Model samples , samples

what kind of samples are you guys finding work best on your M:S. i’m just getting into mine today for the first time , never really been much of a sampling guy, mostly just playing instruments… but i’m having the best luck with short one shots…i mostly make slow 70-90 bpm ambient stuff so i like the long drawn out pads , but haven’t had much luck getting them to loop thru as there seems to be no way to adjust the attack just here start time…so i’m getting bad clicky loops… also. are you guys mostly making your own samples with synths/instruments or picking up sample packs.
just looking for some tips for setting up samples , ive watched all the youtube stuff so i’m getting the hang of operating the machine but can’t find much info on people’s opinions on sound sources

Hey! Regarding the attack and your ‘clicky loop problem’, you might find something useful in this thread.

Since I use the M:S as a drum machine, I cannot give you any creative tips on using samples, but would suggest loading full sample packs from any given genre (with Drums, Pads, Synths, One-Shots, …) on the machine, randomly pick stuff and turn the knobs. With all the effects you have at hand (reverse, loop, etc.) you can create Ambient textures from ‘standard samples’ in a heartbeat.

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thank ya! going to look into that thread…
and i’ll give that a try… the loop button seems pretty useful

Some tips on avoiding the ‘click’ when a sample loops:

That click is caused by the sample starting and ending somewhere besides the zero line (meaning, if you are looking at a waveform of the sample, it should start and end with a tiny bit of flat line, or silence). When a speaker has to jump from 0 (silent) to not-zero (some sound), you’ll hear that pop or click. So one approach is to just add a tiny fade in and fade out to each of your samples. You could do this in Audacity or in your DAW. I typically use 1/64 as the range of the fade in/out (so a sample will start as silent, then 1/64th later it will be at full volume). This process makes sense if you are creating your own samples, but isn’t really feasible if you are dealing with thousands of downloaded samples. Perhaps there’s a batch processing way to do this, but I haven’t looked into that. If you do this, make sure your fade in/out range is consistent across your samples, otherwise you’ll have a hard time getting beats to line up and sound good. The samples I make are generally long chords, pads, etc., so the consistency is less important there.

OK, let’s assume you can’t do the above and need to get rid of the click on the Model:Samples itself. There’s a few methods. Start by just adjusting the ‘sample start’, often just rolling it from 0 to 1 or 2 will get rid of the click. You can do the same with the ‘sample length’ if there’s a click caused by the end of the sample.

If that doesn’t work, then add an LFO on the ENV (envelope) mode, and tweak the other settings. You should be able to create a long attack that covers up the click. You can also try a long/slow triangle wave, like in Loopop’s approach. DIST is the LFO destination for Volume/Distortion. A long attack is effectively the same as the ‘fade in’ method described above.

If none of this works, then you could just use the sample as a 1 shot (not looped), and use a long sequence length, so that you can trigger the sample with a step or two of silence in between each loop. That should take care of it as well.

Another idea, Retrig is effectively the same as Loop, just faster and with more control parameters. So you might be able to play with Retrig to get a sample to loop without clicking.

Final idea, probably the most difficult approach, you could trigger the sample on enough trigs that it cuts itself off, and the full sample doesn’t get to play. This is effectively the same as adjusting the Sample Length. I think this would only work if the click is caused by the end of the sample, not the start.

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A lot of my tunes use a few standard kick, hat, percussion samples.
Often for bass lines I’ll reuse the kick sample and trim the start point as a fake attack shave, then pitch it/overdrive it.

My hooks often come from synth loops I’ve made with Reaktor, Repro-5, my A4 or other gear. But I don’t use the whole loop.
Instead, I tweak the start point and length, and decay to find interesting phrases that have some motion recorded into them, and then I add more motion with the filter and LFO.
P-locking the start point for more variation of the phrase.
It’s surprisingly effective.

And since I am not using the whole loop, I’m not too concerned with BPM when making the loops. These loops just act as a raw fabric to cut from, and create something new.

Often I’ll reuse that loop sample on the main hook track, copied over to the 6th track as a counterpoint, pitched a 5th or an octave. And If I’m out of tracks, I’ll use it on the main hook track as FILL steps.

To save on RAM and not bog down my project with too many longer samples (loops) I’ll often start a new track by exploring what I’ve already used; what’s already in the “RAM folder”.
A lot of times there are segments of those used loops that I didn’t even touch, so I can get more mileage out of them, and hopefully not run out of RAM once I get up toward the maximum 96 patterns in the project.

I also have some Monark samples I got off a $10 pack on eBay or Reverb, can’t remember, plus some Samples From Mars synth samples.
They’re just single note and chord patches recorded for about 8 seconds each. I shortened them to 1 second with a slight fade out using sample batch processing software.

Additionally, single cycle samples work rather well in the M:S. I’ve only recently been digging into using it this way but so far I’m happy with the results

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@minimal.camera @AdamJay
excellent information here guys!!!
i tried some of your methods this morning @minimal.camera , and was able to get the click almost entirely removed from most samples just using the m:s , to where only i would notice it, and others it was totally removed. thanks for writing all that up man
@AdamJay i just watched your sswf video and dang that was impressive , i’ll def see what i can come up with using that . i need to find some to use and see if i can ambientize em hahaha

i’ve still had very little time on my m:s since i got it, i’ve been all over drambo hehe been waiting 2 years for that release!

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I really like the sound of this approach for creating leads and hooks. Don’t suppose you’ve made any videos that demonstrate this?

Nope.

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A magician never reveals his secrets :wink:

Nah, I actually go to great lengths to spell out everything I do and work to help and inspire people.
But I have no time in my life to also produce and edit videos aside from the occasional performance video.

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Aye. I was half joking. Keep up the good work :slight_smile:

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It’s a pretty cool technique. Reminds me of the tutorials Tom Hades put out. I’m having trouble avoiding clicks and pops but I’m gonna keep playing with this. Thanks for the description :+1:t2:

I have few questions about model:samples. I don’t own this machine and didn’t read the manual, so excuse me if it’s written something but I think it’s quicker to ask to people having the machine.
1/ Can you preview a trig like the DT 1.20 ?
2/ Do you have swing per track ?
3/ Do you have scale per track ?

Thanks guy, I’m interested by this little box.

1 - no (at least, I don’t think so… it is a common request)
2 - yes
3 - yes

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Nice thanks for your reply :slight_smile:

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I wish we could preview trigs on the Models, especially on the Cycles. Finer start points on the Samples, also.