I am new to the world of samplers and will be purchasing my first sampler soon. I am familiar with the specs, options, and upgrades of each, I'm just confused on what way to go.

I know the Yamaha has an impressive array of effects, and the ability to read many file types. (Does this all work well?) However, It does not have auto looping. Is it difficult to get an accurate clean, precise in-time loop without auto looping? I know the e-mu does auto loop as well as beat munging the the yamaha does some cool stuff with beats as well.

I do a lot of scoring and want a nice pallette of sounds, but I also want a tight, precise machine that works well for me when I occassionally play with the drum loops.

I would appreciate anyone who has information and expereince with these machines giving me their opinions.

Thanks MV