Since user-sampling on the 9000Pro has come up several times on this and other threads, I'd like to put my 2 cents worth in on this subject. I've created a few sampled instruments, though I'm certainly no expert. I'm sure there are others on this list with as much or more experience in this area and I suspect most would agree that creating quality instrument samples is a very time consuming, sometimes tedious and frustrating experience even under the best of conditions.

My personal conclusion is that if it is possible to buy good quality sampled instruments, it is well worth whatever it costs. Otherwise, you should use the best analog instrument recordings available or the best mics and recording tools as well as the best sampling software.

Unfortunately, the 9000Pro does not import the commercial instrument sample formats (not even Yamaha), only raw AIFF and WAV files. Therefore, you can't use any of the fairly large collection of samples available.

Secondly, the sampling tools built in to the 9000 are very basic and I don't believe contain even simple crossfading capabilities. (I'm basing this on the 9000Pro Owner's manual.) This means that you probably won't be able to create decent looped samples of anything but the most simple waveforms.

I'd be interested in what 9000Pro owners have to say, but my opinion is that its limited sampling capability isn't likely to be of much value to most users and therefore isn't a good justification for buying the 9000Pro.

David Altekruse