DJ Rock Well Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 I still have a fetish about the EMAX cause back in 2010 I won one on ebay for 400 and the mofo never send it to me...Similar story myself - about 3 maybe 4 years ago a nice clean, working EMAX popped up on eBay just before Xmas with no reserve and a really low start price. Being the time of year it was, I had no money so I couldn't seriously bid for it but I couldn't not bid at all. So I bid £100 'joke bid' and obviously didn't win it... But I was the underbidder and some other lucky bugger got it for £101!!! Still smarts now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexinoodle Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 It is quite funny being so old that comparing this old gear to new gear that tries to emulate it in software falls between saving to floppies and recapping equipment and so on, vs one clic total recall and a sound that is close enough, the latter wins everytime and recently i have even started to sell my samplers off and dont miss them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest petesasqwax Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Yeah, I can see the pay off between authentic and convenience. I can potentially see a situation where I run shit through a sampler and then do everything else via my standard PC setup, but the more time I spend at my day job staring at computer screens the less I want to do that when I'm making music. Also, making shit on hardware samplers - storage aside - really isn't the immense ballache it is often seen as once you get down to doing it regularly 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexinoodle Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Im old, i grew up on hardware samplers, using Kontakt and Maschine is a dream hahaIt is still nice having a couple pad based samplers next to the decks for quick run n gun, but other than that, no way i would ever go back to racks and racks full of samplers, then again i always preferred the sound of cassette to individual samplers anyway, and i still record to cassettes to sample off haha. To be fair though, I will probably have more samplers in my arsenal than most even after i have sold a ton of them off hahaha, so i should probably just shut up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Rock Well Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Name and shame dude! I want comprehensive lists and ideally photos... I love that nerd shit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kebzer Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 (edited) You asked for it...The last picture I took before starting to sell shit: Edited February 14, 2017 by kebzer 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest petesasqwax Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 aw shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Rock Well Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Yeah, that's some pretty shit there! I don't think I could still look at the picture after I'd sold it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeClockwork Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 I bought an Emax 1 keyboard from a mild-mannered chap in his fifties for £140, in pristine condition, in 2010. To be fair I don't think he knew what he was selling, or at least the appeal it has to hip hop nerds. 18 seconds of sample time and sounds nice and crunchy. I haven't been able to use it properly due to lack of space in the lab but as soon as I move house it's getting rinsed! Saying that, I am tempted to flog it if they're fetching £500 odd nowadays. Good luck finding the rack version though. Those things never come up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Rock Well Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 There's £141 on the table right now for it Joe! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest petesasqwax Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Yeah - if you want to move it on, Joe, I can think of at least 2 people who would be interested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeClockwork Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 If I do sell it, it'll be collection only. From Cornwall One question about that technique where you sample on 45 rpm +8% and then transpose it down to normal speed (to get the crunchy sound). I find that you lose a lot of low and high end information when you do this. So how do classic hip hop producers get their end product to sound really bass heavy if those frequencies have all been stripped out during the sampling process? Is this a really stupid question (I'm guessing it is)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest petesasqwax Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Hehe - my car knows its way to Truro (where my grandparents used to live) and to Bodmin/St Austell (where my uncle was mayor/where he and my aunt live currently) but it's a trek I'd have to turn into some kind of holiday which would mean a car full of kids ...which means very little space for a keyboard!The one thing most people completely overlook when it comes to classic sampler setups is that all the big name producers whose records they love used to run them through some serious outboard effects and classic analogue desks - a process which was presided over by some of the most talented audio engineers in the business! Also, there's the timeless blend-your-organic-kick-with-an-808 method which I've always been an avowed advocate of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Rock Well Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 I've got Cornish connections mate, they'll be round in 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Rock Well Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 I think the one other answer to question B, beyond Pete's answer, is that they either didn't speed up and pitch down the kicks and b-line. Or they did that part on the S950 their SP was sitting on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danswift Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Haha - damn! I have nerded out about samplers a hell of a lot over the years, but I had no idea that the "swing" on the 60 actually came from a lack of processing power! That's awesome. I have come close to grabbing an s900 or a 950 over the years as they rarely go for much, but I've talked myself out of it. Like a lot of these classic units, I basically don't want to go back to floppies and zip drives again. Get an s950, forget about the floppies, fire it up with the test tone alone and voilla! you just got yourself the thickest sine wave bass there is out there! (shhhh....keep it a secret yo). My son has a 950 and yep the test tones on it are awesome..ive also used the machine for some filtering effects on the first beat battle track I recorded and the results were very cool indeed...its a great piece of kit in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Rock Well Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 I do love an Akai low pass filter! