Roland's 12-bit rack sampler from the late 80s. The S-330 packs the same characterful converters as its keyboard siblings into a tidy 1U box, complete with that gritty, slightly lo-fi Roland sampling voice producers still chase. Floppy drive on the front, full MIDI on the back, and monitor-plus-mouse support for proper visual editing.

FEATURES & PROS:

• 12-bit Roland character: That crunchy, musical sampling grit prized for drums, stabs and vintage textures.
• Visual editing: Hook up an RGB monitor and mouse for real waveform editing, well ahead of its time.
• Tidy 1U rack: Big sampler sound in a small, rackable footprint.
• Multitimbral + MIDI: Layer and split across the keyboard for full arrangements.
• Disk library: Loads the broad Roland S-series floppy catalogue.

SPECIFICATIONS

• 12-bit digital sampler, 1U rackmount
• Multitimbral, MIDI In/Out/Thru
• Floppy disk drive, RGB monitor + mouse support
• Stereo plus individual outputs

Further reading: S612 to S5000: Which Akai Sampler Do You Actually Want?