A basic sampler for live shows?

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garysun
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A basic sampler for live shows?

Post by garysun » Sun Jan 17, 2010 12:53 pm

Hello,
There's a few samples I wanna have the keyboardist trigger during our live shows. Can someone recommend a simple inexpensive device that can trigger these? I have to be able to load the sample from the recording and they may be up to 12 seconds long.
Thanks for your help!!
Gary
Last edited by garysun on Sun Jan 17, 2010 9:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by jakeao » Sun Jan 17, 2010 7:14 pm

I'm also looking for the same thing.

I was just going to use a laptop, and a MIDI controller, but I'm not sure if the computer is going to be able to handle the software without having to get some sort of external sound card.
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Post by garysun » Sun Jan 17, 2010 7:17 pm

I was hoping to not have a computer onstage. I really hope this is possible.
Anyone?
Last edited by garysun on Sun Jan 17, 2010 9:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by kslight » Sun Jan 17, 2010 8:12 pm

Define inexpensive? How much total playback time do you need?


I think Korg makes a Kaoss pad that samples, and they also have a sampling keyboard that's pretty new in the same format as the MicroKorg.
Or find a used Akai sampler? If you are okay with something crusty, maybe an old Casio? Maybe there is an app for that?

In an old band we just used a laptop rather than buying a dedicated piece...and in another band we used a Nord Wave (which would be way overthinking it for your purposes I'm guessing).

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Post by garysun » Sun Jan 17, 2010 9:52 pm

I'd say anything under 300 unless it has other neat things about it. A total of 30 seconds time would be fine if I can swap out discs or whatever.

Yea, the Kaoss Pad is sweet, but the kp2 doesn't hold samples once it gets turned off.
I'd really like to stay away from the laptop if possible. Thanks for the suggestions.
Last edited by garysun on Sun Jan 17, 2010 9:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Sun Jan 17, 2010 9:55 pm

I have an old roland S-550 that does the trick. It's circa 1982 so it's sort of like trying to work an old IBM computer but it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.
I paid $100 for it a few years back. They threw the previous owners sample collection on about 100 floppy disks. If anyone needs to make an early 80's hip hop record I have the sounds for you.

These days I'm mostly using Structure free on Pro Tools. It's much more user friendly and I can make my own samples in a tenth the amount of time.

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Post by thethingwiththestuff » Sun Jan 17, 2010 11:16 pm

SP-404/Dr Sample. Done.

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Post by kayagum » Mon Jan 18, 2010 5:23 am

thethingwiththestuff wrote:SP-404/Dr Sample. Done.
You can also find the SP202 or SP303 as well for cheap used/online.

To give you an idea, I have 3 of these for my theater sound gigs, and they were bulletproof. I even ran them through Ernie Ball volume pedals for foot control.

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Post by chris harris » Mon Jan 18, 2010 7:24 am

thethingwiththestuff wrote:SP-404/Dr Sample. Done.
Yep. This is exactly what you're looking for.

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Post by garysun » Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:03 am

Sweet. Thanks! It looks like these store samples on a san disk?
Also, can you edit your samples so I can make sure they start exactly at the beginning?
Thanks for your help!

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Post by sonocide6 » Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:01 am

I use a Boss SP-202 (Dr. Sample) in my live rig. Love it. I believe the newer versions (SP-303 and SP-404) allow you to drop (cropped and edited, if you want) .wav or .aiff files from your computer to a memory card to use as samples. These boxes are great. You can trigger samples on these boxes with MIDI too.

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Post by thethingwiththestuff » Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:41 am

I personally have a Roland SPD-S (a drum pad based version) on my kit, but our keyboardist uses the SP-404... I think the 404's file and patch management is a little more complex than my drum pad, but yeah, you can do all kinds of editing inside the machines. Coming out of theater, it was my job for years to make sure playback cues were cut to start immediately, so I never really understood not doing that from the beginning before you import to the sampler!

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Post by kayagum » Tue Jan 19, 2010 1:20 am

garysun wrote:It looks like these store samples on a san disk?
CompactFlash on the SP202 and SP303. Dunno about the 404.

Oh, and the 202 takes the 5V version (which is an older version, and you'll have to buy them on ebay).

There is enough onboard memory for about a couple of minutes of "hifi" samples. If you're willing to go "lofi" (which sounds great, because you get that downsample grit), you can go a lot longer.

Additional benefit: the effects on these boxes are fun. The ring modulator alone is worth the price, and you can do some cool filtering and reverse work too. It's almost like instant Radiohead OK Computer era.

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Post by TapeOpAl » Tue Jan 19, 2010 10:33 am

If you have an iPhone or iTouch - Beatmaker is $20 and will do what you need. There may even be a free app that will do what you need. An iTouch might be a more fun way to spend the money anyway?

I've been using Beatmaker and it's really good.

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Post by Paul Fury 161 » Tue Jan 19, 2010 2:38 pm

Don't forget the Zoom Sampletrak ST-224. Similar to the Dr Sample, takes compact flash, neat effects (can be used in realtime on the line in). Somebody leaked an unreleased beta software editor for this unit, called ZMF Producer - works really good if you want to cut the samples in the computer and load them straight onto the memory card in the slots ready to play. I have one, it's pretty cool.

Korg did the ES-1 Electribe sampler (1st generation Electribe) as well, these sell for a few more bones, but I always found it a pain to program. Shame, as the synth and drum machine from that range are ace.
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