ben m
Joined: 15 Sep 2002
Posts: 337
Location: UK |
| Week 7 - Samplers 2 |
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Good work last week everyone.
Here are the 2nd half of the questions for this topic.
01 - Would individual percussion samples be assigned to one key or to a keyzone typically?
02 - What is the importance of setting a root note with a sampler?
03 - Why were samplers so important in the dance music explosion of the late 80s/early 90s
04 - Why could the sampler be described as a post-modern instrument?
05 - How could a DJ implement a sampler into a live set?
06 - What is the most common RAM type used by samplers?
07 - Why is the Gigasampler piano patch so large in terms of MBs?
08 - Why do certain artists such as Fatboy Slim use older 12-bit samplers?
09 - Do any samplers offer solid state storage rather than traditional RAM based storage?
10 - What format are samples saved in on hardware samplers?
11- What instruments may benfefit from velocity sensitive samples?
12 - Apart from High-Hats, what other samples may benefit from Mute-Groups?
13 - Will hardware samplers always have a studio niche? Why or Why not?
14 - What editing facilties will a typical hardware sampler offer?
15 - What is a fundamental legal issue associated with sampling?
16 - What effect on the timing of a sample will be caused by playing it an octave higher than the original sampled material?
17 - Name 2 ways that a sample could be reduced in size to save storage space?
18 - What are the benefits of multisamples? What are the drawbacks?
19 - Why may some samples not want to be 'tracked'?
20 - What is a 'one shot' sample? What instruments may benefit from this kind of sample definition?
21 - Name one pitch related problem that may occur when sampling from vinyl?
22 - What is the importance of setting the 'root' note for a keyzone?
23 - How are the at; length; and time functions defined in terms of setting a loop on a sampler ?
24 - What is the major problem that you are likely to encounter when making loops?
25 - Imagine a manufacturer has just introduced a new top-of-the-range sampler. What would be the practical benefits of the following features, compared with previous models?
a)More voices
b)More keygroups per program
c)More outputs
d)More RAM
26 - When looping a sample of a single note, what characteristics in the waveform are desirable at the start and end point of the loop?
27 - You have recorded a two-bar segment of drums. Is it better to loop the sample in the sampler, or to get a sequencer to repeatedly trigger the sample?
28 - Why would you sample several notes of different pitches from an instrument?
29 - What would you be intending to do if you sampled the same note at different volumes? |
Mon Apr 19, 2004 7:28 pm |
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hoggs33
Joined: 09 Feb 2004
Posts: 55
Location: Nottingham, England |
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Here are my answers to this weeks questions – struggled to find many resources for these questions this week so had to use a bit of imagination and guess work. Some answers may be a bit ‘sparse’
01 - Would individual percussion samples be assigned to one key or to a keyzone typically?
Each sound would be assigned to one key
02 - What is the importance of setting a root note with a sampler?
The root note is the pitch at which the original sample plays back unaltered. It therefore sets the ‘scale’ of the instrument or sound that is being played ith the other notes played around it being derived from that note.
03 - Why were samplers so important in the dance music explosion of the late 80s/early 90s
Many tracks around that time used sections of old songs and used them in a new track. Samplers enabled this to be done quickly and easily
04 - Why could the sampler be described as a post-modern instrument?
Not really sure what modernism is exactly but it seems to be something to do with cultures clashing and mixing the past with the new. If this is correct then a sampler in its modern use is a perfect example when it is used to take old samples and mix then in with new work – Moby’s Play album would be a good example with all those gospel samples put into dance tracks and used on every car ad known to man!!!!!
05 - How could a DJ implement a sampler into a live set?
To trigger samples or phrases or use loops with the tracks being played or when mixing one track into another. Phrases from a CD could be sample and looped to create a new ‘live’ remix of a track.
06 - What is the most common RAM type used by samplers?
72 pin SIMM’s
07 - Why is the Gigasampler piano patch so large in terms of MBs?
Because it uses multisampling to get an accurate sound and the sustain is not looped thus resulting in a large sample file.
08 - Why do certain artists such as Fatboy Slim use older 12-bit samplers?
They do not sample as cleanly and accurately as newer samplers and so add a certain character to the sample which can become something of a trademark sound.
