Zoom SampleTrak 224

I use mine for recording samples of my voice with a Radio Shack dynamic mic. It's WAY too noisy for "dark" ambient composition, but that's ok because I want crappy sound anyway, so I just run it through my guitar player's Peavey Mace and put a wet towel over the speaker, then, I use the re-sampling function to record it again and put TWO towels over the speakers. I even yanked out the ground pin for that "BIG 60" effect. It takes care of those lame-ass clean sounding samples even without the built in effects. ;)

8 note monaural, 4 note stereo polyphony (haven't quite figured out how to record in stereo yet), but it doesn't matter. It accepts 4,8,16 Meg smart media cards (which are so easy to find, just walk into CompUSA or Best Buy and smile and ask for them). I get my 16 meg smart media cards for free. Find someone that is WAY into digital photography and ask them to trade you something.

Well, the midi functions are limited to note numbers (minus the velocity control) and internal/external clock sync, but if your "anti-MIDI" (aka - incompetent) like some other people who record their drum tracks by listening to a click track and tapping the pads (on modified pre-1990 equipment), then the MIDI functions won't really matter at all. Yea, what does that mean?

Did I mention the sequencer? It's feature-full, isn't very simple to use, works nicely, but I don't use it anyway, well, actually I only used it once while I was cracking this big dude over the head with it and it still worked...holy cow! Then, at this one dude's house, we got kind of like wild ya know, and this guy landed a jart right into the display and it still worked...holy cow! (x2). I actually sampled the sound of the jart hitting the circuit board!! I was so cool! Also, don't tell anyone, but sometimes I wax the back seat of my Metro before I go to work, I throw SampleTrak in the back seat and and try to take corners and hard as possible while I'm delivering Pizzas. Did I mention the "GOOD CRAPPY SOUND". Maybe I should have bought a G harmonica but I couldn't read the manual (it's in PDF format ya know, which is "pure crap"). ;D

Their web sight is terrible, it takes literally "forever" to download the manuals, I'm pissed .......WHAT THE F**K!!!!!!

If it ever got stolen, I would scavenge every pawn shop, street pusher, and loan shark from here to the mars trying to locate another one, my friend (a Geo mechanic) told me about something called "ebay", but I can't get their web sight to load for some reason.

Super easy...one of the best interfaces out there. The interface almost makes up for the lack of hifi quality and the midi issues.

8 simultaneous mono voices. Some effects are better than others...similar to the effects on Zooms plastic stompbox multieffects. The best effects are the filters, flange, step-cry, reverb, dimension, and tremolo....the rest run the gamut from useful to crappy. Not the best effects, more of a bonus, and you can digitally resample with them which opens them up a bit...unfortunately the skimpy memory limits this capacity, and after 3 or 4 resamples, your source material starts sounding mushy and samey...cheap 18 bit converters are still cheap converters. Smart Media cars work excellently with it, all the way up to 16 megs...had no problems saving, loading, or storing onto computer. Midi implementation is poor, Zoom products cut costs in the Midi area, which is a shame. If you use this mostly to do on the fly stuff and djing, you needn't worry about it. Nice chunky pads and an interface that makes everything only a couple of button presses away...truly the best, I wish the Asr-x's and such out there could make a decent interface like this.

Here's where things get bad. With the 2 megs of RAM, I suspect this thing uses some sort of compression, and this compression algorhythm Zoom uses is really bad. THe compression that the old ROland MS1 used is way better. Combine that with the highest rate of only 32 khz and all the high end in your samples is demolished. Don't confuse low-bit with low-resolution....this thing just sucks the life out samples like nothing I've ever seen, and it's the main reason I ditched mine. It may be okay sounding in the studio, but get it into a live band or DJ situation through PA in a heavy mix, and your samples don't cut through at all, you end up just looking like a monkey pressing buttons that make mushy sounds. NOt good.

Very tough for hard platstic, very reliable, I gigged it a few times with no backup, no problems. Some of the knobs are cheap feeling, but work fine if you're easy on them. If you only use the highest resolution and the effects, it's great for DJing, with the effects knob/joystick combo and pads for gating and looping.

Pretty good on providing info...never had to really talk to them after I got the unit, there's plenty of folks out there, a large Sampletrak community that won't lead you astray.

I'm considering buying another one for djing and creative studio purposes...it's limited, but it has its uses and is well built. A good creative tool as well. I just wish Zoom would get off their asses and release an Mk2 version with a bit more RAM, beefier effects, better MIDI, and more professional sampling rates. WHy is it the other manufacturers have done this, but ZOom is still asleep at the wheel? Wake up Z-Z-Zoom!

Excellet tool for those who need a sampling feature in thier music without spending the big bucks for an mpc or triton.The manual was very helpful, although I lost it a few years back, but I have had no need for it since, so who cares?

Polyphony?Midi?....Yeah it has these features, but lets face it guys. If you want top quality, then you gotta pay top dollar!!!This unit obviously was not intended for those who want to use it as a prime instrument, although with someone knowing what they are doing it could prolly be used that way. I have read alot of bad reviews on the effects, but I have always found them to be excellent. The only complaint I have is that you can only use one at a time. This can be remedied by using the effect of your choice, use the resample function to rerecord it with the effect and then apply another effect to the second sample. You can do this as many times as you wish, although you will lose sound quality everytime you do it.

I have used this for rap,rock,metal,and yes even jazz!!! Like I said, it is not my main instrument, so it does the job fine.

I can depend on it,even though there has been problems with the power cord situation. I opened her up, added solder to the power connections, and shes back in the game

Never dealt with them. If I had any problems with it I would probably sell it or throw it out and buy a new one. As cheap as these things are, why worry!

DONT buy this unit if you dont have any other instruments to layer on top. It is NOT a full band, nor is it a Korg Triton. I dont believe it was manufactured for single use. BUY this unit if you are needing some really great samples, voice or music, to apply to great songs you already have. If it were lost, stolen, or broken, I would definately replace it. It has become essential for me.

This is my first sampler, and I bought it used on eBay, without a manual. It took me a while to figure it out, but I did eventually. I had to look up the PDF version of the manual for a couple functions. I have had the machine for about 2 years now, and there are still probably functions I don't know about, but it does what I want it to, so that's all I care about. As far as I know, there haven't been any software upgrades.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the polyphony is 8 mono samples (or 4 stereo). However, contrary to what another reviwer said, panning your mono samples has no effect on the polyphony. In other words, you can build a song out of 8 different mono samples all panned to different locations, and effectively have the song in stereo, no problem.

Also, you can use resampling to get around the polyphony issues. Record a short sequence in the sequencer of up to eight different samples at a time (plus effects), resample it in stereo, and you have turned a sequence of 8 "voices" in to 2 voices (left and right channels of the stereo sample). Then you can delete your original samples to free up memory and repeat the process with another sequence. So when you get done, although a song might only consist of a progression of several different stereo samples, each of these will be a complex sequence which you have programmed yourself.

The effects are OK, though some are better than others. I mostly use the reverb and the filters. I bought my machine used, and I was lucky in that it came with a 16MB SmartCard, but I have bought a couple more cards since then. The other reviewer is right, there is no way you will ever get 99 data sets on one card. Assuming that in each data set, you use close to the full amount of memory available, in an 8MB card you should be able to save about 5 or 6 sets, and 10 or 11 in a 16MB card. Each of these sets can contain up to 24 samples assigned to pads, and 8 songs. The only problem with the SmartCards for memory is that Zoom was quite short-sighted in limiting them to 16MB or less. Most people use these cards for digital cameras or MP3 players, and (of course) want as much memory as they can get. 32, 64, or 128MB cards are becoming the norm, and cards 16MB or less are getting harder and harder to find, which is bad news to us Zoom users.

Also, a word about the sampling rates. The LO/MID/HI rates vary by frequency, rather than bitrate, so the more lo-fi you sample, the more high-end you lose. This is good for sampling basslines or kick drums, and can actually produce som really fat kicks. Sometimes though, I wish I coud sample at a lower bitrate to get those really gritty, pixellated kind of samples like I get on my Casio SK-1.

