A crush on the wheels of industry.

Wilf Smarties gives a new batch of CDs a spin.

Provides Note Bender

There may be few instruments in the world that have not yet been sampled, but there is still an infinite number of ways it can be done. David Mellor auditions the Sonic Images sample library volumes 2 and 3.

Wilf Smarties gives a new batch of CDs a spin.

sample CD-ROM

Hundreds of samples on tap

Sample CD

Meat Beat Manifesto are to music what Andy Warhol was to art - but they've already been famous for longer than 15 minutes. Phil Ward follows them to a Peel session and to their studio in Swindon, and finds that Meat is not, in fact, necessarily murder.

Zero G Datafile Sample CDs

Paul Ireson listens into two dance-oriented sample CDs.

Sample and Hold

Wilf Smarties gives a new batch of CDs a spin.

HitSound Pascal Gabriel Sample CD

Paul Ireson listens to the first of AMG's Producer Series of sample CDs.

Wilf Smarties gives a new batch of CDs a spin.

Sample Librarian and Manager

An open and shut case for sample librarians

Instead of following other keyboard manufacturers sheep-like into sampling machines, Oberheim have come up with a unique device which doesn't sample but replays disks from several other samplers. Paul Wiffen investigates.

Boss RSD10

A budget pitch following sampler for the ever expanding Boss Micro Rack.

CD-ROM sample player

The CD Side of sampling.

Sampling bit by bit.

Programming Clinic

Most of the current generation of digital synthesizers use a blend of sampling and synthesis techniques to produce their sounds — a powerful combination, but perhaps less easily understood than analogue synthesis. Synth guru Craig Anderton offers some hints and tips on how to get the best out of 'S+S' instruments.

Sample CDs

First they were sampling off other peoples' records, now they're selling records to sample off. Tim Goodyer listens while Simon Harris, Pascal Gabriel, Norman Cook, Ed Stratton and Coldcut put the case for sampling CDs.

Not all sampler owners have access to every instrument they might wish to sample, hence the appearance of Sample CDs containing all manner of digitally recorded sounds. But how useful are they? Are they value for money? Keyboardist Dave Stewart recently spent many hours sorting the wheat from the chaff. Here are his findings.