FYI, I have just created a great resource site for this synth - http://glenstegner.com/dss1

There you will find the entire disk image library with which you can create your own floppies for use with the DSS-1. Also on the site you will find 2 great PC softwares with which you can import your own samples (SampleVision) and edit the program parameters (MidiQuest demo version with DSS-1 plug-in). The demo version of MidiQuest will still allow you to edit any patch of the currently loaded System, then you can save the patch by using the DSS-1 control panel! If you buy the program, then it will allow you to edit multisamples and save entire libraries to your PC's hard disk.

Lots of great images of the DSS-1, complete disk library (over 100 disks!), software, pointers to hardware support including how to get a replacement disk drive! Visit the site!

http://glenstegner.com/dss1

It's a wonderful sampler/synth hybrid, capable of very thick lush analog sounds due to its analog synth engine and warm filter, as well as being able to emulate a DX7 due to the inclusion of additive harmonic synthesis and the ability to draw your own waveform using one of the data sliders. Sampling rate at 12 bits can be a bit grungy but that gives it its distinctive character. Treat it like a synth with unique capabilities rather than a sampler, and you will be happy. The samples are meant to be mangled by the synth engine anyway.

If i may digress for a moment: When I first got into synths (1984 or so), Yamaha were reigning supreme with their DX7, and musicians were practically throwing their old analog gear out of windows. My, how times change. In the 90s the techno/electronica/rave movement was singlehandedly responsible for the resurrection of the retro analogs (or rather the $$ speculators hanging around at its fringes). Because of the way I use keyboards (I am a KEYBOARDIST: not just a PIANIST or a SYNTHESIST, but a little of both, with a rig of stacked boards in the Wakeman/Emerson/Banks tradition), I still hold the opinion from the 80s that the old pre-MIDI vintage analogs really aren't worth that much, even after the 90s have passed. I would never ever pay more than $400 for one of those, even if I had a lot of disposable income, except maybe to get involved in the trading and speculation to make some money off of foolish people looking for woodgrain and knobs. The DSS1 and similar digital/analog hybrids from the mid 80s suit me just fine for the analog sounds I need to have at my disposal (alongside my digital piano and romplers for more realistic sounds), and in design, reliability and features, are actually quite superior. Knob twiddling during live performance is not my forte, since I need to have both hands on the keyboards at once, so aftertouch is very important for me as a controller - and most vintage pre-MIDI analogs lack this feature. I do need to program new sounds, and the digital one-parameter access system is no problem for me. What counts is what's under the hood, and the DSS1 has a lot going for it. If I do need to get some wild filter sweeps or somesuch, the joystick and data slider do just fine (how many knobs can you twirl at once?) Another thing I need for gigging is reliability and durability, oscillators not drifting out of tune, etc. That's why I'm so happy to finally get the DSS1 for so cheap. As far as I'm concerned the hiking up of prices of the old analogs has worked in my favor; since I don't do electronica, techno or rave (and don't particularly care for that style, which is basically just a form of mind-numbing disco with electronics thrown in), I have no real use for those in my setup other than to impress people visually. If I ever did buy a vintage analog, it would have to be for cheap and then I would sell it right back into the market for more $$ (join the club...)

Anyway, back to the DSS1 - it's a sleek and sexy (and huge!) beast. People are immediately impressed by its enormous size - bigger than a Roland JD800 and almost measures in depth as a Matrix12. Okay, sampler is a chinzy 256k of memory but that's not important as I use a software sampler for that. The DSS1 needed this size and weight because these were a lot of features for 1986 technology. This board alongside my trusty DW8000 give me all the analog sounds I need, and the DSS1 especially does it with style. There is a massive disk library on the internet and you can use a PC program to convert the disk images to 720K floppies for use with your DSS1. I've already collected a slew of Keith Emerson moog sounds this way. I also found one disk that included a string patch so lush I couldn't believe my ears - very Matrix12-like in fact.

The only regrets are: no portamento(!) and no arpeggiator, but that's okay, the DW8000 do those. As for no sequencer, who cares - we all know what crap in-board sequencers are when we get our hands on a good PC-based sequencer. The last thing I need is a "workstation" instead of just a synth. Besides, I don't use a sequencer for live performance (it's cheating!), only for studio work. MIDI specs are good, and it makes for a decent alternate controller (my primary one is an 88-key weighted controller/digital piano). Another down-side is the rather klunky/noisy keyboard (same as on the DW8000) but I've had no problems with it and it works just fine for one-handed leads.

The DSS1 is an awsome feature-packed analog/digital hybrid with sampling and fits just nicely into my setup. And as for its size and weight, as someone else here said, "just be a man and lug it!"

The size, however, is absolutely justified for a 1986 machine, for the DSS-1 is was immensely powerful piece of gear back then. A sampler which would treat each sample as an oscillator and could process it the same way that analogue synths process a waveform - through analogue filters, mind you - was something unheard of then and it took a while for dedicated samplers to include this feature.

That's not nearly all, however: the DSS-1 allows you to edit every single frame of the sample or to create a completely new waveform, which you can also draw with a slider. When I first got the synth, I thought this was going to be cooler than it turned out to be. It IS fun, but no matter what I did, I got hollow and/or metallic sounds which got only mildly after having been processed.

Even though the factory sample disks are pretty good, especially the brass and strings, they didn't see much use as I don't use many samples of real instruments in my songs. There was a particular sample disk that I used all the time, however - the orchestra hits. I make 80's pop music and the hits were absolutetly perfect (e-mail me at sartre@siol.net to hear them in action). I wanted to sample my analogue drum machines into the DSS-1 and make sample libraries, but either the sampling on the DSS is a really bothersome thing, or I just wasn't doing it right. The drums lost all their punchiness and there was too much noise because of the 12 bit A/D converters.

Other than that, I used the DSS-1 as my master keyboard, even though I didn't like the key action very much - way too "clunky" for fast synth solos, if you know what I mean. So after I bought a DX7, it was time for the DSS-1 to go - it was taking up too much space for what it did and I sold it for a fair price. I wasn't particularly sorry about seeing it go, even though it wasn't a bad keyboard. I consider myself very fortunate that nothing broke down during the six months that I had it, especially the disk drive, which is expensive to fix. I'm really happy about all the space I reclaimed in my (bedroom) studio - the next time I buy a keyboard as big as this, it'll be the Alesis Andromeda.