Your favourite sampler workflow

[CCMP]

@ESIS_Labs

but how about ‘sound design’? this is more peculiar. what’s the particulars of the sampling-sound-desing here? I presume that with the ‘classical’ approach above, it’d be bread-and-butter stuff, like recorded audio editing, slicing, repitching/timestretching, and ‘light years’ meaning ease of use and audio quality vis-a-vis the Elektrons?

Yes, so the regular sampling functions you’d expect are more extensive on the current MPC’s, but, for sound design, you have a whole suite of FX at hand, this is what goes way beyond Elektrons right now.

It’s really too deep to summarise here, but imagine the DT has the fixed Del/Rev sends per track (and the Del and Rev are global)… the MPC has 4 sends per channel/track, plus 4 insert slots (all of which can hold individual Rev/Del plugins), plus 8 Drum FX slots per PAD/SOUND… and the effects are way more extensive (… so if you want to flip a sample, or create a new fully polyphonic instrument, all this functionality gives you a ton of power.

I will caveat this by saying the Elektron fixed reverb is better than what’s in the MPC at present.

[circuitghost]

1010 blackbox. Because.

[ESIS_Labs]

because… the mad noise floor
what’s yours btw?

[hahanoreally]

TX16W has such a nice sound. I had it paired with ASR-X so I could sample back and forth.

Definitely took me into sonic territories I no longer visit.

[circuitghost]

Most other kits have a set idea of a workflow, which you either gel with or not.

Blackbox is an open structure, where you can apply your flow rather than learn whatever the devs think is appropriate.

[ESIS_Labs]

I have one, bought exactly in hopes for the open structure… but honestly, the devs do a lot against this fundament you describe, both with the UI and the f/w chaos.

it is subjective to a degree, of course. so above I brought up the objective negative — the noise floor. any recommendation should include this warning, I believe. hence me asking what’s your figures (best power source, inputs attached, rec screen meter reading)

[MichaalHell]

My favorite workflow is using loops with OT. And then shaping them into something entirely new with help from the sequencer and FX.

I must say that enjoy the Elektron samplers the most when it comes to the sequencers…

Edit: for one shots tge OP-1 is the goat, it’s so fast and fun!

[Raskal.X]

I’d say Octatrack and/or Maschine. Both allow you to sample/loop without stopping the sequencer. Maschine has the smoothest workflow. Octatrack has the moments of “what the f just happened?.. I like it!” I also love the sound quality of the OT.

Also, SP404 MK2 is super dope with that bounce down feature, where you can choose which samples get included in the bounce and skipback.

[license]

Modern Elektrons have Overbridge, though, which is kind of a cheat code for FX sends. There’s definitely an argument to be made for staying on the machine and not needing a computer, but managing complex routing can get pretty tedious without things like templates, presets, mouse, keyboard shortcuts, etc.

[JCFAX81]

Koala Sampler + Novation Circuit Rhythm is the best workflow I’ve found.

[Landings]

Right now i’m having a blast directly sampling live into the Isla S2400. My VST library sounds better than ever. And Live Looping enables me to quickly come up with fresh ideas without stopping playback. I can delete or keep the sample with one button press. From there i can assign the sample to a pad slice it multi mode it or just use it as a one shot. Really the whole process can’t be simpler.

[Mistercharlie]

Using the Circuit Rhythm as a MIDI controller?

[protrusion]

@ZiekeFons

Sampling into TX16W

Are you using Typhoon?

@hahanoreally

Definitely took me into sonic territories I no longer visit.

…do you miss them? Are they worth revisiting?

I think I’ve touted the two ancient products below here before but I’ll do it again.

I put a lot of time in on the ASR-X Pro and it has some fun sampling workflows. It samples to a ‘scratch pad’ pad and then you assign to other pads from there. You can assign the same sample to multiple pads, but then each pad has its own synth settings (filter envelope, velocity mods, start & end, etc.). When you perform a destructive modification on the sound of a pad (normalize, reverse, trim, etc.) it sends the result back to the scratch pad, so you have this workflow where you’re bouncing back and forth from the temporary scratch pad area. You can also save the raw scratch pad right to disk as an AIFF (which has a weird 44082Hz value in its header). I also like that it has these coarse values for sample start/end in % of the audio waveform, so you can quickly split across four pads by setting one to start at 0% and end at 24%, second starts at 25% and ends at 49% etc., and there is auto zerocrossing finding which works decently. All this is unfortunately done through two fiddly knobs and a few wobbly buttons in addition to the pads. It’s one of those few boxes where I can find myself both accomplishing exactly what I want to accomplish when I need to (perfect loops) as well as accomplish new things I didn’t expect when I’m feeling flexible (new loops/timbres).

