TAL Sampler now has a granular engine!! Public beta available.

[EmptyVessel]

@EmptyVessel - Do you know if there's any intention to add further DACs and/or filter types to TAL Sampler (i.e. for it act like the sound of other samplers) ? For me is my favourite part of the plugin but doesn't seem to have been touched since late 2.x versions

Potentially, I believe the grain mode will be the last change to Sampler for a while as some other things are in the works, but both suggestions make sense to me. Although with the adjustability of existing models you can at least cover a lot more bases than the names of the models would suggest.

[EmptyVessel]

New layout is much better! Grain stuff should be fun to try too, nice work.

YAY! btw the main view that shows all 4 layers where the boxes look rather empty because they're bigger now with the matrix move - there's intention to use that space for something useful.
I'll make a feature walkthrough video once we get to release ready and the features are frozen.

I still really think the fade needs to come back to the main window though. For simple one sample per layer patches, that's the one thing you need to go into the sample editor for. And the fade used to be on the main window, that's where it belongs, with the loop points. I hope that empty space can be used for that?

I also still think the sample start/end and loop points are clear enough on the main page.

Oh and the sample start/end and loop start/end markers in the sample edit page still jump when you grab them.

Those attic echoes aren't going to go away eh? Just because those changes haven't happened yet doesn't mean they won't, just trying to balance additions, new plugins, fixes, feature requests. I agree with your points, it might just be a little while until it happens. I'll check in with the jumping loop points, I was sure that was changed/resolved. Thanks!

[Echoes in the Attic]

New layout is much better! Grain stuff should be fun to try too, nice work.

YAY! btw the main view that shows all 4 layers where the boxes look rather empty because they're bigger now with the matrix move - there's intention to use that space for something useful.
I'll make a feature walkthrough video once we get to release ready and the features are frozen.

I still really think the fade needs to come back to the main window though. For simple one sample per layer patches, that's the one thing you need to go into the sample editor for. And the fade used to be on the main window, that's where it belongs, with the loop points. I hope that empty space can be used for that?

I also still think the sample start/end and loop points are clear enough on the main page.

Oh and the sample start/end and loop start/end markers in the sample edit page still jump when you grab them.

Those attic echoes aren't going to go away eh? Just because those changes haven't happened yet doesn't mean they won't, just trying to balance additions, new plugins, fixes, feature requests. I agree with your points, it might just be a little while until it happens. I'll check in with the jumping loop points, I was sure that was changed/resolved. Thanks!

Understood, thanks!

By the way I just realized I missed the word “not” when I said the loop are clear enough. I think they are a bit too subtle and can be quite hard to see the sample start and end and loop start and end. Distinct lines would probably be better than just a subtle shade for both.

[EmptyVessel]

I mentally added the "not" from the context, yeah they're still pretty subtle even after Patrick made them more obvious

[Tj Shredder]

I'm a Bitwig user so I just installed the CLAP version of the beta and can still use the VST3 version of the stable.

I am not (yet) a Tal-Sampler user, and always wondered how it compares to Bitwigs Sampler, beside the DAC emulation… Now with grains it seems their feature set is comparable…
What is the main advantage for you or any other Bitwig user…?

[EmptyVessel]

I'm a Bitwig user so I just installed the CLAP version of the beta and can still use the VST3 version of the stable.

I am not (yet) a Tal-Sampler user, and always wondered how it compares to Bitwigs Sampler, beside the DAC emulation… Now with grains it seems their feature set is comparable…
What is the main advantage for you or any other Bitwig user…?

For me it's not really about comparing it to other samplers just as a sampler, the point of it was always to accurately emulate the sound of vintage hardware samplers by modelling how they actually work. I have quite a few 90s vintage hardware samplers and TAL Sampler does a great job of sounding extremely similar.

If you're someone without a software sampler at all then TAL Sampler would also make a nice, easy to use, immediate, utility sampler for a very reasonable price, but the whole point of it really is the sound and the ethos of using these old hardware units.
If I'm not looking for a vintage sound then I'll use Bitwig sampler, it's also very quick, has some interesting features and has nice integration into the DAW (slice to multisample, modulation slots etc.). If I want to do something to process a sound where I'd usually use my hardware samplers but feel like doing it in the box I'll do it with TAL Sampler. Even with the grains mode the consideration is still that it's a granular mode - inside an emulated vintage sampler with superb quality zero-feedback-delay filters.

