The Sequencer in the ES-1 isnt as Sh*tty as most people on here will have you believe. You can pull off nice Automated fade-in's and fade-out's, as well as automated pans, filters, pitch, and volume levels recorded by the sequencer in real time, a definite plus in my book! You can also pull off automated knob movements both in patterns and in the Song Mode. Not bad for a sampler in the 500 dollar range!

The Copy pattern feature is useful, just very tricky to remember for first time users being that the "copy pattern" function doesnt have a dedicated pad, instead you have to push the write button and then select the pattern bank number you want to send the copied pattern too and then press write once again!

96 seconds of sample time is all the ES-1 can hold... But I myself dont find that to be a problem. If your using a turntable to sample things from, you can easily just adjust the records speed to go really fast instead of at a more normal slow pitch, and then sample what ever it is you want to sample into the ES-1 at your new fast pitch. This method really REALLY saves on memory!!

I wish their where more then 8 pads though! Thank goodness for the resample function. But still, more then 8 pads would of been useful.

Overall I give the ES-1 A Five star rating, it has everything you need to pull of professional sounding tracks at the drop of a hat. With the exception of 8 outs for individual track EQ'ing and the lack of more outputs for extra connections....The ES-1 still gets the job done..and you can find ways to work around its minimal shortcomings.

The Normalize, and Truncation features are great bonuses as well....

I bought the ES-1 last December after playing with it at Guitar Center....and you know what??? It's the coolest toy ever created. It was my first groovebox and opened a whole new world of music making to me.

Why am I selling it then???? I think my answer to this will reiterate the thoughts of hundreds of people who are selling theirs. It's a really cool toy.

I bought the ES-1 as a "get me buy til' I get more money for more gear" kinda' thing. It was perfect for that. I've created some really cool shit with it, but ya' know what?? I just bought Bitheadz Unity DS-1 sample program for my G3. If this seems like a good idea, be sure to go to www.ramjet.com and buy at least 2 256mb memory modules....you'll need 'em. I've read countless reviews from others who have made comments such as "I just upgraded to a Triton which handles most of my sampling, I don't use the ES-1 anymore" You would be a damn fool, damn fool I say, to buy one of these new! Go to E-Bay my friends!! That's what I've been doin' for the past few weeks and my home-studio dreams are quickly becoming home-studio realities. The crap that I'd bought to get me by is quickly being replaced, for about the same amount of money, with the crap I really wanted but didn't think I could afford for awhile.

I'm gonna shorten my yap-strap and get to the point here. If you are looking for a great sample playback-groovebox kinda thing and aren't looking to build yourself a project studio, then the ES-1 is great. If you're planning on hookin' up the ole' Mac or P.C. to the shit... go to E-Bay right now and check out an old Emu ESI-32, or Akai S2000. Or do what I did with Unity DS-1. With all 3 options, you're looking to pay around $300-$400 including RAM, an extra CD-ROM drive and Zip drive, or CD burner, or whatever yer' gonna store your samples on.

If yer livin' for today, get an ES-1. If there's more gear in your future, check out E-Bay.

Here's a few last minute things I've learned over the years. A Yamaha DX-7 makes a perfect controller keyboard, so don't spend $400-$500 on some piece of shit plastic StudioLogic thing. Digital Performer 2.7 has a drum-grid window that lets you write beats and assign velocity info faster than you can fire up the ole' groovebox. Korg makes excellent products for those interested in dance music or sound design. The crap Roland makes is more "real instrument emulation" a much crappier version of Kurzweil stuff. If yer' a classical musician type, then go Kurzweil. In this day and age, if you're buyin' stuff new, yer' gettin' screwed.

I hope some of what I've said keeps people from buyin' some of the unnecessary shit I've bought throughout the years.

When I got home, I instantly plugged it in and tried it out. I found out that the user interface is easy to use.......incredibly easy. I figured out how to use the FX portion on it with the samples.(my favorite is the decimator) I was thinking, though, "Wouldn't it be great if this thing could double as a real-time FX-processor?" That's when I tried one of the Microphones I have on it. I could alter my voice in real-time, like a regular multi-FX processor. I realize it could now do sampling, drrum machine, and FX processing. You could also consider it a quick headphone amp for instruments.

The KORG ES-1 is now one of my more holy pieces of equipment, at a most affordable price for a sampler. It's more than just a sampler.......it's an ES-1.