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest petesasqwax Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 I think the one other answer to question B, beyond Pete's answer, is that they either didn't speed up and pitch down the kicks and b-line. Or they did that part on the S950 their SP was sitting on!Truth! The standard combination was a 900/950 to go along with the 12, 1200 or turbo and provide longer sample time (as well as other elements)I do love an Akai low pass filter!Likewise, although don't tell my MF-101 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeClockwork Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 The one thing most people completely overlook when it comes to classic sampler setups is that all the big name producers whose records they love used to run them through some serious outboard effects and classic analogue desks - a process which was presided over by some of the most talented audio engineers in the business! Also, there's the timeless blend-your-organic-kick-with-an-808 method which I've always been an avowed advocate of I think the one other answer to question B, beyond Pete's answer, is that they either didn't speed up and pitch down the kicks and b-line. Or they did that part on the S950 their SP was sitting on! Ah, yes. That all makes sense. I suppose if you wanted to low pass filter your loop to create a bass line, you'd need to use your S950 or whatever and then sample it a second time in your Emax or SP1200 for your main loop, etc. I've tried the combining kicks with an 808 but it doesn't seem to work for me. I always seem to end up with a sound I don't like that eats up loads of headroom. I expect that's more to do with me not really knowing what I'm doing! Also, is it me or do the big name producers' beats always have really nice reverb that cannot be replicated in a DAW, despite all the millions of presets and space sizes available?! Or is that more to do with the analogue desks and talented engineers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest petesasqwax Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 The key with the 808 is making rolling off the tail of the organic kick and the start of the 808 which means you don't get 2 kicks competing for headroom, but instead you have a composite kick with the initial hit of the organic kit followed by the throb of the 808. Reverb is a tricky one. It totally depends what you want, but the only reverbs that will sound authentic on software emulations are convolution reverbs, the quality of which more or less depend on the impulses you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Rock Well Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Reverb's a bitch. I've never been totally convinced by soft verbs TBH. I've Altiverb (6? I think?) and it's the best soft reverb I've used but it's a convolution and prefer the older less sophisticated halls, plates, etc. I think pro engineering does come into it, but so does good quality hardware- why do you still see those white 90s Lexicon units perched on top of analogue desks otherwise?! Actually, one of the best hardware reverbs that mortals can afford IMO is the Ensoniq DP/4. Which also has a cheaper DP/2 sibling and the same tech is in the ASR-10 I believe, although ive only ever heard a DP personally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kebzer Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 I see all those questions and I'm excited like an 8 year old that I know the answers, lol! First, that super shiny production value of top producers has an answer: 2 SP1200s chained together. Or even 4 of them slaved to an MPC60. The studios they were renting back in the day would always stock a couple SPs for post production, so most of the times they didn't wanted to use an s950 for added sampling time, they would bounce samples on 2 or 3 floppies on different machines, so that they wouldn't have to crunch samples by over pitching them to save sampling time. Reverb? Your answer is simple: Ensoniq DP4. If you ever used an ASR-10, you would notice the great stock reverb it has. Well, the DP4 has 4 such processors with even more versatility. Forget the Lexicons, these units were too expensive to be used in dodgy rap albums, lol. But the DP4 is still the most affordable pro-level reverb outboard. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Rock Well Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Yeah, that's why I mentioned the DP/4! With regards the Lexicons, I meant more in regard to Joe asking about hardware vs software. I realise it was pretty unlikely on early or indie hip hop tracks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cutdisco Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 sold both of my emaxes, rackversions, one SE and regular one, still don't know if i regret it :-)i knew there was a fix to implement a SD slot, but it sat for years in my rack doing nothing and used the cash for some up2date machineryWhat i did before selling them, was recording most samples in my DAW, half of the floppies weren't readable...nice info's kebzer, thumbs up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest petesasqwax Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 I figured a card reader to my 2000XL when I had that, but didn't know the Emax could handle one too. That's some interesting shit... definite food for thought! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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