looping sampler with midi capability

[michael sintros <mbsintros@yahoo.com>]

greetings loopers,

first posting here.  i am in search of a piece of gear
that will fulfill certain requirements.  right now i
am using an akai s2000 as my sampler which i use to
trigger one-shot and looped samples from my midi
keyboard.  the problem is how many button presses it
takes to record a sound, set it to loop, set start and
end points for the loop and then assign that sample to
a program.

the key here is that i want the midi pitch
manipulation of a "professional" sampler with a
relatively easier sampling / looping method.  so far
the closest thing i have personally used would be the
korg kaoss pad, in that it allows for a relatively
fast sampling / looping procedure.  however, it's not
exactly what i'm looking for, because:  1. the
sampling time is not that great.  i havn't timed it or
checked the specs, but it seems around 5-6 seconds. 
2.  there is a midi in, but you can't use it to
control the pitch of the sample playback.  

from my research it seems like the akai s20 might be
my best bet.  i'd like to hear from someone who has or
had one of these.  i am looking to get away for under
$200 if at all possible.  even a less performance
oriented sampler would be fine as long as you can
record a sample and loop it with relative ease (say,
less than 5 button presses).  if anyone can suggest
another piece of gear that might fit the bill, i'd
greatly appreciate any tips.  



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