Studio opruiming
The S-330 is a compact, 1-unit rack-module with most of the features of the S-550 slimmed down into a more affordable package! By today's standards the S-330 would be considered limited and lo-fi, however for its time it was a powerful instrument which can still prove useful for many music applications today.
Sample memory here is the same as the S-50: 750Kb which yields up to 28.8 seconds at 15kHz. That is half the sample memory available in the S-550. Sampling specs are unchanged, with variable sample-rates from 30kHz down to 15kHz at a 12-bit resolution. The S-330 has room for 32 samples or "tones" and 16 patches in 2 banks. Roland has a vast S-50 compatible sample library of sounds ready to be loaded via the built in 3.5 inch disk drive. Samples of your own can also be saved to disk.
When used with an external CRT monitor, editing samples is a breeze and quite sophisticated. You get waveform drawing and smoothing, auto-looping, tuning, multi-stage envelopes and you can quickly adjust loops and samples. There's an RC-100 Remote Controller with an Alpha Juno type alpha-dial for easier programming control. And the DT-100 Digitizer Tablet from the S-50 for drawing waveforms is also compatible when connected through the RC-100 controller. There is also the SYS-333 sequencing software which offers basic drum machine type sequencing.
New to the S-550 were the realtime Time-Variant filters as used by the LAS-type Roland synths. These filters (and amps) are more digital, more in-depth, more precise and were included in the S-330.
While there are hundreds of modern samplers that will give you precise crystal clear perfect sounds these days, something like the S-330 can give you the audio equivalent of Sepia tone to your samples, coloring them with its unique mid-eighties technology from a time when affordable sampling was coming of age.

Roland S330 Vintage 1988 Sampling Module(2 x utility disc)
THE S330 HAS the typical style and evocative good looks of all 1U-high 19" rack-mount units - none. However, it's surprising how much difference a few well thought-out external features can make to the overall feel of a system. The left of the front panel sports a 32-character readout, dual concentric pots for record level and volume, and quarter-inch sockets for audio input and headphone output. Finally, on the far left is a recessed male 9-pin D connector for the optional RC100 remote control or mouse. The RC100 was relatively unnecessary on the S550 (since it only duplicated the front panel controls of that unit), but it could be a worthwhile addition to the S330 which has a much more limited set of switches. The mouse, at approximately £60, is too expensive but very useful, simplifying the operation of the sampler as well as speeding it up considerably. Unfortunately, my Atari 1040ST mouse did not work when plugged into this socket. One feature to note is the high gain of the Record Level control, which allows sampling from both microphone and line with no difficulty whatsoever.

To the right of the screen are 12 micro-switches, the 3.5" disk drive, and finally, the on/off switch. On the rear of the machine are outputs for monochrome (composite) monitor, RGB monitor, the entirely necessary MIDI In, Out and Thru, and the audio outputs - of which there are eight individual, and a single mixed output.

Annoying niggles: Firstly, the individual outputs are of the protruding, silvery coloured variety - phono plugs. (The mixed output is, however, a nice, sensible, quarter-inch jack socket.) Why Roland should have chosen phonos on the S330 when the similarly designed D110 L/A module has eight individual jack sockets, escapes me. Perhaps they ran out of room internally and couldn't fit the recessed quarter-inch sockets inside. The next complaint concerns the mains socket - because it doesn't exist. In common with the D110, the P330 piano module, and the DEP series effects, the S330 has a fixed mains lead. This may be acceptable in a studio where everything is (theoretically) neatly wired in, but using Roland's own 2U flight cases, and having the plug flapping around inside during transportation makes a mess of the back of the sampler as well as any other unit(s) in the case. The disk drive front plate was not correctly attached on the review unit (which was clearly previously unused) and although it only took a few minutes to fix, a little more quality control would have stopped that happening. One final point about the physical usage of the S330 concerns the DT100 digitiser ("drawing tablet"). I have seen reports that the DT100 will work with the S330 but believe me - it doesn't. You have been warned. Personally I don't give a damn, because the mouse gives better control and superior resolution to the DT100 anyway. Niggles notwithstanding, the overall construction of the S330 is first class and great care has been taken both internally and externally to ensure longevity and freedom from defects.

The Performance

REVIEWS SHOULDN'T READ like technical manuals, because, in the last analysis, it's sound quality that matters (does an Emulator II owner worry that he's got 4 bits missing?) and the S330 is susceptible to underselling itself on specification (see DI below). But you can't fully review a hi-tech electronic instrument without discussing its features, so...

The Roland S330 is a 12-bit sampler with a 16-bit output stage (the reason for which will become clearer later). Onboard RAM is 512k which holds 32 Tones, each of which can be a sample or a manipulation of a sample - therefore you could have 32 separate samples onboard at any one time, or one sample and 31 modified versions of it, or any combination in between. The machine has 16 voices (is 16-note polyphonic) which, although no longer unique in this price range, is certainly good value. A Patch can be made up of any number or combination of Tones, and eight Patches an be accessible at any time. Fully multitimbral polyphony is what the market now demands and the S330 certainly delivers this. The module will play polyphonically over eight MIDI channels through any combination of the eight individual audio outputs. In addition, any Patch can be output through any of the individual sockets and indeed, even the Tones within a patch an be assigned to separate outputs. Another important feature for the studio user is that the outputs are not restricted to MIDI channel setups and I would venture that this module offers the most flexible voice assignment of any sampler under £3000.

Sampling can be performed at 30kHz or 15kHz giving approximately 14kHz and 7kHz bandwidth respectively. I found that sampling at 15kHz was adequate for the majority of applications (such as sampling the sound effects of crusty old TV sci-fi space operas) and, as with all samplers, had the additional benefit of acting as a 7kHz low-pass filter, eliminating hiss. However, there is an important difference between this and other samplers if you wish to use the lower frequency sampling rate. Due to a process called "Differential Interpolation" (DI) the S330 maintains its 15kHz clock rate even when playing notes well below the sampled pitch. To understand the importance of this imagine a note of 6kHz sampled at 15kHz. On a conventional (variable dock-rate) sampler, if you played the sample back three octaves lower than the sample pitch (at 633Hz) the clock speed of the sampler would be down to 1875Hz - too low for faithful reproduction, giving a very "grainy" nature to the sound.

"The S330 certainly does sound like a 16-bit sampler unlike some samplers which, due to excessive filtering, sound more like 10- or 11-bit."
No Samples only a test sample!!
Owners Manual op Roland site