crazy over ??
    
                                   Jon
           whos-really-a-guitar-player-but-is-starting-to-play-keys

If you're just loading in a new sound, the S-10 is probably using all
the parameters to the old sound. Try loading on top of a sound that
you know is looped.

Vibes probably aren't looped....

Edd (I don't think I like this window-notes stuff...)

    WILL DO
                              THANKS
                                   JON

    If I had an S10 right now, I wouldn't bother with QDs at all.  Instead,
    I'd use my MC50 to upload and download samples from 3.5" disks.  If you
    have a computer you should be able to do the same.  Dump the QDs if you
    can.  They are very expensive.  The ONLY redeeming value is that they
    tend to load quickly.  Unless, of course, your samples take four disks
    which you would have to swap back and forth.  
    
    I wonder if my MC50 would be able to load samples faster from 3.5" and
    then via MIDI to an S-10 than the same samples could be loaded from
    four QDs.  Hmmmm ....  Probably not, but it's probably not critical
    unless you are in a performance situation.
    
    Anyway, maybe instead of paying, what, $5 per QD you should consider
    using MIDI to save and dump samples.  As for the looping problem, I
    don't remember how the S-10 works but there has to be a way to loop the
    sample.  I seem to remember it being pretty easy to do with any sample.
    
    Steve

    I kind of like my S-10. But then again, aliasing noise is pleasant to
    me. ;^)
    
    Don't read the manuals. The Roland manuals will only mislead you. Use
    the manuals only to determine what the function you wish to perform is
    called, and then figure it out for yourself using T&E. To modify a wave
    once it is in memory, use the PARAMETER and WAVE buttons. Select one of
    tehese buttons, and use the FORWARD and BACKWARD buttons to cycle
    through the various settings.
    
    dp