So how do you use your sampler?

[beej]

I'm interested in how people are using samplers creatively.

For me, I was brought up on the 80's when sound design was really all synth-based (not talking movie FX here).

When sampling started to come in, everyone was first using low quality samples, then starting to get into looping and multisampling just to make something playable, but it was mostly imitative sampling.

So I'm confortable with synths, and I'm also comfortable using synth waveforms in modern samplers with filters/ADSR's and other synth type facilities to make sounds, and how to make playable multi-sampled sounds.

But I've never really got into modern creative sampling for sound design. Using samples as a start point already seems inflexible, as so much stuff is static and already "burned in" to the sample.

So, with the complex feature sets of things like Kontakt & Reaktor, how are you using these to do sound design? What sort of techniques are you using? What are the sorts of things you are doing that go beyond conventional synthesis with synths?

Basically, I'm looking for ideas of using a sampler to give me things other than what I can get from synths, because I've never really got into sampling as a sound design tool, apart from the basic stuff (filtering, shaping, cutting up etc). I'm hoping to get a little free education...

So what are you guys doing, and what am I missing out on (if anything) ?

Ideas appreciated...

[shamann]

My preferred way of working is with sampling, mostly because of the odd benefits you get from dealing with static captures of sound. So I'll often write lots of parts and source material and then deal with it as samples when it comes time compose/arrange. Mostly the stuff I do relies on fairly simple operations: looping, pitched playback, cut-ups. Dealing with samples really leads you to strike upon odd rhythms and timbres, simply because in manipulating the audio you are adding a new rhythm on top of set rhythmic patterns or you are distorting the sound to play back in an unnatural and unexpected way.

I'll give you two minor examples of things I do with sampling:

http://www.intelligentmachinery.net/rel ... ingrzm.mp3

If you listen to the opening stabs in this track (it's long so you don't have to listen to it all if you don't want, just the first 30 seconds), you can hear a faint melody that fades with the tail of the sound. That kind of arrangement is hard to do effectively with a synth or a MIDI sequence. Conceptually for me, it turns phrases of sound/music into the same function as single notes in traditional music arrangement.

http://www.sighup.ca/tunes/SIGHUP_sketch_01.mp3

In this track, the central idea is based around the odd, slightly off timing, which really is a by-product of dealing with a sampler, in this case Liveslice. What I've done is record a phrase with an electric piano sound, and then completely rearranged it as a sample. Doing it this way, all of the timing becomes changed through edits, so discrete sounds begin/end in unexpected ways.

[beej]

Thanks for the reply, interesting.

So you often just kind of mess around with sounds and parts and synths and FX & stuff, then render them all into samples, and then in a separate session you'll pull up stuff out of your library and start to fit them together, cutting them up etc?

I will definitely do some more of that. I generally find composing by using phrases/loops etc kinda frustrating, because (as a musician) it's often easier to play the "right" parts than trying to find or edit something to fit - but I appreciate that's all part of the "sound" and the process of working that way...

And as I'm trying to get away a little from the usual type of things I would naturally play, it seems a good process to try and get used to...

[shamann]

So you often just kind of mess around with sounds and parts and synths and FX & stuff, then render them all into samples, and then in a separate session you'll pull up stuff out of your library and start to fit them together, cutting them up etc?

That's pretty much it. I almost never do any kind of MIDI sequencing these days. Part of the fun for me is live playing, so the way I work is turning all the jammed stuff into an ordered whole. The method suits my style of music, too, so it won't always be a good fit to any given style. For instance, if you are doing some kind of synth pop song, highly metered sequencing is a benefit.

What I do is a kind of music sympathetic to the source material, so it rarely falls within any rigid view of composing and it tends to derive itself from the flaws inherent in the material. Your mileage may vary.

[flippya2000]

I chose the last option - coz there's no option for people who don't have a dedicated sampler/don't use samplers much. If I had one, I'd probably use it to do sound editting, making new loop points for audio mangling/new sounds. I wouldn't just use it to playback samples - I'd want to use all its extra sound editting tools not generally found in VSTIs/hosts. All the good samplers seem too expensive for me ATM, I'm waiting for a sampler war to cut costs & make em more affordable

[Ford Prefect]

Where's the option that includes me getting into my gravity boots?(realistically? I don't use a sampler properly at all...I see doppelmangler as more of a "sampler" than some of the "by definition" ones...)

[torhan]

I'm more of a composer than sound designer, so the first choice.

[beej]

I chose the last option - coz there's no option for people who don't have a dedicated sampler/don't use samplers much.

Yes, the poll is for people that actually use samplers, as I'm looking for tips.

People who don't use samplers, well, probably won't be reading the thread...

Still looking to hear from some power users. Come on, everyone goes on how Kontakt is so great because of the *huge* feature set - I wanna hear how you guys are using that stuff...

[DWb]

What about beat slicing and, er, sampling things?

[tee boy]

My sampler gets a wide variety of uses. Sometimes I use it as a drum machine, sound design tool, library playback etc. I use Kontakt, and it really is probably my most valued VST instrument.

TB

[shamann]

sound design tool

How specifically are you using Kontakt 2 as a sound design tool? I've been looking at samplers of those sort a lot lately, would be useful to hear what folk are able to do with it.

[Kraku]

I don't have a sampler, so I went fishing...

[beej]

sound design tool

How specifically are you using Kontakt 2 as a sound design tool? I've been looking at samplers of those sort a lot lately, would be useful to hear what folk are able to do with it.

Yes, that's certainly one of my motivations of starting the thread - I'd like to hear what people are doing that's different from sound design using synths...

[tee boy]

sound design tool

How specifically are you using Kontakt 2 as a sound design tool? I've been looking at samplers of those sort a lot lately, would be useful to hear what folk are able to do with it.

Well, its less about the specific features and more about the work method... if that makes sense!

What I mean is that when working with the sample, it forces me into new ways of working that I would probably not have tried ordinarily. For instance, the other day I had some train and mechanical samples and I was playing about with them in an ambient context. For some reason I decided to loop a little section and bung it into Kontakt. Then I set up these different parameter env's sent some of the signal to a long reverb and delay. Then I start playing big chords on the keyboard, and I have these wild mechanical sweeping sounds!

I take those, HP filter them and lay them above a deep synth drone. Before I know whats going on I have this lovely industrial style ambient bed.

See, I am constantly looking for new ways of working. Im less bothered about specific functions these days, as Csound can do pretty much everything you'd want. Instead I strive to find new work flows and areas for experimentation. And imo, Kontakt seems to lead me into new ways of working all the time.

TB

[tee boy]

Absynth is another great program for that kind of thing. Its way more than just the sum of its 'features'. You could reproduce the functionality of Absynth in Csound or Max/MSP without to much bother (given a little time), but you wouldnt replicate the intuitiveness of the GUI and the bizarre experiments that you end up getting into.

TB