Originally posted by Fran Carango:
T42, in the past all keyboard samplers have come up short..The multisampling you mention is the only way to achieve a good playable sample..It will need more than 8 sample points[unfortunately this is the average limit, and worse yet the limits on sample size..Good luck if you think you can come up with a decent multisampled piano..I have never heard a great user sampled piano yet...The factory has far superior methods and facilities to sample and edit sounds to be playable...I am not sure if great samples can be loaded into today's keyboard samplers and sound as they were designed to play..
For novelty sounds the keyboards sample ok...but how many pot drops or shouts are really needed..
Sorry, I can't share your excitement about keyboard samplers..I have been there, and already know the limitations..
Most of my experiences were on the Ketron X1[considered one of the better samplers]..I also go back to the old Roland samplers..and the Ensoniq Mirage..
Thankfully we don't have to rely on user samples..there are an abundance of sounds available from the factories in expansion cards...and they are done right..

Hello Fran, I can't say I agree with your last post above.
The Tyros 2 has more than 8 sample points, I was referring to the amount of samples you can assign to each individual key, not just 8 samples per sound created.
I've already heard a great 300mb Steinway multi sampled piano on a Tyros 2 (fair enough it may take about 12 minutes to load in) and even a 5mb alto sax sample I have sounds better than the SA sax and any alto sax in my opinion on any current arranger.
Things have also moved on considerably since the days of the Ketron X1 and others you mention, they were in the ice age compared to the current sampling technology.
As for expansion cards I never liked any for my previous keyboards. I've always found that doing your own sounds are far better than buying someone elses offerings. For every sound you like on an expansion board there are just as many rubbish ones if not more and they are expensive.
From reading peoples posts on SZ since I joined I can see that you love your G1000 and are a dedicated Roland user.
Roland produce some great products but I don't think the G70 or new E80 allows the user to load in their own samples into a maximum of 1 gig user space? Those users are limited to what Roland sells on expansion cards, so I wouldn't want to be limited in that way being a professional entertainer and sound developer.