I used to sample with OT, then switched to Ableton because of all the plugins, Reaktor, etc.
Now I’m back to sampling mainly with OT and I use DAW for sample management only.
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Depends on what I’m doing. If I want to record a big chunk of audio and then go back and chose specific parts of it to actually use, I’ll record into a DAW but other than that I try to sample on whatever hardware I’ll be using. I usually find hardware faster than a DAW, but again it depends a lot on context.
On other samplers even if I start on a DAW I usually resample onto the hardware sampler from an output on my interface because part of the reason I use hadware to begin with is the way it sounds, and the ADC is part of that, but the Octatrack is relatively neutral so I usually don’t care much one way or the other whether I sample through its inputs vs.transferring files in via USB. Although I recorded some improvised stuff straight into the OT last week from an older digital synth and it actually sounded a lot bigger than anything I’ve gotten from that same synth when I’ve tracked it into a DAW and spent time on a more finished mix, so who knows. The OT definitely has its own sound and it can work really well on some material.
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Real time sampling here. What I love, is the capability to record beat synchronized voices, like from my modular gear, create a grid of slices on the fly, as well as trigs, and later record just something different to the very same buffer. Since the OT preserves the slice positions and sizes as well as the trigs, the new material gets processed instantly. It’s fun and surprise, how new sound material is changed. If the slicing is fitting to the recordeded sequence well enough, changing only the trigs can result in an amazing live performance generating new and ever changing pattern.
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Oh yeah, real time sampling for sure, that’s the main reason I got an OT to begin with.
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Only DAW now, have the Octa only for two weeks and try to go slow with the new beast. I am compiling a new sample pack for my upcoming holidays, will release it here for free once I am done.
I am still a bit shy of hardware sampling, the Octa is my first box that does that.
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Definitely sampling with both - OT does many things DAW does not, and DAW does many things OT does not.
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It’s not only that, I found that when I recorded things in DAW I did mostly that, sampling, adding effects, sampling again, trying different plugins, spending too much time fixing what I already recorded and so on.
At the end of the day I got hundreds of samples, ear fatigue and no finished music.
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I sample directly into my octatrack, Be it vinyl or synths. I prefer the immediacy of it compared to a DAW. Sampling with a DAW to then transfer the samples to a sampler seems a bit daft to me.
I find the keep it simple approach works best for me. Use the sampler to sample, finish the track. Record it. Use a DAW for final mixing and mastering.
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