#1 It has no battery power, just a wall wart. That takes away the BEST thing about the 202/303 series, total portability. The 303 does add some features like expanded memory for storage on smart media, more effects, better use of the banks, more polyphony but it’s a catch 22, expanded memory for storage is good, but you don’t really need all that storage if you are using it as it should be used, as a DJ phrase sampler or totally portable rig for sampling odd sounds and working out drum ideas on the road (IE as a scratch pad).

It seems like the things is trying to be too many things at once! If they just improved on the 202’s features and kept it battery op, then I would say it would be worth the investment.

Here is how I use the 202, I stuff it in my backpack with a portable MD player/recorder (more on why MD not CD later) that I have burned drum samples onto, kicks, snares, hats, synth stabs, etc. right off my PC, so I can load up some drums whenever I get the inclination (boring lecture, train to campus, sitting at lunch in the quad, waiting to meet with a prof., whatever). This is the ultimate tool for instantly getting an idea that pops into your head down, simple and fast.

You can “garbage re-sample” the 202 by recoding two or more sounds going off at the same time onto MD, then re-loading the sample onto one pad, which will include the effects U used too. I don’t think I have run out of room ever doing this (and only really use the smart media to access the banks that you cant without it) and the process is really simple w/ MD, all you do is set the MD to record when it hears a sound (EG no issues with trimming the start time, it records as soon as the sound starts, so the major “sample trimming”/re-sampling issue of the 202 is resolved by using some simple brain work. It still moves pretty fast this way, and I have no complaints. With a 202 I have a built it (albeit garbage) mic, which is solved by carrying a 50 dollar sony MD mic with me. Its tiny, has good sound and allows me to sample ANYTHING. Subway train noise, ambient sounds, people laughing, talking whatever and I have the option of chopping it up right there on the MD (which gives you a graphical and time readout, all you do is add markers to the start and stop points and extract it from there to the sampler, much easier then using the 202 and its garbage display it shares with its big brother the 3030, to do it). So it is a GREAT portie sampler that you can get stuff onto to see how it sounds with the drum pattern you built on your triton, Yamaha etc. And you can instantly know if a sample will fit with a loop you got back at home right then so you can fix the sample at the recording stage right away. Sure, MD can be a hassle as it does chop some of the sound out to compress it onto MD, but an archos jukebox is a way around that and can be used the exact same way as I describe.

All of this is mobile.

Now, look at the 303. the effects are more numerous, but many of them are useless. Anyone who has some decent effects elsewhere will be able to tell the difference. In short the USEABLE range of the new effects is quite smaller then the total number, maybe about 50%. The 303 don’t add a new layout or a non-lcd screen, the added knobs are cool tho and are the one feature I wish the 202 had more of!

The 303 is not mobile which means it can be:

Your main sampler – bad idea, for a little bit more (500 dollars) you can get a MPC 1000 that blows this thing away, or a Yamaha looper (for like 300 dollars more) that also buries this unit or an S20 for less that does away with the lame effects and is a better sampler, with a nicer sound.

DJ phrase sampler- a good use, but there are better effects and better DJ phrase samplers out there for the $$$$, but it does work well next to decks and is easy to trigger, but so is the 202 for 200 bux less. 200 dollars isn’t that big a deal and how many dj’s use this live? Id say more of them have a mpc 1000 that does it better.

In short, there are better units for a little more money that make the sp303 useless, and its little brother has less “glitz and glamour” but is more useful, especially since you can count all the battery op samplers on one hand with a couple fingers left over. Basically the Yamaha compares but has no storage and no efx at all. So the 202 is king of the battery op’s. The 303 seems to want to be a dj phrase sampler, main sampler for the low budget musician, but it’s a pain to use. This is not to say you cant use it to great resuls (madlib uses one for gods sake!) but there really is no reason to subject yourself to the little things.

My review? U want portable, go get a SP202 used for 100 dollars, then get a Jukebox/md player and mic (for 200 dollars) save 100 and you have a nice scratchpad studio you can take anywhere you can take a backpack. U want a dj sampler/home sampler, save 500 dollars and get the MPC 1000.