How do I use a sampler?

[jmpace]

Wow, this is so obviously a newbie question. Can't hide it now!! =) I'm interested in the sampler. I read a good interview with Michael Gira (!) and he mentioned that he used the Akai S900 for messing with sounds. I checked it out on ebay and it looks as though it's something I need to use with a MIDI controller. I don't see a real obvious way to 'play' the samples. Do I need a keyboard capable of midi control?

I'm kind of stuck on square one here. Once I buy the sampler, what do I do with it next?

Thanks
Jared

[effector]

well, you can record your own sounds into it - as much as the internal memory allows (more RAM means more / longer samples) - or you can buy disks online that already have sample sets created for you, so all you have to do is load them up. examples might be piano or mellotron sounds. the akai s-series is very popular and has a very wide userbase, so it is super easy to find sounds for.

if you get a rackmount sampler, you will need a midi controller to be able to play it. there are also keyboard samplers, and 'pad-based' samplers, which are used alot in hiphop to make beats.

there are TONS of ways you can use a sampler once you have it. you can use it for instrument sounds, drum sounds, triggering sound effects, etc etc etc.....here is a webpage with a few ideas to get you started. also, most samplers have a few dsp functions built in for altering your sounds, which you can then play back polyphonically. it's basically up to you what you do with it

[bickle]

Assuming you have some sequencing software and a midi interface, you can also just draw in midi data to the program and have it 'play' the sampler.
Be advised, though: The S900 is super old-school, and has pretty limited capabilities compared to what you can do with software these days. It is a widely used classic, but I don't think I'd recommend starting out with one.

[junkstar]

I use a standalone sampler, the Boss Dr. Sample. Does it all in one box and does not require computer interface / midi if you want to avoid all that. Just a box with simple buttons. I use it often to capture clips of sound that I can invert/reverse for effect, and I use it a lot to record segments of my 9 year old playing drums which I then use to create full song length drum parts that make him sound like a really solid and steady player.

[stevedood]

I've found that different samplers are suitable to different genres of music. Some are also more capable of interacting with for live performance whereas others are better suited for sequencing/mapping.
Let us know what style of music you are after, what other equipment you'd like to integrate with your sampler, and what kind of features you don't care about.

-steve

[kayagum]

I use a standalone sampler, the Boss Dr. Sample. Does it all in one box and does not require computer interface / midi if you want to avoid all that. Just a box with simple buttons. I use it often to capture clips of sound that I can invert/reverse for effect, and I use it a lot to record segments of my 9 year old playing drums which I then use to create full song length drum parts that make him sound like a really solid and steady player.

I have used the Dr. Sample (both 202 and 303) for many theater performances, and these boxes worked great. You can also use delay pedals (DOD pedals come to mind) to record short passages, and use the switch to trigger them. Solex among others used this method to record entire albums.

[vsr600]

Yea the S900 is a classic 12 bit if i remember correctly and you have to use specially formatted Akai floppies with it and boot it with a special boot disk floppy every time you turn it on. There's a dos program somewhere on the web to make these floppies. I used to have an S1000 but sold it after fighting with it's limitations for too long.

[percussion boy]

I would think twice about the old hardware-based samplers from Akai, Yamaha, Roland, Casio, etc., because the memory is incredibly tiny -- you're storing to floppy disk, if you can imagine that. My Casio FZ-20m, which was one of the s900's competitors, has 29 seconds of mono recording time at most.

Some of those machines also have no way to loop visually.

Don't get me wrong, if you find one real cheap, they can sound good. Some of 'em have nice analog filters, e.g. the Sequential Prophet 2000. But they're not much fun once you've used a contemporary software sampler: great library, hi-fi stereo sound, visual editing, memory for days.

FWIW.

[Mark Alan Miller]

I would think twice about the old hardware-based samplers from Akai, Yamaha, Roland, Casio, etc., because the memory is incredibly tiny -- you're storing to floppy disk, if you can imagine that. My Casio FZ-20m, which was one of the s900's competitors, has 29 seconds of mono recording time at most.

Some of those machines also have no way to loop visually.

