Roland S550 Rackmount Sampler,

Description

Another piece found in storage, this one “lost” for 12 years. Although considered low-fi by today’s standards, back in the 90’s this, and the keyboard version the S-50, were killer samplers, state of the art for the era. This S-550 actually had enhancements over the S-50 keyboard, namely double the sample memory (1.5 Mb) and real-time filters (called time-variant filters) derived from LAS-type synthesizers like the D-50. Uses 3.5” floppy discs, both RAM and ROM, readily available on the used market. I might even have a library of them among my many, many, old software libraries. Nice shape and a cool retro unit for $175.