Whats your choice of Sequencer/Sampler?

[JazZmutant]

Hey all just wondering what you use in the way of sequencers/samplers/drum machines etc

Im just starting to look into FXpansion Geist. Link: http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=120

Im aware of the power of Maschine with sequencing etc however ive never used it myself, im only going off what I have seen online.

What do you use and why?

[seitz]

esx24 is the shit

[LmnLm3]

I use Reason because it has a very intuitive and visual workflow (like having hardware that you control with your mouse) and if you have any background with MPCs and such, they have KONG which is similar in the way you set a sample to each pad, etc. There are 2 other samplers in Reason (NN19 and NNXT) that have all sorts of automation capabilites.

I use it because it matches my workflow (compared to Logic, Ableton Live, etc) and I like the sound design possibilities.

If I were going to do JUST SAMPLE BASED MUSIC I might look further into Maschine, and for a bit I was looking into it, and watching youtube videos, then I found out that Jeremy Ellis (my other god besides Ean Golden) who is a boss on the Maschine, uses his to control the KONG sampler in Reason.

It doesn't really matter which you chose, they all pretty much do the same thing - click a slot, browse your library, chose a sample, load the next slot, etc etc. Maschine has nice slicing controls on the hardware and lets your eyes get away from the computer, but I've used the software, and as a general sequencer, it really sucks. If I was going to get a Maschine I would definitely route it into Ableton or Logic (since those are the other DAWs I own)

Whoever your favorite artists are, if you took away their DAWS/Sequencers and gave them different setups, they would be able to produce.

Poor is the carpenter who blames his tools, and all that.

[jimdrake]

You really owe it to yourself to grab a second hand MPC for cheap and learn it inside out. Working outside of the computer is a good thing!

Having said that, the way that the samplers in ableton integrate with the mixer is really powerful.

[LmnLm3]

if you're used to being in front of a computer anyway, there's nothing wrong with Maschine (vs an MPC) if you think about it, there's a computer inside the MPC anyway, and chopping samples works the same way - just with Maschine you get some visuals so you can get tighter with transients the sample library it comes with is intense.

[mostapha]

I use Maschine and like it a lot.

Due to a few shortcomings and features I want that NI has said they won't implement, I'll be giving serious consideration to the MPC Renaissance when it comes out.

And I will own either an MPC-1000 or an Elektron Octatrack at some point in my life.

As for Geist and stuff like it…I don't think any software-only sampler/sequencer adds enough over what comes with your DAW to be the least bit useful, pretty much no matter what it is, though Ableton and Reason probably have the most options IIRC.

[LmnLm3]

Ableton and Reason probably have the most options IIRC.

Ableton has the Drum Rack (which is like a bunch of banks of pads all lined up in a tall stack 4 wide) and, again, Reason has KONG drum designer, that is set up like an MPC with 16 pads but has all sorts of control and tweaking right there, either one with an MPD (or Axiom, whatever) should be up there with Maschine.

One caveat I remembered about Reason - to chop up samples real nice, they have a separate program called Recycle (works well, I don't own it though). Whereas ableton you can edit audio full on in the main sequencer (though reason has a sample editor for start and end points, it doesn't have an auto-chopping algorithm)

Go get demos.

[mostapha]

I think Maschine has a lot of advantages over Kong and Drum Racks…like, a lot of advantages. But, yeah…unless you really like working that way (with an MPC-style groove box) it's overkill.