ALL SP SERIES USER.....GOT A QUESTION FOR YOU GUYS....

[YoungHeat]

Whats up guy's? Hey I was looking into the ASR-10 and I know that it has a few feartures that are good for your drums just like the sp 303 and the 404 are...But Truthfully What would u guys take An ASR-10, Sp-303, SP-404, SP-606 or Sp -808...I read that the ASR has sumkind of feature I forgot its name but its like low boost but its not that and a few more things but it makes ur drums hit WAAAAAAAAAYYYY harder than an mpc...Most cats sleep on SP's and ASR's cause everyone wants to be main stream and have in mpc like the rest of the world....but What would u guys Take out of that List???? For samples and drums not General Sequenncing...

[mostblunted]

I used the asr 10 before and it's pretty cool.

Still, sp303 is my love I find it better then the asr, mpc and what else there is.

[YoungHeat]

I used the asr 10 before and it's pretty cool.

Still, sp303 is my love I find it better then the asr, mpc and what else there is.

Whats better about the SP u use than the asr I know its waaaaaaaaayyyy better than the mpc.

[mostblunted]

the asr, especially the asrpro is a pain to use, so many menus and shit, it's takes years to get creative, while you can jump right in with the 303.

Of course the 303 is missing some features, but it has all the features I want and need.

[blast1]

i've never came in contact with an ASR-10 so i can't comment on that... love the sound that comes out of the SP-303 but for Sound, Effects & sample editing the SP-808 hands down ''for me...'' the 303 & the 808 has the same converter rate...

[YoungHeat]

I like the asr's warm sound even tho the 303 has a warm ol skool mpc 60 sound I like the asr sound...Me personally im gonna stick to my mpc and Instead of a 303 im gonna get a 404 for my drums and samples.......

[QuoteunQuote]

The asr is nice if you have the scsi, if not youre wasting your time and money. Also the asr is HUGE and very heavy so that can be a pain. I hardly ever use my asr or my mpc. I prefer my 606 for various reasons.

[Dj Frantic]

I wouldnt mess with an ASR. They are really fresh, but it wont do ne thing your MPC and 303 together wont do. Ive had the EPS16 and the EPS classic I prefer the sound of the SP303 to the ASR or EPS16.

[Euclid Ov Oåklånd]

I'd stay with my 303, but ASR's are definitely a great machine in my mind and for what I would use it for but when choosing any sampler it's a personal choice that you have to make 'cause like Dj Frantic said all samplers from around mid 80's on are pretty capable of making great sampled music. I recommend finding someone who has the machine your interested in and ask if they can show you like a quick little demo of it, or just find people online that use a particular sampler and listen to the music made with it from multiple people and ask yourself if that's what your looking for in terms of sound.

[Dj Frantic]

Also, I forget to mention... a wet paper bag makes harder drum sounds than an MPC

[HxC]

Drums banging harder on an ASR is an urban myth. It's a sampler.
The ASR is also a physical beast- the keyboard version is a big 'ol thing that you almost need a forklift to move. ASR enthusiasts also know they made a second version that had a backlit screen (Most ASR-10s have the 'calculator-digit' type of screen). The one with the purpleish screen is considered better since it's newer and the ASR was known for a few bugs. The A stands for advanced, and there are literally hundreds of editing parameters- I honestly think the thing confuses itself at times.
The sound is excellent, and you can adjust the sample rate when you sample, and do just about everything ever imagined to a sample- even a cruddy sounding 1990's timestretch.
If the unit doesn't have SCSI your stuck fooling with floppies, or on ebay hunting for the SCSI option.
Bottom line- if you saw the rackmount with the backlit screen for cheap dive for it.

[Dj Frantic]

well...I wouldnt say its a myth. The drums you samples into obviously are a big part but the converters on that thing really beef things up. Plus it give you the "boost" feature I believe its called. Which I think may be some kind of internal compressor...but that thing really fattens things up alot. But anyway, if you sample the same drum kit into say... an MPC1000 or 2000 and into an ASR you are definitely going to notice a difference.

[HxC]

Yeah you're right. + low SP rates get a fatter sound too, but if you are a clever kat you can do all sorts of tricks on all sorts of machines to get those illy-dilly drums that we all love.

There are so many parameters on the ASR you could make a high hat sound like a snare-bomb with some tweaking. I think Boost is their 'normalize' - sort of like putting the volume to 200 on the MPC3000 (2000 as well?)

I guess the urban myth would be that your drums automatically sound like crack when sampled into the ASR. Now the Ensoniq Mirage on the other hand... I actually love all Ensoniq products and their samplers have an AWESOME sound- it is a shame they went the way of Woolworths.

Another Urban myth I hear a lot with music dudes is that "vocals sound better when recording into a Mac" versus a PC- now that one is definitely not true!

[Euclid Ov Oåklånd]

If someone tells you a mac records better it's misinformation. This is what's up, mac and pc use the same types of parts and components since it's all standardized these days ie(intel chips in mac and pc) but macs just put in the highest quality versions on all their machines while individual pc makers don't have a standard to adhere to which is why you can get a Dell that does what you want for like have the price. So in a way it's sort of true but anyone can put an upgraded soundcard in their machine as macs do. With technology as advanced as it is now even a basic dell with the something like reaper or audacity and a little knowledge on sound design can yield excellent results so a lot of the search for perfect digital clarity and lower sound floors is superfluous as the the human ear can only hear so much unless trained to perfection. If anyone wants to know how to upgrade a soundcard in their machine just send me a message and I can explain how to do it in like 15mins.

[HxC]

Gyeah- I actually like Macs for office-type stuff (emailing, reading SPforums.com, etc...) and PC for recording music simply because you can get a more powerful, faster one for a way better price.

Man we could start a whole thread on "Urban Production Myths" I wish I could think of some...

One big can of worms is the 24bit vs. 16bit debate.
While there is no question that higher bit rates capture more, and therefore sound better while listening to the high rate playback, there is an argument that even with the top of the line dithering methods, that the 24bit etc... rates get slightly degraded on their way to a 16 bit format, so it makes sense to 'stay' in the 16 bit world from start to finish.
This is an interesting article that starts to examine some of the fundamentals (mp3 coding is another whole enchilada):

http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_resolution_project/

It definitely has me thinking. I knee-jerk always record at 24bit 44.1, but I have some stuff at 16 44.1 that sounds just fine, and it sure would economize on drive space, which always seems to get filled faster than I can dump.

Oh yeah- the ASR10 sounds heavenly.. and it's 16bit!