The MIDI implemenatation on this is almost nil, as others have mentioned, but I don't use it anyway, so it doesn't affect me. I build all my songs completely within the sampler, then record them to 4-track, and sometimes add guitar, keyboards or vocals. The bottom line with any sampler (or with any instrument, for that matter) is that it's only as good as the person using it. People have this misconception that electronic music is easy and anybody can do it. While it's true that anybody can do it, doing it well is another matter. Anybody can pick up a guitar and plink out a few notes too, but to do anything well, it takes a lot of time and dedication. I have had this sampler for about 2 years, and it has been my main music-making device, and I still don't feel that I've seen everything that it can do, or pushed it to its limits.

I've never had it crash on me in the two years I've had it. The only minor problem I've had is that the power cord can be a bit fidgety--if you hit it wrong, the power can cut. This would be a problem if the power cuts while you're saving--you not only lose any changes you made since the last time you saved, you lose the whole data set. The way it saves is by first erasing the old version, and then writing the new one over it. So if the power cuts while it's saving, it has already erased the old saved version. I'd say this is pretty minor though--it's only happened once in 2 years. I just don't touch the machine while it's saving. Also, the in/out knobs do seem a little cheap, but just don't be a barbarian and you should be fine.

I haven't had to deal with them.

All in all, I'd say this is a great value for the money, especially if you can get it used. When I bought it, it was the cheapest sampler on the market to include a sequencer. This would be an ideal first sampler for anybody. Like I said, I've been using it 2 years and still haven't exhausted the possibilities. It does have its limitations, though--the polyphony and the reliance on SmartMedia cards being the biggest ones for me.

I make my music using this, a Boss DR-660 (which I mostly use to sample drum sounds into the Zoom), a couple cheap Yamaha and Casio home keyboards, two Casio SK-1 sampling keyboards (the ultimate in lo-fi sampling grit!), some small percussion (cowbells, shakers), a bass, and a cheap acoustic guitar I got from a friend that has a couple missing strings I've never bothered to replace. A pretty ramshackle collection of junk which I use to make both fragile 4-track pop songs and abstract beat-driven stuff (a la Warp records).

I'd like to eventually get either an Akai MPC or a laptop. Even though the Zoom sampler has served me well, there is so much more I could do in the future.

Relatively easy to use, but there are so many features, it has to be a little difficult and intuitive to fit it all in here

Polyphony is 8 which is ok. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if you take a mono sample and pan it to the right or left it reads it as a stereo sample, and you can only do 4 of those at a time. It has great built in effects, it accepts smart media cards, but only 16 megs which are pretty hard to find. HERE'S MY COMPLAINT THOUGH... Has anyone else noticed that after about 12 bars or so, the midi will drift out of time with the master clock?! This is a HORRIBLE! MIDI should not be able to drift out of time! The whole reason MIDI was made was to sync things perfectly together (well, not the WHOLE reason, but a big part of it) I tried to make a really cool song using my sounds from my drum machine SYNCED with sounds off my sampler that I had put into the sequencer. Yeah, it drifted out of time and two sets of drums that are slightly off from each other don't sound very good do they? "Well," I thought... "I can just trigger the sounds straight from the drum machine like I used to with my boss sp 202- NOPE! You can only do it in gate mode and there is NO LOOPING!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! For my purposes this is very frusterating. Please contact me if anyone has a solution for this!!!

It's a sampler, you get what you put into it

Well, that's back to the non-syncing thing. That doesn't seem to be real reliable, but it holds up well

I haven't heard back from them and it's been a couple of days, so it might not be fair to give them a 1 yet, but I'll post another if they can redeem my sampler!

It's a REALLY good sampler especially after using a boss sp 202. It is 3 million times better that that, minus the midi

Overall, the thing is very easy to use. The display is pretty crappy, and there are a lot of obscure key combinations that you'll need the manual for, but for basic operation it's very simple. The manual is very well written, and is available on their website which is good if the other member of your band left it in his car that you destroyed for fun. Unfortunately the manual on the website is in PDF format, which is pure crap. I use the unit mainly for loops, effects, and very short vocal samples, and i don't have any problems. The sequencer isn't very simple to use, but I don't use it anyway.