09 - Do any samplers offer solid state storage rather than traditional RAM based storage?
Yes, some sampler use flash memory such as smartmedia or solid state floppy disk cards.
10 - What format are samples saved in on hardware samplers?
Usually wav or AIFF or a special proprietary format.
11- What instruments may benfefit from velocity sensitive samples?
Acoustic instruments such as guitar or piano where in real life the volume depends on how hard a key is struck or string plucked
12 - Apart from High-Hats, what other samples may benefit from Mute-Groups?
Samples from instruments that have several different playing styles but that can only be played one at a time such as plucking a violin or using the bow – this could not be done at the same time in real life.
13 - Will hardware samplers always have a studio niche? Why or Why not?
I think so – certain people ill always ant the hands on use of a hardware sampler I would think a dedicated hardware sampler at present is still more powerful than a software sampler and its performance would not be dependent on what machine it is running as is the case with a software sampler.
14 - What editing facilties will a typical hardware sampler offer?
Cut, copy, paste, trim, fade up/down, time-stretch, pitch shift, EQ, looping etc. May also have auto BPM and pitch detection.
15 - What is a fundamental legal issue associated with sampling?
If you want to sample someone else’s work then you need permission from that person or the owner of the copyright of the sampled piece. This ca sometimes be a lengthy and costly exercise.
16 - What effect on the timing of a sample will be caused by playing it an octave higher than the original sampled material?
The tempo of the sample would be twice as fast.
17 - Name 2 ways that a sample could be reduced in size to save storage space?
If a sample is in stereo, it could be converted to mono. Sections of sustain could be looped so the overall length of the sample is reduced.
18 - What are the benefits of multisamples? What are the drawbacks?
Multisamples allow for a more accurate representation of an instrument but take longer to create and take up more memory .
19 - Why may some samples not want to be 'tracked'?
Individual samples such as drums would not need to be tracked. These do not need a change in timbre according to pitch to sound realistic.
20 - What is a 'one shot' sample? What instruments may benefit from this kind of sample definition?
One shot samples play in their entirety regardless of how long the ‘note on’ message is. They are usually used for percussive samples. So for example if a crash cymbal was sampled as a one shot sample and it had a length of seconds, the initial ‘note on’ would trigger the entire sample without having to hold the note down for the duration of the sample.
21 - Name one pitch related problem that may occur when sampling from vinyl?
A warped record would not result in even playback altering the pitch as it plays and not giving a ‘single pitched’ sample.
22 - What is the importance of setting the 'root' note for a keyzone?
If not set correctly the other notes around it in the keyzone will sound correct.
23 - How are the at; length; and time functions defined in terms of setting a loop on a sampler ?
24 - What is the major problem that you are likely to encounter when making loops?
Making the sample loop correctly so that it fits perfectly with the bpm of the track and does not have any clicks or pops as it loops.
25 - Imagine a manufacturer has just introduced a new top-of-the-range sampler. What would be the practical benefits of the following features, compared with previous models?
a)More voices - More samples (notes) can be played at the same time, either manually froma keyboard or under the control of a sequencer.
b)More keygroups per program - More samples can be accessed readily from a keyboard.
c)More outputs – More programs or keygroups can be assigned to separate mixing console channels independently and given their own treatment.
d)More RAM - More and/or longer samples can be retained in memory.
26 - When looping a sample of a single note, what characteristics in the waveform are desirable at the start and end point of the loop?
A zero crossing point with a ‘strong’ beginning and quiet end?
27 - You have recorded a two-bar segment of drums. Is it better to loop the sample in the sampler, or to get a sequencer to repeatedly trigger the sample?
I would think it would be better to trigger it in the sequencer, this would eliminate any ‘drag’ of the loop over the space of the song if the timing of the loop was not spot on.
28 - Why would you sample several notes of different pitches from an instrument?
To create a multi-sample so as to get an accurate sounding recreation of the instrument being sampled.
29 - What would you be intending to do if you sampled the same note at different volumes?
Not entirely sure but to provide different velocities of instruments to imitate that instrument (such as a piano) when played back? |
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Sat Apr 24, 2004 3:16 pm |
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griff505
Joined: 23 Feb 2004
Posts: 68
Location: Bristol |
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01 - Would individual percussion samples be assigned to one key or to a keyzone typically?
