This Dufuss needs your help!!!!

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nbffan

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You'll probably think I'm a complete dufuss once you hear my problem...but here it goes. I'm a 80's hair-band wanna-be setting up a small studio in my house. I've got just about everything I need but I don't have a keyboard/synth. I've been reading this board and some of you are discussing "sampling". What is this and is it something I can do economically rather than purchasing a synth. What equipment do you need for this. Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated. Don't forget to explain it in simple terms... Thanks, Richard
 
At its essence, digital recording IS sampling, though the term tends to be used when talking about sampling other people's material. Drum beats are sampled a lot. A sample is generally a short clip that is used as part of a song or as enhancement. If you have a computer with a decent soundcard and some kind of editing software, an external sampler is not necessary.

And FWIW, I believe the correct spelling is "doofus." :D
 
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At its heart, sampling is basically taking a short audio clip and "playing" it as a musical instrument. Any audio source can be used as a sample.

As mentioned drum beats (for example taken from jazz/funk/old rock drum solos) are sampled in many current styles of music from rap/hip-hop to pop to many electronic genres (house, breakbeat, drum and bass).

Another source for sampling are other synths, and sometimes just pure waveforms (sine, sawtooth, pulse) which are then looped and loaded in a sampler. In this sence they're treated just like oscillators are used on synths, which then you use the filters and other synthesis parameters provided in sampler to further shape your sounds.

Samplers are also used to playback samples of acoustic instruments such as piano, guitar, orchestral instruments, etc. In these cases ideally you sample (record) each note of the instrument and multiple velocities (loudness), which are then mapped at the corresponding keys accross the keyboard. You can then play these instruments and if you're careful with your performances you can make these virtually indistinguishable from the "real" instruments.

The rest is up to your imagination... you can take nature recordings, sample movies, your farts, etc... load them into a sampler, and either play them as if they were musical sounds or mangle them further.

Samplers are very, very powerful tools.

Currently, pretty much all samplers have given way to their software equivalents. I'm not going to go into an argument whether they sound "good" or "bad" compaired to their hardware counterparts of the past, however, if you're interested in sampling, and you have a capable DAW/sequencer running, there are several to choose from.

The top of the list are:
Native Instruments' Kontakt
MOTU Mach 5
Steinberg Halion
Apple/eMagic EXS24 (although this only runs inside Logic)
E-mu EmulatorX (which requires one of their audio cards to run)

I'm sure there are many more, and there are some other specialized software, but that should cover for starters.

If you decide you want to go the hardware route, then you'll need to look for second hand AKAI or E-Mu samplers. They each have their own "sound", and if you require stuff like filters, you can't beat E-Mu.
 
Thanks for the excellent advice guys! Noise, I think I now understand what your talking about. ie, the various notes of an instrument are "sampled" and mapped across the keyboard. So....I could essentially play the violin without haveing to go out and buy one, Right?

I will probably go the software route. I already have a Emu soundcard in my computer. Do you have any suggestions for a Keyboard (limited budget)?

Again, Thanks for your help!
 
nbffan said:
Thanks for the excellent advice guys! Noise, I think I now understand what your talking about. ie, the various notes of an instrument are "sampled" and mapped across the keyboard. So....I could essentially play the violin without haveing to go out and buy one, Right?
You got it! :)

nbffan said:
I will probably go the software route. I already have a Emu soundcard in my computer. Do you have any suggestions for a Keyboard (limited budget)?
Well, this is a personal choice and depends on what kind of controls you're looking for, keyboard feel, number of keys etc. Having said that you might want to look at the offerings by Novation, M-Audio, E-Mu and CME. Personally if I had a need for a controller I'd probably go for the CME units just because they're built like a tank, and I like the fact that it's sliders are recessed, which makes them less prone to breakage, specially if you tend to go live often.
 
Fellow 80's Lover...

Heheh..

I was in high school in the early 80's and by the time I got to "NOW" I find out from everyone else that we were all a warped generation because of the "BIG Hair", "Stone Washed Jeans", "Spandex" and Leg Warmers!!!

But anyway! If you're looking for 80's keybords there are a number that would be great... The first one that comes to mind would be a Roland D50... Everyone had one of these... They have a great synth sound and are still pretty rugged... Another good one would be a Korg M1, Roland Juno2 (More in your price range), and the Yamaha DX7 (Although these are starting to falter because of their age...)

Hope this helps...
 
Riverdog said:
Heheh..

I was in high school in the early 80's and by the time I got to "NOW" I find out from everyone else that we were all a warped generation because of the "BIG Hair", "Stone Washed Jeans", "Spandex" and Leg Warmers!!!

But anyway! If you're looking for 80's keybords there are a number that would be great... The first one that comes to mind would be a Roland D50... Everyone had one of these... They have a great synth sound and are still pretty rugged... Another good one would be a Korg M1, Roland Juno2 (More in your price range), and the Yamaha DX7 (Although these are starting to falter because of their age...)

Hope this helps...


River, Tried to find a DX but couldn't locate one. Did find a Yamaha DJX for $40!!!! Bought it!!! Has some pretty cool synth sounds on it. Haven't tried it as a controller yet but will get around to it this weekend. Thanks for the advice.
 
Glad to help...

That's great...

Most of the time you can find DX-7s and such on Ebay -
But as I said - Those are getting older so they may be more difficult to come up with...

But, I'm glad you found what you were looking for...

Cheers.!
 
The rackmount DX synths are pretty cheap and will get you 8 dx's in a box (TX81Z, TX802 etc)
 
LOL!! Doofus!! :D Haven't seen that one used on a BBS in a while! :D :p
 
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