What sampler would you invest in?

[samartin]

It's not really a sampler, but the machine I plan to buy is a Spectralis 2 - since I don't want either to stay all day long in front of a computer to play music (I'm a developer, so making to much music with computers would be like staying at work )
By now, I completed my KP3 with a MoogerFooger (MIDI Murf) ; it changes radically the sound that come out of the KP3.

Sheeeeet man, sounds absolutely gorgeous, haven't seen any suppliers online or costs but digging in ebay it's $2,500. Good luck in finding one..

I'm now thinking the Boss Micro BR, I've got to do some research but it looks kinda funky, and very portable. Not up to a live standard yet, but one day

[bluemind]

I have the Micro Br... It's a fun little machine and it's strengths lie in that you can just turn it on and play away to the build in mic or record using the line in. But you can't really edit anything like in a daw (or you can, but it's very non-intuitive because of the little screen).

Anyway, I'm planning on using my KOPro, SP-404sx, Juno-DI, guitars and Micro-BR and forcing myself to record some demos, because it's been forever since I last recorded any songs (computers distract me...). It'll be my little studio away from the computer

@didjeko, consider elektron machinedrum and monomachine, those are some really cool things to make music on. I would buy them instantly if I had that much cash lying around somewhere...

[samartin]

I have the Micro Br... It's a fun little machine and it's strengths lie in that you can just turn it on and play away to the build in mic or record using the line in. But you can't really edit anything like in a daw (or you can, but it's very non-intuitive because of the little screen).

It was you who put me onto that unit, I think you mentioned it in another thread. But being away from the computer and recording a few loops/riffs or whatever sounds ideal. I'm going to buy Reaper so I would be able to put it all together another time.

At the moment I just love jamming with the KPro, just to get ideas down. I'm hoping a good friend who is pretty handy on the guitar/vocals can help out a little. My guitar skills range to a few chords/barre chords sadly...

[didjeko]

bluemind> I looked to the electron and monomachine, but the spectralis is the only one that let you load and use your own samples

samartin>good luck in finding one ? Thomann sells it, Radikal either. Just, paying in dollars does not make sense in this case

[Kaoss Elation]

I have the Micro Br... It's a fun little machine and it's strengths lie in that you can just turn it on and play away to the build in mic or record using the line in. But you can't really edit anything like in a daw (or you can, but it's very non-intuitive because of the little screen).

It was you who put me onto that unit, I think you mentioned it in another thread. But being away from the computer and recording a few loops/riffs or whatever sounds ideal. I'm going to buy Reaper so I would be able to put it all together another time.

Actually it was me that mentioned the MBR and I will take slight issue with Bluemind that you can do everything you would do in a DAW to produce incredibly high quality stuff (LMK if you want to hear some), but he is right the UI is a bit challenging. The added advantage of the MBR is that it has an excellent on board mike and great vocal effects, so you can sing straight into it to get vox down. I think the simple answer is that if you use DAWs then you won't want an MBR but if like me you don't use DAWs a lot and don't want to spend your life wrestling with software and latency issues, the MBR is a stunning piece of kit. It's also portable so you can use it anywhere, you are not tied to your computer.

[samartin]

Sorry Kaos Elation, didn't mean to put credit elsewhere. I think the Micro is cheap and if it gets me away from the computer then great, it sounds ideal just to get some sounds down, and then use them later to sequence.

One day going live would be great, but that's one day...

[Kaoss Elation]

Don't worry, I wasn't miffed, just wanted to make sure the MBR got a fair hearing . Well unfair, because you may have guessed I am a huge fan. It is a bit tough to get to grips with because of the small buttons and small screen, so if you get one go to www.songcrafters.org as there are lots of tutorials and instructional videos, and if you have any qs the folks there will help.

[Mr36]

I think that little Boss seems to be the best all-rounder in that category. Especially for the price. If I needed something like that, I'd probably go for it.

However, I don't. I am thinking of investing in the Intua Beatmaker iPhone app though. Not that I'm comparing it to the Boss or anything really. It just seems like the cheapest and best way to be able to include some of my own homemade samples while using the Kaossilator Pro live.

