I have used a lot of samplers, and something which crosses my mind whenever using them is how well (or not) they sample from a user interface perspective. Some seem needlessly fiddly and time consuming, others are great, but I’d be interested to hear other peoples thoughts on this, so thinking purely about the process of recording samples and the associated process of naming, editing to get them ready to use/save.
A few of the ones I like:
OP1 drum sampler, super simple, easy to chop and map.
Octatrack after setting up a breeze to take synced loops from other gear, easy naming, chopping and destructive edits.
Rytm mk2/Digitakt real quick and easy.
Blackbox - great for taking long samples of a specified length.
Probably overall OT is my fave because I am so used to it, but also because the editing like adding fades etc.
What are yours? Also mention any which you dislike too if you want.
OP-1. So immediate. OT starting to be a close second. Some of my muscle memory from owning two OT’s previously is starting to come back. Sat down last night and recorded some live Fender Jazz Bass into the OT and felt really good. Still a long way to go. 3rd place is MPC. EDIT: I’m gonna have to say Digitakt takes 2nd place after owning one for a month.
I love the Digitakt, even if it’s only mono and limited in sample time. I have a spare headphone out from my interface going out to the ins on the DT, and so I can quickly sample anything, trim, it assign it to a track and it’s ready to go – so fast and easy.
Mpc Live which I sold was great at that. Auto sampling etc. There’s a lot to like about that machine .
Polyend Tracker is great needs to be treated gingerly with gain staging but works well at what it does (mono short samples)
S950 was wicked. I loved the lcd gain meter and level trigger and physical gain knob (sold that too)
I’m actually tempted to buy one since OT always takes a bit of a hassle to sample with. Once you set it up, it’s fine but setting up is always a bit of a chore and sometimes takes the momentum out of making music.
Yeah, I’m just worried that it maybe won’t actually help that much since it’ll mean more junk on my desk and more clutter in my workflow. I do really like how SP’s crush everything to dirt yeah, but I have a shitty 4-track with a mono input that does that really well, too.
We’ll see, as always there’s plenty of other stuff to buy as well.
keep in mind the portability and built in mic. I used to toss my 404 in a backpack and use it as a field recorder and portable note pad for beats. they’re also insanely durable imo
That’s true, I do travel quite a bit with my gear so portability is a plus. Then again the OT also doubles as my mixer and multi FX unit, as I run all gear thru it whether I sample them or not, so I would have to take the OT with me regardless. It would be more of a studio device for me, and one I’m not sure would be useful enough to shell out 300-400 euros for. Still, an awesome piece of gear!
Wavelab (digi in, different machines in front). MPC1000. Because I know the workflow. And like the sound. Akai S01 and Remix16 because I like the sound. S1000 because it can edit S01 files. Digitakt because I somehow like the sound, too (but I dont like no proper zoom, no edit after save etc.). Machine software because I like the musical chopping and it could do also do multisampling.
For its simplicity, and because the sound can’t venture too far away from home. The Octatrack second for getting wild.
When loading a sound into the Digitakt, it always maintains the sonic elements that made me want to put it in there; the Octatrack kinda made me jaded as its so easily to accidentally make the sound unrecognizable. I have to be care not to fall into Sample nihilism
