Just as it should be - speed/pitch (spitch, ha ha), +/- 2 octave range, variable by dedicated knob or data wheel entry and per sample, not global. You can't automatically play a sample chromatically but it's easy peasy to resample at another spitch or edit the pattern so the same sample plays back at a different spitch at different sequencer entries, along with pan, level and LPF, or even record knob movements for the preceding as part of the pattern.
There is also a Pitch Shift in the effects (tempo maintained, pitch changes, +/- 2 octaves, wet/dry balance) but, as usual, it's more for fancy effects than being musically useful.

The ES-1 does have some limitations but there are easy workarounds for most of it. The best £110 I've spent, easy. Seriously overlooked piece. If they'd not had matching drum and synth versions to go with it and not called it ELECTRIBE (yuck), it'd be a classic sampler like the SPs. Having no 'celebrity user' has probs counted against it too, I spose. As it is, no one wants them, so they're dirt cheap. Next to no decent videos about them on youtube. It's like they almost never existed. Weird.

Really good at mangling samples. I had a drum loop going last night and, with a combination of the filter, an effect and the global delay, could get it sounding like a synth line or doomy atmostpherics and all sorts.

Would be REALLY good for live stuff.

Probs not so good for one-shot sloppy hip hop drummers, due to the low sequencer resolution (max 8ppqn, LOLZ - altho there is Swing, apparently). But if, like me, you're into more loop-based stuff or four-to-the-floor techno, this is a machine well worth checking out. Think of it as being halfway between an SP202 and a 303, with a TR808 sequencer.

The MkII is the same machine, just with a metal silver front and a non-global modulated delay instead of the MkI's wah effect (altho I updated mine to the MkII OS, so I have that now too). The ESX is the red one with the starved-plate cheesy valve in it but fixes a lot of the functionality limitations of the first two and is basically a fully featured sampler. But the MkIs/MkIIs are so cheap and really great as they are, so well worth a look.

The ES-1 is an awesome piece of kit and I'd buy one in a heart-beat if they still made 'em new!
That said, you have once again exceeded your own standards, and so, without further delay ...

Thank you , thank you. It takes a lot of work, and a lot of money, but awards like this make it all worth while. I'd to thank god, without whom nothing is possible, my stylist Jan and my personal trainer, Jed. Actually, bollox to the lot of 'em. It was all ME. ALL ME.

I was just flailing around madly looking for something that suited me. I don't think I'll fall in love with this one...but I can do pretty much everything I need to with relative ease on it, so it's the one..for now.

I have an EA-1 collecting some dust because the power jack is loose, but if you were to want it/try to fix it, I would definitely throw a good deal for it. The synth filters + distortion are deadly... I'll see if I can get an old video I have saved uploaded.

Also, where the **** are you finding them for so cheap?! All of the ones I could find online are jacked through the roof

https://youtube.com/shorts/Sy-tuF1Tclk?feature=share sorry for the screen recording/youtube short format/my nasally voice

@Girru
Yeah, give it until the SP-404MKII is readily available from stock, then you'll get rid of it

Seriously though, what on earth did you get rid of the W-30 for? It's a proper old-school sampler with keys you can actually play on. Surely not really due to the type of sequencer on board, I mean, the ES-1 is a nice piece of kit (and I would hang on to that one if I were you), but it's no substitute for having a standard sampler to play on, nevermind an old-schoool sampler like the W-30 to play on!

@pazword
That's knarly bro, and I like your coloured fairy lights but you need more of them

Ha. Literally NO interest in the 404mkII.

Yeah, the sequencer. Gotta have a pattern sequencer, as opposed to the W-30's linear sequencer. Great sound tho. Don't forget, I'm trying to have as cheap and small set-up as possible, preferably one unit.

You'll be SURPRISED to hear that the ES-1 is on it's way out. Discovered the tuning is basically by semi-tones (and not exact ones at that) so I can't layer drum breaks etc accurately. Would've prefered better tuning resolution over such an extreme range than the +/- 2 octaves it has. A couple of other things were bummers too. But it is great is many, many ways and was nearly 'it'. The ACTUAL last thing (promise) is on its way...



Reverb. Lucked out, for once. Looked a bit scuzzy in the pics, but I didn't care as long as it worked, but it turned out it was also in very nice cosmetic condition too as well as fully working, just bad photos.

What an absolute madlad...

What features would make the ideal sampler for you?

What I've learned over the last month or so...