Typically one key – this is because each sample represents a different percussion instrument.
However some percussion instruments would be set to a keyzone as they do have changes of pitch – e.g. tabla, gamelan instruments.
02 - What is the importance of setting a root note with a sampler?
The root note of the sample determines the pitch at which the sample plays back unaltered. The sample can be spread over a keyzone, whereby the pitch of the sample will correspond to the key pitch. This is achieved by varying the speed at which the sample is played back, however altering the pitch will result in the sound of the sample becoming increasingly less authentic.
03 - Why were samplers so important in the dance music explosion of the late 80s/early 90s
By the late 1980’s samplers were an affordable ‘instrument’ for many musicians, and were perfect to construct the repetitive beats crucial to dance music. It allowed producers themselves to make music featuring an exotic array of instruments without a knowledge of an instrument of any form. Loops had been used for decades using tape; however that was confined to university audio labs, and big studios, now anyone could experiment with loops, samples and beats in their bedroom or home studio. In this respect samplers revolutionised the making of modern music.
04 - Why could the sampler be described as a post-modern instrument?
The sampler may be described as a post-modern instrument due to the fact that many people use a sampler to re-cycle old sounds, beats, riffs, and ideas to make their own music. The sampler allows opera (high-culture) and blue-grass to be heard in hip-hop coming out of Atlanta (street culture), in the same way that post-modern architect Moore constructed the Italian-styled Piazza d'Italia in New Orleans.
05 - How could a DJ implement a sampler into a live set?
A DJ could use sampler to make their set more original in a number of inventive ways:
- It could be used to play a phrase or loop to link tracks that would otherwise not sound right alongside each other.
- A sampler could be used to trigger sample mid song to customise the song.
- The samplers filter section could be used to warp a song, or part of a song to create special effects.
06 - What is the most common RAM type used by samplers?
72 pin SIMM
07 - Why is the Gigasampler piano patch so large in terms of MBs?
- Every key on the piano is sampled in Gigasampler.
- Since a piano sounds different depending on how hard you strike the key, Gigasampler samples each key sixteen times at different velocities.
- Gigasampler has enough memory to record the entire decay of a piano note, even though the low bass notes may decay for 20 seconds or more.
- Gigasampler offers up to 96kHz sampling.
08 - Why do certain artists such as Fatboy Slim use older 12-bit samplers?
Because of the sound produced by an old 12-bit sampler, a sound found in hip-hop recordings in the 1980’s and early dance music. To an extent the sound produced could be called lo-fi.
09 - Do any samplers offer solid state storage rather than traditional RAM based storage?
Yes some samplers use flash memory cards such as Smart Media or Solid State Floppy Disk. The Akai SX3000XL offers non-volatile flash RAM which remains in the systems memory even after the sampler is turned off.
10 - What format are samples saved in on hardware samplers?
Most samplers offer a 16Bit 44.1Khz or 48Khz stereo PCM non compressed format such as .wav or .aiff, although modern soft-samplers are capable of playing back WAV-, AIF-, E-MU-, AKAI, Roland, GIGA, SF2-, and REX files.
11- What instruments may benefit from velocity sensitive samples?
On acoustic instruments that do themselves respond to velocity. On an acoustic instrument whereby the timbre changes depending on how loudly you play the instrument, so velocity sensitive samples would create a more realistic sound.
12 - Apart from High-Hats, what other samples may benefit from Mute-Groups?
Any instrument which features a playing style, or instrument limitations, where only one sound can be made at once. For example, a sampler emulation of a monophonic synth.
13 - Will hardware samplers always have a studio niche? Why or Why not?
Samplers will retain a studio niche especially for producers wishing to emulate the classic sampled beats found in early dance music or hip-hop, and also their easier manipulation due to the use of hardware knobs. The hardware synth also has the advantage of not putting strain on the computers CPU. However the development of soft-synths has made loop manipulation much more visual and many people prefer the easily understandable GUI.
14 - What editing facilities will a typical hardware sampler offer?
Copy, cut, paste, merge, pitch shifting, increase/decrease volume, time stretch, mono/sterero conversion, crossfade, reverse.
15 - What is a fundamental legal issue associated with sampling?
