Can we talk about samplers?

[MrNovember]

Starting a new thread to get some of the Digitakt talk out of the modular thread and because I'm hoping to flip my Mescaline for a sampler.

The three I'm considering:
1) Elektron Digitakt - I think this is my top contender at the moment. From the videos I've watched it seems to be fairly intuitive and would integrate well with the rest of my gear and my workflow.
2) Teenage Engineering OP-1 - might make a little more sense for the type of music I tend to make (ambient and drones mostly), but I'm not sure it would integrate as well with the rest of my stuff.
3) Gotharman's FX Deformer - haven't looked too deeply into this one and honestly didn't even know it was a sampler until recently (I thought it was just an effects processor). Probably the best effects choice out of these three, but the interface looks really limited and menu dive-y.

Opinions? Other considerations? What's your favourite sampler?

[Psyre]

I can't compare the digitakt to the OP-1 yet, but I wouldn't recommend the OP-1 as a designated sampler. 6 Seconds max synth sampler and 12 for the drum sampler. It's great being able to edit visually on the device but the digitakt can do that too and it's still way easier to do it on a computer imo. OP-1 is definitely a digital 4 track first and foremost. I love it, it's my favorite music device, but I still use my s900 more for sample duty. My wife is abt to get a Digitakt though and I'm super excited for her, up until now her main kit has been the volca sample and FM. Digitakt us going to open a lot of doors for her imo, and although I have no personal experience, I think it would be the best choice for a dedicated small footprint sampler. Digitakt+OP-1 is the answer you came for though, and the right choice, if you like "tape" tricks.
OP-1 doesn't have quite enough sample capacity for real heavy lifting imo, it's a device defined by it's limits.

[Ev_O)))]

A guy I share a studio has a digitakt and man its the fucking shit. The range of sample manipulation techniques are insane. It can do drone and ambient just fine, it gives you like 64mB of sample memory per project which is like well over 10 minutes of mono samples across 8 tracks which you can loop and fuck up to your hearts desire

Conditional trigs are the absolute shit. I fucking love them on my analog 4 and my studio-mate does mad fucking shit with his Digitakt. 8 tracks. 64 steps per track with the potential to have as many samples locked to different steps as the memory will allow, as well as allowing for insane modulation of more regular params. These would also come in to play when using it as a sequencer for your euro....

Also have you seen the midi hack? You can patch the midi out from the midi channels back into the digitakt's midi in and turn it into an 8 voice synth of sorts. Insane.

[cantremember]

I honestly don't know to much about the other samplers mentioned but I did scoop a digitakt a few months back and I absolutely love it! It's easily the best purchase I've made in a long time and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of everything it can do.

[Dark Barn]

All of Gotharman's gear has sampling capability but the FX deformer (and discontinued Little Deformer) can only record samples via the 1/4" audio input, no importing unless you purchase the USB box separately. The Anamono and PolySpaze (and discontinued FuZion) have USB host jacks built in and can import .wav files from a thumb drive. The PolySpaze and FuZion are the only ones that support stereo sample playback. I've owned almost all of these at one point or another but currently only own a PolySpaze.

[MrNovember]

Thanks for the input guys, sounds like Digitakt is the way too go for sure. OP-1 is still interesting and I don't mind working around limits, but it's a little more expensive and I'm more interested in a dedicated sampler. I've got enough synth options. Although, nothing as portable as the OP-1 I guess.

Digitakt+OP-1 is the answer you came for though, and the right choice, if you like "tape" tricks.

I lol'd at this, both is always the answer. I'm pretty sure I'll end up pairing the Digitakt with a Make Noise Morphagene (and the rest of my euro), though. This is kind of another reason I'm leaning towards the Digitakt; I know it pairs very well with euro gear.

Ev_O))), definitely interested to hear more about this MIDI hack; I tried Googling, but couldn't find anything.

All of Gotharman's gear has sampling capability but the FX deformer (and discontinued Little Deformer) can only record samples via the 1/4" audio input, no importing unless you purchase the USB box separately. The Anamono and PolySpaze (and discontinued FuZion) have USB host jacks built in and can import .wav files from a thumb drive. The PolySpaze and FuZion are the only ones that support stereo sample playback. I've owned almost all of these at one point or another but currently only own a PolySpaze.

