Samplers, samplers, samplers....

Ok, most people that write techno are very proud of the samples they have created and ****ed up to give those wierd sounds etc (I remember reading an interview with Beyer and he said his sampler was the conerstone of his studio). I was just wondering as i dont use a sampler to write my music what the advantages of using one are? Someone mentioned to me if you sample a hi hat and keep resampling you end up with a really nice clean powerful sound is this true? If any of you out there use a sampler what do you use and how do you use it?

Cheers,

Joe ;)

well yeah, i suppose it's true if you sample it at a certain eq you like and just keep tweeking it and tweeking it and resampling it. it's like with any sound, the more you tweek it the more you understand it and start to make it cut through the mix.

i love sampling and i love creating fresh sounds. different things for different tracks mate ;)

Joe-

do you only use synths for your production?

I think samplers are the base of most electronic musicians/producers.

U mean that has in "the average producer based his work on sampling"?...

I guess that's true 4 what happens today... But in the past most people used 2 create most of they're sounds then later get a sampler 4 loops/ vocals/ etc... 2 me that's the best way 2 go 'cause in nthe process u learn loads about synthesis which will help ya a lot when u need 2 tweak a sample.. also u end up with a more personal sound library!

Starting with just loops can lead 2 "more of the same" type of music.. I'm not a fundamentalist of either sampling or synthesis.. it's great 2 get a sample/ loop, rearrange/ tweak, etc... but a lot of people limit themselves 2 cut&paste :(

It's my view anyways...

A sampler as a new tool/ synth...

Z

couldn't of said it better myself ;)

Thinking about it i do use a sampler i use an MPC to do my stuff on but that just samples my 909 as i think rehashing other peoples stuff is not creative as your taking someone elses' idea and ripping it off! (a whole other topic compeltey!)
I do use synths and drums and eq it to my taste at the time.

I suppose what im driving at is that i dont understand how a sampler can be such a valuble part of a setup? Do you guys just sample a noise eg a string sound then play with it ie eq, filter envelopes cut off etc then re-sample and keep doing that until the desired effect is achieved? Am i missing out on a whole new world here!!! Is it worth picking up an old Akai for £150 and having a go....?

I personally prefer synths for creation, then bounce or sample to a sampler for easy use/manipulation. Synths are really the coolest thing for me...so much you can do with them (well, most of them). And now, i've cought the hardware synth bug. Just something about tweaking knobs, rather than using mouse.

but back to the topic. I use a soft sampler mostly for drummy stuff like hats and congas. Synth for everything else (melody, kicks, basslines, etc.). Really depends on what you're into. I know people who's whole production is sample based.

Yeah, i do tweak my drum sounds on the computer but not by much. I do enjoy using my synth for wierd sounds, great fun. But techno people always say how much they do to get their samples but what do they sample and what do they do to these samples exactly? I write hard techy stuff like makaton, rumienge style of broken beats techno and i also write lots of dub and dubtechno and i like the drums etc to sound real and enjoy using reverb and delay to get the space and hypnotic effect that i like..... It makes sense to write the music first then to sample the bits you want to improve and take forward and mess with, time to expand some horizons methinks!!

I guess U can easily answer yerself if u think of what ever synths u have, now imagem that instead of osc.s U have samples... Also in the past the great magic of a sampler was the possibility of "virtually" have a certain sound without having 2 buy the respective equipment...

sample a few notes of a Piano and u have a "piano".. or sort of...

when it comes especifically 2 techno or ambient it's all about the possibility of using "sounds" (instruments, noises, vocals, efx, etc.. The sampler has made us much more sound aware.. u know that feeling of walking down the street hearing a noise and thinking.. damn' I could make a great track with that.. ;) )... reshaping, synthesis,etc...


Z

yeah, i've made basslines w/ sampling my own vocals haha

you can be really creative w/ sampling ;)

Other day, I pumped the sampler up with a bucketload of sounds I peeled off some dweeb sample cd, then routed all the sounds through three fx, filters, eqs, lfos and, then hammered out a rhythm. I turned out some wicked sounds to resample, and I could understand then, maybe, what that samplng hype is all about. The new sound was my creation, and for sure, unique to me. I think experimentation is probably the game. You got to try and think outside "your own" box.

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Originally Posted by MARK EG

well yeah, i suppose it's true if you sample it at a certain eq you like and just keep tweeking it and tweeking it and resampling it. it's like with any sound, the more you tweek it the more you understand it and start to make it cut through the mix.

i love sampling and i love creating fresh sounds. different things for different tracks mate ;)

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agreed

these days there seems to be no need for hardware samplers though...personally i am going down the software route (like everybody else and his dog...) - I mean why bother sampling a sound - putting it into a key group blah blah blah ...when you can just bung it into soundforge, then chuck it into cubase.....i was using an akai 5000 with a usb interface where you can move the sounds from your pc to sampler and vice versa...in the end i thought why bother?......I have tried flogging the 5000 for £450....can't f*cking give the thing away....shocking considering how much they used to cost.......

