Sorry for the long first post but more questions came to me as i was writing.

Things that put me off:

SP606

512mb CF so limited sample storage. Doesn't seem to be as performance orientated as the sp555. Not suitable for gigging? It's a few years old. Don't know much about it.

SP555

rca connectors, all my hw has jack outputs so i'd have to get cables made or adapters. Only one sequencer track but don't know if that's an issue from the videos i've seen. Seems limited to me but what it does it does really well ie realtime performance.

I'm looking at something to add to a live setup but that's equally useful in the studio. I write my tracks on an RS7000 so i don't really need it for that but the 606 looks good to use standalone and seems a lot more sophisticated than the sp555. I read a few good things about the synth, are there any demos of it anywhere?

The options i'm looking at are the SP606 or the SP555 with a kaossilator to sample from and provide synth sounds. I also want to be able to use it as a controller as well for overdubbing drums on the RS or jamming with Guru. I use live as well, though not as much but i have loads of tracks i've made in live that i'd like to load into something and perform live with

I like the sp555 but i don't want to buy it and be disappointed. The 606 is obviously more powerful but seems more like a sampling workstation that a performance instrument. Has much better connectivity though...

From what i've read the 606 is better in the studio but is it as well suited to live performance? Any other phrase samplers worth considering?

Thanks.

I like the realtime aspect of the sp555 and being able to stream and resample from live so i'm thinking of getting one. I found some decent rca to phono cables which'll be good for connecting my gear, plugging into a pa etc. I use live and vsts as well and one of the things i've wanted to do for a looong time is take tracks and sounds out of my daw to use them live. The sp555 wraps everything up into one unit and has the sample memory i need. I'm actually getting inspired just thinking about it!