i see what you mean.. but i've taken my 2000xl to jam sessions before and thrown some samples into 16 levels, tuned them up and fit right in, and if that still doesn't make a sampler a real instrument then a keyboard isn't either imo.

if only the 404 had that capability... subsonic + 16 levels would be fun

from my experience (objects tested: akai remix16,yamaha su10, akai mpc1000, korg es1 mkII, boss sp303, boss sp505, roland sp404, roland sp606, zoom st224, roland mc909, boss sp202, korg kp2, korg kp3, ensoniq asr-x) i can say it clearly: THE SAMPLER IS AN INSTRUMENT!
many of them (samplers) got the same parameters/algorythms/lfo etc of real synths: sometimes i think of sampler as a synth without internal sounds...

ahhhh my dream

classic
i don't try to explain what i do with samplers (and turntables and synths and shittt...) no more 'cause it's a waste of time.
people don't really know even what a vinyl record (or a sampler/electronic instrument) is.
so i just don't give a fokk:
if people ask me i tell i'm a producer and a DJ (which is actually what i am)
and then they usually go
they don't understand a shiett,
even if they are rap fans or something like that

Haha that little girl fucked it up shes better than me! lol

And yeah if you got the 16 levels then you can play along cos you can follow chord changes, and also if you're playing a percussive part a sampler is a handy instrument. It's just chopped samples, if you go to a jam and try play chopped samples everyone's gonna have to work around you, which is not a bad thing, but you can't just jump into something because you're samples won't work. However, whatever samples you've got loaded up, a guy on a bass or trumpet or zuzaphone or whatever can just jump in and play along with you

sampler actually qualifies as an musical instrument under the wikipedia defenition of music instrument.

i can almost make any kind of sound i want. with just the built in mic and the springs when you slap the pads,

man anything that makes a noise can be an instrument. Hitting a beer bottle with a pencil can be an instrument.

Samplers can be an instrument if you're just using one sampled thing, like drums, or a pitched guitar sample or w/e. The way most of use em tho is like a "band in a box", drums, bass, melodies, harmonies n all on it, which is not really like playing an instrument, it's more like arranging a composition

here's a quote from https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sampling

"A lot of people still don't recognize the sampler as a musical instrument. I can see why. A lot of rap hits over the years used the sampler more like a Xerox machine. If you take four whole bars that are identifiable, you're just biting that shit. But I've always been into using the sampler more like a painter's palette than a Xerox. Then again, I might use it as a Xerox if I find rare beats that nobody had in their crates yet. If I find a certain sample that's just incredible—like the one on 'Liquid Swords'—I have to zap that! That was from an old Willie Mitchell song that I was pretty sure most people didn't have. But on every album I try to make sure that I only have 20 to 25 percent [of that kind of] sampling. Everything else is going to be me putting together a synthesis of sounds. You listen to a song like "Knowledge God" by Raekwon: it took at least five to seven different records chopped up to make one two-bar phrase. That's how I usually work." —RZA, The Wu-Tang Manual, 2004

Yeah that's more like arranging. How long would it have taken him to chop up all those records for the two bars. Probably hours if you include looking through the crates. If you jump on your sax you can play the two bar phrase in your head the moment you blow.

I don't think the instantaneousness of being able to play music defines what an instrument or instrumental is though.

Believe it or not, but sampling and arranging is part of every day music production as a whole. Whether violins playing their part in an orchestra or a sampled acapella in a rap beat is quite the same thing.

With a sampler you can do full songs, with a guitar you'd be somewhat limited in sounds, but I suppose you can do a full song in that as well (including some 'drumming' too). Where's the difference?

It still takes skill to make music on a sampler. There's no 'one button' music production going on. It still requires creativity.

I also do not agree with your comment on not being able to jam with a sampler because the sound 'color palette' might not match properly. The same is true with an instrument that might clash style-wise with the other instruments used in a jam. Heck, you might even be completely out of style with a certain guitar sound determined by your pick-ups or amplifier.

Sound doesn't match just by being part of an recognized instrument.