Samplers / Sampling

Long-time Akai sampler user Paul Ward tries to stop his credit card from leaping out of his pocket as he gets to grips with the tempting additions to Akai's mid-range sampler.

Come on down, Akai's new low-cost sampler! Astonishing value for money at a mere £999, the basic S2000 is expandable to a top-of-the-range spec by means of add-on cards. Paul White spins the (data) wheel of fortune to see whether Akai have played their cards right this time...

Hot on the heels of the ESI32 and EIV samplers comes Emu's latest mid-price unit. We sent Paul Wiffen to find out how the E64 differs from its siblings

Once upon a time an Emulator was all eights: 8-bit, 8-voice, 8-outs, but that was a decade ago. Ten years on and the latest Emulator has more of the 128 about it: 128 voices, up to 128Mb of RAM. Paul Wiffen finds out if everything else about the EIV is 16 times as good.

The would-be samplist now has a wide range of samplers to choose from in the medium to high price ranges, but the sub-£800 zone has been looking decidedly bare — until now. Derek Johnson checks out the sampler that plugs the gap...

News of the ESi32 has set the hearts of ambitious but fiscally challenged samplists beating faster. Mike Barnes brings you this exclusive review of the machine which packs EIII sampling power into a box costing under £1200, and wonders 'Is it too good to be true?"