Everyone already mention the 8 note monaural, 4 note stereo polyphony, and since I use mono samples, it's fine by me. I'm anti-MIDI, so the limited MIDI functions I don't care about either. I wouldn't expect or desire pressure sensitive keys. The layout is nice, the effects are nice in general, but it's irritating that you can only run one effect at a time.. not that I would really expect more, but sometimes it still pisses me off. They are easy to use, and the large edit wheel runs very smoothly. It does have a sequencer which works nicely, I used it once, but it is complicated and I don't need it ever so I haven't used it more than that one time. But anyway for such a small unit, it's feature-full. Oh yea, saving onto smartmedia cards is pretty sweet, it can handle 4, 8, and 16. These people buying 16mb cards for forty bucks are getting ripped, I get 16mb cards for 10. They are not hard to find, either, no matter what the other dumb clod said.

Most onboard effects sound very nice. I use it for dark experimental ambient crap, and it gives me nice sound. I generally use the mid and lofi recording because i want crappy sound anyway. It gives me good crappy sound (yea, what does that mean?!) but the 32k quality sounds pretty good if you need lame-ass clean sounding samples. You should already know what 32k wuality sound is like anyway, so this is stupid.

It is the most dependable thing that I own that was made post 1990. Never failed me, the smartmedia saving always works flawlessly, I use 16mb cards, although you can use 4 or 8.. but why? It's sturdy as anything, I crack people over the head with it all the time, and some stupid friend of mine managed to land a dart in it. It's my only piece of equipment that I haven't modified, so I don't know how well it handles being messed with electronically. I would use it live without a backup. I trust it. It's light as anything too, and small, and easy to handle, so it would work out well for live playing. Especially if you have to haul all your crap around in a Metro.

N/A except I suppose getting the manual online, but that hardly counts.. so it won't.

I would buy it again I think, if it got stolen.. although I'd prefer to find the thief and rip his balls off.. (and sample him screaming right onto my st-224, of course.) I'd have to find another at a pawn shop, though, because I'm just too lazy to buy one any other way. So I would probably get impatient and buy a piece of crap yamaha instead just like I do with all my keyboards. I love the unit, and really don't have anything that I hate about it. Oh yea, somebody mentioned that the i/o level knobs are cheap crap. That's true. Be gentle with them, unless you have a soldering iron, and the skills to match. But overall, it's strong, dependable, effective. I like it. Rock on.

The SampleTrak is very easy to use, especially if you have any experience with Samplers & Loopers. The manual has almost all the information you need, but you may have to flip back and forth a bit.

The presets and the absurd demo song are intended to illustrate some of the features of the SampleTrak; very few of the presets are really useful, although some of them display a sense of humor.

There's no patch editing as such, but Sampling and Re-sampling are pretty straightforward. If you're just starting out, you may as well follow the guide in the manual.

The major fault in the manual is the lack of memory specs. While the manual is very clear about bit-resolution vs. recording time, there's no indication of how much data the SampleTrak itself holds. There are numerous references to the SM04 memory card, and the implication that an SM04 memory card will store "up to 99 data sets." While a "data set" would seem to consist of a bulk dump of all the data in the SampleTrak (Samples, songs, pad assignments, etc.) it's never made clear how much data this represents. While it seems that the SampleTrak will support a 16MB card, the Zoom SM04 mentioned in the manual is a 4MB card.

Polyphony depends on the grade of the samples, as other users have mentioned. Stereo samples eat up twice as much polyphony as mono samples, and high-res samples eat up more memory. The manual has a simple graph on page 20, which explains the recording time and bit-resolution. The manual doesn't make clear that you can store a mix of sample types, (8kHz stereo, 32k mono, etc.) which will affect the available recording time. A few 32k stereo loops will eat up your memory real fast.

The pads are comfortable enough, and a little larger than many Drum Machine pads, which is nice for those of us with large hands. I like the layout more than the grid favored by most Samplers and Drum Machines.

The effects are pretty decent, and easy to use. Time Stretch, Scratch, Lo-Fi, Extreme EQ and the Compressor may be more use to DJ's or Techno stylists, but I don't really need them. The more standard grab-bag effects (Delay, Chorus, Phaser, etc.) are stompbox simple, with decent sounds. Step Cry is an unusual effect, kind of like a stepped Flanger.

