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What samplers do you use, and when?

edited January 2023 in Creations

Koala, Segments, Sitala, Dawnbeat, Audiolayer, Decent Sampler, AASamplePlayer etc....

Which do you use more and why? What are the main pros and cons of each? Which do you prefer in specific circumstances (eg sampling an instrument, making a hip hop beat, doing something more ambient or experimental) etc etc?

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Comments

  • edited January 2023

    @Gavinski said:
    Koala, Segments, Sitala, Dawnbeat, AASamplePlayer etc....

    Which do you use more and why? What are the main pros and cons of each? Which do you prefer in specific circumstances (eg making a hip hop beat vs something more ambient or experimental) etc etc?

    Being a complete noob to sampling, but with a passion to learn right now, as sampling is calling me as an approach to ambient (yes, I know that's a little off the ambient beaten track), I'm here mostly to listen, learn, and follow this thread. Thanks for starting it @Gavinski.

    I must admit, I have all of the above, but so far, I'm finding Koala to work best for me. I also have begun to learn Beatmaker 3, which attracts me most out of all the iOS DAWs. If only it had BM3 on the iPhone too. I loved the simplicity of AASamplePlayer, but haven't got to grips with how to use it in my workflow. I have seen (may have been you) it used in multiple instances in AUM, which looked interesting. I appreciate the features of DawnBeat, but struggle to like it, when I have Koala. I keep dipping in to it to see what I'm missing, but the feeling is, nothing.

    I love the speed of use of Koala. It feels really flexible, and creative, as tools go. Especially for my ambient uses. And it looks and works great on my iPhone SE2020 and iPad Air 4. The Mac OS version is being really buggy, so I haven't been using it since it didn't flow for me.

    I also have Segments. I must have bought it a long time ago. I never really got into it.

    Koala for the win for me. Oh, and I almost forgot, Samplr! I use and love it a lot. Such a creative tool. Beautiful to look at, to use, to play.

  • @andowrites said:

    @Gavinski said:
    Koala, Segments, Sitala, Dawnbeat, AASamplePlayer etc....

    Which do you use more and why? What are the main pros and cons of each? Which do you prefer in specific circumstances (eg making a hip hop beat vs something more ambient or experimental) etc etc?

    Being a complete noob to sampling, but with a passion to learn right now, as sampling is calling me as an approach to ambient (yes, I know that's a little off the ambient beaten track), I'm here mostly to listen, learn, and follow this thread. Thanks for starting it @Gavinski.

    I must admit, I have all of the above, but so far, I'm finding Koala to work best for me. I also have begun to learn Beatmaker 3, which attracts me most out of all the iOS DAWs. If only it had BM3 on the iPhone too. I loved the simplicity of AASamplePlayer, but haven't got to grips with how to use it in my workflow. I have seen (may have been you) it used in multiple instances in AUM, which looked interesting. I appreciate the features of DawnBeat, but struggle to like it, when I have Koala. I keep dipping in to it to see what I'm missing, but the feeling is, nothing.

    I love the speed of use of Koala. It feels really flexible, and creative, as tools go. Especially for my ambient uses. And it looks and works great on my iPhone SE2020 and iPad Air 4. The Mac OS version is being really buggy, so I haven't been using it since it didn't flow for me.

    I also have Segments. I must have bought it a long time ago. I never really got into it.

    Koala for the win for me.

    Thanks Ando! I'm also interested in this topic and hoping to learn more. Definitely there are tons of people using samplers for ambient! Nothing weird about that, especially when you add fx, layer things etc.

  • I always use Segments controlled by Riffer. Just load a file or multiple into it and get very unexpected results if you trigger the different slices. Playing with overall pitch during that is a lot of fun!

  • Koala’s latest file browser update made it difficult for me to use anything else! I still turn to Drambo when I want trigger conditions and non-destructive slicing, but Koala (running as an AUv3 within Loopy Pro) is my go-to 99% of the time.

  • AudioLayer, Decent Sampler, Koala. I need to spend more time learning Koala. AudioLayer is my default for "virtual guitar " playing.

  • @Gavinski said:

    @andowrites said:

    @Gavinski said:
    Koala, Segments, Sitala, Dawnbeat, AASamplePlayer etc....