I can't remember when I made a track in the last 2 years where I didn't use samples at all.

Samples doesn't include loops for me; I usually create my own loops, or waste existing ones. I heavily use effects (sometimes as much as 8 effects for a single sound, fruity loop's sampling effects not included) to create the sound I want.

Also: Most of my tracks only work because I automate alot in my tracks (e.g. kicks modulating other distorted loops, thus making a kick variation also makes a loop variation etc). You can hear that in my track "Afri Cola".

Many people think that samples are evil, but they are not. It's up to the artist which uses them. It's the same as if they say: "Naw, everybody is using a kick drum in techno, so kick drums are evil".

linatrick:
I use a hardware sampler (Yamaha RS7000) for my live performance, but at my studio, I barely need any hardware. I also do the mixdown in the computer, altough I miss the unique mackie SR32-8 sound.

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Originally Posted by lunatrick

these days there seems to be no need for hardware samplers though...personally i am going down the software route (like everybody else and his dog...) - I mean why bother sampling a sound - putting it into a key group blah blah blah ...when you can just bung it into soundforge, then chuck it into cubase.....i was using an akai 5000 with a usb interface where you can move the sounds from your pc to sampler and vice versa...in the end i thought why bother?......I have tried flogging the 5000 for £450....can't f*cking give the thing away....shocking considering how much they used to cost.......

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i think most hardware is used for live performance - i think soem hardware def gives a lil bit of a diff sound compared to alot of software but now a days everything is DSP chips..its all teh same thing really..except one chip in in a box with knobs -

gotta look at costs - reason alone is a studio in a box - anywhere from free to a few hundred i got a limited studio - you can get a decent compressor for the same price but thats it -

plus id prefer to look at a 19 inch monitor when editing a sound then a 3 inch lcd screen -

but you can usualy tell the difference when people are really using the samplers and looping software as a tool and really doing suttin unique to jsut straight up mixing of loops..

hahaha, we've got two loaded E4XT/E6400 series ones that we can't get rid of really...sampler = monitor stand.

I think the diference is more down 2 the user then to the soft/ hard route...

Emu has gonne hybrid ... check the new samplers!!??


Akai has donne recently the new and very sweet MPC1000...

check older posts about namm show!

Z

[quote="mindgame"][quote="



plus id prefer to look at a 19 inch monitor when editing a sound then a 3 inch lcd screen -

quote]

I sure as hell dont.

(a) In my experience computer monitors fry your brain and it doesnt help if you have to sit at work all day looking at one aswell.

(b) Music is'nt visual... the smaller the screen the less your eyes are involved and the more your ears are.

im talking more about the editing of sounds and sequencing of things - not live performance -

however i do agree with you on stareing at the damn thigns all day at work and then all night ...

if your going to use a computer to do all your sampling then at least you need a really good audio interface , my sampler has very high rated analogue to digital converters and for this reason i will allways sample into that.

i use a aardvark 24/96 -
can use a balanced mic (xlr) or balanced/unbalanced inputs (line) via 1/4 inch as well - ive had no probs -

Humm I've heard very good things about that brand! :)

Z

ok forgive my ignorance here but i just wanted to clear something up...
when i load an 8 bar phrase or sound effect from my synth into sound forge and tweak the sound to my tastes thats sampling right?
and when/if i take a loop from my synth and load it into a hardware sampler that hardware can shape the sound with built in effects? or do i have to go out and by a bunch of fx modules just do to what my computer already does?....

-hiro

Hey,


when i load an 8 bar phrase or sound effect from my synth into sound forge and tweak the sound to my tastes thats sampling right?



I think that would qualify mostly as tweaking, synthesizing
Think simple, if u some how do an audio recording then u r sampling!
So if u are recording audio from yer sint into sound forge, then u r sampling !



and when/if i take a loop from my synth and load it into a hardware sampler that hardware can shape the sound with built in effects?




It can, but the amount of the 2shaping2 depend on the type of efects it has, most samplers are also very resonable sintesizers, i.e. U'll find EGs, LFOs, Filters....



or do i have to go out and by a bunch of fx modules just do to what my computer already does?....



Not necessarily, if yer sampler as all the means then u need nothing else 'till u feel u need something else 4 real. The PC is more and more a ALL in 1 Solution, u can have a all virtual studio in it , with virtual instruments, efx processors, dynamic processors, multi-track, audio mixer, mastering suite, sample editor, etc...

Z

awesome thanks so much for clearing that up :clap: