The issue with sample CDs, from what I've seen, is that some producers (usually new ones, but not exclusively) will torrent a copy of Vengeance Club Sounds Vol 47. or whatever, and then lift the kicks/snares/melodies/bass notes/sirens/spinbacks/voice of Jah going 'drrrrrrreeeeeeeeeaaaaadddddd', arrange them in their grid and BANG they have a tune. That's what pisses people off.
Using samples frees up the time that they would dedicate to (for example) spending hours creating their own kick sample. I need a kick drum - ah, wicked, here's a good kick drum to use. Now I can dedicate my time to making the tune itself interesting, being creative, doing some whacked out crazy shit, instead of wasting my time tweaking and EQing my snare sample so it's just that little bit inpercievably different to how it was when I had the compressor a fraction to the right.
I mean shit, I'd love to have one of them fancy drum synth like a
Dave Smith Tempest or a
MAD ADX1, and the time, to bash out my own unique drum selections that were just the way I wanted them, special sounds just for little old me with the attack and WHOOMPFH on the kick just as I wanted it and the TSK TSK TSK of the hats so piercing it would crack my wisdom teeth. But it's not going to happen. Contrary to popular belief, I am only human and time and money are a factor for me.
So what then - do I sit and whine about not having drum machines? Fuck no! I get myself a couple of drum sample CDs. Goldbaby usually, or the aforementioned sample CD whose name I won't give away as the drums are so amazing and I like to keep some things close to my chest, okay? But yeah, I get my sample CDs/packs and HEY FUCKING PRESTO I have my drums. Sweet. Oh, I like this kick, yeah this is nice. This kick sits nicely under the carefully crafted synth modulating synth loop with freaky ass 70s guitar snippet filtered through it that I spent the last 30mins working on, this kick will work.
Right, kick sorted, onto the next element of the tune. Basically, the drums mean dick. I've said before I never start a track with drums. Never. No point. If I start with drums, I always feel that I'm limited to building the track around the drums. Whereas if I start with the aforementioned carefully crafted synth modulating synth loop with freaky ass 70s guitar snippet filtered through it, now that to me is interesting. Get that working, and construct the drums around it. And when it comes to the drums, I have enough stock samples that I now and trust to work, so I can browse through my favourite folder and see what works and what I like for this project.
At the end of the day, if the tune turns out like how I want it to, are people going to say "Wow, that's tune with the individually crafted kick sample, awesome!" or are they going to go "Wow, that's that tune with the carefully crafted synth modulating synth loop with freaky ass 70s guitar snippet filtered through it, FUCKING AYE LETS CRASH THE DJ BOOTH AND THREATEN TO SLASH THE MOTHERFUCKERS THROAT IF HE DOESN'T DO A REWIND!" ?
You see my point, hopefully.
tl;dr?
Samples shouldn't make people lazy; samples should make people more creative as they free up your time for the cool stuff.