Why You Love the MS-1

[boombapp28]

In an attempt to show the MS-1 some proper love, I want to know what owners and users of this quirky little sampler appreciate about it. I'll start off by saying that chopping on this thing is great. The sound grades are all awesome and warm. Let's get some MS-1 beat heatery going!!!

[formal]

MS1 was first sampler I got as a hand me down from my sister. This was back in 99' or so. I never really learned to use it, but damn I remember the nice WARM sound it made. I've thought about getting another one, except I don't seem to find any for sale locally.

.... one of these days!

[boombapp28]

Were you prone to n00b tendencies in those days?

[CULP]

i found it under a drum machine next to an xmen arcade machine and immediately bought it.

[boombapp28]

Culp, that "Walk for MS-1" tape you did with the homie DPee is fantastic. That whole tape is murky and showcases the possibilities of the machine. It's cool to hear how other cats use it.

I've attempted to order memory cards for it twice without any success but was able to get my money back on both occasions. I bought a 20 mb card with the SDP3B prefix on the Bay and hope it works. I do have one MS with a 10 mb card and it is an SDP3B so I don't foresee any problems.

[boombapp28]

Early on, I was using the Standard setting for everything. I'll try experimenting with Long 1 and Long 2 this weekend to see how crusty it can get.

[Ill Green]

I love chopping on the MS-1, that divide feature works wonders if you know what you're doing. Rarely I truncate samples on the MS. I'd rather put use to the scraps.

Oh yeah, the Long 1 and Long 2 settings got some heavy grime that makes drums a bit extra crunchy. Use a line preamp when sampling, so you can get the best grit possible, or if you have, a SP303 and take advantage of the Isolator effect.

MS-1's Master Pitch is way superior to the MPC500's Pitch Tune. The MPC likes to digitize the shit out of samples when pitch tuning and sounds like the sample is screaming in pain. MS gives it's pitch a warm sound through-out, but my only gripe is that there's a small gap between the settings of High, Standard, Long 1 and Long 2 if you want to lower the pitch or raise it. Some of you know the pitch goes from -20 to +10 for each setting and as you switch the settings, the sample will be pitched higher or lower. Well, lets say you pitched down a sample on Standard at -20, but the sample doesn't synch with your drum break, the logical thing to do would be to change the setting to Long 1 and tune the pitch to +10. The thing is, sometimes the perfect pitch is right in between Long 1 +10 and Standard -20, but it can't be reached. Of course the solution would be to sample again at a higher pitch but I'm just saying.

[boombapp28]

Finally got a memory card that works!! 20 mb SanDisk!!

[Ill Green]

Its useless, your better off continuing to use the internal memory, Its just for storage, doesn't expand the limited time.

[boombapp28]

Ill Green, I'm paging through the manual and it says on page 2: When a memory card is used, extremely long sample times are possible (a maximum of 48 minutes with the 20 mb type card). Even if the memory card is merely for storage, it'll come in handy for sample storage and the copying and pasting of samples (although it is a process).

Sample time isn't really a concern of mine as I use Standard, Long 1, and Long 2. I will agree, the pitch function is pretty flawless. It's a curious little sampler as it possesses some rich features as well as some limited ones. Such is the nature of semi-pro/budget gear!!

[boombapp28]

I caught myself wandering off while at work and found the following artists have at one point in time, embraced the simplicity of the MS-1 for music production. Nothing more than a who's who. Put it together to pass the time.

- Eliot Lipp (debut s/t album was constructed with nothing more than an MS-1 and Six Trak synth)

- Rob the Viking

- Tricky (Maxinquaye)

- Dert

- DC the Midi Alien

- Michael Nhat

- Exile (had a hard time letting it go before focusing on the MPC 2000 XL)

- Jason Newsted (bassist from Metallica used it on his Papa Wheelie excursions while on tour in '96..taken from Bass Player Mag article:

What type of music have you been recording in your studio?

This week, I'm recording a project of mine called Papa Wheelie, which is based around stuff I sampled in my spare time during Metallica's '96 European tour. When everybody else in the band is out drinkin', I go back to my hotel room and with a keyboard, a Tascam 4-track, and this [points to Roland MS-1 sampler], I create loops. No rules whatsoever. I try to develop rhythms and put lyrics or stupid poetry over the top. It's all experimenting, but it's fun.

[Ill Green]

Its a lovely piece and yes you can play long samples with a storage card but you can only play one at a time, however you can play with the remaining 3 polyphonies with the internal memory at the same time. So if you got a minute long acapella playing from the 20MB card, then you can bang out a beat from the samples in the internal memory. Good news is that you can transfer the internal memory samples to the card.

I had mine since 1996 and its seeing its days, some pads are weakening and the sequencer can get erratic at times. But it's still ticking considering all the drops and pounding it took through the years.

Why can't Roland just remake these but add 20 minutes of sample-time, 16 polyphony, LPF, BPF, and HPF filters and thats it. Thats all I wanted. I spent years trying to find a successor to the MS-1 but the MV is the only one that comes close. Everything else was money spent.

[boombapp28]

I've got three of them and they've been playing their parts beautifully. Two of them have 20 mb cards and the other has a 10 mb. I would experiment with the O.S. update but a forum member just recently posted a negative experience of trying to do so and his MS is a goner. I'm happy with my overpriced 20 mb cards .

[boombapp28]

Ill Greezy, did you sequence the MS at all for Swamp Water Plague or was most of it you playing the MS-1 live and 4-track magic?

[boombapp28]

Nevermind, I found the answer in the Swamp Water Plague threads.. Thanks!!