We obtain discrete characterizations of wave front sets of Fourier-Lebesgue and quasianalytic type. It is shown that the microlocal properties of an ultradistribution can be obtained by sampling the Fourier transforms of its localizations over a lattice in R d . In particular, we prove the following discrete characterization of the analytic wave front set of a distribution f ∈ D ′ (Ω). Let Λ be a lattice in R d and let U be an open convex neighborhood of the origin such that U ∩ Λ * = {0}. The analytic wave front set W F A (f ) coincides with the complement in Ω × (R d \ {0}) of the set of points (x 0 , ξ 0 ) for which there are an open neighborhood V ⊂ Ω ∩ (x 0 + U ) of x 0 , an open conic neighborhood Γ of ξ 0 , and a bounded sequence (2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 35A18, 42B05. Secondary 46F05.