these days there seems to be no need for hardware samplers though...personally i am going down the software route (like everybody else and his dog...) - I mean why bother sampling a sound - putting it into a key group blah blah blah ...when you can just bung it into soundforge, then chuck it into cubase.....i was using an akai 5000 with a usb interface where you can move the sounds from your pc to sampler and vice versa...in the end i thought why bother?......I have tried flogging the 5000 for £450....can't f*cking give the thing away....shocking considering how much they used to cost.......