haha! trust me unfortunately you don't have much money when youre 18 and still in school!
however thnk you fam!

It's a steal. This gear has 20/25 years and may not work anymore in the next years. I think 100€ should be plenty for a 950! (100€= about130$)
But here in Italy old school gear it's rare and therefore prices are high.
The "whole track" in 99% of cases is just a drum pattern+sample, nothing complex.

That's what I needed to hear !!!!

That was my idea. It's like having a dirty mixer without EQ or something like dat.

I already have a mp2000 (1997 version) and i'm happy with it, clean but punchy, and from what I've heard it has a different sound from the XL.
Both ASR & EPS will be future projects.

QUESTION: How different is the 900 from the 950?? I think I have to choose one of these guys.

Qwestion 2: is there a way to mix the 2000+950 track in a daw without loosing quality?

Not sure what you mean by this one. When you record back the its going to sound like an , where you mix it doesn't matter. I'd be more worried about losing quality from what you put into the

The s900/950 have 8 direct outs and a L/R assignable. AFAIK you can't actually pan on the s9xx, only assign a sound to L or R (its mono remember). Just recording out the 8 tracks into separate channels and mixing them in the DAW works fine....otherwise, I don't think there would be a way to control the pan (you'd have to record everything totally mono)

Also remember that the was made in a different time, and has 8 voices, MAX. It doesn't mix in hardware/software like the 2000, each 1 of the 8 outs can only play one sound at once - so you can have at max 8 sounds playing at once (the next one played will cut one off).

Also, this is a good thread for 900 vs 950
https://gearspace.com/board/rap-hip-... -vs-s900.html

I've never used a 900, but I'm sure they sound exactly the same. The main issue I would care about is, as that thread says, the difference in floppy sizes. Now the question is, if you get a SD card reader for the unit, can both the 900 and 950 access same size 'floppies', or is there a hardware difference there (I don't know the answer)? If the s900 can't save as much as the that would be a dealbreaker for me, its hard enough to fit enough on one disk ... but again, if that matters depends on how you plan to use the unit.

When I originally was buying one, I picked the s950 simply because it was newer, the price didn't matter to me (I wasn't even sure if I would like it at the time, and had no idea I would end up pimping it with max ram, a SD reader and a LED backlit screen). But it ended up being up there with the 2000xl as one of the best (my favorite?) purchases I ever made (even though both the backlight and the relays died and I had to replace them ).

Go for the 950. 900 has to small memory size. And size matters

I found a 6 days auction of the 950. For the moment it's 20€ + 10€ of shipping, no bids yet. it has broken floppy drive & I don't know if its maxed out. The floppy drive replacement is about 50€. I searched for the RAM expansion on sale but there's nothing on the web

Edit. Its a s900. That ****a wrote 950 in the title but actually is a 900.

260€ for maxed out 950 from uk.

Price is good. If it is maxed out! Go for it. I usually see them going for 3-400 Euros.

Really there isn't a losing of quality (or character) in the daw?? Nice to know, a few years ago a guy told me that the DAW adds some "hidden frequencies" to the track, making it a little different. Urban legend I guess. so you bought the 950 in the late 80s? i'm really courious to know the original price.
for the 8outs point.. If I have more than 8sounds, can I upload the first 8 in the daw, and then clear the memory(or just the outs?) and put the new sounds

Everytime you track something into the daw it can change the sound. Because of the AD Converter. Also there are many ways to track into the Soundcard...

And sure you can record your first 8 tracks, then load the next sounds and record the next 8 sounds.

I work the same with my other gear. Only syncing could be a problem, but this can be fixed in the daw.

i usually make my beats on the eps. then i track them into the daw 2 channels each time. till i have all the sounds in the daw. Then i mix from there, so you dont have to worry about panning you can do all of them in daw.

Everytime you track something into the daw it can change the sound. Because of the AD Converter. Also there are many ways to track into the Soundcard...

And sure you can record your first 8 tracks, then load the next sounds and record the next 8 sounds.

I work the same with my other gear. Only syncing could be a problem, but this can be fixed in the daw.

i usually make my beats on the eps. then i track them into the daw 2 channels each time. till i have all the sounds in the daw. Then i mix from there, so you dont have to worry about panning you can do all of them in daw.

korg sdd 2000

very primitive very cheap very nasty 12 bit sounding

I have 2 m audio soundcards. Fasttrack pro & preusb. They're not incredible soundcards but I think they will get the job done. What matters is that the converted sound will be closer as much as possibile to the original 950.

@tamiya
First time I hear about that. I found one for 100€. Is it good for resampling? I read it is principally a delay fx unit.. How much sample time?

@tdot
Ive probably misunderstood your message. You wrote you bought the 950 becouse it was new, and I thought you've bought it in the late 80s, sorry but my english is not the best!!!

around 1 sec at max quality, around 4 sec at raunchy quality.
holds just 1 sample, no mem.
just bought one, it sounds hella raw.

@ 1:45

So i need 3 korgs to make basic drum pattern lol

If you want to make "boombap hip-hop" you can't really go far wrong with a 950. Would have presumed the 900 has the same sound but with limitions although i have never used a 900.

I don't use my 950 any more but i refuse to sell it just in-case i want to pull it back out or track some old work. It's a very versatile bit of kit. It's not just restricted to boombap sound tho. If your using about hardware & are using a 808 kit but want a less top end, which i found could often by magnified once tracked and mix itb, it really does that the edge of the high's. But again it will shine on boombap thats to say sampling pre mixed drum hit's off record.

You can tap the record level pretty high without it getting distorted. Thats to say you can peak it all the way to the very top and just let the signal kiss maximum point and get a very big sound with out crushing it. (don't be fooled by the monitor output if it distorts your only distorting the monitor signal and not the sample signal)

I often found that boombap drums made on the 950 really didn't require to much of a mix. They kind of sound really big & bold straight off the machine.

Now i haven't used everything out there but i have been through most the usual suspects such MPC3 & 2 and a SP12. The closet thing is the 12 but again it's not got the constant results you will find while still retaining a decent amount of clarity as the 950.

Just a note some one once did do a software update for the s900 that included the digital filter thats in the 950 although i be damed if know were to find the link. It may have died a death. But if you can afford it i would look at the 950.

It's just my 2 cents but go for what you like the sound of best tho.

nah, just get a little creative dude.
i use it for its raw sound, sample a break into it, record it back into my daw and chop it there. i used my s950 like that as well.

if you need to be able to actually sequence it, edit etc otb the s950 is what you want, like terry said, can't go wrong, either the s950 or spend the money and get the sp12(00).

I'm in half a mind to get a 900 and save some money ( using it just for drums) but you guys are convincing me to wait and buy a 950. If I understand correctly the 900 doesnt have filters. Bad thing, since the 950 is famous for his thick filters too.

@tamiya I need at least basic envelope functions, it's very hard to me to figure a kick or a snare without an attack/decay edit. I know I can do it in a second time in the daw or in the mpc, but you know I prefer to have the samples ready to work.
Yo I really enjoied the marleymarl's video, didn't know them! Very interesting

@dlmorley hell no! Haha

If your set on the 900 or 50 unless the 900 is like a fraction of the price or something hold out for the 950. You may find it hard sourcing single density disk's for the 900, which is another to pass on it. Don't think it takes double density floppy disks which basically mean there maybe a lot harder to find and you can't store as much info on em.

I know there expensive for a sampler from 86 and it's a pain that the price keeps rising but in all honesty there a bargain if your gonna use it all the time. There both built like a tank and have over 8 outputs. The SP1200/12 is overpriced for what it is but considering the functionality of the 950 it's not that crazy.

Unless your going mad with sampling time i don't think it's that important to get the memory expansion on one. I have never maxed out memory on one unless i wasn't deleting stuff am not using. Example copying the same sample over & over for assigning the different parts to different pads on my MPC without deleting the bit's i wasn't using off first.

Think both machines, well i know the 950 has so the 900 should to, load up with a sound called TONE which is simply a sine wave. So you always got a bass there plus unlike the MPC you get all the notes of the octave to play with. It's cool for adding body to kick drums that lack the bottom end. Lets face it a lot breaks sound heavy but often it's mid we are hearing. Assign it to the same note as your kick drum then tune it in and change the envople setings on the 950 so it shapes itself with the sampled kick drum. Sounds The envelopes on the 950 are really good BTW, friend of mines has this trick of using velocity to trigger them in conjunction with the filter on hi hats. Never really worked out what he was doing as it's not the sort of thing i do but it sounded dope. It's Versatile thats for sure.

I know i don't really use it that often but i would never part with it as i have always ended buy another sooner or later. I know so many people not just in hip-hop who still use there 950 and own a couple just in case. As far as vintage goes it's make most sense it's versatile not to dirty and not stupid money. Plus when your wanting a old school sound chances are there been a s950 used on the old tracks you maybe referencing. It was a industry standard for years.

3

I have multiple stacks of 950s and 900s (from when they were easy to get for like $75) just so I have more sample time/ backups/rig by the vinyl/extra rig at the studio/ etc and more backups, because they can be kind of iffy in a few key parts. I dont think the difference in the 950 or 900 matters much, to me. it has a bit less time than a full loaded 950. floppies dont really matter cause the floppy drive is going to be dead when you buy it or its going to die before long so you might as well just put the emulator in anyway.

Haha all good - I meant because I assumed that an s950 would be newer (I believe they're at least 2 years newer?) than a s900, and things this old can have issues waiting ...
I wish I could find a brand new s950

I was considering getting another, considering I already had issues with mine. The last time I pulled it apart to fix the dead output relay I recapped the whole PSU hoping it may live longer with cleaner power (I'm sure after 20+ years the caps weren't happy). I'm sure I won't be able to repair it forever, especially if any of the ICs die (I think the s950 even uses some strangely packaged opamps that aren't even produced anymore and hard to find).

Still, compared to an MPC or an ASR their price is a steal.

I had an s900, and mpc2000. I used the 900 for sampling, and would then re-sample into to 2000, and chop, and arrange there.
That way you can have samples from different samplerates in the same track.
Maybe an 8khz bass line, a 20khz drum kit, and 27khz samples.
My 900 crapped out many years ago though. The 900 is mono only and can sample from about 8kz-40khz (sounds better than the mpc2k 44.1 in mono), and can give that premo sound on samples, and drums.

That could work too, I just find the other way around works better. It's much easier to sample/chop with the huge space (comparatively) and the 2000 is much easier to get around on (I find). Then you can also control the level you hit the s950 pre for each sample separately ... and you get to 'demo' both the left/right of the sample if you recorded it in stereo .... plus, that way you can take advantage of the amazing pitching on the s950, which is probably one of the most natural sounding I've heard. But I guess if you need more than 8 voices at once you're a little screwed ;p

950 with full RAM, new floppy & ib105 chip @ 250€.
What would you do?

The 900 has the filter and envelope its in the program area I believe but Im not in front of it. right now.

Buy it! It is a good price for a 950 with full ram. Does it have a new LCD Display? If so buy it!

Unfortunately it's without the new LCD, but I dont think it is strictly necessary !

If that's anything like 250 USD that's a great price for maxed ram.
I wouldn't worry at all about a new LCD unless you're scared of playing with it's insides. Even if the backlight does die at some point you can still use it in normal light. And by then you should know if you really like the unit and if you do, $60 for a replacement modern led backlit screen that will outlive the machine isn't terrible

Actually it's 250€ + 10€ (shipping). But Ive seen other units even with no RAM upgrade @ 300/400€.
as for the backlight.. I guess its kind of playing the old school gameboy or something like That !!