I was trying to load the new EP-133 samples into my Play+, since they are neatly organized in basically the same structure as what the Play expects of a sample pack (kicks, snares, cymbals, percs, bass, and synths in separate folders), when I hit the “Max sample” limit of 255. There are, indeed, 316 samples on the EP-133.
Is this something that could ever change one day? 255 sounds suspiciously like what fits in a byte (256 values, with a value reserved for “no sample” I assume). Now if the index of a sample was stored in 2 bytes, this would lead to 65535 addressable samples, but the memory space would likely be exhausted way before that number is reached. Nevertheless, this would mean being able to access more than 255 samples.
Of course, that would be at the cost of one extra byte, but I honestly have no clue how much more total memory space this would take. Rough back-of-the-enveloppe math, say 64 steps times 8 tracks, times 16 variations per track. Then this exists for all 16 * 8 patterns. So 64816168 = 1048576 bytes = 1024 KB = one extra MB?
Then again, even just allocating one more bit would bring to 511 samples, and two more bits to 1023.
Just curious 
Thanks