[sdiy] Anyone ever build a sampler?

[Glen]

Well, I've gotten a few direct responses to my question so far, and a lot of
tangential chat to go with it.  :)

I was hoping to hear a higher ratio of direct responses, but I guess building
gear like this is a bit alien to a lot of the people on this list. I'll admit
that it doesn't seem like a trivial task to me, but I'm still interested in the
notion. I know that I could buy a sampler (if I had the money), but I'd like to
see what I can do on my own. As much as anything else, I want the experience of
actually creating something myself. One of the reasons that a sample-based
instrument seems interesting to me, is that it seems to be a fairly unusual
personal project.

A couple people on this list mentioned building simple EPROM based 8-bit sample
playback modules. I consider this to be a good start, and it is indeed a device
that employs sampling technology to synthesize a musical sound, so it is almost
a sampler. It just doesn't record its own samples. I'll probably aim for
building something like this, to start out. I don't even mind if my initial
testing is done with my PC as a controller for my external sample player.
Eventually, I'll need some sort of embedded control for any serious project,
but that can come later. I'm still learning and exploring at the moment.

A friend of mine gave me a broken Ensoniq Mirage, and I'm fixing it up. After
working with that unit awhile, I developed an itch to hack it into something
more than it is. Like anyone who has ever used a Mirage, I've dreamed of
expanding the memory and disk storage options, but no matter what cool fantasy
hack I thought of, I ended up reminding myself that the Mirage is only a
single-channel, 8-bit sampler. Do I really want to put a lot of effort into
making a "SuperMirage" when I would have to scrap nearly everything about the
unit to make it sound as nice as I'd like it to?

That's when I started wondering about making some original sample-based
hardware of my own. However, if I make my own gear, I'd really like to graduate
to 16 bit sound. Does anyone have any ideas or sources for obtaining cheap
16-bit A-D or D-A convertors? Possibly chips taken from old sound cards or
broken CD players? Does anyone know a source for new parts that can be
purchased in single-unit quantity, at reasonable prices?


Later,
Glen