Roland VP-9000
The Roland VP-9000 VariPhrase Processor is a revolutionary sampler/vocal processor. It is a sampler capable of elastic realtime manipulation of pitch, time, and formants via MIDI while maintaining superb sound quality. With the VP-9000 you can instantly match drum loops to the same key and tempo. Or use it to bend notes, change pitches or harmonize and more! It all works in real-time with little artifacts and in a non-destructive environment. Thankfully, the VP-9000 features three large knobs for realtime control over pitch, time, formant, and groove right on the front of the module for realtime tweaking!
The VP-9000 comes with 8MB memory which is expandable to 136MB using optional SIMMs. The VP-9000 is a professional equipped with six analog outputs plus digital I/O in coaxial and optical formats; two SCSI ports for connecting hard drives, Zip drives, and CD-ROM's; internal 250MB Zip drive for storing samples and transferring files to a Mac or PC. There are superb effects built-in as well-reverb, chorus, and multi-effects.
The VP-9000 also features a large icon-based graphic LCD screen for wave editing and simplified operation. Internal resampling capability is great for applying effects to samples over and over, etc. The VP-9000 is also compatible with VP-9000/Roland S-700/Akai S1000/AIFF/.WAV format files for loading sample libraries. The VP-9000's only fault is a limited 6-voices and 6-part multitimbrality. But this could be the best sampler/processor of all time and requires a listen! It is used by Fatboy Slim.
Although the initial operating system was known to have numerous bugs (particularly causing crashes), the release of OS 1.12 fixed these problems (The updated operating system is available from Roland's web site at no charge). The price tag upon release was $3000, a hefty investment considering there are sofware applications that can do (almost) the same thing, but for traditional or electronic musicians that need to take their loops\songs\samples on the road, or for a studio musicians that enjoys a more hands on approach to beat syncronizing or time stretching samples this unit is for you! This unit is also responsible for the now passe 'robot' sound that has popularized popular music as of late (ala Daft Punk, and most R&B artists). No other sampler in the market has the same unique features that the VP-9000 offers.
And with the new V-Producer software package for Mac and PC-compatible you can take full control of your VP-9000! It gives you fully intuitive and handsome graphic interfaces for Phrase Scope Editing, drag-and-drop sequencing of Variphrase samples, 6-channel mixing and effects routing along with MIDI Clock and MTC sync, song export to Standard MIDI File format, batch encoding of .WAV/AIFF files from CD-ROM/hard disk or VP-9000 samples via Zip disk and more!
