Post by Dan McCullough on Oct 21, 2007 22:36:47 GMT
To all who dare to Sample:
I have put together some basic guidelines for sampling that I though I would share with the group. These are general guidelines that can be applied to any sampler. This discussion only covers the aspect of sampling the raw wav's. Once the samples are created there is a great deal of work involved with normalizing, looping and trimming the individual samples to make them usable. I'll leave that as a discussion for another day.
What to Sample:
Sample any sound that sounds good or sounds interesting. Some sounds are well suited for sampling and others are not. A sound that is well suited has an interesting Attack and Decay portion and settles into a repetitive sustain fairly quickly. Sounds that have a long Attack or Decay are not well suited for sampling. These sounds can still be sampled however; some parameters must be edited first. Reduce long volume Attacks to zero or near zero. Increase the Sustain to 100%. Volume Envelopes can be easily recreated in the Sampler later. Making these modifications to the Volume Envelope helps to keep the sample length low; and the lower the better. The same applies to the Filter Envelope, however many classic synths are characterized by their filters, so use caution here. Filter attacks are difficult to reproduce accurately in samplers; therefore, do not modify the Filter Envelope Attack. Raise the Filter Sustain up if the sound has a long Filter Decay. This long decay can be reproduced well in a sampler. LFO’s may sometimes need to be modified as well. Use common sense and evaluate each sound individually. If the LFO is modulating the Volume or Filter, reduced these mod amounts to zero. If the LFO is modulating Pulse Width, Wave Scanning or Wave Mixing etc. do not modify it, because it is an important component of the sound.
Velocity Levels:
Always sample at a fixed velocity. Some vintage keyboards do not have velocity sensitivity; therefore this is not an issue. It is an issue for any keyboard that has velocity sensitivity. Velocity is almost always routed to the Volume and many times also routed to the Filter. When it is routed to the Filter, the sound can change considerably with a change in Velocity; therefore it is critical to trigger all of the notes being sampled with a fixed velocity. Trigger the notes from a controller keyboard that allows a fixed velocity at an adjustable level. Audition the sound at various velocity settings and find the setting that sounds the best. A setting of 100% is not usually the best. Compare the sound triggered with the fixed velocity to the sound as played on the keyboard being sampled to find the right amount that sounds closest to the original sound.
How Many Samples:
Most sounds only require 11 samples to be accurately reproduced in a sampler. For these type sounds sample the following notes:
C1, G1, C2, G2, C3, G3, C4, G4, C5, G5, C6
Depending on the sound and the desired performance range, C1 and C6 may be omited.
Percussive sounds with a very fast Decay require more samples to be accurately reproduced in a sampler. For these type sounds samples must be taken at every minor third for a total of 21 samples. For these type sounds sample the following notes:
C1, D#1, F#1, A1, C2, D#2, F#2, A2, C3, D#3, F#3, A3, C4, D#4, F#4, A4, C5, D#5, F#5, A5, C6
Sample Times:
Set the sample time to 10 seconds for typical sounds that require 11 samples. Set the sample time to 5 seconds for short percussive sounds that require 21 samples. Typically the lower notes result in longer samples. These sample times may seem long, but they guarantee that a usable sample can be obtained from the lower notes. After editing the unused portion of the sample after the End Loop Point will be deleted anyway.
Levels:
Set the level as high as possible on the keyboard being sampled without causing an unacceptable amount of noise or hum. Some keyboards have good output amplifiers and can produce a full signal without any noticeable noise others cannot. Again use common sense here, just raise the main volume up as high as possible to the point you hear noise and then back it down a little. Set the input gain on the sampler to max and test the sound. If there is clipping, reduce the samplers input gain a little and try again. Always sample at the highest input level possible without causing clipping.
Naming Samples:
If you follow the sampling guidelines above it makes sense to use a numbering system for the individual samples. This helps simplify the process of assigning the samples to keygroups. To do this simply end the name of the first sample with 01. An example of this would be:
AX60_SWEEP_01
The next sample will be AX60_SWEEP_02 and then AX60_SWEEP_03 and then AX60_SWEEP_04 etc.
Keygroup 1 gets sample AX60_SWEEP_01, keygroup 2 gets sample AX60_SWEEP_02 and so on.
Following these naming standards with the sampling note selection standards means that you will always have the same keygroup structure. This really speeds up and simplifies the process.
