Remembering the most expensive samplers- $16k to $500,000

[NNITRED]

For the dudes that can appreciate the history behind the instrument these are great vids. There was obviously the $26K -35K Fairlight CMIs but other big boy samplers of the day were the NED Synclavior at $500K down to $200K and the cheap by comparison ( but largest ever built) SDX at a modest $16,000 - that's about $1000/pad.

The one thing they all have in common is that all three companies went broke. Initial buyers were rare but repeat buyers were virtually nonexistent.

ABC News interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y8BzEILdDw


The last Fairlight CMI edition before the company went broke.

[PHeMoX]

There's me thinking 2 grand for a sampler is a lot of dough. Not.

That synclavior looks impressive though. What period of time are those from? The late eighties?

[MESSIAH47]

WOW talking about back in the days I think Herbie Hancock had a fairchild 16k that was a lot of scratch for the bulky comps back in the day. Correct me if I'm wrong aren't a lot of the fairchild sounds found in the Roland U20, and Roland JV2080?

[LogicalReasons45]

and nowadays you could do what ppl dreamed of doing in a measly mpc 500 and midi board for less then 600bucks, ilove seeing how old machines work and how they where useful in their time compared to now, gotta love constantly evolving technology

[PHeMoX]

and nowadays you could do what ppl dreamed of doing in a measly mpc 500 and midi board for less then 600bucks, ilove seeing how old machines work and how they where useful in their time compared to now, gotta love constantly evolving technology

Yeah, totally! It's also amazing how everything becomes ever smaller. I recently wanted to order a new battery for one of my oldest RC helicopters. Turns out I can get one, same size and weight as the old one, but packed with almost 4x as much juice. Very impressive stuff when you think of it.

[LogicalReasons45]

besides music and fine arts, technology is another one of passions. imma geek at heart.

[Ill-Green]

Oh man, the golden years, when gear was a piece of furniture.

[PHeMoX]

Yeah, that's exactly why I like the small MV8800.

[LogicalReasons45]

the mv is considered big by todays standards lol, uculd do most of the sampling and sequencing on an iphone now uculd even reduce sample rates

[Ill-Green]

MV Rocks!!! Its actually a dedicated computer for sampling and sequencing without the crashes and latency.

[MESSIAH47]

MV Rocks!!! Its actually a dedicated computer for sampling and sequencing without the crashes and latency.

Well said brother!

[LogicalReasons45]

adding on the post. this is the kurzweil k250, it was the first keyboard to accurately replicate orchestral and, choir and piano sounds.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1USs08cIJ8