The £20 DIY Sampler from 1985

You may remember our article on "The Fifty Quid Fairlight From 1987" aka RAM Music Machine; a budget-concious sound sampler & MIDI interface for the ZX Spectrum. Although affordable, the product was still a non-trivial £141 1980's money; so as ever, it was up to DIY enthusiasts to create a truly accessible option.

The May 1985 edition of Electronic Soundmaker & Computer Music included the schematics and BOM for such a device. Here, in print, was a tinkerer's path to the world of sampling. This "A.I. Sampler" worked alongside the ZX Spectrum (a highly affordable, accessible 80's computer) and boasted features such as:

• 30Khz Sampling Rate
• Level Control
• CV/GATE control over pitch - 8 Octave Range
• Amplitude/Waveform Display
• Save & Load Routines

Often, these neat little hardware curios are lost to time...we read about them in scanned magazines, but rarely get the chance to see one up close. This time is different as fellow Spec-chum Chris Strellis has, in his possession, an A.I. Sampler he built at the age of 15! He was kind enough to answer my questions about the device:

Paulee: What attracted you to building this project?

Chris: Sampling amazed me when hearing it for the first time in the early 80s with Fairlights and PPGs. I just had to get some of that action. But being a schoolboy meant I'd never see those in the flesh let alone play one. This was my only very affordable way in as even the Ensoniq Mirage was £1500 at the time. I've since made up for all that and I have an extensive collection of 80s and 90s samplers.

Paulee: Can you remember how much all of the components cost?

Chris: I think it cost about £20 which was mostly on the ADC, DAC, ICs and case. These were bought from Maplins in Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex near where I lived at the time in South Benfleet. This was when it was the only Maplins in the country. I bought my components from there for my projects. They always had cool synths in there like the ETI4600 and ETI5600 as well as the E&MM Spectrum(!) Synth. The other components I had laying around in my components store from other projects.

Paulee: How long did it take to build?

Chris: It was about a week and to my surprise it worked first time. This generally doesn't happen!

Paulee: Was the system and sound quality actually usable? 30Khz seems quite good?

Chris: It was the first really clear samples I heard that I had made myself. It did have variable sample rates fortunately as at 30kHz that was only a second. But you could squeeze 4 seconds out of it for grungy lo-fi. It was great to lift drum loops from songs like the Linn LM-1 from Human League songs. I'd use that as the drums to synth noodle over the top. I hooked up my Roland SH-101 to it for CV and Gate to control it. But I did also used my Yamaha CS-10 despite being Hz/Volt and not 1V/Oct that it was expecting.

Thanks to Chris for providing not only these insights, but some audio demos of this thing in action. Enjoy!

Posted by MagicalSynthAdventure an expert in synthesis technology from last Century and Amiga enthusiast.

• Software Synths that Became Hardware: Part 2 29-Dec-24
• MIDINA Expressive Linear MIDI Sequencer 16-Jul-24
• This MIDI-controlled 3D T-Rex Will Astound You 13-Jul-24
• Software Synths that Became Hardware! 02-May-24
• The Tunes in Tokyo Train Stations 30-Apr-24