The Roland S-10 is a very limited consumer-grade keyboard sampler. Its sampling specs are limited to a 12-bit, 30kHz sample-rate. With only 256k of internal memory spread over 4 banks (64k per bank) you get a maximum sample time of 4.4 seconds (1.1 seconds per bank). That's hardly enough for any serious music production. Samples can be stored and loaded on a built-in 2.8" floppy disk system called the Quick Disk drive (which isn't very quick by today's standards). Fortunately the 4 sample banks translate to 4-part multitimbrality in which the 4 banks can be played simultaneously, split and layered across the keyboard and so on.

Roland has created some nice libraries for the S-10 which are on disk. If you find yourself looking for a very cheap sampling keyboard for general fun and use, make sure you get these sample libraries with the S-10. To create your own samples, although the S-10 has its limits, sampling is pretty easy and was designed for any novice to intermediate player. 30kHz or 15kHz sampling is available, and the S-10 has a pretty good auto-loop feature. The 12-bit resolution and 30-15kHz sample-rates mean lo-fi quality (which you might find desirable). Further edit parameters include sample trimming, looping, reverse, tuning, envelope editing, filtering, velocity effects and hi-pass or low-pass filtering. All this editing is achieved by assigning the parameters to a dial or wheel just like the Alpha Juno series.

The MKS-100 is a rackmount version of the S-10, but the S-220 is an upgraded and enhanced rackmount version of the S-10 / MKS-100 that appeared in 1987. Both the S-10, MKS-100 and S-220 make ideal entry-level instruments for anyone interested in keyboard samplers. The S-10 has been used by D:ream.

the goat

October 16, 2008 @ 10:43 am

I bought this within a month of it coming into the shops. A perfect package - affordable, great editing facility on the sampler, and while the quality/spec is naff by today's standards, it did very well for what I needed. The QD floppies were slow and small, but with a little practice, I was able to use them on stage without trouble.
Possibly the nicest keyboard I every owned, for feel and playability.
Could never quite get why the S-50 didn't have the arpeggiator, and whether this was a trade off against them using the better quality disk storage on the S-10.
Being able to load four sounds at once, layered, played in sequence, or just a better quality sound across the keyboard was great.

ohausfranswa

October 9, 2008 @ 10:21 am

i have this keyboard, not my first, but is one of my favorites. got it in 1996, heavy duty machine. though the sampler is a tube fuse (easily replaced when overloaded) and the QD drives are fixable (if you find the right tech from roland. QD cards (120 qd cards) you can overlay / upload some cards together to create a duel tone; these cards are marked which area of the keyboard the notes (samples) are assigned to(a/b, c/d). load a disk a/b of one instrument and a disk c/d of another, it overlays the instuments some times with duel tone (one follows the other. they must be loaded in order a,b,c,d; this machine being midi gives it a chance to survive the digital revolution. i often use it with a D110 rack unit , quicker to change sounds, check it out myspace/ohausfranswa

andoni

September 21, 2008 @ 11:20 am

Out dated miles by todays means. Great feel and weight. Ideal for controller if bought at the right price. It's trigger in facility works a jam in sync to my TR-606. DUM-DUM-CLAP- "Time to jack" . Thats the stuff we're talking.

Johan

September 15, 2008 @ 10:42 am

This was my first sampler, when I was still in college in 1995. Got it second hand from a classmate for around 500. The low sampling rates, the tiny memory and the fragile (and rare) QuickDisks are nothing to write home about, but back then it was a good and cheap entry level sampler with very basic editing functions. I even used it for composing the soundtrack for a student film. Five years later I got an Akai, just in time before the QuickDisk drive of my S-10 died. Nevertheless I'm still using it as a master keyboard because of its superior weighed keys.

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