r/Samplers

hey all,

I've had so much fun with the KOII but ended up selling it since the 128MB storage is a no go.

But this experience shed a light on what I'm looking for: a portable creative sampler with these go to feats:

- portable (must)

- has a sequencer & tracks (nice to have)

- effects can be performed live (ideally only sends in order to retain eventual tails when disegnaged) (must)

- has great sounding effects (must)

- ideally has a song mode too (nice to have)

- I can resample what I'm doing at any time (even if I leave the resampler page - my biggest limitation with my AKAI Mpc One + ) (must)

- has SD card for storage (must)

- has a great sounding warping-pitching algorithm (must)

- battery powered (super nice to have)

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I already know the OP1 Field would tick all of these and more but I just can't justify the price - even second hand. Awesome little machine but no.

Also I've bought the MPC Sample but returned it after a 3 weeks deep dive since to my ears it doesn't sound good due to its subpar warping-pitching algorithm and most of all the bad sounding FXs. (reverb is almost obscene lol)

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Torso S4 is the only I've found so far.

anything else comes to your mind?

btw I don't do vinyl sampling or such. I do game audio and do all sorts of experimental stuff with samples

Thanks!!

Okay, so I already own an MC909 and a Kurzweil K2000rs (with sample option and ZuluSCSI), an XV5080 with a ZuluSCSI sample playback, as well as Cubase Artist 15 (so there's a sampler in that, too). I honestly have not dug deeply into the samplers I already have, apart from finding out that the MC909 is more about creating funky drum loops than creating sample based instruments spread across a keyboard. I'm honestly considering selling the MC909.

I've always had a nearly fetish level of love for Emu gear, samplers,ROMplers, etc. I already own a Proteus MPS Plus keyboard, but it has no filters, an d kinda feels limited for preset design. I'm interested in a Proteus 2000, or any of the other 3rd gen Emu ROMplers.

An ESI-4000 with Turbo option has grabbed my attention, because of the fantastic price. I love the Z-Plane filters, and figured I could use this sampler as a real time effect box in addition to the sampler functions.

I make a lot of pop-rock with some synthwave kinda keyboard tracks on it. I'm a huge fan of 80s, 90s, music, as well as 80s, 90s, and 2000s ROMplers.

Please, I need an intervention before I shoot more of this junk in my veins.

Something that I can make beats on just the sampler .

TL;DR: I'm building an open-source hardware sampler. Pre-alpha, no hardware exists, may never ship. The community votes on every spec. Pad layout, encoder count, even the CAD of the case. Roast me.

I'm a software engineer who's been making beats on an MPC 1000/JJOS and an SP-404 for years. Love the Octatrack from a distance. None of these boxes is what I want to play in 2026.

Akai, Roland, Elektron: slow, opaque, increasingly indifferent. Feature requests rot in forums for years. JJOS exists because the community had to fix the MPC themselves. That should be the rule, not the exception.

So I started building one.

The working idea (all subject to community argument):

• MPC 1000/JJOS workflow and sequencing
• SP-404 MK2 hands-on resampling. "Play the FX" mindset.
• Octatrack-grade trigging. Scenes, parts, conditional trigs.
• Standalone hardware. Instant boot. No menu-diving for things you reach for every bar.
• Open firmware forever. Open hardware. Repairable. Framework-grade.
• Community votes on every spec. Pad count. Encoder count. The case.

Status: thinking, sketching, writing manifesto. No firmware. No PCB. No 3D model. Honest about all of it. The .dev domain is the working title because the real name gets picked once there is a community to pick it.

There's a public feedback board live where you can post ideas, upvote, comment. Sign-in is a magic link, no account spam.

opensampler.dev

What I'd love from you: pad layout opinions. Encoder vs. button purists. Anyone with serious Octatrack scenes time. Anything I'm missing or getting wrong. Tell me which existing box I should be ripping more ideas from.

Pre-alpha. May never ship. That's not the bug, it's the point.

You can watch a lot of content i've uploaded with the EP-136 in my channel

https://www.youtube.com/@nachosantagata

Looking for a cheap polyphonic sequencer for an old akai sampler. I don’t want to use my daw.

I got limited time back in the states to pick up some new gear. I think im going one of these two directions (and I'll be using them with ableton); any thoughts? What would you go with? Thanks!!

I make sample based music and have been dabbling with the tastychips GR-1 granular synthesizer. I love it and it can do some interesting things to samples, but the scope feels limited.

I’m curious what are people’s opinions on the S4?? I read it had a rocky release but has been getting decent reviews a couple updates past. Any insight much appreciated!

Hello!

I am in dire need of advice on which sampler or midi to buy.

To set the scene: I live off-grid (currently just have generator for mains-like power) and I make music and poetry (+soundscapes for the poetry). I have always make deep, cinematic and emotive music with piano, vocals and synths but want to expand into exploring dnb/house + feel drawn to a lil dub and punk dribbled with hiphop....there's a lot going on here haha.

I currently have a full-length, fully weighted casio keyboard (mains + battery powered), macbook m1 max, galaxy s11 tab, scarlet 4i4 interface, dynamic and condenser mic, amp.

I'm looking at getting a sampler (have played with Koala and it's inspired loads of new ideas but I want the hands-on dealings of hardware)...

I have found the Native Maschine MK3 and Maschine + as well as the Novation Circuit Rythmn and the Akai mini midi keyboard (feel like I would like a smaller more portable keyboard I can travel with and keep my keyboard for live gigs and home studio) but I don't know what would really serve me best (open to other options!)

I want to be able to record vocals, samples and piano in song/world building space as well as live, experiment with the genres stated above and have hands-only control of FX etc...

CAN ANYONE HELP ME PLEASE 😅

Hi everyone,
After many ups and downs, I finally managed to max out my E5000 Ultra with a ZuluSCSI and OS 4.70.
I can now easily transfer E4B banks from my computer to my sampler.

I’m currently looking for original E-mu banks to fill up the beast and expand my sound palette. Unfortunately, I don’t have Chicken Translator, hence my request.