Due to copyright and music ownership, permission needs to be sought before a sample from someone else’s work is used in a commercial release.
16 - What effect on the timing of a sample will be caused by playing it an octave higher than the original sampled material?
The sample will be played at a tempo twice as fast as the original tempo.
17 - Name 2 ways that a sample could be reduced in size to save storage space?
A sample with a long sustain could be programmed to loop the sustain section, thereby shortening the length of the stored sample. Alternatively the sample rate or bit rate could be reduced. Mono samples take up as much storage space as stereo samples.
18 - What are the benefits of multisamples? What are the drawbacks?
Multisampling uses more samples of original audio from the instrument being sampled spread across the keyboard. This reduces the loss of sound quality which results from audio being transposed over several notes. The drawback of this method of sampling is the increased space taken up by the extra number of samples.
19 - Why may some samples not want to be 'tracked'?
Samples which do not need to be tracked do not need a change of timbre to sound natural or ‘right’ in the context of the track it is being used in. This is often the case with drum and vocal samples.
20 - What is a 'one shot' sample? What instruments may benefit from this kind of sample definition?
A one shot sample is a sample which plays in its entirety regardless of how long the 'note on' message is. The MIDI off event is ignored and the sample will always play its full envelope, a technique ideal for percussion and drum sounds.
21 - Name one pitch related problem that may occur when sampling from vinyl?
Warped records and instabilities in the speed of the turntable will result in pitch changes from the vinyl.
22 - What is the importance of setting the 'root' note for a keyzone?
All other notes using the root sample are derived by speeding up or slowing down the root note. If the root note is derived from a tuned instrument then the sample should be aligned to the corresponding root note on the sampler keyboard.
23 - How are the at; length; and time functions defined in terms of setting a loop on a sampler ?
- At – the start point of the loop.
- Length – how long the loop lasts.
- Time – the time the loop is played for.
24 - What is the major problem that you are likely to encounter when making loops?
Creating start and end points with zero-crossing points to avoid audible pops and clicks.
25 - Imagine a manufacturer has just introduced a new top-of-the-range sampler. What would be the practical benefits of the following features, compared with previous models?
a) More voices – allows more simultaneous voices to be played simultaneously.
b) More keygroups per program – More accurate multisampling sound / more samples that can be loaded to recreate the sound of another instrument.
c) More outputs – More routing options to a mixer, different effects can be added to different outputs, different sounds can be routed to different recorder tracks.
d) More RAM – Allows greater memory-intensive functions to take place: - better quality samples, greater number of samples to allocated to multi-sample instruments.
26 - When looping a sample of a single note, what characteristics in the waveform are desirable at the start and end point of the loop?
Zero-crossing points. Similar timbre characteristics to avoid an unnatural change in sound at the loop point.
27 - You have recorded a two-bar segment of drums. Is it better to loop the sample in the sampler, or to get a sequencer to repeatedly trigger the sample?
It's more desirable to use the sequencer to trigger the sample every two bars than to loop the sample in the sampler. If the sampler is used to loop the sample a small difference in tempo will cause the sample to shift off beat over time. As long as the tempo of the mix and the tempo of the sampler are close, a sequencer triggering the sample at the beginning of each bar would keep the tempo constant. Also starting the song at a point after the initial sample triggering would result in no drums sounding at all.
28 - Why would you sample several notes of different pitches from an instrument?
Several samples can be used to set up a multisample technique which accurately recreates the instrument being sampled. The different pitch samples would be set to corresponding root notes so that any note played would be in a reasonable range of the root note and will not need to be speeded up or slowed down too much to meet the target pitch.
29 - What would you be intending to do if you sampled the same note at different volumes?
Different samples of the same note at different volumes would be used for velocity switching / crossfades. A note played softly would use the quieter sample of the note and a harder struck note would use a louder sample. |
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Sat Apr 24, 2004 4:43 pm |
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iNSTiNCT2765
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 60
Location: Denmark |
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Week 7 – Samplers 2
01 - Would individual percussion samples be assigned to one key or to a keyzone typically?
Percussion samples would usually be assigned to one key each and not a keyzone because they are usually not pitched instruments and one note is enough to represent the sample to the fullest.
02 - What is the importance of setting a root note with a sampler?
