Nord User Forum

I have somewhat followed my "nord stage companion"-thread on the yahoo group, though it got a little bit difficult to get the overview at the end.

I have narrowed it down to these options:

1) A vst hardware unit - word has it these babies are unreliable. Almost out of the question.
2) A combined synth/sampler - like the rack versions of the motif or the roland xr, the latter being my favourite.
3) A dedicated sampler, like a mpc - small, simple.

What I would like to know now is this:

How do one operate these things? Could someone describe the process of taking samples from the computer -> loading them into the unit -> mapping them to keys -> controlling them with the nord stage and so on... Please: be newbie-friendly, I'm not at all used to hardware samplers.

Other input is also extremely appreciated: how to use them live, which sampler to buy (mpc or others?), what to consider when deciding: space, load speed, user friendliness and so on.

I'm not much of a synth person - I will mostly be using it as a means of playing sounds that the nord stage lacks. But if the motif/xr racks are much better when it comes to space, speed etc. I could be tempted to splash out.

Thanks in advance for your input!

I am considering a dedicated samler myself.

1) I had a Fantom X rack with 512MB of sample ram. It is very time consuming to edit and the samples take forever to load. But it works and sounds good! You have lots of good sounding effects.

2) The MPC500: I would be interested in how easy it is to map instruments and what its limitations are. Any owners with experience to share?

3) I don't think the V-Machine is unreliable. You just have to find out what it can do and what it can't - So is there somebody who owns such a thing and uses it as a sampler? What is your experience?

4) There seems to be a small version of the Muse Receptor called the Muse Box coming out. This is certainly the most powerful device of all and they say it'll cost less than 1000$...

If the muse box clocks in at 1000$ i would perhaps be more tempted to buy a roland xr.

I really wish there could be a simple way of mapping samples to keys, that it would read the "preset"-files that comes with the sample-packs, like the software samplers do.

Hi,

have you considered buying ... a Nord Wave ?

jpcaruana wrote:have you considered buying ... a Nord Wave ?

I'd love to have a Wave! But I don't want another keyboard to carry around and take up space! So as long as they won't make a Nord Wave Rack, I won't buy it...

The good thing about the Muse Box: It runs Kontakt, so I could use all my sample libraries without much converting and editing.

jpcaruana wrote:Hi,

have you considered buying ... a Nord Wave ?

Duh, off course! :P But as previously mentioned: 2 keyboards is one to many. And the price is also a factor.

Btw: Does the Nord Wave handle sample preset files? I'm pretty blank when it comes to the nord wave...

waaktaar wrote:

jpcaruana wrote:have you considered buying ... a Nord Wave ?

Duh, off course! :P But as previously mentioned: 2 keyboards is one to many. And the price is also a factor.

yeah, it was a joke.

What about Radikal Technologies Spectralis II Synthesizer ? see it @ http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2008/ ... nthesizer/ or http://www.radikaltechnologies.com/spectralis2.html

looks nice : 2Go of sampling and advanced synth. I don't know the price...

ouch ! it's around 2000 euros...
reviews say it's a nice machine, designed for live usage... just like our beloved Nord Stage !

jpcaruana wrote:What about Radikal Technologies Spectralis II Synthesizer?

Cool! I always thought the Spectralis was "just" a hybrid synth with a sequencer! Must have slipped my attention...
A digital sampler with analog filters would be a cool thing!
I'm going to download the manual and have a closer look!

So many interesting stuff around...

I'm looking at the Korg microSampler to serve as a sampler to go along with my Stage. But I haven't gotten to try one yet.