How much Sample Libraries do you use / recommend?

[Evengy]

Hey Guys,

i realized that i have too much Samples. Everytime i start a new Track im wasting a lot of time to decide which Library i wanna use and it´s also confusing :/ I will never know my Library very will with this way so i wanna do something new (in a more creative way)

Im interested in:
1) What is your experience in organizing Samples?
2) How much Libraries do you recommend?
3) Anyone here who prefers one big Library? What´s the advantage for you?

Thanks for your time and have a nice day
Evengy

[Goseba]

I have far more than I will ever use but it is nice to dig in and know that I will likely find something I have not used before.

[djadonis206]

I have a ton but I'll usually stick with one label or artist for production. For example, I just got the Vengeance minimal pack, well that's all I'm digging in right now. I just got the Dustin Zahn pack and I dip in that from time to time but I'll usually just stick to one pack per production.

But with that said, I know where my favorite rides, kicks, and snares are in scattered packs.

[moonpie]

Just to add to op's - Im also curious - whats a good sample pack to start with? One that will have a good selection of kicks/snares/ percussion? Like a good all rounder.

[arachnaut]

I really like Soniccouture's libraries. Most are available for Kontakt and some have Live sets for Simpler/Sampler. The Kontakt ones have interesting scripting effects which are somewhat emulated with Live racks in the Live sets.

Here are the ones I like the most (not in any order):
Glassworks
Skiddaw Stones
Tingklik
Array Mbira
Pan Drums
Balinese Gamelan
EP73
Extended Piano

What makes them special are they are meticulously sampled with many velocity layers, round robbins, etc. and lots of clever presets of weird sounds.

Another really good one is Sample Logic Water Harp.

My sonic preferences are oriented towards the weird, so take that under advisement.

A caution - many of these sample libraries are in the gigabyte range - so you can only load one or two in a 32-bit system until you run out of memory. You really need a 64-bit DAW to do these justice.

[JMFOne]

I have about 2 or 3 so far and like has been said, I just know where my best kicks are or where the best perc grooves are etc.
No one pack has it all imo. I havent felt like I have too many samples yet but I do regularly clear out trash which I know I won't use. It's so easy to clog your library up with stuff you just wont use.

[Gregory Wells-King]

Various, drum loops, non of which will be being used in Live 9.

I intend to use this version change, to make my music my own for the better, save any one shot's that are cool though, found sounds are still difficult without a good sampler and I like those analogue sounds. in particular Ian Boddy Drumalogue. http://www.din.org.uk/ianboddywaveforms/wfda003.html

[condra]

I think it depends on what kind of music you're making, and how you like to be organised.
Some artists use very few different samples. Some even seem to use the same synth patches a lot.

Over the years, my workflow has improved by cutting down my set up, but staying organised.

I have a well organized, and large library of sounds, but I also create and save my own custom drum racks, which acts like a sort of favourites folder for groups of sounds.
I also have a "miscellaneous" folder, which acts as a sort of limbo, and helps me keep my main sections clean.

My Samples folder is sorted as follows:
CONSTRUCTION KITS
SAMPLE PACKS
LOOPS TUNES
LOOPS DRUMS AND SFX > GENRE1/GENRE2/etc
HITS AND KITS > KITS>KIT1/KIT2/ETC // HITS>KICKS/SNARES/etc
VOCALS
MISC

If you want to be efficient, I think you should know exactly what type of sound you are looking for, rather than just waiting for something to stand out.
If you know what type of sample you need, it shouldn't take long to source it.

[kanuck]

I actually don't use any sample libraries for the precise reason you said. I just prefer to sample my own sounds or synthesize them.

[infernal.machine]

I have an external hard drive full of sample libraries... more than I could use in a lifetime.

Every once in a while when I feel my sounds are getting stale, I'll dig into them and pull out some stuff I like. I add effects, layer em up, resample, and then make a drum rack or sampler full of the modified pulled sounds. I save the rack to my instruments folder and its ready to go.

It's not about having a lot of samples.. it's about having good samples in an easily accessible place.

[Gregory Wells-King]

I have an external hard drive full of sample libraries... more than I could use in a lifetime.

Every once in a while when I feel my sounds are getting stale, I'll dig into them and pull out some stuff I like. I add effects, layer em up, resample, and then make a drum rack or sampler full of the modified pulled sounds. I save the rack to my instruments folder and its ready to go.

It's not about having a lot of samples.. it's about having good samples in an easily accessible place.

Your tellin me, I dumped Reaktor simply because the librarian for samples, did my head in? perhaps I was throwing the spanner in the works
by using it, but S*** I gave up..

[arachnaut]

I have an external hard drive full of sample libraries... more than I could use in a lifetime.

Every once in a while when I feel my sounds are getting stale, I'll dig into them and pull out some stuff I like. I add effects, layer em up, resample, and then make a drum rack or sampler full of the modified pulled sounds. I save the rack to my instruments folder and its ready to go.

It's not about having a lot of samples.. it's about having good samples in an easily accessible place.

Your tellin me, I dumped Reaktor simply because the librarian for samples, did my head in? perhaps I was throwing the spanner in the works
by using it, but S*** I gave up..

The sample map editor in Reaktor is a drag and drop tool - what could be easier? You can drag 128 samples into it at once.

The Live Sampler editor has some problems and Live's own library browser has issues - what tool doesn't?

[cotdagoo]

Really found The Bard (http://getbard.com/) useful for windows & organizing my sample libraries into only the content I want & use (mostly one shots/drum samples - not much into pre-fab loops or 'construction kits')

You can setup your own folder structure and quickly & easily move samples to the desired locations.

I spend less time browsing, and more time creating when I know what 'cards' I'm holding