This is important in order to assure that the sampler can accurately represent the notes when played on a midi keyboard. The root note is the note where the sample plays back untransposed. Setting this note to the one corresponding to the actual pitch of it will also make it easier to have the sample work with other instruments as they will be in tune.
03 - Why were samplers so important in the dance music explosion of the late 80s/early 90s?
With the samplers, rhythms can be made much faster and with greater precision than with traditional percussion. Because of this, the sampler was a key instrument in the dance music explosion. Dance music also features altered vocal riffs and instrument sounds and this was done using samplers.
04 - Why could the sampler be described as a post-modern instrument?
A sampler can be described as a post-modern instrument because of the fact that you have the ability to reintroduce music from the past in a new way. Chopping up old 70’s soul music and laying a new drum beat over it or using a classical Beethoven sample as the backdrop for a hip hop beat is all within the power of a sampler.
05 - How could a DJ implement a sampler into a live set?
A DJ can fill up a sampler with his favourite/trademark sound effects or samples and have access to all of them at the stroke of a key. He can then use them during his set when changing tracks or just over the songs whenever he pleases to give his set a more personalised vibe.
06 - What is the most common RAM type used by samplers?
My Akai CD3000XL uses SIMM RAM.
07 - Why is the Gigasampler piano patch so large in terms of MBs?
The piano patch is very large due to the fact that each note has been sampled and at different strike volumes. The samples are also not looped but the actual decay has been recorded as well resulting in large audio files hence the massive size of the patch.
08 - Why do certain artists such as Fatboy Slim use older 12-bit samplers?
They use the 12-bit samplers for the unique sound a 12-bit sampler can produce. The fat crunchy drum sound you can get from 12-bit samples is unmatched. 12-bit samplers give a sample a more dirty and rough feel to it and give variation from the clean 16-bit sound you get from conventional samplers.
09 - Do any samplers offer solid state storage rather than traditional RAM based storage?
Yes, there are samplers that offer solid state storage. For example, the MPC-1000 Sampler/Drum machine has a Compact Flash card slot offering up to 2 GB of storage space with the proper card. The Korg ES-1 Rhythm Sampler uses Smart Media cards up to 64 MB’s.
10 - What format are samples saved in on hardware samplers?
Samples would usually be stored as .wav or .aiff files.
11- What instruments may benefit from velocity sensitive samples?
Instruments that have different timbres depending on the strength at which they are played will benefit from being multisampled for making velocity sensitive programs. Pianos, guitars, snare drums and strings are some instruments that will benefit from this.
12 - Apart from High-Hats, what other samples may benefit from Mute-Groups?
Any samples you want to stop playing as soon as another sample is played will benefit from being put in a mute-group. For example if you have two tr-808 kick drums, one with short decay, the other with a long decay, you don’t want the decay of the second kick to spill into the first kick. The kicks can be placed in their own mute group so the long decay kick stops when the short decay kick is triggered.
13 - Will hardware samplers always have a studio niche? Why or Why not?
I personally love my old Akai CD3000XL sampler and I believe that hardware samplers always will have a proper place in a studio. A studio is all about the gear it has and hardware samplers, though debatable, are superior to software samplers and seem more ‘professional’ to use since you have to turn knobs and such and not just sit and click a mouse. But looking past that, do you wonder why hardware samplers cost as much as they do, compared to software samplers? I use software samplers, usually just to experiment with samples in preproduction and when I’m on the move, I’ll have a software sampler on my laptop, but I find the filters and EQ much better in my CD3000XL than in my software samplers. I don’t think hardware samplers are going to be extinct any time soon as long as there is sample-based music to be made
14 - What editing facilities will a typical hardware sampler offer?
Timestretching
Re-sampling
EQ’ing
Filtering
Enveloping
LFO’ing
Trimming.
15 - What is a fundamental legal issue associated with sampling?
Using an artists’ copyrighted music without their permission and benefiting financially from it can get you in some legal trouble. If you do not have the permission to use a sample of their music, it is illegal to broadcast it and distribute it commercially.
16 - What effect on the timing of a sample will be caused by playing it an octave higher than the original sampled material?
The sample will take exactly half as long to play out as it would at the original pitch.
17 - Name 2 ways that a sample could be reduced in size to save storage space?
