Akai S1000 / S1100 samplers

... I wish I could just listen to one of these things
because it's kianda frustraiting.

Ah, there's the rub. Not only would you want to listen but A/B them as well.

And if you have several to choose from, your alphabet gets tediously long.

;How do you use the s1100? Could you tell me about the kind of music
you make and what your set up is like, i'm just curious to see what
kind of musicians out there are using the s1100. ;

I only use it to play sample cd's. I do not record with it, nor use it's editing/fx features.

I find those unused features cumbersome compared to software.

I use Ableton Live 5, WaveLab and Nuendo. RME Fireface handles the ADA conversion.

I usually go straight into the Fireface from the s1100, although I have gone through a Speck mixer and a Sebatron pre on occasion, to add slight "color" and "punch". Depends on the samples.

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... tubes aren't the only source of distortion in hardware
samplers. Every sampler that is not entirely software-based will add
some "distortion" to the sound which comes from all of its elctronic
components. This is the reason why even some of the best audio
producers still use "outdated gear"... the ones that like the
character, ofcorse.

As you may have guessed from my sig link, I can relate!

But, I wouldn't put the s1100 in that class, personally.

My Echoplex and Revox's would qualify.

I prefer to work with things that are "clean" and "accurate" out of the box, and add "spice" as needed.

That's why I usually take the shortest route to the hard drive.

I like the s1100 because it doesn't add or subtract significantly from the source material.

To my ears anyway.

I read somewhere else that the s1100 gives your samples a very musical
quality...whatever that means. They said that if you would listen to
fine instrument like a flute and other clean samples you would "know"
it was sampled with a 1100... this could be total b.s. for all I
know, but there might also be some kind of validity in the opinion.

I too have heard this and it was a minor factor in my decision to get my s1100.

But this is all VERY subjective. Your ears may hear things mine don't.

A lot depends on what's between them too. ;-)

If you can't find one to listen to, just get one, they're not that expensive anymore.

It is, after all, a classic.

You should be able to get roughly what you paid for it if things don't work out.

You're asking for opinions that may not match your own once you've heard the thing.

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