Samplers / Sampling

With its significant overhaul, the new Nanosampler 2 offers a wealth of creative sample playback options.

Chopped‑up loops are at the heart of many genres of music. There’s never been a better time to get hands‑on with sliced samples.

Hit the ground running with our guide to Akai's celebrated Music Production Centre.

Recording a library of acoustic guitar samples highlighted the importance of repeatability, blind testing, small lasers and double‑sided sticky tape.

Logic Pro X sports extensive sampling tools. Here’s how to use them effectively.

There are some stunningly good Libraries for Acustica Audio's Nebula dynamic convolution plug-in, but you can also create your own. We invited one of the best Nebula developers to tell you how.

Vintage synths are perfect for sampling, and modern multisampling software makes the process easy and creatively rewarding. We show you how it’s done in our in‑depth guide.

Reason's flexible routing makes scintillating sampling simple...

Reason's sampling instrument Kong.

In the final part of this short series, we investigate a more advanced use of scripting to create a simple step sequencer. • Read Part 1 • Read Part 2 • Read Part 3

Building on last months introduction to the basics of scripting in Native Instruments Kontakt soft sampler, we explain how to make your scripted functions adjustable via a simple user interface.

If you're stuck in a creative rut with sample libraries, why not look for inspiration in your own home?

We bring our series on rediscovering the the art of sampling to a close, with a look into the future.

We continue exploring what your sampler's synth engine can do to liven up bland self-sampled sounds, and explain the concepts of layering and multitimbrality.

Nearly all modern samplers have powerful synth engines concealed inside them — and sometimes they're so well hidden that their users are unaware of their existence. But then why would you want a synth in your sampler? Let's find out...

If you want to artificially extend your instrument samples, or make entire backing tracks from one rhythmic snippet, you'll need to know about looping and time-stretching. And then there's keygrouping... We explain these fundamental sampling processes, and more.

Having introduced the concept of looping, velocity switching, and multisampling, it's time to actually make some samples. We give you a few hard-won tips that can make your life easier on the way.

As we saw last month, sampling is really just a form of digital recording, but to use short recordings to emulate real instruments, you soon need to understand new concepts like multisampling, looping, and velocity switching. We explain all...

Most modern musicians use samples, even if only in Sample & Synthesis-based keyboards or virtual instruments. But sampling itself has become something of a lost art. In the first part of a short series on rediscovering this skill, we look back at how the technique and the technology developed.

When the epic, studio-created drum sounds of the 1980s had to be translated to a stage setting, sample triggering from drum kits came to the fore — and our man Gavin Harrison began his personal quest for the ultimate setup...

With a software sampler such as Emagic's EXS24, creating multisampled instruments from your favourite patches on your hardware sound modules needen't be a chore.