Need help getting started with sampling

[bewildered]

Im having a hard time finding info on what equipment is required to sample.

Im looking to record envrionmental sounds, not necessarily vocals and instruments, all though i might use them, and then put them into the computer and distort the fuck out of em till i get a sound that i want. Then i want to take whatever sound i get and assign it to my midi piano as a patch.

Ive been told that i need a condensor microphone, but ive seen cardiod and super cardiod and i dont know whats the difference or if a condensor even is what i need.

I also need some sort of portable recording device. Ive seen field recorders in magazines, but once again dont know what to look for.

What else would i need to do this? i got cubase sx3 on my comp, im pretty sure that has some sort of sampling program on it but i havent gotten that far into the program to know for sure.

Did i mention that i cant drop any more than $300 for this equipment?

 

[bewildered]

ok, if no one can help me, can you direct me to someplace that can?

 

[Robert D]

Hi,
There are almost certainly other ways to go about this, but I'd cut to the chase and get Gigastudio. You can get Gigastudio 32 for $72 here...

http://www.studica.com/products/search.cfm?search_str=gigastudio

I've been using Gigasampler, and susequently Gigastudio for years. It's very powerful software that will do what you want, and things you've never dreamed of. There's also a huge collection of sample libraries available for it.

For field recording, do you have a laptop? If so, M-Audio has a couple of mobile pre/interface solutions for that, and you could record into cubase. If not, start searching for an inexpensive recorder.

For the mic, I'd look into an inexpensive stereo condenser mic.

-RD

 

[snow lizard]

Condenser mics capture a lot of details. They're also good at picking up distant sounds and large dynamic range. "Condenser" is the operating principle of the mic. There are also "moving coil dynamic" mics and "ribbon" mics.

Cardioid and supercardioid are pickup patterns. This describes the shape of the envelope where the sound gets recorded. Sometimes they're called unidirectional, because they basically pick up sound mostly from the front only. Other patterns include omnidirectional (picks up sound from everywhere) and figure 8 (bi-directional - picks up from front and back, rejects from the sides).

For recording outside, I'd be inclined to get an omnidirectional condenser mic of some sort - with a wind screen. Omni rejects wind noise a lot more than the other patterns. There are several different types of mic that basically match this description, but for recording outside you have to find out what you plan to record with first. A small handheld recorder may be able to supply power to the mic in the form of 48 volt phantom power, starved phantom power (less than 48 volts) or you might find a mic that can run off of a battery, or a different type that runs off of a 5 volt "plug-in power" supply like what you'd typically find on a camcorder or minidisc recorder. What mic you need might change depending on what recorder you're going to use. The size and portability you need are issues you need to decide.

$300.00 is a challenge if you plan to buy a recorder and a microphone. Perhaps some kind of minidisk recorder with a lavalier mic or a set of Core Sound omnis might suit what you're trying to do.


sl

 

[bewildered]

i was told by a guy working at samash that i could use an ipod as a portable field recorder. I mean, the sampling occurs on site right? its not something i have to record first, and then go back to the computer and sample? so im basically looking for a field recorder with a 24/192 rate.

thanks for the help, i guess i'll just read the mic FAQ posted here and try to figure it out. When i said environmental i didnt necessarily mean outside, i just meant id be recording a wide range of sounds, not necessarily voice or instruments.

 

[slobbermonster]

get giga studio

 

[Robert D]

Bewildered - The "sampling" is simply the act of recording the sounds that you plan to use in a particular sample set. The sampler is not necessarily (usually not) the device that you gather the samples with, but rather the device that you use to play back those samples, mapped to and triggered by keys on a keyboard. For years this was done with hardware samplers, and before that, the Mellotron (it used analog tape, a short tape for each note....used for the flutes on Stairway to Heaven).
With software samplers, you put together a bunch of wave files, and then you assign those wave files to different keys, so that when, for instance, you hit a middle C on a midi keyboard, the midi note middle C is transmitted to the computer and into the sampler program, and the sampler program calls up the wave file for middle C of whatever instrument sample set you have loaded, and plays it back. The magic in this process is in making that happen with no noticable latency. This is achieved by loading the first second or so of each note/sample into memory, and then having a driver that works around windows to directly stream off the hard disk in time to continue on with the rest of the note.
You mentioned 24/192. This is not a good idea, as it's too much data for the sampler to process quickly enough, and therefore isn't supported. It's also just not necessary to use that high a sample rate for recording anything.
Anyway, you have two issues, what to use to gather your samples with, and what to use to map them to the keyboard and trigger their playback with. Gigasampler is the best way to do the later, and also to playback available samples or the worlds finest instruments, recorded in world class studios by world class engineers. For the sampling part, there are lot's of options, and they are the same as for any other type of recording. Either way you're just making wave files. I would highly suggest that you get setup to make stereo wave files though, which means either a stereo condenser mic, or two mono condenser mics.

-RD