 Playing a Yamaha SU10 Sampler A sampler is an electronic music instrument closely related to a synthesizer. Instead of generating sounds from scratch, however, a sampler starts with multiple recordings (or “samples”) of different sounds, and then plays each back based on how the instrument is configured. Because these samples are usually stored in RAM, the information can be quickly accessed. Download high resolution version (1280x960, 212 KB)Photo of an AKAI MPC2000 for the Sampler (musical instrument) article. ...
Download high resolution version (1280x960, 212 KB)Photo of an AKAI MPC2000 for the Sampler (musical instrument) article. ...
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A synthesizer (or synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument designed to produce electronically generated sound, using techniques such as additive, subtractive, FM, physical modelling synthesis, phase distortion, or Scanned synthesis. ...
In general, a sample is a part of the total, such as one individual or a set of individuals from a population (of people or things), a small piece or amount of something larger, a number of function values of a function, or part of a song. ...
Look up RAM, Ram, ram in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Unlike traditional digital audio playback, each sample is associated with a set of synthesis parameters, and can thus be modified in many different ways. Digital audio comprises audio signals stored in a digital format. ...
Most samplers have polyphonic capabilities: they are able to play more than one note at the same time. Many are also multitimbral: they can play back different sounds at the same time. In music, the word texture is often used in a rather vague way in reference to the overall sound of a piece of music. ...
Often used in the realm of digital keyboard synthesisers, an instrument that is multitimbral is one which allows you to combine several voices or timbres at the same time. ...
Sampler structure
Interface Usually a sampler is controlled from an attached music keyboard, or from an external MIDI source. Each note value input into the sampler then accesses a particular sample. Often, multiple samples are arranged across the musical range, and assigned to a group of notes. If keyboard tracking is enabled, then the sample is shifted in pitch by an appropriate amount. Each group of notes to which a single sample has been assigned is often called a keyzone, and the resultant set of zones is called a keymap. When a note value is input to the sampler, it looks at the value, and plays back the sample associated with that note. Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a system designed to transmit information between electronic musical instruments. ...
Pitch is the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. ...
Computers and other typing devices offer many different keyboard layouts for inputting data in different languages. ...
 Fig. 1: An example of how multiple samples can be arranged across a keyboard range. In this example, four different recordings of a violin are distributed across 12 notes. Each sample will play back at three different pitch values For example, in Fig 1, a keymap has been created with four different samples. Each sample should be associated with a particular center pitch. The first sample (violin G2), is distributed across three different notes: g2, g#2, and a2. If a G2 note is received, then the sampler will play back the Violin G2 sample at its original pitch. If a G#2 is input, then the sampler will play the Violin G2 sample, except it will shift it up by a chromatic semitone. Likewise, an A2 will play back the Violin G2 sample a whole-tone higher. However, when the next note (Bb2) is input, the sampler will then select the Violin B2 sample, and play it a semitone lower than that sample's center pitch of B2. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
In music, chromatic indicates the inclusion of notes not in the prevailing scale and is also used for those notes themselves (Shir-Cliff et al 1965, p. ...
A semitone (also known in the USA as a half step) is a musical interval. ...
In general, samplers can play back any kind of recorded audio, and most samplers offer editing facilities which allow the user to modify and process the audio, and to apply a wide range of effects, making the sampler a powerful and versatile musical tool.
Hierarchy A sampler is organized into a hierarchy of progressively more complicated data structures.
At the bottom lie the samples. Samples are individual recordings of any imaginable sound. Each will have been recorded at a particular sample rate and resolution. It is convenient, if the sample is pitched, that a reference center pitch is included. This pitch indicates the actual frequency of the recorded note. Samples may also have loop points, that indicate where a repeated section of the sample starts and ends. This allows a relatively short sample to play endlessly. In some cases, a loop crossfade is also indicated, which allows for more seamless transitions at the loop point by fading the end of the loop out while simultaneously fading the beginning of the loop in.
The samples are arranged into keymaps, or collections of samples distributed across the range of notes. Each sample placed into a keymap region should then reference which note value will play back the sample at original pitch.
These keymaps are arranged into instruments. At the instrument level, additional parameters may be added to define how the keymaps are played. For example, filters can be applied to change the color, low frequency oscillators and envelope generators can shape the amplitude, pitch, filter, or other parameter. Instruments may or may not have multiple layers of keymaps. A multilayer instrument will be able to play more than one sample at the same time. Often each keymap layer has a different set of parameters, so that the input affects each layer differently. For example, two layers may have different velocity sensitivity, and thus a note with a high velocity may accentuate one layer over another.
At this level, there are two basic approaches to sampler organization. In a bank approach, each MIDI channel is assigned a different instrument. Multiple banks can then be stored to reconfigure the sampler.
A different, and more powerful approach is to associate each instrument with a patch number or ID. Then, each MIDI channel can be configured separately by sending patch change information to the individual channel. This allows much more flexibility in how the sampler is configured.
Parameters Samplers can be classified in terms of a variety of parameter capabilities. - Polyphony: How many voices can play simultaneously
- Sample Space: How much memory is available to load samples
- Channels: How many different MIDI channels are available for different instruments
- Bit depth: how much sample resolution can be supported
- Outputs: How many discrete audio outputs are available.
