Let's take a break from gear and talk about technique...

What's your favorite thing to sample?

I just got an E-Mu EMAX I a few months ago, and getting into it has been a gradual process. I love its grainy sound and the muddiness of the filter...(not ordinarily a good thing, but it works somehow).

Some cool samples I've grabbed lately: a creepy piano loop from Erik Satie; a bizarre and violent violin-like snippet from Harry Partch; a great ghostly choral vocal from Morton Feldman; a loop from the soundtrack of the movie Fantastic Planet (HIGHLY recommended film, btw); coins pouring from one glass jar into another (great to tuck in the background of a track, with some subtle delay); and my coffee pot. (Actually, I made a whole track with nothing but my coffee pot and some reverb. Not necessarily a very GOOD track, but a track nonetheless. And the coffee was good.)