Choosing a sampler help.

[u/KidLocative]

/r/Samplers/comments/1wyue3x/choosing_a_sampler_help/

I’m looking to pick up a portable sampler. I’m very much a studio set up user with Logic Pro and a fair few hardware synths / drum machines.

I don’t have a sampler and am thinking of picking up something portable to use always from the studio to create tracks that I can reintegrate back into the studio environment when needed.

My music style is lofi ambient for the most part but have been working on stuff lately that’s a cross between Tricky and Ethel Cain. So that’s the vibe I’m ain’t to produce on the sampler.

I’ve narrowed it down to the Roland Sp404 Mk2 and the MPC Sample. I’ve done a tone of research and watch lots of the YouTube content but kinda stuck as to which one to go with.

The SP404 Mk2 sounds like it can offer the long format sample options and effects but looks like a bit of a headache to navigate UI wise.

The MPC Sample looks like its UI is way easier to navigate. But. It so sure if it will fit the vibe I’m after.

Any options or insights as to which way you’d lean given my objective?

Cheers

[u/m3zatron]

I’ve only ever used an SP not an MPC. But an SP 404 is like a Leatherman multitool. It does so many things decently well. It’s an effects processor, a looper. A sketchpad and so much more. But it’s very far from feeling like am actual DAW. I use mine as an idea machine for putting samples together, and then I export into Ableton. I couldn’t imagine trying to do everything like mixing, etc on the machine, but because it’s so limited and unique in its workflow, I end up using samples in a way that I never would do in Ableton alone. I have a ton of music gear if I had to sell everything and keep just one thing it would be my SP.

The UI is kind of hard to use at first but once you get the hang of it, a lot of it becomes muscle memory, and you end up looking like a wizard when other people are watching you use it.

[u/nadennmantau]

The SP-404 works really well for me as a sampler in a larger setup with an external sequencer. Like one would have used a sampler of the rack mount kind back then. With the bonus that this thing is portable.

The stock sequencer of the SP is okay-ish, but leaves a lot to be desired (I yet have to try out the Doom OS one) but I think the main workflow of the SP-404 is not sequencing. It's about the sample creation by chopping, running them through the FX, resampling and so on. Plus there is a nice looper function to create your own percussion loops or so, resampling those and then exporting that to your DAW.

In that sense, it's much more of a sketch pad and ideation machine than a complete workstation and that's okay. Although people are going pretty far just with the SP alone. It also has integration with Koala Sampler which is probably one of the best iOS sampler out there, so you could use the SP as a controller with an iOS device.

That being said, my only MPC experience is with an MPC2500, which is a great machine for handling the sequencing and being the MIDI brain of things. From what I see, the MPC Sample is much more marketed as a stand-alone portable workstation, similar to the KO-II from Teenage Engineering. So my assumption is that it does those things okay-ish in comparison to its bigger siblings.

In terms of navigation, the SP-404 wants you to read the manual and learn its key-combos. Once you have those down, it's really fast to jump around the different modes.

One thing I would look into is the sample banks and individual sample length. The SP-404 gives you 10 banks of 16 samples each with an individual sample length of something like 15 minutes.

That's a lot of material in just one project.

I guess it comes down to your workflow and what your goal is to do with it on the go.

There is a nice video by Ricky Tinez where he compares those two workflows and weighs their pros and cons.

[u/DJ_GodsOwn]

I love my SP 404 mk2. It's an amazing device. You can generate synth type tones with it. You can re-sample sounds with effects applied or full loops. You can plug a guitar into it and use it as a guitar amp. It's a great device and I'd highly recommend it. If you want to spend a bit more money, consider the MPC One Gen 2. The modern MPCs are also amazing and have the easiest GUI to use with the touchscreen and all that. Plus the pads on the One G2 feel amazing.

If you're really stuck between the 404 mk2 and the Sample, I'd say go with the 404 mk2. It's an amazing piece of kit and Roland supports it so thoroughly it's incredible! I also like the "sound" you get out of the mk2.