Highlife baby-steps for lowlife user, please?

[Hitch]

I'd like to get into discoDSP's Highlife sampler because it seems to have lots of wonderful functions, but I've been defeated by the manual and my complete lack of experience with samplers. Though I've managed to get a few sounds out of PaaxCM it was more by luck than judgment. Is there anyone out there who could tell me, in words of less than two syllables, how to load and map a sample with Highlife, please? Before you ask - yes, I'm dense, and yes, I'm obtuse. Sorry. I'd also be interested in such mysterious subjects as slicing and drum mapping.

You may now bang your collective foreheads on your collective keyboards.

[Hitch]

Isn't anyone going to tell me to stop being so lazy and RTFM?

[SampleScience]

Search for this file on your hardrive: HighLife Users Manual.pdf

[Hitch]

Well, that told me. If only I understood more than every third sentence. And I bet I'm not the only one. I just can't get started with the damn thing - samplers are a strange new world to me. I may have to give Paax another go, he said weakly.

[lateralus778]

I've also not been able to figure out samplers (except Wusikstation of course).
So you're not alone.

[Hitch]

I knew KVR would make me feel better.

[shamann]

how to load and map a sample with Highlife

Okay, here you go:



That picture shows what is essentially Highlife's control centre, where you access important stuff like loading samples and changing between performance and editor screens.

To load a sample, click on the button labelled "Sample." That will bring up a file browser window, just select the .wav file you want to load.

To go to Editor mode, click on the button with an arrow beside "View" and select "Editor." In Editor mode, you'll see the waveform and a section above it to the right called "Properties." The Properties section tells you important information about the sample, like where it starts, where it ends, how much the playback speed is tracked by the keyboard, etc.

Many of the little black boxes work like sliders, so click on them with your mouse and move your mouse up/down to adjust them.

To map a sample, you actually just have to load a sample, it'll be mapped automatically. To adjust mapping, look in the Properties section. You'll see a line of values that reads "Root [note value] Key [note value] To [note value]". "Root" lets you set the key at which the sample is played back exactly as it would if you were playing it in a media player. Every key above or below will change the playback speed of the sample accordingly. "Key" and "To" lets you set the range the sample can be played on. If you want to do a multi-sample instrument, you'll probably want to restrict the range of each sample, so that they all fit in succession on the keyboard.

If you look slightly to the left in the Properties section, you'll see a row that says "Coar [0]Fine [0]Kc [100]." Those values let you adjust the pitch/playback speed of the sample. The most important one is the Kc (which might not actually be a c, it just looks like one). It lets you adjust keyboard tracking to pitch. At 100 (percent), it'll pitch exactly as you would expect. But, when you slice the sample for drum loop playback, it'll automatically go to 0, so that the sample plays back at the same rate on every key. If you want to undo slicing and go back to normal playback, you'll have to remember to set Kc back to 100 manually.

There's also a "Vel" section in Properties, which lets you set the velocity range of a sample. If you lower the high end of the range to mid point (the range is 0 low to 127 high, which is standard for MIDI), the sample will only play when you touch the keys lightly. This way you can map a second sample to the high range of the velocity, so it'll play back only when you hit the keys harder.

slicing and drum mapping.

To slice, load a sample. In the Editor mode, you'll notice a bar right above the waveform view. Select the "Cue" menu. At the bottom of the menu, select "Sync Split." You have now sliced a sample. Play the root key on your keyboard and you'll hear the whole sample. Each note above the root key will play starting from the next slice.

[stanlea]

shamann, you're a good pedagogue.

[shamann]

Thanks, glad to hear it.

[Hitch]

Shamann, thank you very much for taking the time to explain things so well. I'll have a tinker tonight (sounds ominous) and report on whether you've made Highlife idiot-proof. It'll be interesting to see if any other KVR newbies take the plunge with the program because of your post. Thanks again.

[shamann]

Hope it helps you get started. There's more functionality in Highlife, but once you learn how to begin with it, it becomes easier to explore.

[triple p]

i am new to using it to i have had it for awhile but it seemed to much even after reading the manual. big help shamann

[zvon]

Good tutorial shamann!

As the freeware version HighLife does not have a library, those interested may visit the following page:
http://www.kara-moon.com/index.php?modi ... m001_04_05

You will find some free programs for HighLife and often a practical example will also help to understand how a VSTi works.

[Vonbrucken]

thanks zvon

[zvon]

thanks zvon

You're welcome.