Is there a sampler(File Player) that you would consider a 'voice' ?

[Sync]

I second 4MS STS. I just got one recently, and wow did I sleep on this module (4ms mods always catch my eye, not sure why this didn't earlier). I think with it's on-board looper, length knob that can also serve as an eg, and 1v/oct, it definitely can fit most definitions of a "full voice." +1 to file management, plus if you happened upon the world of electronic music via vinyl and turntables (as I did), you'll get a kick out of trying to match beats between the two channels (a fun and challenging little exercise... Gate controlled "play" + sample adjustment makes the sync a lot easier

I'll third the STS-- I bought one and liked it so much I bought another-- and I already had a couple of Radio Music's and a 2hp Play (as well as a Disting MK4, all of which can do basic sample playback). The STS is a staple of my rack(s). You can lay out the samples in a variety of ways, and even keep separate flash cards with different layouts if you want. What I've been doing is I wrote a little program that will take a big collection of samples I have and randomly pack the card full of 10-sample sets of randomized samples. But you can do explicit planning and make a bunch of drum kits, or different chords, or whatever you might want-- it's an awesome module.

That said, in a pinch if you're really tight for space, the Play module is useful as is the Radio Music. But the STS I find to be the best and is best treated as an "instrument" rather than someplace to have some random sample loop going...

There's also the Tip Top One but it's not much different than the Radio music and quite a bit more expensive (at least, that's been my impression).

[tenshun]

ER301.
Perhaps the most flexible option for this and the possibilities are only limited by your imagination (and the cpu).

If you want a full voice (sample playback, filtering, amp/filter modulation etc), this is the way to go. Or maybe the Percussa SSP. Otherwise a sample player that does what you want (Assimil8tor/squid) plus other modules to compliment it.

Another recommendation for the powerful ER-301.
This machine can take any sample and turn
it into something totally differnet.
And with the combination of different Units and saving them as different chains you can create many different drum kits with just a ordinary drum kit.

[megarat]

That said, in a pinch if you're really tight for space, the Play module is useful as is the Radio Music.

I’m curious to hear your take on the merits between the 2hp Play and the Radio Music. I current have a Play, and I find that it does its job well, but I’ve been considering getting a Radio Music, as the “radio” aspect seems interesting. The catch is that my rack can only fit one or the other, so the RM would need to be competent at triggering single shots of sound files as well. Does the RM cover some of the core functionality of the Play, or is it really best-used for the “radio”-type playback?

[Sync]

DELETE (dup)

I'm not seeing how to delete a post that ended up a dup...

[Sync]

That said, in a pinch if you're really tight for space, the Play module is useful as is the Radio Music.

I’m curious to hear your take on the merits between the 2hp Play and the Radio Music. I current have a Play, and I find that it does its job well, but I’ve been considering getting a Radio Music, as the “radio” aspect seems interesting. The catch is that my rack can only fit one or the other, so the RM would need to be competent at triggering single shots of sound files as well. Does the RM cover some of the core functionality of the Play, or is it really best-used for the “radio”-type playback?

The Radio Music has 16 slots each which can have up to something like 75 samples each. You can have the "Start" knob and CV either control the sample start position, or it can be configured to control the playback speed which is how I usually configure it. Samples can be any length. But it allows for collecting smaller groups of samples (say, a drum kit) in one slot and maybe a packed bunch of sounds in another. The "Play" is like having only one slot. Also worth keeping in mind, is that with either module, the more samples you have the harder it might be to use the knob or a CV to pick out a particular sample. That's one place the Radio Music excels. I use the Play for just a few percussion samples, and that's it-- but the Radio Music I can set up each of the 16 slots with different collections designed for different purposes. There's no ability to CV select *which* slot you are going to get (you change it with a long-press on the red button), but the fact it has these multiple groups is a big advantage, IMHO. The Reset on the Radio Music will work like a trigger as well, and I'm pretty sure you can configure endless loop playback if you want (though I've not been inclined to do that)...

Both use SD cards, so you can always swap cards to get different collections, but the Radio Music's ability to keep 16 on one card is a bit of an advantage. The Play's biggest advantage is that it's only 2HP. Both use on-card config files.

Other advantages of Radio Music is that you can get it in kit form, and it uses a standard Teensy cpu with open-source firmware. That may or may not be an advantage for you. Also, it's not clear to me to what extent Radio Music can be made to track v/oct. Seems like it might do it out of the box, and if not would probably be possible with the right firmware logic, but I don't really know how well it does that currently-- I haven't really tried to use it for that. The TipTop One may be better at that, I'm not sure. And of course the STS is stellar for that.

The RM was the first sampler I got for my system, both because I had little space and little money to start, but I liked it so much I bought a second one of those as well-- and I still use them quite often. But then I have some smaller racks (a 32HP and a 48HP as well as a skiff) which I'll often customize for short special projects where the STS takes up more space than I want to devote for a particular exploration. I have a couple of big racks, where I swap stuff around less often but I do swap stuff around a fair amount even with those, and being able to stick in a 4HP or 2HP sampler to fill some unused space is pretty handy and will usually get used.

ModularGrid says RM is a "diy project only" but if you don't want to build one yourself I doubt it would be hard to find one built or get someone to build one for you.

Some alternative firmware is mentioned here: https://www.musicthing.co.uk/pages/radio.html and there's a site that has a config file generator-- not that it's hard to just use a text editor, but may come in handy for configuring yours for the first time.

[megarat]

The Radio Music has 16 slots each which can have up to something like 75 samples each. You can have the "Start" knob and CV either control the sample start position, or it can be configured to control the playback speed which is how I usually configure it. Samples can be any length. But it allows for collecting smaller groups of samples (say, a drum kit) in one slot and maybe a packed bunch of sounds in another. The "Play" is like having only one slot. Also worth keeping in mind, is that with either module, the more samples you have the harder it might be to use the knob or a CV to pick out a particular sample. That's one place the Radio Music excels. I use the Play for just a few percussion samples, and that's it-- but the Radio Music I can set up each of the 16 slots with different collections designed for different purposes. There's no ability to CV select *which* slot you are going to get (you change it with a long-press on the red button), but the fact it has these multiple groups is a big advantage, IMHO. The Reset on the Radio Music will work like a trigger as well, and I'm pretty sure you can configure endless loop playback if you want (though I've not been inclined to do that)...

Both use SD cards, so you can always swap cards to get different collections, but the Radio Music's ability to keep 16 on one card is a bit of an advantage. The Play's biggest advantage is that it's only 2HP. Both use on-card config files.

Other advantages of Radio Music is that you can get it in kit form, and it uses a standard Teensy cpu with open-source firmware. That may or may not be an advantage for you. Also, it's not clear to me to what extent Radio Music can be made to track v/oct. Seems like it might do it out of the box, and if not would probably be possible with the right firmware logic, but I don't really know how well it does that currently-- I haven't really tried to use it for that. The TipTop One may be better at that, I'm not sure. And of course the STS is stellar for that.

The RM was the first sampler I got for my system, both because I had little space and little money to start, but I liked it so much I bought a second one of those as well-- and I still use them quite often. But then I have some smaller racks (a 32HP and a 48HP as well as a skiff) which I'll often customize for short special projects where the STS takes up more space than I want to devote for a particular exploration. I have a couple of big racks, where I swap stuff around less often but I do swap stuff around a fair amount even with those, and being able to stick in a 4HP or 2HP sampler to fill some unused space is pretty handy and will usually get used.

ModularGrid says RM is a "diy project only" but if you don't want to build one yourself I doubt it would be hard to find one built or get someone to build one for you.

Some alternative firmware is mentioned here: https://www.musicthing.co.uk/pages/radio.html and there's a site that has a config file generator-- not that it's hard to just use a text editor, but may come in handy for configuring yours for the first time.

An excellent comparison, very helpful. Thank you so much for taking the time.