It's worth having a read through the description on the TAL Sampler page as it goes into more detail, the manual explains the way the various re-sampler modes work too, it's much much more than the usual bitcrushing and downsampling you usually see. Hope that helps but shout if not.

[Tj Shredder]

Thanks for the explanation. My first samplers had been an Akai S612, and a FZ-10. I was never keen on the old rusty sound quality, but more on my special use of it. I could do granular with the S612, by moving with one hand the start and end loop points at the same time. Or I created a special cable to pan the single voice outputs of the FZ hard to left and right and got a stereo effect no sampler could do back then… Though I would have preferred a cleaner sound any time…
This is an example of what I did with those samplers:
https://soundcloud.com/ondes-memorielle ... e-of-music
Sampling is so much easier today, but it was an inspiring time…

[EmptyVessel]

Yeah I like that the limitations push you into some inventive ideas, that's a cool track! I still have a lot of love for my old hardware boxes for various reasons and the imperfect sound is certainly a big part of it. I've had several hardware samplers that were just...bad sounding though, so it's not always magic dust
It is funny that, now we have this option for perfect clean sound with modern digital, we (me anyway) hark back to times when things had a bit more dust. I use tape machines quite a bit too for processing audio for my samples and some old 80s/90s rack effects. I do like having the option of a much cleaner sound as an option though, the things I can do with just my computer now would blow the mind of teenage me back in the 80s.
As you say, it's so much easier now but I feel like we lost some artistry with that simplicity. A generalisation of course, plenty of people do incredibly creative things with DAWs but the limits are so much more vast that it's harder to really find that push against limitations that quite often really brings something special to what we do.

[EmptyVessel]

Awesome, how many grains are available?

24 at max density. Grain size will be 2ms to around 1 second.

[mjudge55]

Love love love the granular engine, thank you TAL! I probably seem obsessive about the default patch but I notice in the layer filters the default parameters are set a little weird (resonance cranked, HP filter cranked, LP filter at 0hz). No biggie, just thought I'd mention it.

[EmptyVessel]

Love love love the granular engine, thank you TAL! I probably seem obsessive about the default patch but I notice in the layer filters the default parameters are set a little weird (resonance cranked, HP filter cranked, LP filter at 0hz). No biggie, just thought I'd mention it.

Ah yes, I noticed that during the beta phase but assumed it wouldn't be left like that, I'm also very obsessive about default/init presets being as...init as they can be. We'll sort it out, thank you Super glad you like the new addition!

[Schnickschnack]

I have an idea how to improve the Tal Sampler Browser. I use the arrow keys on my typing keyboard to browse through folders and their many subfolders. but if i go back from a directory to a previous one, i have to navigate down from the top of the list again. It would make more sense if when I go back to a previous directory, I also end up back on the folder I originally went to. So that I can continue navigating with the arrow keys from there, and not from the first folder in the list again.

[EmptyVessel]

I have an idea how to improve the Tal Sampler Browser. I use the arrow keys on my typing keyboard to browse through folders and their many subfolders. but if i go back from a directory to a previous one, i have to navigate down from the top of the list again. It would make more sense if when I go back to a previous directory, I also end up back on the folder I originally went to. So that I can continue navigating with the arrow keys from there, and not from the first folder in the list again.

Yeah the Bitwig browser works kinda like that, or at least if you expand a set of subfolders and then go look somewhere else the whole branch you were previously at stays extended. In TAL Sampler though the left arrow is just going up a level in the directory tree rather than acting as a back button so it's less trivial than it appears to do what you're suggesting. It would have to start recording your movement through the directories and the left arrow would need to actually act like a back button rather than just up one level in the tree. I'll certainly pass it on to Patrick though, perhaps we can think of some way around it, I get where you're coming from. My workflow if I'm working regularly with a set of folders is to quickly hit the favourites Star so I can jump around them quickly.