The uses of your Microsampler

Maverick DJ · Post by **Maverick DJ** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:42 am

Hi im quiet interested to know what differant uses people have for there Microsampler. I've had a quick flick through some of the questions on this forum.
Personally i can't see any point in hooking this thing up to Ableton or Cubase or anything like that.. If you create sample / musical loops in Ableton then from that enviroment you might as well activate the differant loops on a simple midi drum style pad, why involve awkward settings in the micro sampler.. Sofware samplers inside DAWS have a mass of additional easy to use features not present in the micro sampler.
To me i use the microsampler as a stand alone ideas tool creating little beats and ideas / loops from sources you can input on the fly from the microphone and ipad / iphone, away from the computer screen enjoying a differant work flow. Then if you come up with a workable idea i transfer using the editor into Reason or Cubase where you can turn the idea into a decent production. From that point i think thats where the microsampler is finished i see no point in trying to integrate this little beast into a modern DAW, that for me would be the tipping point from it being a creative tool to a pain in the ass. LOL
Ideas and responses, you opinions?

electrochrisso · Post by **electrochrisso** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:34 am

Currently I am having fun using my micoroSAMPLER, with my Zoom R8, back and forth, to make up some interesting recordings.

Telengard · Post by **Telengard** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 5:35 pm

I use it connected to my EMX. I usually use one or more synth channels on the EMX to trigger some of the keys on the microSAMPLER or record loops or synth audio for the keyboard mode from the EMX.

maarkr · Post by **maarkr** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 1:29 am

I use it in our band... I have a main keyboard and the upper layer is the microSampler loaded with sounds that are specific to the songs we play. I also use the mic for distortion and other fx.

robotunes · Post by **robotunes** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:40 pm

an200 and dx200. also sampling all my ipad music apps. sooooo much fun. love, Love, LOVE the microsampler.

too bad more people couldnt wrap their heads around it. yeah, it lacks octave buttons and pitch and mod wheels. but it's awesome for quickly making and mutating loops. even bought a zero sl mkII controller to turn it into an awesome looper.

there wont be another hardware sampler like it in this price range ever, methinks. we're lucky to have it.

AEJOTZ · Post by **AEJOTZ** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:29 am

I make multi-layered hand-played synth music. Sometimes I use an LFO or arpeggiator for the initial track. Sometimes it's all hand-played to the metronome on my recorder.

Whenever I use an automated initial track the whole tune sounds much more rhythmically solid. I considered using a PC sequencer for the initial track but then saw the quantize function demonstrated on the MS.

Tomorrow I'm trading my Alesis Micron (I hate that thing!) for a Microsampler. I'll sample the notes of my initial groove into the MS and then play it w/ quantize. Then I'll switch to my beloved Microkorg and CZ-101 for all the additional hand-played layers.

You can hear all my music at http://aejotz.bandcamp.com

Benjaymun · Post by **Benjaymun** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 6:03 am

I worked out how to "freeze" timbres with it today, a task that usually takes a dedicated plugin or guitar pedal to achieve. IMO the microsampler is an insanely powerful resampling tool, and a real underrated dark horse. I don't understand the negativity regarding it on this forum - it's absolutely fantastic when hooked up to a hardware sequencer.

electrochrisso · Post by **electrochrisso** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 3:19 am

I worked out how to "freeze" timbres with it today, a task that usually takes a dedicated plugin or guitar pedal to achieve. IMO the microsampler is an insanely powerful resampling tool, and a real underrated dark horse. I don't understand the negativity regarding it on this forum - it's absolutely fantastic when hooked up to a hardware sequencer.

Great stuff, you won't get any negativity from people who know how to use the MS to great effect, like you, me and many others.
Aside from the

stuff that can be done with the MS, its sonic capabilities really blows the competition away.

AEJOTZ · Post by **AEJOTZ** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 3:15 am

This is a follow-up to an earlier post.

Yes I did trade the Micron for an MS and haven't regretted it for a minute. I love this little beast. It works exactly as I'd hoped.

Whenever a line I'm trying to play is not rhythmically precise enough, I play it into the MS sequencer w/ quantize and then MIDI that back through whichever instrument I was trying to play it on.

I've also loaded a bunch of my favorite sounds into the MS and sometimes just play directly from it. AND I've loaded all my favorite percussion sounds into one bank and now I always use it for my percussion tracks.

AND it has become my travel companion because it can hold so many different sounds and it can "record" ideas for later development.

Next I might be getting an Ensoniq ESQ-1 which has the same sequencing capabilities and more, but I'll never part with my Microsampler.

electrochrisso · Post by **electrochrisso** » Sun Jan 04, 2015 8:30 pm

Great to hear you like it AEJOTZ, it is a very versatile little beast, I have just ordered a Yamaha MX49 on special and intend to use this quite a lot with the MS, I think they will work well together.
I also own an ESQ-1 for a lot of years now, it is a fantastic synth and has a very powerful audio engine, you are also able to download thousands of free sound banks for it and load them in through the data input jack.

Have fun and a good music year.

TheMJZA · Post by **TheMJZA** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 4:40 am

I close my eyes and pretend Im RZA with an ASR-10 & it's 1995

ludicrouSpeed · Post by **ludicrouSpeed** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 3:43 pm

Hi there guys,

I just got a microSAMPLER about a month ago. I've been playing around with it, and am really excited about it's potential. I'm just a little unsure about a couple of things. If anyone could offer a bit of advice, or point me in the direction of some other resources, that would be super excellent.

Here's a couple of the things I'm trying to work out

1) PATTERN SEQUENCER - Is there a way to copy patterns??? ie. If I create a 1 measure pattern on pattern 1, can I easily copy it to pattern 2? A sub question of this, would be - If I create a one bar pattern on pattern 1, record something on that 1 bar, then I change the pattern length to 2 bar (or more), the extra measure will be empty, but what if I wish to duplicate that 1st measure out? Is there an easy way to do so?

2) KEY GATE LATENCY - There seems to be some kind of latency on the key gate sampling mode... Anyone else notice this? If I'm trying to sample a vocal run, and I want to cut it up in real time, even if it's a slow time, it doesn't seem to sample in time with my key presses... I have tried being careful to let go of one key before I press the next one... Is the only way around this to use AUTOGATE mode and play to a preset BPM? I'm used using a looper which works off your button presses, so having to play along to a preset BPM feels clumsy...

3) WORKFLOW - This question sort of contains the other questions, I just wanna get better at using the microSAMPLER ie. the workflow. The manual does not really cover this at all, and inspite of checking out several things online, I still feel relatively clueless about this device....

Any responses are appreciated.

advTHANKSance.

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The uses of your Microsampler

The uses of your Microsampler

Workflow