OT: advice for live sample playback system

["Jonathan El-Bizri" <jbiz@linkexchange.com>]

Hi all,

        I've been looking for a way to take my composition, in the form of 
loops
and samples ( created with my Trinity, Emu and Logic) out to play live
alongside my main instrument - stick. ( http://www.stick.com )

        Basically, I'm looking for a unit that I can trigger with my right 
hand
from time to time, while laying down grooves with my left. It also needs to
be able to 'freewheel' and playback presequenced material, so that I can 
get
both hands on deck at once.

        Between loop playback, effected stick (looped with an echoplex 
soon, I hope
:>), a drummer, a vocalist and a keyboardist, I think I could do a good job
getting a good contemporary electronica sound, but with the freedom of a
live band playing their arses off...

        I've been looking at the SP-808 - it looks like it can do pretty 
much what
I want, though some people have been suggesting the mpc2000. Has anyone had
any experience with this? It looks like a much simpler beast, and less
functional. AFAICT it doesn't look like it is as set up for live loop based
performance either. It didn't seem to be as easy to get something going and
then leave it to play away. Is there anything else built for these kind of
musical games?

        One problem I found playing with the SP808 in a store was that I 
couldn't
get the hard disk recorder to switch sections without a pause. Was this
because I couldn't find my way around the machine, or is this a genuine
limitation of the box? It's not a non trivial feature, but it seems, with
all the looping going on, that this would have been easy for Roland to
implement. Mr. Coffin? I saw you sold one recently. Was it possible to loop
the recording section?

Comments? Please email me privately, if you feel that the others on this
list wouldn't be too interested.

Thanks,

bIz