other producers using the asr-10:
dj muggs, rza, mathematics (u kno "mighty healthy" by ghostface? thats his beat), blockhead (aesop rock beats and an ill instrumental album)
let me give my 2 cents on the asr's user-friendliness....
it is DEFINITELY not as user friendly as the mpc samplers, but once you are used to its ins and outs you will find that it does have a great workflow, which is one of the reasons that many producers dont switch from an asr to a modern sampler.
the sample editing and fx processing are really deep, much more so than most samplers.
the asr has a great sound for several reasons: the a/d converters, the vca, and the filters all add to a certain type of sound coloring that lots of producers like. definitely not the 12-bit coloring of the sp1200 and definitely not the punchy coloring of the modern mpc's, its just a very full and deep sound that you may or may not like. try it out if you know somebody who uses it.
but be warned: you can only buy it used, and ever since kanye and alchemist said in scratch magazine that they use it, prices have skyrocketed. as great a sampler as it is, anything can be overhyped, and i think the hype has driven prices way too high for it to be worth your cash.
if you have fx processing and other studio tools in something such as protools or a similar daw, consider the eps-16+ (which i use), its the precursor to the asr, basically the same thing but without stereo sampling and without as many fx. the filters in the eps-16+ have a different sound and less functionality (they sound great but they arent resonant). this was used by el-p, tru masta, and rza on a few of the 36 chambers beats. the cost is half of the asr's price.