S-220

Back in 1987, this rackmount sampler brought 16-voice polyphony to the table, doubling up from its keyboard sibling the S-10, making it a compact powerhouse for layering sounds in tight studio setups.

Housed in a sturdy 2U rack format, it packs a 12-bit digital sampling engine at a fixed 30kHz rate (or 15kHz for longer captures), with 256kB memory split across four 64kB banks for up to 4.4 seconds total sample time. Editing is hands-on and intuitive—trim, loop (with solid auto-looping), reverse, tune, add envelopes, velocity sensitivity, and low- or high-pass filtering, all dialed in via assignable knobs and wheels like on Roland's Juno series. It supports 4-part multitimbrality, an arpeggiator, external trigger input, stereo audio in, and up to five outputs including individual channels; samples load from the built-in 2.8-inch Quick Disk drive, compatible with S-10 libraries. MIDI handles poly mode or mono mode for up to eight channels, perfect for guitar synth rigs.

Owners cherish that gritty lo-fi character for bass lines, strings, and experimental textures, especially from modular sources, and its rarity adds collector appeal—though the slow QD drive draws occasional gripes, modern Gotek swaps fix that nicely.