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Hi,

I am very happy with my microSAMPLER. I mainly use it for sounds of traditional instruments or synths. These are generally multisampled (so I don't really use 'keyboard mode' too much). So now I have for example a very affordable and compact Mellotron .

[b]Does anyone know other good sources for synthesizer or acoustic instrument sounds?[/b] They should not be looped samples, because the microSAMPLER can't handle that - one of the features I miss most of all... Preferably, they are multisampled.

One good candidate would be the 'Hollow Sun Vintage' sample pack, which looks to be really great and exactly what I mean, but I think the samples are looped...

[i]And a similar question:[/i]
Does anyone have experience with sampling VST synths, who could give me some advice on how to best do this for the microSAMPLER?

I don't get what you mean when you say the microsampler can't handle looped samples?!?

Agreed about the mtron thing, that's how I use half the banks. Though. Switching betweeeb them is still SLOOOW...

but I've done some real quick casio synth samples (middle c) that have translated pretty when when looped and played in keyboard mode...and I'm sure if I edited them properly on the pc instead of in the microsampler they'd be even better.

Does anyone have any synth banks that have been made like this that that can share? Or any tips for where they can be found? Cheers

You're right, looping is possible, but I meant specifying separate loop points AFTER starting the sample and BEFORE the end of the sample is not possible. It is a common feature in most samplers, but not included in the microsampler.

If you have LONG samples of specific instruments, they can indeed translate well when playing in keyboard mode. Especially for synths, which are not 'realistic' anyway. But I must say that using the upper octave results in very short-sounding samples. (I faintly remember using 'time stretch' to compensate for this effect, but the resulting sound was not good.)

I have downloaded several single samples by Googling for 'wav samples classic synth' for example. But I must say that unlooped multisamples of good quality are difficult to find...

So if anyone knows where to find them...?

By the way, here are some of the samples I tried so far...:

http://www.theelectronicgarden.com/freebies.php
http://leisureland.us/audio/MellotronSa ... amples.htm
(I used different ones, but these are also good)

Hi there, I'm looking to do pretty much exactly what you described here. I'm curious if the Mellotron samples you are using a complete 8sec per key samples or if you looped them.
I need help understanding how the microsampler works. If you assign all 35 keys of the Mellotron to a single bank you would exceed the 160 sec max sample load. Do you drop them from 48khz to 24khz ? How difficult is it to assign each sample to it's appropriate key ? Mellotron's bottom key is a G and top key is F. On the editor can you assign notes outside of the three octaves of keys on microsampler then play via a midi keyboard?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Hi, yes I drop the samples to 24 kHz (to me that is hardly noticeable, drop it to 12 kHz and it starts to sound completely different though). Assigning samples to keys is extremely simple with the free software.

There are two sample playing modes as you may have read:
- Keyboard mode: take one sample and play it across the keyboard. Suitable for many synth sounds (of which I made one bank), but less so for more 'realistic' instruments.
- Sample mode: here you map your samples across the keyboard, from G (low) to B (high). The highest C key is reserved for audio monitoring in this mode. For most of these instruments (incl. Mellotron), I have assigned one sample to every 4rd key or something. There is a built-in feature that lets you play back the same sample at lower keys, if no samples are assigned to these keys. E.g., when you assign a sample to C and one to the G above, the 'G sample' will also play for C# to F#.

By the way: you can not assign notes outside these three octaves. For Mellotron is doesn't really matter (even though the overlap in octaves is not exactly the same I think), but if you use piano, you are also limited to three octaves. (By the way, if you want to use instruments like that substantially, you'd better look elsewhere anyway )

One of the advantages of the MicroSampler for me was that it seemed the only low cost (<1000 euros) solution for playing my own instrument samples. Other samplers seemed not so suitable for playing e.g. piano (the MPCs or Roland's samplers), and I loved the portability of this unit. If you don't care too much about the portability but don't want to spend money on an expensive workstation, you could look into:
- the Waldorf Blofeld module with sample expansion (even though it seems to have a bit less memory) It only has MIDI support for loading samples, which takes ages, so the trial-and-error approach you can use for the microSAMPLER is not possible here. The cost is about the same I guess, but instead of a portable instrument, you have a very powerful synthesizer module with sampling capabilities
- the v-machine. Many people seem to hate this device, but I love it. The new software makes it quite easy to work with. If you have a sampling program that is supported (e.g. SampleLord) you can build your own samplebanks. I bought this unit for 200 euros, it has 1 GB of storage space (can be extended with USB memory) and acts as my main sound module for all the sounds that are not in my Roland stage piano (my main instrument).

I must say that I love the microSAMPLER. I can play all my favorite sounds everywhere, in high sound quality. That it has a keyboard (and not just a module) is a big plus for me too. I nowadays also often use the pattern sequencer to make more hip-hop oriented music, something that always seemed like hard work on my PC, suddenly becomes much more enjoyable with this instrument.

Hope I have answered you questions