Essential:
Pattern sequencer (with ability to do odd time signatures & decimal place BPMs)
Ability to tune/pitch/speed individual samples accurately
Multiple assignable outputs or at least the ability to sync accurately with my VS recorder if not
Right now, as cheap and as self-contained as possible

Preferable:
Simple, with not too many features/options/bells/whistles/arse wiping
Limited sample time, to force quick creative decisions & thinking 'out of the box'
Genuine low sample/bit rate (not just an effect)
Not made after '99

The Polyend Tracker was in contention, since I found using the Amiga so much fun....but it's too modern and therefore icky for me. That'll probs be what I try next. So, like, in about 2 weeks, ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.

What I've got coming has NO mojo (I'm 0% excited to get it, lolz), mostly none off my Preferables list and is from a range that I never thought I'd own...but I know it can DEFINITELY do all I need it to do and was CHEAP. It was the obvious choice, if not an uninspiring one, all along. So, I'm gonna suck it up til I can afford another SP1.2k and/or MPC60.

Bruh, you're sick

BTW, don't get too excited about the Polyend Tracker. Something SP-USER will tell you that none of the hopeless reviewers out there have pointed out, is that it completely lacks any form of file management. No way to delete, rename, or move samples or folders. This is quite an issue since without it you will soon find that you get frustrated having to wade through no longer needed files that you cannot do anything about unless you involve a computer to manage those files.

Other than that, it's pretty damn awesome, but personally I would not touch it with a barge pole until it gets on-board file management. Just remember, the moment you sample something or resample a sequence to an audio file, you're completely and utterly fucked if you want to rename or delete that file (unless you involve a computer), and they soon pile up!

I owned one briefly and had to return it for that very reason.

Numark-era MPC. I feel dirty, ha ha. Didn't even consider it before but 'twas the obvious choice all along. Zero genuine mojo in the sound but the workflow is obvs very similar to the '60 and it was £150.

Thanks for joining me on my sampler-finding journey. Ta ta now!

Seems a nice box bro, and blimey, a bargain for a hundrend and fifty quid. Still baffled how this gets you more of what you wanted than the previous arrangement though. Previously you had a way to play chromatically on a proper retro sampler with a full-sided keyboard, sequence it, and then record it to the multi-track. You could even have used the multi-track to get around the pattern based sequencing you lacked before (to an extent), by recording clips to the multi-track, then duplicating and lining the clips up sequentially on the multi-track.

That said, if you're anything like me, I do understand that even the slightest thing that's off-putting can make you feel like you need to change a whole chunk of your whole setup, so I'm a fine one to talk, lol, and naturally I hope you've found a setup that works for you, but ...


Ta Ta for now, see you again when the next gear rework is about to take place

3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

Welcome to the MPC Club, for now

Hopefully you might have kept an SP for some effects.......right?

Nah, this is it now, 'til when/IF I'm ever loaded again. I WILL get bummed out at the lack of vintage mojo, and the words "CD-quality" and "sampler" should never be used in the same sentence as far as I'm concerned, ha ha...but I'll fight through that and stick with it, lolxz.

TBH it's been a bit of a revelation that so many sampler/seqs don't have what I consider the basics - tuning/pitching/speeding of samples, pattern sequencer, decimal point BPMs - all things I rely on to knock my samples and tunes into their half-formed shape, and what nearly all of the many samplers I've had over the last 8 years (approx 18) have been able to do, and certainly the ones I've done the most with could (MPC2000XL, SP1200, Amiga 1200 & MPC60). This MPC may not have the vintage mojo of those but it treats samples and can sequence like I'm used to. So, be not baffled, sir. Apart from the effects, display (1988 > 2006, lolz) and a few hardware differences, it's basically the same as using a 60. It's quite buggy tho - Akai abandoned it before getting a 100% functional OS sorted for it.

Ha ha. On the VS880EX, that W-30 workaround would've been SUCH a pain in the arse, lolz. I mean, obvs I'm used to janky vintage workflows but that would've been too far! And looped patterns are also part of the 'writing' process for me - i put the loop on, spark a j, turn up the Cathedral/Old Tape and wait till I "hear" what to do/put with it.



Nah. I was thinking of keeping the 303 for that but it sold whilst I was considering it. REALLY loved the Isolator for EQ. Something about it is just super nice. Best simple EQ I've ever heard, I think. Serious. But, nah, I got plenty of effects now on the MPC and my VS880EX. Don't usually use much more than a loooooooooong reverb and tape delay anyhoo.

I agree, certainly to a large extent anyway. One of the things I've always disliked about digital gear is that (in comparison to analogue) it sounds as if it's had its soul sucked from it. But when it comes to character, I think it's fair to say that digital equipment has character based on its bit-depth and sample rate etc. It's not "character" in the same way analogue has character due to analogue variability, but nevertheless it's still character that's the result of the technology being used, character that is a direct result of its design.