sampling at unknown BPM

[kennington]

I have a question regarding the sampling functionality of the microsampler.

It seems that you have to set a bpm before you start a new bank of samples or before you start sampling. How does the microsampler work if you dont know the bpm?

For example, if you are sampling from a cd where you do not know the bpm of the track, can you just sample it...and then trim the end point til it loops nicely?

At that point will the sampler tell you the BPM of the loop? or does it just read the original set BPM that was there before you sampled?

Also, if you have several loops, but then trim the end of one does the sampler recognise that the bpm has changed because it is shorter?

Thank you!

[lloydsmith]

see updated post below - thanks.

[kennington]

that would be super helpful! Thanks very much...

I have been reading the manual and it certainly looks like there is no way of reading a "true" bpm, just what the sampler saved it as... or what you set the bpm to be before you sampled.

I dont use a computer at all in my set up so its pretty essential for me!

thanks again!

[lloydsmith]

Confirm - no auto detection - instead you are expected to tap the tempo to set the tempo to the speed of the incoming sample.

I usually input my own material quite randomly (Doing things by the book is really hard for me LOL)..but I ran an experiment with Lisa Minnelli & the Pet Shop Boys (don't ask).

Initiating playback from the CD - I tapped the tempo until the bpm figure stabilised on the display.

I hit **sample** on the beat - recorded for two bars - then stopped as neatly as I could. Set the sample to loop, played back and got a near perfect looped sample. I have to say I'm used to snapping to a timeline in Cubase so perhaps not great at judging these things by guesswork - but it looped OK as far as I could tell.

You can still trim length quite precisely to neaten the loop further. You choose trimming measures from time in milli (?)seconds, beats or percentage of whole sample.

If you made all your loops on the beat and the same length they will of course then sync up with each other. I managed to get poor old Lisa to fall down a K-hole this way with the aid of the excellent onboard effects....

Re tempo changes - this paraphrased from the manual (see KORG's site for PDF):

Sampling parameters: you can set tempo via bpm sync on or off - choose from playing back sample at its original tempo, playing sample at the current bank tempo, or time stretching the sample to fit the bank tempo - via note quantity, or pitch changing.

The free software does make this process a little easier - as you can see & manipulate the sound clips - but that may be irrelevant for you without a computer to hand at this point.

I do think however if you can't easily upload/download samples via USB you will run into headaches with storing your work as the MS is a bit tight on internal memory. Even a small laptop would be OK for storage.

hope that's useful.

[kennington]

poor lisa! thats no way to treat a diva!

this is all very useful...thanks very much. I have another question... when you have set the bank tempo...say at 120... then sample and cut your loop...can you then change the bank tempo..say to 100 then timestretch your loop to fit the bank tempo (100bpm)?

that might be a way round it all for me....

also...from your previous msg..."Sampling parameters: you can set tempo via bpm sync on or off - choose from playing back sample at its original tempo "

that "original tempo" will always read as the bank tempo tho right? So if you had a beat going round on your drum machine as 100 bpm...bought it in and looped it perfectly...the sampler would still tell you that the "original tempo" was 120, as thats what the bank was set as when you sampled it...right?

Im off to have a play on one myself tomorrow.... so any tips i can try before then are super helpful!

Cheers