Software samplers?

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Uncle Roel

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I'm thinking of getting a software sampler, for live use with my laptop. Mainly for doing soundscapes and the likes.

It's gotta be able to run a few quite long samples simulteniously, the usual functionallities of triggering etc (full playback or untill I release the note, loop, play once, ...), and easy switching between setups.

What is available? And what are the prices?

(My laptop is P4, 2.4GHz, 512Mb ram, 40 gig HD)
 
Can you use CEP as a sampler? I mean, connect a keyboard and trigger the sounds from it? I really need this, being able to play the sounds when I push a key, and program a different sound to every key...

I thought CEP was some kind of sound editing/multitracking tool? :confused:
 
Are you meaning like some type of external midi device to play around with? I am not really clear about what you are looking for.
 
I'm looking for some software that can turn my pc in a sampler. So, I connect my keyboard to my pc via my audiophile midi in, play a note, and the samplersoft makes the pc act like a hardware sampler....

I might be able to get a sampler on loan for the coming weeks, but this would be a good thing anyhow, so I don't have to buy one to keep my gig going.
 
I can't say that I'm an expert on the topic, but I've tried out Native Instruments KONTAKT softsampler and it's unreal. You may not need something quite so "everything but the kitchen sink", in which case they also offer a cheaper version called Kompakt I believe, which has been spoken of very highly in some other post around here (search...).

In any case, the Native Instruments stuff is very good sounding and user friendly from my experience, and they have several soft sampler products you can look into at www.nativeinstruments.com. You should be able to research prices on google.
 
I've been looking into those too. Gotta look into it a bit further. Anyone has experience with it? I just HAVE to be sure that I can use it in the way described above.

They can only be used as plugins right? Not that that is a problem, but a standalone application like the nemisys would be nice. (Nemesys is not an option since my audiophile USB doesn't support the GSIF (sp?) drivers....)
 
Uncle Roel said:
Can you use CEP as a sampler? I mean, connect a keyboard and trigger the sounds from it? I really need this, being able to play the sounds when I push a key, and program a different sound to every key...

I thought CEP was some kind of sound editing/multitracking tool? :confused:
Click to expand...

your correct, i was thinking notebook, sampler, humm...

(It's gotta be able to run a few quite long samples simulteniously, the usual functionallities of triggering etc (full playback or untill I release the note, loop, play once, ...), and easy switching between setups.)

sorry, i don't do the trigger key unless it's a midi controller, and then it's only chords or notes, usually, but no drums, if your refuring to that...

i'm sure there's users here that do though...
 
Kontakt is a great one, that is for sure! I'll suggest it, no doubt.

And, I'll also suggest HALion 2, witch is also a great one, also no doubt.

Can't tell you witch is cheaper, sorry.
 
Uncle Roel said:
I've been looking into those too. Gotta look into it a bit further. Anyone has experience with it? I just HAVE to be sure that I can use it in the way described above.

They can only be used as plugins right? Not that that is a problem, but a standalone application like the nemisys would be nice. (Nemesys is not an option since my audiophile USB doesn't support the GSIF (sp?) drivers....)
Click to expand...
I can't speak for Kontakt, but Kompakt can be run either as a plugin or standalone. I suspect that is true for Kontakt as well, just don't know for sure.
 
Kontakt will indeed run as a standalone application. I'm pretty sure that most of the other Native Instruments stuff will as well.
 
Hey Roel,

The suite of products that comes free with each issue of Computer Music mag includes a VSTi sampler - DS-404, I think? Pretty cheap way to find out if it's what you want.

The deal with VSTi samplers is that even if they don't have the ability to do things simultaneously, you should be able to run multiple instances in your sequencer, depending on their efficiency and your desktop's capacity.

Daf
 
I wonder why nobody has mentioned Reason yet. Personally I love it.
 
The issue, to me, is what sounds you are trying to make. If you want the best orchestral sounds, you probably should go for Giga. Sure enough Kontakt is supposed to play Giga samples but the results have reportedly been less that stellar.

Also, are you using a Mac or a PC. This is also an important factor becuase Giga does not run on a Mac. I say this because if you look at the libraries available, the two best orchestral libraries, or two of the best ( I should avoid such absolutes) are Garritan Strings and Vienna Orchestral Samples ( I forgot the exact name).

The reason that I meatnion Giga and Kontakt is that as far as I know, they are the only ones that allow direct from disc sample use. That means you do not have to load the samples into RAM and can play much bigger samples giving more reaslitic sounds. Particularly complex sounding instruments such as piano.

An interesting way to go may be the bundles sampler in Logic. I believe that Garritan and Vienna have EXS24 (that is the sampler in Logic as I recall) versions.

By the way, I have Kontakt and I have asked Gary Garritan and the Vienna people if they were going to release a Kontakt version. The answers were vague at best and although they never said no, they never said yes either.

Choose carefully becuase if you do not, you may not be able to accomplish your goal which is, in the end, just a waste of time and money.
 
c9-2001 said:
gigasampler with any ILIO samples
Click to expand...

NOPE! My soundcard doesn't support GSIF drivers, so no gigasampler. And I don't care about samples, I'll make my own...
 
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