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Sampler: key mapping when loading multiple samples

Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2006 4:12 am
by Nokatus
As a bunch of samples can be dragged into Sampler in one go, it would make a lot of sense to be able to choose a way of mapping oneshots that doesn't require manually placing every single sample. Currently, the samples are mapped onto the full key range by default. When dragging a bunch of oneshots, say, 40-50 individual drum samples into Sampler, this trivial procedure becomes a pain. [Edit: even when using the "distrubute zones equally" functionality. See the next two posts.]

Along with the missing multiple outputs, this is the main reason I feel I can't use Sampler to intuitively and quickly sculpt drum material using oneshots. Of course there's Impulse and there are racks and so on, but I can't help feeling like there's a lot of wasted potential in Sampler because of this. It would be a really awesome drum workhorse with all its modulation capabilities and otherwise flexible editing.

So, in the same way this is currently possible in Shortcircuit (for example), I would like to 1) drag multiple oneshots into Sampler and have them instantly mapped and 2) select any individual sample inside the multisample and be able to instantly send it through a different effects chain (i.e. select a different output for it). Any individual sample, and without messing around with any unnecessary keyzone worries or automation or other switches for that simple thing.

For number two, stacking many Samplers inside a rack only yields this functionality if you design the groundwork for the rack beforehand and stick to that (basically, decide which ranges/devices will play through which chains, and keep loading your sounds into the instances accordingly). This way, you end up working inside multiple mapping interfaces and you are constrained to the rack design, choosing between different ranges and different chains, even when you'd just like to be freely importing new material to experiment with. Don't get me wrong: I love racks and the massive possibilities they brought, but in this particular case they are a workaround, resulting in fiddling with a literally redundant workflow and diving inside multiple Sampler instances - when all you'd like to do is to spontaneously send a certain drum hit, currently residing inside a certain Sampler instance and mapped to key X, into a different effects chain.

This is much less than optimal when you're just itching to load heaps of oneshots inside a sampler and improvise new rhythmic wonders :lol: hoping to freely utilise all the power there really is inside this instrument. To me, Live has always been about the workflow, about the flexibility of creating. If it's seriously suggested that Sampler doesn't need multiple outputs because you can always stack them in a rack, I think that's missing the main point.

I guess I'm just a bit shocked to find out how insanely fast this kind of workflow in Shortcircuit really is 8O ... It's seriously very good for creative sampling.

Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2006 9:15 am
by deva
there is a command to auto divide the keyrange for all selected samples

Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2006 1:54 pm
by Nokatus
deva wrote:there is a command to auto divide the keyrange for all selected samples
"Distribute zones equally", as great it is to have around, still makes this particular procedure slow. It doesn't let you simply specify the range into which you want the oneshots to be distributed and then adjust the root notes accordingly. Instead it works based on the root note for every sample. This means that you first drag the material in, then you manually place the root note for every single sample so that they fall onto the keys you want them to be distributed on, and then hit "Distribute zones equally" ...

I do like the Sampler mapping editor a lot. Also this root note -based distributing functionality is very nice when specifying varying key ranges for multiple samples in one go. However, if I simply have, say, 25 oneshots already loaded and evenly distributed through C1-C3, and then after a while I'd like to load some thirty more of them, I would expect the intuitive option of just dropping them into the workspace and having them mapped from C#3 onwards with no extra fuss. Now I have to drop them in first, then adjust all thirty root notes individually, then select the whole lot and distribute them.

For the record, this doesn't bother me as much as the missing multiple outs :P but it still makes quickly accessing stacks of oneshots clearly more fiddly than it should be.

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 12:16 am
by emptypond
i agree with this post... manually setting keyzones for 120 samples is not very fun..possibility to Distribute root notes equally would be great..

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 2:28 am
by longjohns
We need to know exactly how this behaves.

I dragged a set of .ams files into Sampler the other day, and it did map them out nicely without any extra effort.

But I also remember what a pain it was to set up multisamples which I had recorded myself. Granted that was back in the beta period, and I don't know if anything has changed since :?

Re: Sampler: key mapping when loading multiple samples

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:11 am
by tester
i totally agree on that, especially on the instant effect to keyzone/sample need! what is shortcircuit? probably nothing for a mac. i am basically asking some similar question in another thread, nokatus, i really share your thoughts, have you found a better solution?