Sampling a keyboard sound

[jgetman]

Putting aside the legal/ethical issues of sampling for a moment (I'm not ignoring them - it's just not part of the question), I have a question about sampling.

Let's say I like a particular keyboard sound in a Radiohead song. If I want to incorporate that keyboard sound (not the song, or the line that the keyboard is playing - just the way the keyboard sounds), but I can't find a plug-in to match it.

Is just as simple as capturing that note in Fruity? Can I then use the piano roll to change the note/tone, while still maintaining the "vibe" of the keyboard sound, thus using this single sampled note like any other VSTi?

How does this work?

 

[TexRoadkill]

If the song has a solo keyboard part with a single note and no drums or vocals in the back ground you can get a sample. You will need to transpose the sample for every note you want to play.

I doubt FruityLoops would work well for that. You need a true sampler to map the keys and do the transpositions for you. It will be a lot of work and probably sound like crap.

But yes it is possible and you might get lucky and make it work.

 

[Slackmaster2K]

Fruity loops transposes automatically, it's a no-brainer. However, Tex is right, it'll probably sound like crap. When you're playing a keyboard, you're more likely to be playing a synthesizer than a sampler. In other words, notes are created via some algorithm in the synth module.

If the keyboard is triggering a module that does consist of samples, then you can bet it's not transposing a single sample over 72 notes, a decent module will contain discrete samples collected over the range of the instrument at various levels of velocity.

Consider playing a real piano. The sound of middle C being struck softly doesn't sound like middle C being hit with great force, even though the fundamental note is the same. Also, you can't create the exact waveform of C one octave down by simply stretching a middle C sample...it just doesn't work that way.

All that crap aside, you can still give it a go. But like Tex said, you're going to have to find a good sample to start with, which in most cases will prove downright impossible.

Slackmaster 2000