Don't get me wrong, if you find one real cheap, they can sound good. Some of 'em have nice analog filters, e.g. the Sequential Prophet 2000. But they're not much fun once you've used a contemporary software sampler: great library, hi-fi stereo sound, visual editing, memory for days.

FWIW.

And a lot of those 'limitiations' are just what maybe is still so appealing about them. Too many options can often mean a quagmire of choice, and less gettin' down to it. (I love, and still use often, my original Ensoniq EPS!)

Not trying to be argumentative, but just sayin'.

[jmpace]

I'm interested in sampling noises from around the house and playing them back at different speeds & pitches on a keyboard and also looping them.

Jared

[vsr600]

I'm interested in sampling noises from around the house and playing them back at different speeds & pitches on a keyboard and also looping them.

Jared

get a Casio SK1 or SK(whatever) and you will have alot of fun trust me...

[percussion boy]

And a lot of those 'limitiations' are just what maybe is still so appealing about them.

I can see that end of it too. In particular, the way the old samplers CHANGE the sound can be really cool -- the FZ rolls off at like 15K and seems to compress things a little too; nice for drums & loops.

I only brought up limitations because some people don't realize how much things have changed -- I pity whoever buys a Mirage on e-bay as some kind of great "vintage sound," then wants to make an eight bar loop with it . . .

brownbird's household sampling would probably be great with an old hardware sampler, as long as the looping's easy. Maybe an s1000 instead of an s900 -- I THINK the 1000 has visual looping stuff.

Hope this helps.

[blakbeltjonez]

I would think twice about the old hardware-based samplers from Akai, Yamaha, Roland, Casio, etc., because the memory is incredibly tiny -- you're storing to floppy disk, if you can imagine that. My Casio FZ-20m, which was one of the s900's competitors, has 29 seconds of mono recording time at most.

Some of those machines also have no way to loop visually.

Don't get me wrong, if you find one real cheap, they can sound good. Some of 'em have nice analog filters, e.g. the Sequential Prophet 2000. But they're not much fun once you've used a contemporary software sampler: great library, hi-fi stereo sound, visual editing, memory for days.

FWIW.

And a lot of those 'limitiations' are just what maybe is still so appealing about them. Too many options can often mean a quagmire of choice, and less gettin' down to it. (I love, and still use often, my original Ensoniq EPS!)

Not trying to be argumentative, but just sayin'.

ditto.... there are good things that come from not being able to perfectly truncate or loop visually, or have pristine fidelity. it's easier if you have one sampler already that can do the clean sampling. if you want clean, an Akai S-3000 or E-mu e-64/6400 can be had for $2-300 with a fair amount of memory (typically 32 MB or more).

but an old gritty first generation 12 bit sampler has a sound that is difficult to match and fits in nicely when things are getting a bit too boring and clean. one of my favorite samplers is the E-mu Emax, 12 bit aliasing goodness!

the original EPS is a great sampler, btw (aside from the occaisional ERROR 144 - REBOOT? message)

[person444]

I am a big fan of hardware samplers. Crunchy 8-bit and 12-bit samplers like the ensoniq EPS line can be found for pretty cheap nowadays.
That said, if you have a computer or know someone with a laptop, there are soft samplers that are freeware that u might want to check out.

Pluggo put out by Cycling74 offers a free demo. Included is a instrument called Easy Sampler. It is a single sound sampler where you can import a wave file and play across the keyboard. I think you can adjust the attack and release. The other effects and instruments are great. (win/Mac)

My favorite is the Crossfade Loop Synth put out by Expert Sleepers. This audio instrument is a single sound sampler which has lots of features. An older release for mac is offered as freeware. The newer version is both mac and windows compatible and while not free, it is cheap.

Those are the ones i've used. Both require a VST hositng audio editor to work, but these programs can be found for free cheap as well.
A google search for 'software samplers' will find you more to choose from i'm sure.
Fruity loops is a budget software 'studio' which has a sampler and multitrack.
Virtual Sampler by Speedsoft also looks promising.

What is cool about going the software route is that you can apply vst effects to the sampler output to further mess with the soundsource. You can always patch the audio output from computer to speakers or a guitar amp.

all in all:
cheap computer + freeware audio multitrack program + freeware sampler instrument = cheap thrills.