Although the current stream of software samplers are more powerful, much cheaper and make great advances in terms of disk storage and user interface, they are fiddly to integrate into my working style, guzzle processor power and are prone to the same unreliability which plagues the personal computer. You can rely on a hardware sampler whether it be to hold together your live performance or meet a studio deadline. The lack of features compared to software samplers is where most hardware samplers fall down. In this respect, the Yamaha A5000 holds it's ground the most convincingly because of features such as CD writing and an array of effects with great usability. Akai enthusiasts will probably find the internal structure of the interface so unfamiliar that they might do well to stick with the S5000. In my opinion the biggest shortcoming of the Yamaha A5000 is it's slow SCSI transfer speed and the PC/Mac based editors which disappoint in both terms of features and the fact that the samples exported back to the sampler do not seem to remain sample accurate in positioning. The filters and general quality of the sound of this sampler is very good, but not as warm as the Emu samplers. The interface of the A5000 is inferior to that of the Akai S5000, and in terms of RAM expandability the Akai beats the A5000 with it's possible capacity of 256 megs. However, when you consider the A5000 gives you the option to fit a Zip drive, backup using a SCSI CD writer and fit a future M-Lan board it's potential to combat future innovations gives it a better shelf life than it's competitors. The built in effects blow away the competition - you could use this sampler to double as an effects box of such a high calibre that this fact alone would justify most of the price tag. The added cost of effects boards for the other samplers just push their prices up, and considering the base price is so much cheaper (at least here in the UK it is!) than that of the Akai and Emu equivalents, when buying a sampler the A5000 should prove very hard to budge from the top of anyone's shortlist.

It's awesome how much this sampler can do! Manipulates, twists, and controls the sound just they way I want them. User interface is super easy and intuitive. Couldn't ask for anything else; e-mu 6400 or akai s5000!

scsi is not that slow !! just turn off the play and load option and read the manual ! backup from an ide drive IS possible too
finding ram that will work is a pain though and finding native cd roms, forget it, they are only a few ones out there and thats too bad ....
but the sound is fantastic, the loop remix is a cool tool and the envelopes are ultra fast too bad yamaha stopped supporting this excellent instrument...

The Yammy samplers have received some negative feedback. Initially, the loading times were slow and some features a little buggy. However, with the 1.07 OS update the loading is much faster. Boosting the RAM and adding a HDD is highly recommended for full enjoyment of this sampler. There are also useful apps on the net for tweaking settings via MIDI and transferring samples over SCSI.

Maybe this unit just wasn't for me, but it was just too dense and hard to navigate. Download speed from disc was excruciatingly slow. Tons of power and featues for the price though.