I need something to trigger samples onstage

[vmpaul]

Hi there, clueless in Manchester here... I wondered if anyone had any suggestions as to what I could use to load and trigger my own samples in a live performance setting. I was thinking something with a keyboard that I could assign different samples to different keys, or is that a really antiquated method? Would I be better off with something with trigger pads? New or secondhand, but my budget is only around the £200 mark. Thanks in advance.

[CowboyNQ]

If you own an iPad already I'd use that.

I use a program called Sample Lab to do this.

[sutekh]

I just asked a variant of this same question. It looks like the Korg Microsampler would do this, but I'm looking at the AKAI MPX8 cause it's only $99

[Derek Cook]

If you have a laptop to use on stage take a look at Cantabile by Top Ten Software.

[sutekh]

I use an AKAI MPX8
(although I wish I'd gotten the MPX16 cause it has twice as many pads)
It's only ever failed me once, in a rehearsal.

The advantages- zero latency whatsoever. Plus it can play fairly long samples (the longest one I use now is about 10 seconds)
It only costs $100.00
Touch sensitive.
Lights up and looks awesome.

The disadvantages: you have to hit the pads hard to get full volume, cause it's touch sensitive and I haven't found a way to turn that feature off.
Also it takes almost a full minute to load the samples when you turn it on, depending how long they are.
You can't load really long samples (not sure the limit, but 2 minutes is way too long for it)
It has it's own Reverb you can add to individual samples, but it's not very good reverb- it sounds choppy.

[seanmichaels]

You can use trigger pads or keys. It's really up to you. I highly recommend using Ableton Live. You'll, of course, need a laptop and an audio interface, however.

I find that using a computer live is far superior to using just a workstation's internals. It's far more customizable to my needs.