Sampling workstation
A sampling workstation (or, at a pinch, sampler workstation or sample-based workstation) is essentially a MIDI controller, MIDI sequencer, and sampler in one handy package, much like a drum machine is a digital step sequencer or MIDI sequencer and several drum synthesisers in a handy package.
Compared to a software tracker, it's more expensive, but easier to use.
Compared to a separate MIDI controller, MIDI sequencer, and sampler, it's more convenient in the sense that you can store your song as a single file, rather than storing the notation and samples separately, on two separate disks formatted for two separate devices.
On the other hand, having separate devices allows you to mix and match them — and upgrade them — to your liking. The ST's CRT screen has a higher resolution than any LCD, allowing many of its MIDI sequencers to show you graphic representations of patterns or clips, and more importantly notes. Standalone samplers are also often higher-spec — even Liam Howlett, ever the W-30 proponent, used it with an S1100.
As DAWs usually contain both a MIDI sequencer and software sampler, they've made workstations pretty much obsolete, in much the same way they've made multitrack recorders and mixing desks pretty much obsolete.
Example implementations
- Akai MPC60
- Fairlight CMI
- Roland W-30
- Sequential Circuits Studio 440
Types of hardware: Drum machine | Line mixer | Sampling workstation | String machine
Sampling workstations: Studio 440 | W-30