[bluemind]

@Kaoss Elation

I absolutely love the device myself and didn't mean to say that it's bad, sound quality is great, it's portable, it runs with batteries and has great tools for guitarist to jam with and the effects are also great (and you can also be very punk and run your vocals through guitar amp distortion... ).

For recording it's a great device if you can work the way the device wants you to. It is basically an extension of old 4-track tape recorders. If you do music that requires lots of little bits of audio and copy-paste aka "pro-tools rock" or want to edit a lot of things, micro br is not going to do that without major frustration. If you record tracks one by one and play most of it with complete chunks, then the micro br is a great device. I also use it to record our band practices, as you can patch aux sends from the mixer to get great quality audio straight to the line in in the MBR.

[samartin]

You guys with the Micro BR, do you know if the BR600 is any better? It's bigger, which means it would be a little more useable when editing.

I've seen a few that are cheaper than the RRP of the Micro BR!

[bluemind]

Well, it has 8 tracks and programmable drum patterns (i think...), but the screen is still the same size, so I think editing-wise it will not be a big improvement over the micro br. But it probably has better connections and such, because it's physically bigger.

What you need to know (if you already don't) about the micro br (and br600 i think), that it has 8 virtual tracks / every track, so it can only play back 4 tracks at a time, but you can always bounce tracks to the virtual tracks.

For example you can record the KOPro backing in stereo, it takes up 2 tracks. You solo over the backing track, again in stereo, that takes up the remaining 2 tracks. Now you want to record some additional effects. You bounce the 4 tracks you had onto lets say tracks 3/4 but to the second virtual tracks. So now you have the backing and solo mixed down to tracks 3 and 4, but you have 1 and 2 free to record additional stuff. And the originals are still saved in the first virtual tracks.

Sounds more complicated than it really is

[samartin]

Thanks bluemind,

That sounds really good, I wish the KPro could bounce the loops down, etc... You're right it does sound complicated, but it also sounds logical, so I'm not phased

The stereo mics sound like a neat implementation too, as I really like playing my acoustic rather than the elec.

It seems like a really good buy, I've seen a few around London area for a 100 notes. The Micro BR RRP is £149.

Thanks all

[bluemind]

Definately buy it for that price, that's too good to be ignored

[Kaoss Elation]

Just to clarify on the Boss MBR vs the BR 600

- The MBR can only record or playback four tracks at once. You can record an unlimited number of individual tracks (like all the BR machines, the 32 track or 64 track supposed limit can easily be overcome) but when you want to build up more than four tracks you have to bounce them down to intermediate tracks and keep adding more on top of the intermediate bounce and then bounce again. I have used over 40 tracks in several pieces I have recorded (currently working on one that will use around 60), and it is a bit fiddly having to do that. But it works.

- The BR600 can record and playback 8 tracks at the same time, and it has sliders to control the levels. This means for complex recordings you don't have to do so much bouncing, and you don't have to control the levels by pressing little buttons. There are also knobs top control things like pan, on the MBR you have to press buttons.

- There are a few more mixing effects on the BR600 and the onboard drum machine is fully programmable by pressing the pads. On the MBR the onboard drum machine is limited to preset patterns (quite a lot) and programming it is a bit cumbersome.

- The MBR is much better to use for vocals as you can hold it easily like a mike and sing straight into it.

- The MBR can export completed songs as .wav or mp3 (up to 192 kbps), the BR600 cannot do the mp3 conversion (which you can of course do on a PC).

I love the immediacy and portability of the MBR but the 600 has more functionality at the expense of portability (and more money!).

[samartin]

Silly me didn't realise the items I viewed were a month old! There were a couple recently but came in around the £150.

But I missed the boat and I found myself the Micro for £85 inc posting. At the end of the day, I'm just using it to get concepts down, and now I can go into the ambient area, around 90bpm and record at decent lengths.

Maybe one day I'll plump for the BR 600 or equivalent, but I think for learning this will do a great job