Re: gearhoundism: cheap 'n easy samplers?

[McCullaghJ@Logica.com]

[Benjamin:]
> I'm toying with getting a cheap and fun sampler small enough to drop in
> my backpack to complement my set-up.

the Boss SP-202 is a fairly handy tool .. designed to be used in real-time,
it's primary design was to replace 1 turntable in a standard 2-turntable DJ
setup. Batteries, built-in mic & headphone socket for portable use. 4-voice
polyphony (although this drops to 2 at "hi-fi" quality, which is < 44.1).
About 300 Irish pounds, which translates to about US$ 340.


[Tom:]
> I'm wondering, though, if a portable minidisc recorder wouldn't
> be a good solution.

For grabbing sounds as you walk down the street, excellent. CD quality,
random access and editing ..


> They have no specific loop features

actually, I have heard talk of people using these as loopers .. anyone got
any experience of this? There is a "repeat track" play option, but, because
of the way the ATRAC compression works, it has to buffer some of the track
before it starts playing, and that causes a delay. might be a problem ..

John