Recently I managed to score a cheap E-MU Proteus 2000 in good condition. This 1U rack-mount sample-based synthesizer builds on the legacy of E-MU samplers. You can't use it to sample, but the E-MU Z-plane filters make it possible to design completely new instruments using the ROM samples. It is also expandable with “sound SIMMs”, but those are getting increasingly rare. E-MU Proteus 2000, the legendary late 1990s sample-based synthesizer.
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Most likely the final upgrade for my Yamaha A4000 sampler was the AIEB1 I/O Expansion Board. It adds digital I/O (both optical and coaxial) and assignable outputs to the A4000 (and A5000). The board is still readily available in the second-hand market, but if you're going to get an A4000/A5000, look for one with the board already installed, and you will probably get a better price than buying it separately.
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I spent the latter part of 2019 looking for a used KORG Triton-Rack sound module at a price that wouldn't break the bank. Finally I found one on eBay, and when I received it, I noticed that it came with the EXB-PCM05 expansion. So I had my Triton situation sorted out. Two weeks later, KORG out put a teaser video with the unmistakable profile of a Triton hidden in dark shadows.
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If you keep your samples small, you can go a long way with a 3.5” HD floppy disk, but as your sample library grows, you may begin to want something faster and more spacious. After all, a HD floppy disk can only hold 1.4 megabytes of sample data, while hard disks reached multi-gigabyte status already in the mid-1990s, and soon did also sample libraries. The Yamaha A4000 Professional Sampler sales package originally included a sample library comprising eight CD-ROMs filled with orchestral, brass, percussion and keyboard samples.
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My new old Yamaha A4000 sampler had only the factory default random access memory of four megabytes, which translates to about 48 seconds of monaural sound at a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz at 16-bit depth. Yes, we're talking megabytes, not gigabytes. Obviously a memory upgrade was in order, and that also gave me a good excuse to have a look inside the unit. After removing the 16 (!) screws in the case holding the cover in place, I found that it looked much like a PC – and in fact, it is a PC, although a special-purpose one.
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In 1994 – 25 years ago at the time of this writing – the eminent synthesizer manufacturer Roland brought to market a sound module that was to become an enduring powerhouse for studios all over the world, and used by film composers and pop music producers. The JV-1080 is a rack-mountable synthesizer with no keyboard or other control mechanism, but controllable with any MIDI-capable device. Because it essentially played back samples from Read-Only Memory (ROM), it is often classified as a “ROMpler”, as opposed to a “sampler”, and not in a nice way.
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Recently I bought a Yamaha A4000 sampler on eBay, and since then I've been slowly building it up from its basic configuration. This acquisition is part of master plan that will be revealed in time… This unit was really very bare bones, with no expansions, default 16 GB of RAM, and no hard disk, just a 3.5” floppy drive. Most importantly, it didn't come with the original content (the CD-ROM library) or accessories (power cables for future expansions).
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The Kawai K4 was my first synth, and that's why it has a special place in my heart and in my studio. Actually my K4 (pictured below) is not the one I originally bought and sold, but is instead a cheap find on eBay, nearly 15 years after the first one, and almost 15 years ago as of this writing. (Time flies!)

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Say hello to digitalsynth.net, a site for everyone interested in digital synthesizers old and new.
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