Good luck with your sampling.
Best regards,
Dan
I have put together some basic guidelines for sampling that I though I would share with the group. These are general guidelines that can be applied to any sampler. This discussion only covers the aspect of sampling the raw wav's. Once the samples are created there is a great deal of work involved with normalizing, looping and trimming the individual samples to make them usable. I'll leave that as a discussion for another day.
What to Sample:
Sample any sound that sounds good or sounds interesting. Some sounds are well suited for sampling and others are not. A sound that is well suited has an interesting Attack and Decay portion and settles into a repetitive sustain fairly quickly. Sounds that have a long Attack or Decay are not well suited for sampling. These sounds can still be sampled however; some parameters must be edited first. Reduce long volume Attacks to zero or near zero. Increase the Sustain to 100%. Volume Envelopes can be easily recreated in the Sampler later. Making these modifications to the Volume Envelope helps to keep the sample length low; and the lower the better. The same applies to the Filter Envelope, however many classic synths are characterized by their filters, so use caution here. Filter attacks are difficult to reproduce accurately in samplers; therefore, do not modify the Filter Envelope Attack. Raise the Filter Sustain up if the sound has a long Filter Decay. This long decay can be reproduced well in a sampler. LFO’s may sometimes need to be modified as well. Use common sense and evaluate each sound individually. If the LFO is modulating the Volume or Filter, reduced these mod amounts to zero. If the LFO is modulating Pulse Width, Wave Scanning or Wave Mixing etc. do not modify it, because it is an important component of the sound.
Velocity Levels:
Always sample at a fixed velocity. Some vintage keyboards do not have velocity sensitivity; therefore this is not an issue. It is an issue for any keyboard that has velocity sensitivity. Velocity is almost always routed to the Volume and many times also routed to the Filter. When it is routed to the Filter, the sound can change considerably with a change in Velocity; therefore it is critical to trigger all of the notes being sampled with a fixed velocity. Trigger the notes from a controller keyboard that allows a fixed velocity at an adjustable level. Audition the sound at various velocity settings and find the setting that sounds the best. A setting of 100% is not usually the best. Compare the sound triggered with the fixed velocity to the sound as played on the keyboard being sampled to find the right amount that sounds closest to the original sound.
How Many Samples:
Most sounds only require 11 samples to be accurately reproduced in a sampler. For these type sounds sample the following notes:
C1, G1, C2, G2, C3, G3, C4, G4, C5, G5, C6
Depending on the sound and the desired performance range, C1 and C6 may be omited.
Percussive sounds with a very fast Decay require more samples to be accurately reproduced in a sampler. For these type sounds samples must be taken at every minor third for a total of 21 samples. For these type sounds sample the following notes:
C1, D#1, F#1, A1, C2, D#2, F#2, A2, C3, D#3, F#3, A3, C4, D#4, F#4, A4, C5, D#5, F#5, A5, C6
Sample Times:
Set the sample time to 10 seconds for typical sounds that require 11 samples. Set the sample time to 5 seconds for short percussive sounds that require 21 samples. Typically the lower notes result in longer samples. These sample times may seem long, but they guarantee that a usable sample can be obtained from the lower notes. After editing the unused portion of the sample after the End Loop Point will be deleted anyway.
Levels:
Set the level as high as possible on the keyboard being sampled without causing an unacceptable amount of noise or hum. Some keyboards have good output amplifiers and can produce a full signal without any noticeable noise others cannot. Again use common sense here, just raise the main volume up as high as possible to the point you hear noise and then back it down a little. Set the input gain on the sampler to max and test the sound. If there is clipping, reduce the samplers input gain a little and try again. Always sample at the highest input level possible without causing clipping.
Naming Samples:
If you follow the sampling guidelines above it makes sense to use a numbering system for the individual samples. This helps simplify the process of assigning the samples to keygroups. To do this simply end the name of the first sample with 01. An example of this would be:
AX60_SWEEP_01
The next sample will be AX60_SWEEP_02 and then AX60_SWEEP_03 and then AX60_SWEEP_04 etc.
Keygroup 1 gets sample AX60_SWEEP_01, keygroup 2 gets sample AX60_SWEEP_02 and so on.
Following these naming standards with the sampling note selection standards means that you will always have the same keygroup structure. This really speeds up and simplifies the process.
Good luck with your sampling.
Best regards,
Dan
