For many musicians, nothing beats the fun and artistic enjoyment of capturing sounds and creating beats on a standalone sampler. Not only can a sampler help you manifest your musical ideas, it can also provide the inspiration and impetus you need to create tracks you never before thought were possible. To help you find the best standalone sampler for your needs and personal budget, we've put together a list of some of our favorite compact sampling/composition tools and separated them by cost.
Under $300
Portable, beginner-friendly, and featuring a charming retro aesthetic, the teenage engineering EP-133 K.O. II is an easy-to-use all-in-one sampler, sequencer, and composer that travels easy and looks great. Despite its comparatively low price tag, the K.O. II offers many of the fundamental features found in pricier sampling tools. Despite its impressive feature set, the K.O. II's most novices can master this machine within a couple of hours. But even seasoned producers love to play around with this thing because it’s so simple and intuitive, yielding fantastic ideas within minutes. Best of all, it can be battery powered, allowing you to lay down your tracks anywhere.
With a built-in microphone, you can sample your stuff instantly. And if you want to improve the recording quality, just plug in a mic. In addition to its headphone/speaker output, it also has a built-in speaker. You can even sync it up to your MIDI equipment or use it as a MIDI controller.
The super accurate sequencing engine allows you to quickly build up beats and variations, add in punch-in effects, and chop and loop your content. It also comes with a bunch of drums, bass and key instruments, as well as melodic samples. You can control the keys chromatically, using the device as a keyboard, and the buttons are pressure sensitive, so you can play with nuance. There’s also a multifunction fader for controlling various effects.
The K.O. II can save a total of nine projects, each containing four groups/sound sets, and each group has 99 patterns, which can be mixed and arranged together. In short, it’s the perfect jumping off point for those who want to get into the world of sampling and composition.
Under $500
There are a few great options in this price range, but we’ll only touch upon a couple of our favorite models. For all you hip-hop, electronica and lo-fi enthusiasts out there, know that the Roland SP-404MKII has become an industry staple.
Like the teenage engineering example above, it has a great form factor and can run on AA batteries, allowing you to play it anywhere. The little screen might look a bit outdated, but don’t be fooled by its throwback vibe. This sampler and sequencer is not only fantastic for laying down your tracks, but also works as a performance tool. The pattern sequencer can create fully fleshed out songs with selectable BPM per bank, making it perfect for playing backing tracks or programming performances. And the DJ Mode inspires fresh approaches to live performance by allowing you to manipulate and mix two separate audio files.
The Roland SP-404MKII comes packed with 144 samples and patterns designed for modern genres. Per project, it can handle up to 160 samples. It also has loads of onboard effects, including vinyl and cassette simulators, lo-fi and resonator effects and more. Additionally, you’ll find a vocoder, alongside an auto-pitch feature, and it even sports a guitar amp simulator should you choose to hook up your instrument to the mic/guitar input.
You’ll also have powerful sample editing tools, adjustable quantization/swing, resampling capabilities and the ability to layer sounds and textures. In fact, the 32-voice polyphony lets you stack pads to the moon.
If you choose to tap into your computer, you’ll have direct sample access and management, comprehensive waveform editing and pad assignment capability, all with the help of the SP-404MKII App editor software. With the unit connected to the computer (via USB-C), you can also capture audio and streaming.
While the comprehensive list of features and functions is too much to cover in a few paragraphs, to put it simply, it’s a creative workhorse that will get you from start to finish seamlessly, whether you’re performing on stage or producing magic in your studio.
The Polyend Play is also worth a mention given its distinctive approach to creating music. A standout feature that might catch your attention right away is its incredible number of sequencing pads—128 to be exact. This standalone sampler and groovebox offers eight tracks of audio sequencing in addition to eight tracks of MIDI sequencing. There are also 32 buttons to control muting, soloing, selecting and choosing different variations of your tracks.
Fill up the board of pads with random or selected samples and drums to instantly inspire rhythmic and melodic ideas. Create polyrhythms, arpeggio patterns, initiate randomization tricks and more. Then edit them down to get the exact groove you’re looking for. And if the 3000 samples already stored in the unit aren’t enough, you can easily import your own.
A great advantage that this sampler has over the others on this list is the lack of a need to fiddle around with a menu, unless you’re downloading samples or adjusting basic stuff like MIDI settings. All the other controls are placed plainly in front of you in the form of clearly labeled dials and buttons.
