It is not a sampler, and if you were stupid enough to buy it thinking that it was a sampler, then you deserved it.

The patterns don't suck (as always, there are some that actually suck, but they are the less). That's a cliché, and it is stupid. If you want a machine with great patterns, then you aren't a musician. You are only a restaurant-casio-keyboard-player.

You have 200 preset patterns, and 400 RPS lines ready to use. You have space for 200 more patterns of your own. If you buy a 4Mb smartmedia card (US$ 20) you will have space for 200 more personalized patterns.

The same thing happens with patches. You have 200 preset patches, and 505 different sound waves, and using the 505's internal synth, the number of patches goes to infinity.

You'll never need a PC program to make your own patches as it happens with Yamaha and Korg. Yamaha and Korg are so complicated to use that the only way you can do some decent patches is using an external editor.

No way to compare to yamaha rm1x !!! You cannot make your own sounds with the yamaha. You are stuck with presets. The only thing i would like to have from the yamah rm1x is the disk drive. But that's all.

I payed some 1000 US$ for my 505, and i would do it again. It's a great machine, and most of my songs are 505 based.

Just check www.mp3.com/orbiter and you will see what you can do with it.

That aside the 505 is a great machine suited for the creation of techno. Mostly this is due to the integration of a fully editable 64 voice synth engine with an 8 part sequencer/mixer. Because all of the controls are part of the same unit it is really easy to create a patch with movement that flows with the rhythm of the pattern.

I would have to agree with the critics that the presets (patches and patterns)are pretty horrible and their being unerasable makes it even worse. Still, one memory card has more than enough memory available for a four hour set of original music, alot more.

There is alot of room for the creation of cool and unique patches, especially if you like making minimal techno or using nonconventional sounds (I'm over the whole 909 808 thing, it was cool 7 or 8 years ago but I've pretty much got that sound memorized, it's kind of like listening to Led Zepplin or something).

Anyway, don't write this machine off because some people can't get passed the whole "Groove approved" thing or the presets. This isn't the end all, be all of synths but it's flexibility should always give it a place in my set-up.