PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Hi has anyone given up their hardware samplers for the STS ones? I have an S1000 that is just starting to give me problems and thinking of getting rid of it and putting the money towards the professional scope card.

Cheers

I don't know this particular sampler, but be sure to know what you're dealing with before trading your hardware for the STS. Maybe it will do the trick, maybe not. If you want sample playback with slight tweakings, it may work. I use an e-mu e5000 ultra and it's in another league completely, both in functionality and sound quality. I would not use the sts exclusively, although I do use it and I like it: it is simple to use, and the sts5000 has an interesting filter palette. The e-mu filters are untouchable, they are so smooth and also have their character. The modulation flexibility is quite amazing too, modular in concept. The sound that comes out of this machine is just unlike any machine I've heard, its alive and BIG!

All I can say is: don't assume anything before you actually try the sampler first hand and see if it does the trick for you or not.

Take care!

Even better, the STS series are clones of AKAI's S*000 samplers, so STS should provide all options of the S1000, especially since the S1000 is the most basic version.

CW's STS sample CD's are in the old AKAI format (.p and .s files), and Scope's file browser can read AKAI formatted CD's (don't know of zip drive or floppy).

Used to have an S5000, but that was some time before I had the STS series.

One more thing: patch changes are pretty rough in the sts samplers. In my emu, the samples currently playing won't cut if I make a patch change, they will continue as long as needed while the new patch is effective. In the sts the samples abruptly cut usually with some clicks. Pretty unpractical in many situations, depending on how you use the app.

You really should check out ShortCircuit too. Theres a free 2-polyphony version availble at it's homepage here:

http://www.vemberaudio.se/products.php

And Shortcircuit 2 should be just around the corner - a free update for all owners. It's supposed to be the bomb

I gave up my Emulator IV's for Gigasampler back in '99. Eliam is spot on about their quality and Z-plane filters. I used Emulators since the 80's. Starting with Emulator II keyboard with 3 x Oberheim DPX's, as they played Akai,and Emu samples. Naturally I bought every revision up to 1998, the EIV turbo XT's. The only reason I quit using them was the meagher amounts of RAM that were available, and I hate loading and waiting. When a woman makes you wait it's usually worth the time, but not a sampler God damn it. It was Giga that changed everything for me. I now run GS3 Orchestra their top of the line peice of shit. It sounds great as a sample player, but when it comes to sampling, I mean real sampling, nothing could touch EOS and it's supreme filters. I have found a use 4 STS though. I have some big DSP munchers that have been sampled in STS 5000 4 me, I then convert them to Giga with Translator Pro, and they sound excellant, as CW provides alot of options when sampling. I just don't trust them in a live venue yet, and there's that RAM issue again. I will be experimenting with VDAT and external hardware sequencer soon, and I believe the quality to be the same as STS series, which IMHO has a sound similar to the output of Akai, and Emu. It is a pity that Creative now owns Emu, as they will never release hardware again, except 4 that cheesy DSP card crap they have. But I'm sure that their soft sampler is Emu based, and that Dog will hunt!!

When I had two project cards the sts samplers dind't work. Now I have only one but in the meantime I spend my money on a akais950 and a akai s6000. No bugs and a nice sound. I don't want to go back to sts.

STS is especially nice for the realtime stretching and formant features, but the lack of proper stereo sample playback and lack of importing rex files, makes me want to switch to another (soft)sampler soon, as I am using stereo drumloops quite often.