Sample Chains

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#41

as stated in your quote, to accommodate the OT’s automatic slicing, the samples’ STARTING points need to be equally placed on a grid.

you do not need to crop samples to remove silence, although that doesn’t hurt.

the gaps between samples are going to exist, unless every sample in your chain is exactly the same length, which is very unlikely. those gaps are irrelevant, only the starting point matters.

the samples do not have to be the same length. however, because they have to be equally spaced, the space between each STARTING point will only be as small as the LONGEST sample in the chain. Makes sense ?

the grid resolution is irrelevant, so is the tempo. All that matters is that the samples’ STARTING points are equally spaced for all samples in the chain.

i don’t use freeze or consolidate, but bounce to a new file, since i usually add effects, compression, EQ and limiting to my chains. Make sure you bounce a file that is exactly a multiple of 16 bars.

I figure the easiest way to demonstrate this is probably to record a quick tutorial about it. I have never tried using screen capture software. I know of fraps. Anyone has any suggestions for other / potentially better software ?

#42

Makes sense to me! Thanks - tutorial vid is definitely required.

Screenflow is probably the best for Mac (Appstore) but its not free - you can get a demo version that just puts a watermark on the video.

Could be 69 quid well spent though as your demos are excellent :slight_smile:

#43

Housecliche

“i don’t use freeze or consolidate, but bounce to a new file, since i usually add effects, compression, EQ and limiting to my chains. Make sure you bounce a file that is exactly a multiple of 16 bars.”

Ok this all made good sense until you got to that last line. Why would a sample chain need to be a multiple of 16 bars long?

I’m in the middle of preparing some sample chains at the moment (interrupted by Apple taking my iMac away for a drive replacement) for an imminent Octatrack purchase. Want to hit the ground running with the OT.

Thanks, good info here which is helping me loads already. :slight_smile:

#44

Another vote for screenflow, if you use a Mac and want to do screen capture videos it’s simple and cheap.

#45

I am assuming you are using a mac.
Copy the files “sox” and “soxi” from the archive into your PATH (like /usr/local/bin/). To see what your PATH is set to type “echo $PATH” in the Terminal window (case sensitive). You can use any one of them, but one with “local” in it is preferred. It is also a good idea to put trimpad into one of these.[/quote]
Thank you so much! Tried googling this, it almost seems like people in the know generally enjoy being vague about minor details such as how to install stuff :slight_smile: You saved me tons of time.

#46

Created a new thread for it but posting in here for reference :

Sample Chain Making Part 1.

Enjoy :slight_smile:

I was not too clear about the length and said “a multiple of 16” when i meant a multiple of any of the subdivisions available for slices, this simply to allow the OT’s automatic slicing to cut at the “right” spots. It’s not an obligation of course, merely a tip that could be useful depending on what you’re trying to do :slight_smile:
Hope this helps !
Cheers

#47

Given the changes in the OS… and that I don’t have a clue… and Flex/Static seem quite similar… Is there any good reason to use (or not) Flex vs Static for sample chains?

Seems the only good reason would be if you are doing heavy modulation of the slice via LFO’s or arps.

Or am I missing something obvious?

#48

Limitation of the slice grid function. You can’t choose any arbitrary number of slices… I think the options are 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 32, and 64, and for a chain to be really worthwhile you’re going to want at least 16 samples.

#49

indeed, there isn’t much difference aside from what you have pointed out.

the only really obvious difference is that you are streaming static samples from the card, ,so there is no limitation on the size of them (aside from the size of your card, obviously). So if you’re doing 64 slice chains of ambiances, you will HAVE to use a static slot, as the OT simply would not have enough RAM to load the whole chain.
In general, I try to keep the RAM free for resampling. So I favor static slots, especially since i tend to use long chains that would fill up the RAM very quickly.

#50

indeed, there isn’t much difference aside from what you have pointed out.

the only really obvious difference is that you are streaming static samples from the card, ,so there is no limitation on the size of them (aside from the size of your card, obviously). So if you’re doing 64 slice chains of ambiances, you will HAVE to use a static slot, as the OT simply would not have enough RAM to load the whole chain.
In general, I try to keep the RAM free for resampling. So I favor static slots, especially since i tend to use long chains that would fill up the RAM very quickly.[/quote]

Thanks for clarifying that.

And a big thank you for all the time / effort you put into making the videos.

1 Like
#51

Hey guys,

back to the sample chain topic:

I used Live 9 yesterday to create some sample chains.
With any other sound than kick drums it was quite painful and time consuming, considering that many samples where of different length.
As I am no educated user of Live, allow me one question:
Is there any short cut in Live that allows to spread all samples evenly on an audio line?

Thanks for your help and Merry Christmas!

