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#13716 - 06/16/99 01:38 AM 6400 samplers, etc
Anonymous
Unregistered


First of all, it doesn't look like this board gets very much traffic. If anyone knows of an active mailing list or message board that have more activity, please feel free to email me with its address. The only thing I have found is a mailing list which went under some time in 1995.
More to the point:
How does the 6400 compare to the Akai 5000 in terms of ease of use and reliability (from your experience)?
The only samplers I have ever used have been and Ensoniq EPS and and ASR-10. I found them to be satisfactory on most respects. Aside from locking up at the worst possible time.
I imagine the 6400s to be light years ahead in terms of sound and at least moderately more stable.
Another question. What are the capabilities of the 6400s 48 track sequencer? Does it have any features such a a percentage quantize or swing setting.
As an alternative I was thinking about getting an ESI-4000 and sequencing with an MPC2000. Are there any known compatibility problems with that? It's all midi info. That should matter, right? Anyway, sorry to take up so much space. I will keep it brief next time. Any responces are appreciated. Thanks.
se

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#13717 - 07/03/99 03:22 AM Re: 6400 samplers, etc
distcoyote Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 10/29/98
Posts: 12
Loc: Madison WI
Hello EPS..

I know what you mean about the lack of replies, but what can you do? You sound like you're in a similar situation as my programmer and I. We have an ESI-32, EmaxII, Ensoniq EPS (using opcode studio vision on mac for sequencing). We are looking to upgrade our sampler situation. I would say just from
my tinkering with the Akai 5000 and Emu 64 to possibly avoid both of them.. It's not that they aren't great pieces of gear.. they are, it's just that for the money you can improvise and do better. The Akai 5000 (and 6000) are basing their new sound files on dos/.wav as opposed to the old akai format. That's great if you have a pc, not great if you were running the old akai format and want to resample *I have an Akai s2000*.. Your idea to sequencing the esi 4000 with an akai mpc2000 is interesting, but I'm not sure you'll get the results you want. The akai mpc 2000 is limited to 32 mb of ram (like my esi32), and is not the greatest from a controller stand point.. It's kind of a jack of all trades, but master of none. You'd be better off using a computer sequencer to run your devices (via Vision, Logic, etc).. The Esi 4000 is a great little sampler. perhaps you should look at that first, load it up to 128mb of ram, and go from there?

As far as the emu 64 48 track sequencer I can't really comment on it... I think you should go with some computer based sequencer because they're pretty cheap ($200 to $400 range), and you get all your swing, quantize stuff in there with just a simple $40 1 midi in, 3 midi out box... (just my opinion though)...

All of this considered, the mpc 2000 is still an intriguing piece.. I loved the old mpc 3000, and there's a part of me that just loves having 16 pads to tinker with in real time.. If you're that kind of person I say go for it.. Otherwise, I say let your computer do the work with a software seq, small midi translator box, and the esi 4000 loaded up..

Thanx for the vine, and good luck!
L8r

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#13718 - 07/16/99 08:52 AM Re: 6400 samplers, etc
pko Offline
Member

Registered: 02/15/99
Posts: 89
Loc: Hampshire, England
Hi,

As a user of the ESI-32 (with 4000 level software) and the E6400 I can make some comments.

Firstly both the ESI4000 and the E6400 have extremly high audio quility and I cannot distuiges between the same sample played on both machines.

For writing sequences and tracks the sequencer on the E6400 can be used but it is not ideal. I would definately recomend a computer based sequencer. However, for live work the sequencers is just fine. We use PCs in the Studio but the sequencer on the E6400 for 'live' work. It plays standard midi files from the floppy disk. The onboard sequencer can be used to trigger external devices.

The updated sequencer on the E6400 Ultra does include does support features like swing quantise and look pretty good (well I'm having one anyway).

There are some major advantages of the E6400 Ultra over the ESI-4000. Firstly the E6400 Ultra is so so so much faster. It is massively expandable (EMU are about to release a new 32 Channel !!! effects card for the Ultra) to support ADAT and other digital interfaces, 32 midi channels, 128 note polophony, 16 outs. It has a much bigger, graphical interface. The ultra's also support 32 bit processing with a 20bit D-A on theoutput which should provide a significant increase in the headroom.

If you don't currently have a sampler then it will probably take you a very long time to exhaust the possibilities of the ESI-4000 but the E4 Ultra range are awesome.

Paul

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