    Which do you use more and why? What are the main pros and cons of each? Which do you prefer in specific circumstances (eg making a hip hop beat vs something more ambient or experimental) etc etc?

    Being a complete noob to sampling, but with a passion to learn right now, as sampling is calling me as an approach to ambient (yes, I know that's a little off the ambient beaten track), I'm here mostly to listen, learn, and follow this thread. Thanks for starting it @Gavinski.

    I must admit, I have all of the above, but so far, I'm finding Koala to work best for me. I also have begun to learn Beatmaker 3, which attracts me most out of all the iOS DAWs. If only it had BM3 on the iPhone too. I loved the simplicity of AASamplePlayer, but haven't got to grips with how to use it in my workflow. I have seen (may have been you) it used in multiple instances in AUM, which looked interesting. I appreciate the features of DawnBeat, but struggle to like it, when I have Koala. I keep dipping in to it to see what I'm missing, but the feeling is, nothing.

    I love the speed of use of Koala. It feels really flexible, and creative, as tools go. Especially for my ambient uses. And it looks and works great on my iPhone SE2020 and iPad Air 4. The Mac OS version is being really buggy, so I haven't been using it since it didn't flow for me.

    I also have Segments. I must have bought it a long time ago. I never really got into it.

    Koala for the win for me.

    Thanks Ando! I'm also interested in this topic and hoping to learn more. Definitely there are tons of people using samplers for ambient! Nothing weird about that, especially when you add fx, layer things etc.

    Great to know I'm not weird! I've actually been wishing for a hardware sampler. Something like the NI Maschine. But for now, iPad, keyboard, and Ableton it is. I'll find my way. Hopefully I'll pick up a few tricks along the way.

    By the way, whilst in another thread just now, I came across this desktop app, KitMaker, which you can use to create kits from samples and sample packs, for easy installation, and a few other benefits, for a range of DAWs and apps, including BM3, NanoStudio 2, and IMPC Pro 2 (iPad). You can also make kits with numbered files, but I'm not sure what that means? Can anyone here enlighten me? Does that mean I could import the numbered file kits into Koala and co?

    You can find it at https://www.kit-maker.com

  • On the iPad I use Beatmaker 3. It's great for dealing with 1-shots as well as chopping samples. It's my favorite app for finishing a song too.
    For editing samples sometimes I'll use BM3 and Auditor, but prefer the Akai Force or Sound Forge on the PC due to the bigger screen and dedicated controllers.
    For sampling external instruments and VSTis, I'll use the Force's auto-sampler.
    Sometimes in an AUM/apeMatrix session I'll use Segments AU.
    I haven't tried Audiolayer or Koala.

  • @DarkAum3o said:
    I always use Segments controlled by Riffer. Just load a file or multiple into it and get very unexpected results if you trigger the different slices. Playing with overall pitch during that is a lot of fun!

    That sounds cool!

  • Koala all the way...
    ...It's one of the few apps I have with a very high 'fun factor' :sunglasses:

  • Decent Sampler...

  • Hello, by the way, could you tell me what is the best ( and easiest) program for one-shot samples (AUv3)?

  • Koala - usually for something quick, fun, maybe a few one shot instruments or one shot chords, and a few one shot drums for shorter track/beat. But also sometimes as an Au as part of something larger.

    SEGments- I like to use vocals, or solo instrument lines/melodies to chop up an play a new way

    Sitala - for all my single hit drum kits

    Digistix 2 - for drum kits, mostly velocity layered drums, but I’ve built a bunch of kit’s before sitala came out

    Audiolayer- for SFZ files, or multi velocity layered instrument, EXS files if they are working

    Decent Sampler- only have the space to use this on my iPhone currently, for DS files, sounds great

    AA Sample player - haven’t used a ton, still new, but mostly instrument one shots, 808 shots

    I feel like I’m missing something….

  • @lasselu said:
    Decent Sampler...

    In terms of consuming samples rather than making your own, Decent Sampler fits my taste so well. The amount of free - and paid - amazing samples there is incredible, and will take you to places that no synth can. Yes, not even Tomofon. Anyone who likes experimental and organic sounds should check out Pianobook, search filtered to find DS libraries. I pray for a better interface on iOS. I also hope that Apple will lift their ram limit per AUv3, allowing us to use multiple instances of this, even the heavy duty ones, without crashes.

