Are there any out there that won't cost 3 months pay but still remain a viable beat making medium? EPS, S50, Mirage, EMAX... Anyone got one? Wanna share any experiences, especially regarding usability. Thanks in advance.

would this be pertaining to pre- or post-global economy meltdown?

of course there are the casio's;
http://www.casiosk1.com/

i would also consider a rack piece (like the akai s-series) with a keyboard midi'd in. if you look hard enough and bide your time i bet you could find either for less than a bill.

of course you probably knew all that and wanted a hands on review, oh well. for what it's worth aye?

your best bet is the EPS16+. You can get them for around $350 and they are solid. I have an EPS and they sound DOPE ! and they are mad cheap (got mine for $150) But they can be finicky.

How user friendly is the EPS? I had an ASR-X Pro a couple years back and it was a menu driven, knob turning nightmare with a real bitchy sequencer.

The EPS is a little more user friendly than the X-Pro.
Like above, you're better off getting a rackmount & using a controller board of your choice. Sampler keyboards tend to be big beasts.
Check out Ebay & CL and let us know what you find for $150 & under.

Looks like the old Akai S1000's and S2000's are goin for decent prices. Any opinions on them? The 2000 especially seems cheaper. Maybe get one and a mc-303 or something to sequence/control it.


EDIT: A friend of mine just told me I could have his Roland S-550. Fucking A.

EPS is kinda wierd as far the menu layout. But once you get it its really fast. I actually find it to be a faster and more effcient menu than most workstations. But its hard at first.

The 550 is a rack sampler- you're all good.
Grab a cheap Oxygen8 or M-Audio key contoller and you'll be pitch bending & mod wheeling your samples to heck!

Don't know about you guys, but I've been sequencing less & just jamming onto multitrack more- then 'sequencing' that way.
Especially with older samplers I rarely even bother saving sounds, I just get 'em then record them into the song, I sequence my drum patterns for sure, but the gravy is lately freely thrown on!

It's all about having multitrack capabilities with MIDI out!

I'll be riding with the 550 for now at least. I have a trigger finger and a radium 49 so I'm good on the controller front. I been reading up on this thing, seems pretty powerful given it's age. Everyone says it pretty much requires a monitor to edit on, I wonder if one of those small headrest TVs would work. They have the same connector. I gotta get a rack too.

Eff all that. I'd still rock your SP mainly, and any sample you'd like to pitch or grungify, you could throw into the 550 simply. You start hooking up TVs and dicking around with archaic editing procedures, you'll be taking steps back- use that thing like a prostitute, get what you need from it and don't be buying it anything- eff a rack- just let it sit on the desk & stack stuff on it- you only need a rack if you have a few mountable units**.

**Opinions of the poster do not reflect opinions of Forum, or anyone else for that matter (-;

LOL!!! Unfortunately I haven't had an SP for a couple months now. Had to sell my 404 a while to make parole payments (P.O.'s don't take broke for an excuse). Though I am torn between a 505, 404, or an MPC500 (found em for $400). I do sorely miss my 404 but the others have some feature that I'd really like all for around the same money.

I think I will take your advice to an extent. I got a copy of Midi Quest XL 10 and with it I can work with the 550 from my computer mostly. So that should take some of the backwardness out of the the whole ordeal. I really wanna give it chance though, I think it has some real audio mangling potential. Once I figure out which sampler Ima get next the 550 will likely be pimped just as you said.

Even something along the lines of the Alesis MMT-8 sequencer would have you cooking with gas:
http://www.mmt8.com/