The expansion card is my major complaint. My SM04 maxed out after two data sets. Right, two, as in 2, not 99, not even 49, but 2. Other users, and the tech support people at Zoom suggest a 16MB card for the SampleTrak, but my manual only mentions the 4MB Zoom SM04; there is no mention of using a larger capacity card, nor is the SampleTrak's memory described in terms of megabytes. One reviewer guessed that the SampleTrak holds about 1MB in memory; at that rate, a 4MB card would hold four back-ups at most. Where does Zoom get 99 data sets out of those numbers?

MIDI ability is very limited. There's a MIDI In jack, period. You can send Start/Stop commands from a sequencer to playback songs stored in the SampleTrak, you can trigger samples from an external controller, or you can play the internal drumkit over Channel 10. Since the SampleTrak seems to be designed as a self-contained Sampler/Sequencer, the limited MIDI interface is probably appropriate, although anyone looking for a poor-musician's MPC will be disappointed. It would be nice to have a MIDI for data backup, since the data card is such a waste.

The Sequencer is alright, but again, anyone hoping to use the SampleTrak as an MPC-style device should keep looking, or save up some more cash.

A Sampler is a garbage-in/garbage-out device, IMHO. While the preset sound bank isn't very useful, the SampleTrak is. I use the SampleTrak for Guitar & Synth loops, and backing tracks, both live and for recording. I don't use the Sequencer much. I could see a skilled person using the SamoleTrak for almost any type of music, although you might look out of place sitting in with a symphony orchestra or a polka band. As I said, the onboard effects are decent enough. The SampleTrak isn't velocity-sensitive, but I wouldn't describe it as static, either, because it's comfortable to use. Expressiveness is a matter of how you choose and use your samples.

Other than the major disappointment with the memory card, the SampleTrak has been great. Of course I use it without a backup; if I could afford a backup, I might have gotten a more expensive Sampler.

I've written to Zoom about the memory card, and they were very quick to respond, although we haven't entirely resolved the problem yet. I'm not aware of any upgrade for the SampleTrak.

Lost or stolen . . . I really don't know. I bought it, in part, on the promise of all that memory, which the card has failed to deliver, so far. It's pretty bad when the strength of a $400 device lies in a $60 memory card, and that card doesn't deliver what you expected. Considering what I thought I was getting in terms of memory (potentially 3200 samples, 2400 pad assignments, 800 songs), compared to what I actually got (around 50 samples, 30 pad assignments and a couple of songs) it's not worth what I paid for it, and I probably wouldn't buy another one. I can't really recommend it to anyone, either, for the same reason. I do a lot of loop-based music, and I was hoping the SampleTrak would allow me to store and retrieve large banks of loops; in that sense, it hasn't really helped me make music in the way I expected. Instead of backing up my sounds to one memory card, I have to haul around a pile of CD's. (A portable Discman-style CD Player and a pile of CD's are cheaper than a handful of SmartMedia cards. That about that when you hear the SampleTrak described as a bargain.)

I wish there'd been some real specs in the manual, or that Zoom had bothered to include an adequate data card as part of the package. I hate that I bought the SampleTrak based on what seems to be misleading information. It's a good machine that doesn't live up to its promise because of a cheap data card; that's a pretty lousy bit of marketing.

The sampler section is easy, however, I thought the song sequencer had a small learning curve to it. Otherwise, the manual is written well and covers all the features, even gives some examples. Once you learn how to use the editing functions, editing samples is a piece of cake and the ability to re-sample is awesome.

Has decent sounding built in effects that you can change on the fly and use for re-sampling. effects sound a lot better in stereo (of course). MIDI is pretty limited, you can use a midi controller that sends note numbers to trigger the samples if you don't want to use the pads. Keys are not velocity sensitive. You definetly need the manual to use the on-board sequencer. ONLY accepts 16Meg smart media card (which are becomming increasingly difficult to find, cause nobody wants them, so take that into consideration). I tried 32Meg and 64Meg cards and it's doesn't even see them. Poly is 8 mono samples or 4 stereo - not bad. Has an edit wheel (like a pitch wheel on a synth) that makes editing sooooo much easier than using traditional pain in the ass scroll buttons. Input and output knobs are really cheap and wobbly.

I use mine for sound effects and loops with my current band. I also run a dry output from our singer's mike into the mic input and run his voice through the internal effects then manipulate the effects on his voice in real time. Has a time-stretch effect that's great for students who want to slow down fast guitar licks or even people who would want to use it for learning a foreign language.

Rock-solid depenable smart media. I take it to every gig, never had any trouble with it (knock knock). If your after more memory, don't like dealing with smart media cards, wnat an LCD read-out and more pad banks and pads, I would suggest getting a Boss Sp-505 or something like it. But hey, it's not the equipment that makes a person good. I would not pay over $175 for a used one.

never had to deal with them.

It is my sole sampler. If your after more memory, don't like dealing with smart media cards, want an LCD read-out and more pad banks and pads, I would suggest getting a Boss Sp-505 or something like it. But hey, it's not the equipment that makes a person good. I would not pay over $175 for a used one.

Very easy to use....Really.
The manual seems well writen,and is easy to understand.

It does alot of things very well,but its midi isnt too good.
Looks like gated triggering is your only option.Kinda boxes it in somewhat..Only somewhat though.You can make a drum loop on the thing resample it,and sequence the loop on some external sequencer.
Effects are good enough,and widely varied.The weirdness of some effects helps along creativity.
I own a mpc2000 as well,and this thing is cool enough to still get plenty use.Editing of samples is pretty good to,but it would have been nice if it had atack,and decay.It has other good editing features.Loop up a sample real short,put some time synced low pass filter on,and resample.Presto!a cool synth patch has apeared.
Lacks cutoff pairing though it would have been a nice feature,and the sequencer isnt the best to work with,unless your doing short loops.It has great quantizing.No string sequences together unless you resample them.But in all fairness Ive made a lot of complete songs with it,and nothing else.an external sequencer would be a good purchase.Use it to trigger loops from the zoom.

Depending on what style of music your trying to make.
For hiphop its incredible for drums.You can litteraly take clean drum kits,and turn them into hard hitting mega punchy,super crunchy drums.
(Think "Troy" from Pete rock)Yeah It could arguably sound better than an sp1200!
No joke.
Gotta resample with effects to achieve the sp sound.
Still punchy without resampling,and warm with lo mids,and crisp highs.
Its not a super pristine sounding sampler but for hiphop its music to my ears.

Very dependable.Smart media storage is also dependable.

For your money your gonna have a tough time beating it.
They for 150 bucks used nowadays.Much better deal than a sp1200 IMO.

akai mpc - zoom sampletrak ? zooooooooooooooooooooooooom baby

for hip hop you can really tweek and freak this machine effects and re-sampling, man hip hop at it's finest

I can make this thing do any thing an akai mpc,s-900,s-950 can do you can make real clean or real gutter sounding tracks.

I treat it like gold and .I've never gigged with it and won't it's my baby.

The company was real cool about my questions before I bought it never had a problem yet.

Yes I would replace it if it was stolen it's a lot cheaper to replace than an akai and you dont have to spend a crap load of cash for effects sorry akai there already in there.I've had it since oct 2000 and for the money theres nothing better or easier to use.I use it on my dj mix tapes in the studio YEAH THAT'S RIGHT I SAID IT STUDIO.I have used all the other samplers the roland s-50,w-30 the ensoniq mirage,the FOREVER CRASHING EPS,AND EPS-16 THE AKAI S-900,S-950 WHICH I STILL LOVE THE SUPER OVER PRICED MPC-2000 I GOT RID OF THEM ALL BECAUSE THE DID NOT DO WHAT I WANTED WITHOUT 1.A DRUM MACHINE TO CONTROL THEM OR TWO EFFECTS PROCESSORS AS YOU CAN TELL IM REALLY UPSET! the zoom sample trak allows me to make bangin rap tracks the way i want the to sound the editing is basic meat and potatos but so what I edit by ear forget an expensive display.