  • I mainly use koala for quite a lot. It’s my main app for creating stuff before arranging and mixing to get stems. Something about the workflow is just very smooth for what I need. I like to use it for minor audio editing as well and chopping stuff up.

    Dawnbeat is starting to get more use as well. I like using it more for resampling stuff though vs creating stems with it cos the limitations But the onboard effects are really nice and the workflow is just awesome for resampling stuff. It really gets sounds of old hardware samples well.

    I like AAsample for instruments in aum cos I can load something quick and it’s very light on the cpu

    Sitala for my samples from mars drum collection and audiolayer for the instruments cos it can load sfz. I don’t do much else with audiolayer though cos I’m impatient.

    I use Neon when I’m making samples to capture the audio cos I like all the tools is has to edit and keeps all the newly recorded stuff in one place until I want to move it elsewhere to get it ready for some music.

    I prefer stuff that’s quick and not overly complex cos I just need to get things done with speed when I’m in the zone and not have to think about other shit

  • @Gavinski said:

    @lasselu said:
    Decent Sampler...

    In terms of consuming samples rather than making your own, Decent Sampler fits my taste so well. The amount of free - and paid - amazing samples there is incredible, and will take you to places that no synth can. Yes, not even Tomofon. Anyone who likes experimental and organic sounds should check out Pianobook, search filtered to find DS libraries. I pray for a better interface on iOS. I also hope that Apple will lift their ram limit per AUv3, allowing us to use multiple instances of this, even the heavy duty ones, without crashes.

    Yeah, this...

  • @Fingolfinzz said:
    I mainly use koala for quite a lot. It’s my main app for creating stuff before arranging and mixing to get stems. Something about the workflow is just very smooth for what I need. I like to use it for minor audio editing as well and chopping stuff up.

    Dawnbeat is starting to get more use as well. I like using it more for resampling stuff though vs creating stems with it cos the limitations But the onboard effects are really nice and the workflow is just awesome for resampling stuff. It really gets sounds of old hardware samples well.

    I like AAsample for instruments in aum cos I can load something quick and it’s very light on the cpu

    Sitala for my samples from mars drum collection and audiolayer for the instruments cos it can load sfz. I don’t do much else with audiolayer though cos I’m impatient.

    I use Neon when I’m making samples to capture the audio cos I like all the tools is has to edit and keeps all the newly recorded stuff in one place until I want to move it elsewhere to get it ready for some music.

    I prefer stuff that’s quick and not overly complex cos I just need to get things done with speed when I’m in the zone and not have to think about other shit

    Great explanation. Can you explain the resampling process to me please?

  • If anyone here is using hardware with iOS for sampling, resampling, recording, or live performance, could you please share what you're using?

    I would really like a Launchpad X or Pro Mk3, or Maschine Mikro Mk3, to use with my iPad and Ableton. I've been weighing up my options, and also like the look of the full Maschine Mk 3. I've even looked at the Novation Circuit Rhythm.

    All for meditative ambient and drone. Both recorded and live. I have purchased samples, but am now creating my own, on iOS, in Ableton, and field recordings on my Tascam.

  • @andowrites yeah I’ll just keep the sequencer off on it when I’m wanting to resample stuff. Basically I just layer up the effects to what sample I want to resample and change the sample rate to what I want and then hit record and then tap the pad of the sample I want and stop recording after I got it and then I can trim the sample and send it to the pad to overwrite the original sample.

  • For making my own bizarro samples I’ve tended to use Fieldscaper a lot to capture and manipulate sounds. Then after importing them to AudioShare I trigger them in AUM file player using midi-controlled play enable. But my attention has turned back to Elsa recently (which is AUv3) - it can capture and manipulate sounds for interesting and weird results much like Fieldscaper but also serves as the actual sample player. One of its modes allows a sample to be sliced up such that different midi notes can trigger different slices - fun for random triggering and also reducing AUM track count compared to using AUM file player (i.e. make one long sample that contains a string of individual samples - 5min samples will be supported in next release).

    All of the above is in a sound design context but I have also used Elsa more musically to create instruments, similar to what can be done in something like Samplr (another awesome sampler, surprised noone has mentioned it yet). Fine tuning the samples currently can be an issue if you’re sampling something that isn't an instrument eg a ringing wine glass, but Elsa’s next update has micro-tuning so problem solved B).

