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Tips
& Tricks
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Why
an ASR-X Pro? Having
owned an Emax
II
for some years I'd always assumed my next Sampler
would be an ESI-32
or ESI-4000.
However, after some research, I realized that these
were truly the successors to the Emax/Emax II in
that the OS had seen a series of enhancements (ESI
3.01) just as the Emax series - which then stopped.
Meanwhile, the OS for the Emulator series continued
to receive updates (I believe EOS 4.01 is the
current release - it is not the same as the
ESI OS.) On paper the specifications were
impressive and I knew the OS was easy to navigate -
IMO, all the E-mu instruments are easily navigated
- but I also knew the add-on Effects card was a
hidden cost that was not worth while for the
quality of the effects. I began to look a little
closer at the competition. The
Roland
S760
was about to be discontinued and I did not want to
be locked into dealing with a rack mount unit from
my Mac. Roland's user interface is not known as
friendly (ever use a Roland
S50?)
and their retail prices are always on the expensive
side. The
Yamaha A3000 looked like a good bet and the more I
read about it (yes, I joined the mailing list too)
the more impressed I became. At one point I was
negotiating a deal on a 2nd hand Version 1 unit but
bailed out when I got some 'bad vibes' from the
seller. I suppose he was on the up & up but,
I'd rather go by my instinct. After I had some time
to cool my heels I took a second glance at the Akai
MPC 2000 and the Ensoniq ASR-X Pro. Good
deals on the original ASR-X were beginning to
appear - both 2nd hand and on blowout, After
rereading the review in Keyboard magazine, which
was a rehash of the spec sheet and not really a
well written, objective review IMO, I joined the
ASR-X Mailing List. Then I went to the store to
check it out. The
sales person tried very hard to help but, he
couldn't show me the first thing about the ASR-X
Pro. By the time he returned from a fruitless
search for the owners manual, I had figured out how
to resample on the ASR-X Pro. Very cool I thought.
By the time he returned from another fruitless
search for some promotional materials, I'd figured
out how to lay down tracks with the Sequencer.
Very, very cool I thought. An hour goes by and I'm
having a great time banging on those cool little
pads when a 2nd salesperson 'offers' to help (not
really, I went and found him.) He wants to talk
about the Roland
MC-505
- I tell him I'm interested in a sampler. We talk
about the MC-505 until I steer him back to
samplers. We then discuss the MPC 2000 Sequencer
for awhile. Finally, we get back to talking about
the sampler engine and how it compares to the ASR-X
Pro. That went nowhere. BTW - this was my
former long term dealership! Okay,
the MPC 2000 was cool. If the sequencer
functionality had been my priority I would have
jumped at it - they had a good price on the bare
bones model. However, the MPC 2000 is a sampling
drum machine with duel MIDI ports and a sequencer.
It may have the same Sampling Engine as the S2000
but, it did not offer the more sophisticated
Envelopes Generators, LFO's, and Filters as it
siblings. This is analogous to the Yamaha
EX5/7
which has the same sampling engine as the A3000 but
not the same sample format. As I was quite
accustomed to these functions with my Emax II there
was no way I was giving them up - in fact, I wanted
to have more of those features not less! The ASR-X
Pro clearly fit my requirements. Furthermore, the
hands on interface was a welcome relief from being
tied to my Mac and offered a terrific opportunity
to change the method of writing/performing I'd long
stopped thinking about. In addition, I interpreted
the addition of the Flash ROM for OS updates as a
sign that Ensoniq intended to support the ASR-X
platform for awhile to come. What EMU/ENSONIQ have
in mind at this point one can only guess. That is
the only let down with my purchase to date
:-( You're
going to have try it out for yourself, no two ways
about it. Make certain to check out the online
support too, i.e., user groups, web sites, 3rd
party support. Word has it that Akai will release a
MPC 2000XL some time - that might make things
interesting! |
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