Plip

#52

I don’t have mine yet (coming on Tuesday!) but I have been making my own sample chains in Logic and it seems straightforward to me. I just line the samples up on the grid, so that each 1/8 step is a different sample. As long as the intervals are even, I suspect it will be easy for the Octatrack to slice it up.

Perhaps I’m wrong and all my efforts will have been for naught!

#53

The easiest method I know of is to use Ableton Live’s follow action.

Here’s how I do it:

Drag and drop 64 single-hit samples into the clip slots within one channel.

With all clips highlighted, go to the clip view section at the bottom of the screen and bring up the Launch settings window.

Setup is as follows:

Launch Mode: Trigger
Quantization: Global
Velocity: 0%
Follow Action: 0, 1, 0
Follow Action A: Next (down arrow)
Follow Action Chance A: 1
Follow Action B: n/a
Follow Action Chance B: n/a

when you select play the first clip the rest should automatically play in sequence within the track, all quantized as 1/16th notes.

Arm the track and hit record and you will end up with a nice quantized sample chain in the arrangement view.

Hit the Stop button once the 64 clips or 16 bars have been recorded

Highlight the 16 bars in the arrangement view and select “loop selection”

Export the Audio (render start and length should have defaulted to your looped selection)

Now throw the WAV file into your octatrack and slice with a 64-step grid.

#54

if someone needs it i have a really fast method to create samplechains in ProTools

#55

^^ nice

my method using Live

First create a folder with all the samples that you have picked for your chain. I find it easier to gather and compile them this way first.

[ol]
[li] shift select all your samples in live’s browser[/li]
[li]command + drag them into an empty set. this will give each individual sample a new audio track (this makes it easier to perform 4. below by eye)[/li]
[li]band select all your clips and switch warp off[/li]
[li]now adjust the live set tempo until the longest sample fits within a grid time region - this could be 1/16ths for short samples right up to several bars depending on the material. Obviously you’ll be left with some space with the shorter samples but that’s inevitable unless you fancy wasting your life selecting samples that are all the same length for your chains. get a big cf card and never remove it (bent reader pin uncovered by warranty scenario avoided)[/li]
[li]now delete all the samples and set the grid at that amount ( Cmd 1 or Cmd 2 to widen and narrow grid as required)[/li]
[li]shift select the clips again and drag them into the first audio track[/li]
[/ol]

Live will line their starting points up with the grid you set and be equidistant.

Select all the clips and consolidate the file. Click on the sample name in the clip view and rename it, including the number of slices at the end of the name eg perc 64 ( so you know how to slice it once in the OT.)

1 Like
#56

Hey guys,

thank you very much for the quick help!

Both described methods are much more convenient than my hour long amateurish drag-n-drop-fest.

Plip

#57

I just make a drum rack. Put the samples in that and then draw out a chromatic scale in the clip. I use a second audio track set to resample and just record.

1 Like
#58

@sicijk, yes please.

#59

ProTools for SampleChains

…Preface…
this method occupy a bit more of harddisk space than other methods (like in Live)
also it could looks articulated but it is not…you need less than a minute to create one chain (once you grab the actions sequence)
SO___

  • open a session in your fav 44.1k 16/24;

  • select the files from Finder or Folder (in number of whatever 16-32-48….64);

  • drag them to the Region List;

  • open the RegionList drop down menu and go to last voice: Timeline Drop Order and select Top to Bottom;

  • select all the imported samples and drag them to the timeline;

  • you’ll have as many tracks created as many samples you dropped;

  • activate ALL group

  • select the longest sample and trim all the regions using the end of the longest. Here you should choose the maximum length you want to have between samples;

  • all the regions appear in the timeline now selected with a time span dictated by the longest;

  • while selected, consolidate (Alt+Shift+3) all the regions;

  • now you see the newly created regions (all of the same length) already selected in the Region List.

  • DONT touch anything!

  • just open again the RegionList drop down menu and now select Left to Right for Timeline Drop Order;

  • drag the selected regions to the timeline;

  • they will be all consecutive and equidistant and already selected (in timeline too) so….perform a consolidate and that newly created region will be your SampleChains;

  • do whatever you need to the file, name it or whatever and export it to your SampleChains folder;

  • then select all the regions and clear them, so you have a blank Region List to start back again for a new chain!

-End

#60

--------EDIT--------
I forgot to add that you should have only stereo OR only mono sample (PT creates stereo/mono tracks depending on the dragged samples)…otherwise the Left to Right timeline drop will not work properly…because if you have, say, 15 stereo files and 1 mono file…PT will create 15 stereo tracks and one mono tracks. When you have consolidated regions and you perform the Left to Right drop method it will put Stereo Files to Stereo Tracks, so for Mono ones…so they won’t go onto one track…just keep in mind this.
Sorry to didn’t mention this before!

:zonked: