I may purchase one, Is this a real sampler or is it by todays standards a "phrase sampler"
How old is this Synth, and is it worth 300bucks?
or am I better of buying a software sampler such as gigasampler or unity ds-1?
what should I watch out for?
Thanks guys!! oh and gals=)

The S-50 came out in 1986 , it's a 12 bit sampler at 30khz . I don't use anything MIDI or samplers but I do have some friends that still use them and their is still a big library of sounds for them . It is very reliable and if you find the wave drawer , you can draw your own waves . It is a fat sounding sampler and it's useful as a MIDI controller . If you can get it for $300 - go ahead - they sold for $2900 brand new . It has filters , amplifiers and all kinds of editing that phrase samplers do NOT have .

I have one S330, this is the rack version of S50 and read & convert its library.

the sound is good. I have more than 40 disks of sounds, and loopings that I make with old LPs samples.

I like it.

Go ahead, and don't forget a video RCA monitor to view and edit the samples.

Greatins from Brazil

The S-50 is a 61-key 16-Voice sampler / keyboard. It has 750k RAM. Is 12-bit with 16-bit DACs, and 15/30kHz sampling.
Note that it does not have TVFs/TVAs as does the S-330 and S-550.
It is a decent unit, but not up to par with current technology.
Try to get the tablet, and use a CRT with it.