Interesting, I still haven't really looked into their gear. I'll have to check them out a little closer. Do you use the PolySpaze for sampling or mostly just synth?

[Dark Barn]

Interesting, I still haven't really looked into their gear. I'll have to check them out a little closer. Do you use the PolySpaze for sampling or mostly just synth?

Just synth so far, when I had FuZion though I had lots of samples loaded on it.

[D Rock]

Can 100% confirm Digitakt is the way to go. I was doing most of my work in Maschine before I got the digitakt. Now I work in the digitakt and sample all that into maschine.

Also the kicks you can get from this thing are so nasty. Everything that comes out of it just sounds good somehow.

[MrNovember]

Yeah, this just looks too good:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MefPEo_9kiI[/youtube]

[Ev_O)))]

I miss-spoke when I said "8 voice synth, but here are some examples of the self patching Midi thing I was talking about:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ongia_QB8ac[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB8uZodoTqA[/youtube]

There are videos on youtube of people using external stuff to implement polyphony with the DT though, its just a different thing, I got confused

[PeteeBee]

I’ve been looking at the digitakt for a bit now. I know it’s capavle of everything I want to do, but I’m trying to figure out if it’ll actually make sense to me. I’ve never had any gear remotely like it so I’m a little intimidated.

Edit: by that I mean getting sounds from my field recorder onto the device, playing them and an accompanying simple drum beat.

[Ev_O)))]

I’ve been looking at the digitakt for a bit now. I know it’s capavle of everything I want to do, but I’m trying to figure out if it’ll actually make sense to me. I’ve never had any gear remotely like it so I’m a little intimidated.

Edit: by that I mean getting sounds from my field recorder onto the device, playing them and an accompanying simple drum beat.

Honestly it's the easiest Elektron machine to get your head around, but even then, there are 1000s of videos on YouTube showing you how to record a sample and then assign it to tracks and manipulate further. You'll have to spend a little bit of time learning, but it won't be to bad. Same as learning any new piece of gear/instrument/pogram.

[cantremember]

Agreed, it's a lot easier than I was expecting. I had a friend pick one up he and made it sound intimidating but after watching some YouTube clips I decided it wasn't that bad.

[fcknoise]

I've been looking at getting a mk1 octatrack since the prices has dropped quite a bit. But the digitakt intrigues me a lot as well, and might even make more sense for me to get? I don't think I wanna use it mainly as a drum sampler, I'd rather do that in my op-1 actually. Anyone else faced with this decision?

[Ev_O)))]

I've been looking at getting a mk1 octatrack since the prices has dropped quite a bit. But the digitakt intrigues me a lot as well, and might even make more sense for me to get? I don't think I wanna use it mainly as a drum sampler, I'd rather do that in my op-1 actually. Anyone else faced with this decision?

Yeah despite the fact I've posted a lot in this thread already, this is right where I'm at. Mk1 OTs can be had for $1.1-1.3k AUD, where a new DT is about $970 AUD at the moment. Negligible difference when you consider the difference in power/ability.

That said ,here are the conclusions I've drawn that have pushed me towards the digitakt:

I've played with my friends DT on a few occasions and have been able to get the hang of the workflow quickly. I'm already semi familiar with Elektron stuff in general as I have an analog 4 and it helped with the DT. However, all the time in the world with my analog 4 has not helped in my few encounters with the octatrack. Its a whole other beast. So many menus requiring shortcuts and intense familiarity to use efficiently. I wouldn't call it complicated as much as I'd say it does a fuckload of stuff in a small amount of space and if I put in a heap of time one on one I'm sure I'd be ok. But the DT has been super immediate in comparison.

The limitations of the DT seem really useful to me personally. I'm a committed lover and user of Ableton and I feel like the DT will offer significant enough contrast to be inspirational with relative ease of use, rather than committing to learning something as in depth as the OT and having some serious overlap.

Also, the fucking screen on the OTmk1 is hard work. So much going on in a little grey space.

That said, the OT offers deeper sample fucking functionality, looping machines and more. That''s the only thing holding me back. Will I eventually kick myself for not just committing to the OT?
Maybe. But probably not.

Also, I don't plan to use it as a drum sampler either. Gonna pair it with my zoom h5 and use it to collect and manipulate sounds on the go and work within boundaries and just have some fun away from a computer all the time.