One way a sample can be reduced in size to save storage space is by truncating it. This function trims the start and end of the sample where the sample points have been set so no excess audio is saved along with the sample. Second way???  
18 - What are the benefits of multisamples? What are the drawbacks?
The benefits of multisampling an instrument are that the sound will be more realistic and detailed. The sound produced won’t speed up or slow down as you move across the keyboard as it would if a single sample was used.
A drawback of multisampling is that it is more time consuming than just one note sampling. The more detailed and realistic you want the range of an instrument to be, the more samples will have to be recorded, which then in turn take up more memory space in a sampler.
19 - Why may some samples not want to be 'tracked'?
Drum samples and percussion samples don’t need to be tracked. Most of them aren’t pitched samples or spread out across the keyboard so they won’t need to have a filter cut off dependant on the pitch.
20 - What is a 'one shot' sample? What instruments may benefit from this kind of sample definition?
A ‘one shot’ sample is a sample that plays till its end every time it’s triggered. It doesn’t matter if you hold the keyboard note corresponding to the sample down or just tap it; the sample is still going to play full out. Drum and percussive samples benefit from this. Short samples such as vocal phrases or stabs also benefit from this kind of sample definition because the length of the midi notes do not have to be identical in order for the length of the sound to be.
21 - Name one pitch related problem that may occur when sampling from vinyl?
The pitch may vary while you are recording the sample due to a faulty turning desk. Or if the record player is running on batteries and they are low, the motor in the player will start to slow down and the pitch will decelerate like in a Walkman.
22 - What is the importance of setting the 'root' note for a keyzone?
This is important so the sampler can identify the note where the sample is not transposed but played at its original pitch.
23 - How are the at; length; and time functions defined in terms of setting a loop on a sampler?
The ‘at’ function is the starting point of the loop. This is set somewhere in the sample and when it is reached, it triggers the looping function. The ‘length’ is the length of the loop, from the start of the loop to the end of the loop. The ‘time’ function determines how many times the loop is repeated before the sample plays out.
24 - What is the major problem that you are likely to encounter when making loops?
The major problem with looping is finding the perfect loop without any noticeable clicks at the points. Another problem is getting the loop to fit with the track tempo but that can be fixed using timestretch.
25 - Imagine a manufacturer has just introduced a new top-of-the-range sampler. What would be the practical benefits of the following features, compared with previous models?
a) More voices:
This would give you greater polyphony meaning more notes can be played simultaneously.
b) More keygroups per program:
This would give you the opportunity to have many more samples in a multisample program and assigning them to smaller keygroups giving the instrument a more real and natural sound because they samples don’t have to be transposed up and down many notes.
c) More outputs:
More outputs mean you can route many programs or samples to different outboard effects modules. More outputs also give you more mixing flexibility since many more sounds can be individually EQ’d and mixed on a console.
d) More RAM:
This gives you more memory to load many samples at once and have instant access to them. A program in the sampler can be larger than on previous samples, meaning the samples can be longer and don’t have to be looped in the sustain phase to give the impression of a longer sample.
26 - When looping a sample of a single note, what characteristics in the waveform are desirable at the start and end point of the loop?
The start and end point should be at the same point vertically; preferably they should both be at the zero-crossing line since this is where the sample has the least power. Plus, the waveform between the start and end points of the loop should be more or less sustained.
27 - You have recorded a two-bar segment of drums. Is it better to loop the sample in the sampler, or to get a sequencer to repeatedly trigger the sample?
It’s better to let the sequencer repeatedly trigger the sample instead of just looping it in the sampler. You don’t want to have the sampler working, using extra DSP power for nothing, when it is simpler to just have the sample triggered externally.
28 - Why would you sample several notes of different pitches from an instrument?
Sampling different pitches and laying them out accordingly, assigning them to small keygroups where a sample only transposes up and down one or two notes will give you a more natural sounding instrument.
29 - What would you be intending to do if you sampled the same note at different volumes?
I would be intending to make a velocity sensitive program for the particular sampled instrument. For example if this was a snare hit sampled are different hit strengths, the samples could all be assigned to the same note but at different velocities to make the snare sound more natural. Hitting the note on the keyboard soft triggers the soft snare hit sample recorded and so on. |
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Sat Apr 24, 2004 6:15 pm |
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