The Roland S-series samplers have a nice sampling mode called “Previous” which is always listening. When you click the button, it stops sampling and you now have a recording that filled the sampling buffer up to the size/length you said ahead of time (2.9s or whatever).

[darenager]

Favourite sampler workflow depends on what I’m doing:

Quick flow, no fuss sampling and composing - Circuit Rhythm, ideal for fast fun, it’s the “hot hatch” of samplers for me.

Deep mangling, realtime manipulation and resynthesis I go Octatrack, it is still unsurpassed for this IMHO.

Heavy scale production, and creating samples for use in other gear the Force (and formerly MPC One) can’t be beaten, I prefer using for this than a computer.

Mass editing and organisation of samples I use Audacity and Wavosaur on computer. Simply can’t be beat for batch processing and conversion between formats.

For long linear capture of live jams for further editing and additional material adding I prefer the SP-808.

For working with loops I enjoy using the Smpltrek, it excels at this. Super fast and simple, does not get in the way.

For Lo-Fi and more experimental stuff the Lo-Fi12 is great.

For a standalone portable powerhouse which can combine a lot of the above in one package and it’s own unique workflow the Deluge is amazing.

For quick capture and chop the OP1 is my goto, provided that the target sample is relatively short.

All have pros and cons, all awesome, I love samplers.

Looking forward to trying the KO2 at Xmas, also very much looking forward to Lo-Fi12XT next year.

[circuitghost]

I use a proper adapter, never battery. That introduces a lot of noise. And context seems to matter, but my experience is free from noise. Though it’s not a given, you need to set it up accordingly.

It only has one input so that’s the one I use, and only line sources - synths or pedals. It doesn’t respond to stuff that requires pre-amps, so say I had mixed results with older Chase Bliss pedals but it works perfectly with the newer ones, for example.

I record slightly below 0db, around -6 to -2, and always make sure the samples at the forefront of the mix are loud enough to push the compressor ever so slightly. I never use the onboard fx, even for basic mixing, and don’t use Clips mode - time stretching isn’t good enough. The four-band eq on the master is great, tho. I use that all the time, until it’s time to record and master, which I do in the bluebox. At that point, I neutralise panning and output eq, and record each sample just below the clipping in the bluebox, and adjust the mix in there.

[circuitghost]

As for workflow, there’s one thing how the machine operates, that’s just interface. It’s another on what it says you can and can’t do.

I can’t think of anything I can’t do with the blackbox.

It streams sixteen stereo samples at the same time, so if I want to launch stems, loops or just write tracks tape recorder OP-1 style, I can do that.

It has a sequencer with sixteen patterns independent of each other, all of them triggering any amount of samples I want, allowing within a pattern a mix of clips, one shots, loops and slicing. In one pattern.

It multi-samples with more layers of velocity and tails than anyone could need. With its hardware multiple outs, you can live mix the results through any outboard gear you have and even resample things back onto the blackbox and monitor the result live.

Filtering allows you to trim the sample’s place in the mix, combined with solid compression and a powerful output through the amp.

The song mode adds further free-running structures to patterns that run across launching and stopping of clips, creating a master reel function on top of the already flexible pattern structure.

And all these things work independently of each other. You decide how you build your track with all these components. Not the kit.

I suppose one could ask for more. But what would you do with it, even if you had more?

[ESIS_Labs]

thanks for the elaborate write up, great tips here
yet it could be great to know the exact meter reading in your case, when everything is plugged in and switched on, but before sound coming in. just the noise floor. I see mine, I saw a few other units, and what I saw is ridiculous, even by the ancient analog gear standards. this can be masked, but if one’s willing to tolerate it, I’d say the Eurorack module version is a more interesting and utilitarian choice, and that’s the world where there’s not many alternatives to the BB (and where you have to live with noise anyways).

@circuitghost

I suppose one could ask for more.

yes, one could and have to. the components quality.

I bought it for all the reason you’ve listed above. I have reservations about its UI and touchscreen (both makes it tedious for on the fly use for those exact purposes), but could probably live with those but for the noise issues.

[Doug]

@Mistercharlie

Using the Circuit Rhythm as a MIDI controller?

Fun fact. The Rhythm can send recorded knob movements and parameter locks when you’re sending MIDI over USB. (But not over DIN MIDI.) You can also map pretty much every parameter in Koala to respond to ccs.

[Lampmeister]

Loved my old Emax II rack. Who needs more than 2mb?

Shouldn’t have sold that, but needed money for university.

[jamiemellor]

I had a Sampletrak before I got my MPC 2000 back in the early 2000’s. Preferred the Sampletrak workflow, I just found I could get busy damn quick on that thing, plus great effects for resampling and taking beats to new places; my younger brother stills gigs with one
Now, I’m solidly in the Digitakt camp. It’s just mega quick and inspiring. PS great Youtube channel mate.