Sampler frequencies 44.1-22.05-11.025 Max Poly 8 Mono 2 banks up to 8 banks w/card format wav/aiff Sequencer 96 PQN resolution Handles 99 measures 8 pads 26 onboard fx Resampling RCA I/0 Headphone ¼ in Midi I wish there were MAC/PC editing applications but there aren't and I don't feel they are needed UTILIZATION A lot of people use this unit as a looper. I personally use it to grunge up and process my sounds through. I do a lot of sound designing so this has become one of the key tools in my setup, It's small,light weight and easy to use. The manual is very easy to read and understand so any can get this piece up and running in 20 maybe 30 minutes after reading the documentation. Sound editing is very easy to do on the unit, chopping however is another story it takes a bit a practice and requires you to use your ears but it's worth it. SOUNDS The affects on the unit are warm and not clean.. that's a good thing, actually it's a great thing especially for those who are looking to create warm thick sound music. This is the same little box Madlib and J Dilla used in their production it's like every producers dirty little secret next to their technique. OVERALL OPINION You can't find the Sp 303 new anymore you can only get it used and the prices range from 0-300 dollars. I don't think you should spend any more than $200 for this unit (just my opinion). The quality is on point, what I like most about this unit is it's simplicity.
(Originally written by henridelavillle/translated from Audiofanzine FR) The card's memory can be extended to 128 MB. I have 64 MB and the things you can sample are already huge... Sampling is very easy, much easier than with a computer: just press the button and that's it... When I'm listening to the radio I just sample whenever something nice comes on (with jazz it's easier because you can sample everything)... I created a beat yesterday and it sounds great. - The converters sound great, professional and dynamic! - Typical connections: jack mic input, RCA line input, Midi input and output... - No PC software and that's a good thing, I'm fed up with computer screens. I'm a musician who risked his life in L.A.. not a computer scientist. - The effects are a turnoff because you can only assign one effect to each pad... It's not much unless you resample, which is very easy. - The polyphony is not enough to use it as a classic sequencer UTILIZATION - Very simple and clear setup. - Ultra easy editing however you cannot pitch a sound directly like in Fruity and I miss that option. It's not possible to pitch a sound with only one control. - Typical, super simple Boss user's manual. This manufacturer is great. SOUNDS - The effect sounds very good. - Sound and dynamic range are EXCELLENT. I prefer a million times this sound to Fruity's sound with my M-audio Firewire sound card. Fruity doesn't provide this dynamic range. OVERALL OPINION - I've been using it for one month The least: OS is very slow Memory card is too small (now you get 1 GB) The sequencer doesn't allow external synth sequencing Best: Sound quality (better than Fruity or Cubase) Sampling is extremely easy (one button and that's it) Each track has an adjustable quantization function (typical Boss), which can be deactivated. Typical Boss groove... I might buy the SP555, which seems great because you can sample on the fly in the middle of a song (impossible with the 505).
The Boss sp 202 is an amazing sounding sampler both in Hifi, standard and Lo-fi mode, Lo-fi 2 isn't for me though as its too overkill. A sampler shouldn't always be judged by the sample rates, this sampler can do both clean(Hi-fi) and dirty very well. I know as I've owned many samplers that the dynamics and the filters are quality. I like to pair up this machine with a tape deck and sample sample mostly in standard (standard starts to get pretty lofi sounding). Otherwise I might record a drum beat and melody from my 202 into my 303 then loop it and play the loops in the 303 sequencer then track it to tape or DAW. The lack of a sequencer makes this sampler difficult for a lot of people but I use it to give character to my hip hop beats. As for the sample time I just pitch everything up on my stanton st150 (50% pitch max) which is huge before sampling. The 202 can only pitch down so much. I might even sample straight from a tape decks line outs. The lack of individual pitching (Pitching every pad individually) was a handy cap but theres ways of getting round that by bouncing things back and forth from 202 to 303( or any good sampler or DAW) and back to 202. I recommend this machine to lovers of Lo-fi though I would just as easily recommend a Roland Sp 404 as it can do Lo-fi just as well but different with its Lo-fi mode, bit crusher, tape compression and vinyl sim. I mainly bought this because I found an extremely cheap deal (50€). Just a 404 and tape deck, turntable, sound card is all you really need which is my honest and humble opinion. Peace and love
