Microsampler and a monosynth

[NickWills]

Hi, please bare with me as my knowledge on synths is poo.

Basically, I'm going to buy a microsampler, and want a synth to go with it, but I'm on a budget. Ideally I'd wanted one with all the control parameters available through knobs/sliders/buttons on the front panel as I reckoned this would be the best way to learn synthesis. The only ones in my price range are the roland gaia sh01, which sounds horrible, and a 2nd hand korg ms2000, which are rare and overpriced on ebay (I'm in the UK). So I started looking at the microkorg and xl, but these seem a bit to present driven, as in, it's very easy to find decent presets, and just use them as it's a hassle to go through menus on a little screen, and surely the soft synths on logic are infinitely more powerful if you're gonna go through the bother of clicking buttons on screens anyway.

So to get to the point, I was looking at analogue monosynths such as the DSI mopho, which sound a lot better to my ears, and was wondering how effective it would be to program a sound on it, sample that into the microsampler and pitch that across the keys and play it with the microsampler's polyphony instead of the synth's monophony.

sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance for any advice.

[Re-Member]

how effective it would be to program a sound on it, sample that into the microsampler and pitch that across the keys and play it with the microsampler's polyphony instead of the synth's monophony.

It can easily be done, but one of the beauties of having a synthesizer is being able to manipulate and modulate the sounds as you're playing them in real time. You can program them to have motion within the sound over time. Once you sample something though, it is pretty much set in stone and there's little you can do with since the microSAMPLER doesn't have a deep engine for modualting the sound. It does have a filter effect you can use in real time, but that's about it.

[tonidude]

how effective it would be to program a sound on it, sample that into the microsampler and pitch that across the keys and play it with the microsampler's polyphony instead of the synth's monophony.

It can easily be done, but one of the beauties of having a synthesizer is being able to manipulate and modulate the sounds as you're playing them in real time. You can program them to have motion within the sound over time. Once you sample something though, it is pretty much set in stone and there's little you can do with since the microSAMPLER doesn't have a deep engine for modualting the sound. It does have a filter effect you can use in real time, but that's about it.

Well, I wouldn't be so negative. One of the microsampler's biggest positive aspects are the effects, you can do 20-30% of typical synth tweaking with the microsampler's effects. Although of course you can't affect the original sound.

IF you're looking for a microkorg which I heartily recommend, why don't you just play that along with the microsampler? you can even connect the synth with microsampler, play it on the keys or program ready patterns in the pattern sequencer which the microsampler will play along with its own samples and loops which are in the pattern.

In any case, if you want to do it properly, you'll probably need quite many samples around the keyboard, e.g. every 6th note or something. If you only sample one sound (e.g. the middle C), the highest notes will be much shorter and the lowest will be much longer. Microsampler doesn't do proper pitching of the samples.

For an example of what I mean, check Korg's own Microsampler bonus packs, some of them are made this way - I remember at least the downtempo and uptempo banks to be like this. You have 5-10 samples spread around the beginning of the keyboard for bass and the rightmost octave of the keyboard contains drum loops or the like. You can just load the samples to the correct keys and leave the keys between the samples empty, and if you play them, microsampler will play the sample that it finds in the next used key on the right and pitch-shift it, in sample mode - no reason to go to keyboard mode!

[Re-Member]

Well, I wouldn't be so negative. One of the microsampler's biggest positive aspects are the effects, you can do 20-30% of typical synth tweaking with the microsampler's effects. Although of course you can't affect the original sound.

Well, you've got the filter, tremolo, vibrato, and a ring modulator... I'd hardly consider that 20 to 30% of what a real synthesizer can do, especially since you are only allowed to use one effect at a time in real-time. The lack of portamento, attack on the amp and basic ADSR filter really makes it a "set in stone" type of playback sampler.

It's indeed possible to use to play back monosynth samples, but you have to plan ahead since it's going to sound very static if the initial sound isn't programmed right. Not trying to be negative about this, just stating the facts. Still got my microSAMPLER and loving it, but as a more experienced synth player, I can say that it would take a lot of planning to expect to use it as lead instrument like I would with my synths.

[renegade]

You could make some loops on the synth and sample them into the MS too, this can be fun but can get a little repetitive if you use short loops.

Another option is just to load in some looped single cycle samples, and set them up with the filter as the fx (on for all) this would give you a very basic analog style synth.

[tonidude]

Well, you've got the filter, tremolo, vibrato, and a ring modulator... I'd hardly consider that 20 to 30% of what a real synthesizer can do

I'm thinking more along the lines of 20-30% of the knobs you actually use live, including...

The lack of portamento, attack on the amp and basic ADSR filter really makes it a "set in stone" type of playback sampler.

I thought there was ADSR? You can "trim the loops and samples" so they fade away.

It's indeed possible to use to play back monosynth samples, but you have to plan ahead since it's going to sound very static if the initial sound isn't programmed right. Not trying to be negative about this, just stating the facts. Still got my microSAMPLER and loving it, but as a more experienced synth player, I can say that it would take a lot of planning to expect to use it as lead instrument like I would with my synths.

Yeah, and of course, my comments are with the reservation that you have specific songs you don't really improvise that much with, so recurring harmonies, melodies, bass lines etc. are pretty much set in stone and the modulation you do is basic "looping the bass line and slowly opening the filter bar by bar". Of course, if you really like to alter your sound and play with it DJ style, the microsampler falls pretty short.