Certainly, it’s a super easy and a powerful way to create or perform tracks that you may not have organically come up with on your own. Unfortunately, it can only be powered via USB, so you’re more limited in terms of mobility. Still, it’s a very slim and compact unit and can easily be carried from stage to studio in your backpack. Whether you’re a novice musician searching for a simple entry point or a seasoned pro looking to add a powerful and unique musical tool to your arsenal, the Polyend Play is a great choice.
Under $800
While the Akai MPC One+ has fantastic sampling capabilities, it’s so much more. Let’s explore the basics of how this device can work for you. Put simply, the MPC One+ acts as your creative hub. Anyone used to the conventional way of track making, i.e. relying on their computer’s DAW and a MIDI keyboard controller, may find that the entry-level MPC One+ will open a whole new perspective with respect to their songwriting potential. In short, it’s a true blue, standalone production center. In fact, a lot of professional producers who use this tool for the first time are often taken back at how immediate, immersive and intuitive the songwriting flow becomes.
The MPC One+ doesn’t detract from how you lay down and edit tracks because it provides a highly functional DAW on its 7-inch touch screen. Access anything from sample trimming, zooming and navigation to a fully editable piano roll, plug-in browsing, faders, etc.
As a sampler, it gives you a bunch of options. For instance, you can use its integrated Wi-Fi capability to wirelessly download Splice samples. It also has Bluetooth, so you can wirelessly accept MIDI data, connect a separate keyboard, or plug in a Bluetooth adapter to your keyboard controller to wirelessly record your melodies with downloaded instrument plugins.
The MPC One+ is also a very capable MIDI controller itself. It’s designed to work seamlessly with Ableton. So, should you choose to hook it up to your computer, you can greatly expand the unit’s functionality.
The only downside to its sampling potential is the lack of a dedicated microphone input. However, you can either connect a USB mic or hook up an interface to the MPC unit to record vocals and instruments. Of course, you can also make use of the line inputs to record sounds from external synths, drum machines, etc. The MPC One+ allows you to have up to 8 audio tracks per project, which when combined with your available MIDI tracks, should give you plenty of space to build a fully fleshed out song.
Although the MPC One+ has 16GB of internal storage, you can use an external USB drive or SD card should you need more space. For a standalone device, its only shortcoming is that it can’t be battery powered.
Everything we’ve covered is only a small part of what the Akai MPC One+ can do. For what it offers, it’s probably the best value sampler and sequencer on the market. Whether you’re a beatmaker who is most comfortable with a “pad and dial” arrangement or a songwriter who is more accustomed to a typical studio setup, this standalone unit provides incredible ease of use, while opening a ton of possibilities without the need for a computer.
Under $1000
The Korg KAOSS Replay has got to be one of the most creatively designed samplers on the market. To start, it’s bursting with functionality, offering insane processing effects in addition to its extensive sampling and resampling capabilities. It’s also an audio interface too. If you do a lot of live performing or enjoy creating vocal-centric tracks, you’ll probably find the KOASS Replay to be one of the most innovative and powerful standalone toys you’ve ever tried. Yet, despite its advanced functionality, it’s not impossible to dive into it right away.
Here's where it gets fun: the large touchscreen acts as the centerpiece of the device, and with some finger swiping you can create incredible effects with both instrument and vocal samples alike. The screen allows you to shift the pitch, switch from major to minor keys, and trigger and modulate a bunch of various delays and reverbs, all from the movement of your finger.
The sampling process is also streamlined and straightforward. Choose between “loop”, “one-shot” and “song mode” to build your samples depending on whether you’re writing, performing or just improvising. Stretch and sync your samples to completely transform the way they play or correct timing with the quantize feature. In fact, you can edit samples to your heart’s desire, adjusting start and endpoints, linking, creating one shots, specifying the beats, and more. I also love that there’s a mic input at the front of the unit, which is a feature missing from many other popular samplers.
The assignable crossfaders are yet another fantastic performance tool. For example, you can hook up your other gear to the KAOSS Replay using phono inputs and use the crossfaders to transition from sampling to external hardware. And yes, it can also be used as a MIDI controller.
While the list of features and functions could go on and on, I highly recommend you check out the demo below to discover the full range of what the KOASS Replay offers. It’s a truly unique and highly versatile machine.
For more information about samplers listed, including additional features, specs, and highlights, be sure to check out the detailed product pages. Or drop us a line below, and we’ll do our best to answer all your comments and questions.
