I know the Octatrack has been mentioned, but since the question mentions filters specifically, I think it’s worth talking about.
I like the controls we get on the OT filter: base frequency, width, drive, resonance for either (or both) low or high pass, attack/decay envelope. The envelope also has a few modes for controlling when it restarts its cycle.
And most importantly I think it sounds great. It’s very “musical” for lack of a better word.
I like the rest of the effects on the OT, with the exception of the spring reverb – personally I only use the plate and dark reverbs… And I mostly use the plate to abuse its gate.
For modern samplers +1 for Isla S2400. Hifi or 12 bit mode, individual outs and midi tracks so add and modulate fx to taste wih cc’s. Had both Digitakt and Isla running thru same mixer with same sample’s on a PA system a year back. Looping the same pattern with just a kick, hihat and snare on both machines… Digitakt makes a nice sounding loop but the Isla makes you wanna dance. It’s got mojo and punch although th sound leans very much to hiphop, deephouse, Chicago kinda vibes.
I kind of prefer my filters in samplers to be a little weird, never actually tried one but casio FZ-10M has a very unique sounding filter, digital filter with an analog feedback loop for its resonance.
I also really enjoy the filters in the digitakt and squid salmple, digitakt is maybe a bit more straight forward but it is a nice quality digital filter, it always helps to have FM rate lfos and such to mess with the filter if you are looking to push it a bit more, Squids is a bit odd lofi digital maybe it is how its very nice bit and sample rate reduction sound through it, I tried sending parts through analog filters but for whatever reason I always ended back at the squids built in filters and tweaking the sounds accordingly.
Maschine+ in my opinion is the nicest modern sampler in a hardware box at the moment . Filters are nice, auto sampling , effects. Stereo, High polyphony. Display works well and even the auto loop is smooth. In addition of course you have the groove box too but you don’t have to use it. MIDI routing is also great.
I am just going to say the s2400 with the upcoming expansion boards, those analog filters are going to be niiiiiice!
It really is the only thing that compares sound wise to the older crop of samplers. And it has modern features like USB and an SD card slot lol. I ended up selling all my newer samplers because they sounded like crap compared to it, and I sold all my older samplers because they were all more of a pain to work with.
So for me it is s2400 and the daw for my sampling duties.
I’m not sure where you’ve got this from… one thing the filters on both the AH and A4 are not is ‘bland’.
I would sometimes like the AH filters in particular to be a bit calmer, the resonance gets too wild too fast.
And the A4, having 2 filters working in combination with each other like that is the shit IMO…, I wish the Rytm had the same filter approach.
My favourite hands on/sculpting filter is on my Xone 96 though… Allen and Heath should sell that on its own, they’d clean up.
True, though the filter in the Rytm is really nasty. Wouldn’t want to trade that one!
Yup. Also the envelope is really sweet… That filter can bring out harmonics like no other… It’s like when you’re on acid and everything flips. Someone brought the candy. Yep, I love that OT filter.
I got this from my own ears comparing them (AH,A4) with filters i like on other synths and effects units. For me they sound bland and not special in anyway and it’s totally ok if you feel differently about it. As i said these things are highly subjective.
The resonance of the AH can get too much indeed but to me the core sound of the filter sounds pretty generic. That’s why i sold it.
But hey, please let’s not argue about the sound of filters. It has been done too much already.
Best filters per voice: Emax 1/Emulator I/II
Best filter bus: Toraiz SP-16 (second place Syntakt)
Best FX: That’s a tough one. Ensoniq and Kurzweil in the 90’s definitely. Yamaha A-series are supposed to be great as well. Today, maybe the 404 Mk2? Only heard it in demos though. You can do cool things if you dig into the SP-16 dual fx blocks per track, but somewhat limited (no decent reverb or ping-pong option on the delay for instance.)
Best is such a boring question. Now the weirdest fx on any sampler I’ve had is definitely the Gotharman Little Deformer. I mean Double Step Granulator, Glitch Shifter, Abstruct0, what can fuck with that?
Also the sampler with the best sounding filter is most likely the Korg DSS-1, but it was designed by people who obviously had never seen a sampler before, is the size of a small car, and has an annoying 80’s interface made up of 1 slider and a numeric keyboard. It’s pretty much the worst at anything other than sounding amazing.
-Big fan of the filters in the rytm. The compressor is fantastic too. Delay and reverb are fine.
-Esx filters and fx are great but not the best for typical lush/ fat filter sweeps. The effects can get weird and the knob movements can be motion recorded into the 128 step sequences and you can switch that between stepped and smooth on playback.
-The Mirage has a great sounding filter but suffers from poor build quality (and the worst keybed in history). I don’t think I’m going to keep fixing it over and over anymore but I’ll probably pull the boards and build a standalone filter from it’s chips.
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but to me the OT filter sounds garb. It sounds more like a volume dial than a filter. I’m probably doing something wrong
In terms of raw sound, the Isla Instruments S2400 is king. Once the analogue filter board is released there will be envelopes and LFOs added to the mix. Then there will be a separate FX board. So right now, I would say for filters the Toraiz SP-16 is the best sampler, and that the SP-404 MK2 is the best for FX, but soon the S2400 will have both those bases covered.
I’ve got an ES-1 that I’ve been meaning to fix for like 3 years at this point. (It has that issue with the power connection that a lot of them have.) It is a nice sounding sampler.
I understand what you mean, though I’d describe them as precise, or polite, or utility. The filter on the Heat adds some awesome weight to everything in high pass mode with a resonance bump on the low end, but filter sweeps didn’t sound nearly as nasty as I expected, even with the dirt parameter maxed out. The drive circuits are all really nice, though!
I think the filter I like the most is the one on the Octatrack. It was super convenient with a resonant low and high pass filter at the same time, and it has a (sadly not p-lockable) drive, and it really crunched up the sound in a way I liked. They’re not all samplers, but I like the character on the Octatrack’s filter more than the one on the Digitakt, Digitone, Analog Heat, and Analog Four. They’re all good, but the OT sounded dirty in just the right way every time. Oh and the dj equalizer fx was magic on my paino stems, very glittery and sparkly without being shrill.