    I mentioned Samplr - that’s still one of the best samplers on iOS. If only it was AUV3 it would see more use round here.

  • edited January 2023

    @Fingolfinzz said:
    @andowrites yeah I’ll just keep the sequencer off on it when I’m wanting to resample stuff. Basically I just layer up the effects to what sample I want to resample and change the sample rate to what I want and then hit record and then tap the pad of the sample I want and stop recording after I got it and then I can trim the sample and send it to the pad to overwrite the original sample.

    Thank you for describing for me. :)

  • I'm interested in micro cassette sampling, resampling, and recording. Is anyone here using analogue tools in their sampling?

  • @andowrites said:
    I'm interested in micro cassette sampling, resampling, and recording. Is anyone here using analogue tools in their sampling?

    For microcassette emulation you can use Caelum Tape Pro

  • Forget about wasting money on analogue gear... You're posting it all digitally anyway!

  • Generally, my "use cases" for various samplers include the following:

    Sketchpad/composing tool: Koala or MPC Live II (HW)
    Rompler w/sequencing capabilities: Beathawk, particularly for percussion

    General rompler: Pure Synth or Kontakt (desktop)
    Instrument in itself: Samplr

    Drum kit: Sitala, Patterning 2, Beathawk, MPC Live II, or my old Korg Electribe ES-1 (HW)
    Electric keys: Neo Soul Keys
    Acoustic keys: Ravenscroft, Pure Synth, or 8Dio's Kontakt pianos (desktop)
    Mellotron: Streetlytron Pro or various Kontakt libraries

    I occasionally futz around with DawnBeat and Decent Sampler, but neither has wiggled its way into regular rotation. DB has potential - it has a few options that I'd actually love to see in Koala - but I haven't spent time learning its ins/outs, and Koala's ease of use has thus far scuttled my motivation. Meanwhile, my experience with DS has been a bit buggy; like its spiritual antecedent BS-16i, I respect and occasionally use it, but don't always enjoy playing it.

    That said: as of 2023, I feel pretty pretty spoiled for samplers on iOS! We're missing a "category killer" tracker in the vein of Polyend or Renoise, but the rest is basically covered. Anyone with an iPad and a reasonable audio interface (and/or control surface) can approximate the power of an MPC, SP404, Electribe, or Digitakt, while DS and the UVI/Gospel Musicians/Streetly apps offer 97% (or more) of what you'd get from a high-end Kontakt library. Heck, I wasn't even aware of AASamplePlayer until this thread, and it's obviously doing an Ableton Simpler-via-OP-1 thing - for a buck, no less. Definitely cool times for those with a hybrid production setup.

  • Koala, FRMS if you can call it a sampler, Audiolayer when I’m feeling growed up and responsible, ELSA when I remember to, dRambo most of the time. Octatrack when I don’t want screen, bloody love that thing, like the best tracker ever imagined…

  • @andowrites said:
    If anyone here is using hardware with iOS for sampling, resampling, recording, or live performance, could you please share what you're using?

    I would really like a Launchpad X or Pro Mk3, or Maschine Mikro Mk3, to use with my iPad and Ableton. I've been weighing up my options, and also like the look of the full Maschine Mk 3. I've even looked at the Novation Circuit Rhythm.

    All for meditative ambient and drone. Both recorded and live. I have purchased samples, but am now creating my own, on iOS, in Ableton, and field recordings on my Tascam.

    Having a Tascam you're pretty damn equiped for ambient and drones on hardware :wink:
    My weapon of choice would be one of the SP-404 series. I have the SX. The new MK2 is even better from what I know. They can handle huge sampling times.

  • Koala all the way. It’s just too damn fun to drag and drop and resample the pads all over the place.

  • How about BLEASS SampleWiz 2?

  • @wired2moon said:
    But my attention has turned back to Elsa recently (which is AUv3) - it can capture and manipulate sounds for interesting and weird results much like Fieldscaper but also serves as the actual sample player. One of its modes allows a sample to be sliced up such that different midi notes can trigger different slices - fun for random triggering and also reducing AUM track count compared to using AUM file player (i.e. make one long sample that contains a string of individual samples - 5min samples will be supported in next release).

    This made me go and buy Elsa... :)

  • @lasselu said:
    How about BLEASS SampleWiz 2?

    I keep wondering about this too.

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