Historical overview The emergence of the digital sampler made sampling far more practical, and as samplers added progressively more digital processing to their recorded sounds, they began to merge into the mainstream of modern digital synthesizers. The first digital sampling synthesiser was the Computer Music Melodian which was first available in 1976. The first polyphonic digital sampling synthesiser was the Australian-produced Fairlight CMI which was first available in 1979. Digital signal processing (DSP) is the study of signals in a digital representation and the processing methods of these signals. ...
Year 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the 1976 Gregorian calendar. ...
The Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) was the first digital sampling synthesizer. ...
Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ...
Prior to computer memory-based samplers, musicians used tape replay keyboards, which stored recordings of musical instrument notes and sound effects on analog tape. As a key was pressed, the tape head would contact the tape and play a sound. The Mellotron was used by a number of groups in the late 60s and 1970s. Such systems were both expensive and quite heavy due to the multiple tape mechanisms involved. These same factors limited the range of the instrument to at most three octaves. If the user wished to change sound, they would often have to change out many tapes -- not practical in a live setting. A tape replay keyboard is a musical instrument that uses pre-recorded analog tapes to produce sound when a key is pressed. ...
The Mellotron is an electromechanical polyphonic keyboard musical instrument originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. ...
Modern digital samplers use mostly digital technology to process the samples into interesting sounds. Akai pioneered many processing techniques, such as Crossfade Looping to eliminate glitches and Time Stretch which allows for shortening or lengthening of samples without affecting pitch and vice versa. The limiting factors in the early days were the cost of physical memory (RAM) and the limitations of external data storage devices. Look up RAM, Ram, ram in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
During the early 1990s hybrid synthesizers began to emerge that utilized very short samples of natural sounds and instruments (usually the attack phase of the instrument) along with digital synthesis to create more realistic instrument sounds. Examples of this are Korg M1, Korg O1/W and the later Korg Triton and Korg Trinity series, Yamaha's SY series and the Kawai K series of instruments. This made best use of the tiny amount of memory available to the design engineers. For the band, see 1990s (band). ...
The term synthesiser is also used to mean frequency synthesiser, an electronic system found in communications. ...
The Korg M1 The Korg M1 was the worlds first widely-known music workstation and is the best-selling digital keyboard of all time, surpassing even the Yamaha DX7. ...
The Korg O1/W was Korgs new workstation meant to replace the Korg M1 and T series in 1991. ...
Korg Triton Le Korg Triton is a music workstation synthesizer featuring digital sampling and sequencing created by Korg. ...
Korg Trinity V3 Korg Trinity is a commercially successful synthesizer music workstation released by Korg in 1996. ...
The modern-day music workstation usually features an element of sampling, from simple playback to complex editing that matches all but the most advanced dedicated samplers. The primary difference is that the workstation also includes additional features such as a sequencer to provide flexibility for composers. A music workstation is piece of electronic musical equipment providing the facilities of: a sound module, a music sequencer and (usually) a musical keyboard. ...
The word sequencer can mean: a microsequencer in a computer CPU a music sequencer in the field of electronic music a DNA sequencer or a protein sequencer in the field of biology Sequencer (album) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise...
Samplers, together with traditional Foley artists, are the mainstay of modern sound effects production. Using digital techniques, various effects can be pitch-shifted and otherwise altered in ways that would have required many hours when done with tape. The Foley artist on a film crew is the person who creates and records many of the sound effects, (thesedays many often associate the Foley artist with the job of capturing the natural/everyday sounds leaving the the role of special (audio-) effects to the Sound_designer. ...
Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of movies, video games, music, or other media. ...
Examples of digital samplers
Computer Music Melodian Computer Music Inc. was started in New Jersey USA in 1972 by Harry Mendell and Dan Coren. The company was established to develop and market musical instruments based on computer software. Official language(s) English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area Ranked 47th - Total 8,729 sq mi (22,608 km²) - Width 70 miles (110 km) - Length 150 miles (240 km) - % water 14. ...
Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Melodian was based on the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-8 computer and hand wired D/A and A/D conversion and tracking anti-aliasing filters. The Melodian was first used by Stevie Wonder in the "Secret Life of Plants" (1979). The Melodian was a monophonic synth with 12 bit A/D and sampling rates up to 22 kHz. It was designed to be compatible with analog synthesizers and had a feature where it would sync to the pitch of an analog synth, such as an Arp 2600. This means the Melodian captured all of the frequency modulation effects, including the touch ribbon control. It also could trigger of the ARPs keyboard so it could almost be thought of as a hybrid sampler/analog synth, making best use of the technology that was available at the time. The DEC logo Digital Equipment Corporation was a pioneering American company in the computer industry. ...
Fairlight Instruments Fairlight Instruments was started in Sydney Australia in 1975 by Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie. The company was originally established as a manufacturer and retailer of video special effects equipment. The Sydney Opera House on Sydney Harbour Sydney (pronounced ) is the most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of over 4,200,000 people, and 151,920 in the City of Sydney. ...
Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Fairlight CMI or Computer Music Instrument, released in (1979), started life as the QASAR M8. The M8 was handwired and legend has it that it took 2 hours to boot up. The CMI was the first commercially available digital sampling instrument. The original Fairlight CMI sampled using a resolution of 8-bits at a rate of 10 kHz and was comprised of two 8-bit Motorola 6800 processors, which were later upgraded to the more powerful 16/32-bit Motorola 68000 chips. It was equipped with two six-octave keyboards, an alphanumeric keyboard, and an interactive video display unit (VDU) where soundwaves could be edited or even drawn from scratch using a light pen. Software allowed for editing, looping, and mixing of sounds which could then be played back via the keyboard or the software-based sequencer. It retailed for around US$25,000. The Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) was the first digital sampling synthesizer. ...
Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ...
Motorola 6800 Microprocessor The 6800 is a microprocessor produced by Motorola and released shortly after the Intel 8080 in 1975. ...
The Motorola 68000 is a 32-bit CISC microprocessor core designed and marketed by Freescale Semiconductor (formerly Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector). ...
In music, an octave (sometimes abbreviated 8ve) is the interval between one musical note and another with half or double its frequency. ...
Piano, a well-known instance of keyboard instruments A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. ...
A Video Display Unit is a term given to early computer monitors. ...
Sound is a disturbance of mechanical energy that propagates through matter as a longitudinal wave, and therefore is a mechanical wave. ...
A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with the computers CRT monitor. ...
Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ...
In mathematics, a sequence is a list of objects (or events) arranged in a linear fashion, such that the order of the members is well defined and significant. ...
In 1982, Fairlight released the Series II which doubled the sampling rate to 16 kHz. The Series IIx was released in 1983 and was the first to feature basic MIDI functionality. 1985 saw the release of the Series III which upped the sampling resolution to 16-bits. SMPTE was also added in this final version. Notable users of the Fairlight CMI include Peter Gabriel, Trevor Horn, Art of Noise, Yello, Pet Shop Boys, Jean Michel Jarre,and Kate Bush. Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ...
Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ...
Year 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar). ...
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers or SMPTE (pronounced simptee or sometimes sumptee) is a US professional association of engineers. ...
Peter Brian Gabriel (born February 13, 1950, in Chobham, Surrey, England) is an English musician. ...
Trevor Charles Horn, born July 15, 1949 in Durham, England, is a British pop music record producer, songwriter and musician. ...
Art of Noise Close Up twelve inch single featured the iconic Art of Noise mask Art of Noise was an avantgarde synthpop group formed in 1983 by producer Trevor Horn, music journalist Paul Morley, and session musicians/studio hands Anne Dudley, J.J. Jeczalik, and Gary Langan. ...
Yellos newly created Logo Yello is a popular Swiss electronica band consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank. ...
The capitalization of song titles in this article may be disputed. ...
Jean-Michel André Jarre (born August 24, 1948 in Lyon, France) is a French composer, performer and music producer. ...
Kate Bush (born Catherine Bush 30 July 1958, Bexleyheath, Greater London) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. ...
E-mu Systems E-mu Emulator (1981) was E-mu Systems initial foray into sampling, and saved the company from financial disaster after the complete failure of the Audity due to a price tag of $70,000. The name 'Emulator' came as the result of leafing through a thesaurus and matched the name of the company perfectly. The Emulator came in 2-, 4-, and 8-note polyphonic versions, the 2-note being dropped due to limited interest, and featured a maximum sampling rate of 27.7 kHz, a four-octave keyboard and 128 kB of memory. After seeing a Fairlight CMI at a convention in 1979, E-mu founders Scott Wedge and Dave Rossum began working on designing a less expensive sampler. ...
Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ...
E-mu Systems was a synthesizer maker and pioneer in the manufacture of low-cost digital sampling music workstations. ...
The E-mu Audity was a computer controlled, analog synthesizer made in 1978. ...
E-mu Emulator II (1985) was designed to bridge the gap between the Fairlight CMI and Synclavier and the Ensoniq Mirage. It featured 8-bit sampling, up to 1 MB of sample memory, an 8-track sequencer, and analog filtering. With the addition of the hard disk option, the Emulator II was comparable to samplers released 5 years later. Released commercially in 1984, the Emulator II was E-mus second sampler. ...
Year 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar). ...
The Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) was the first digital sampling synthesizer. ...
Synclavier I The Synclavier System was an early digital synthesizer and sampler, manufactured by New England Digital. ...
Ensoniq Mirage The Ensoniq Corporations Mirage was an 8-bit sampler introduced in 1985. ...
E-mu Emulator III (1987) was a 16-bit stereo digital sampler with 16-note polyphony, 44.1 kHz maximum sample rate and had up to 8 MB of memory. It featured a 16 channel sequencer, SMPTE and a 40 MB hard disk. Sampler/Syntesizer similar to the Emulator_II that had the capability of sampling 16 bit sound. ...
1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
E-mu SP-1200 was, and still is, one of the most highly regarded samplers for use in hip-hop related production. Its 12-bit sampling engine gave a desirable warmth to instruments and a gritty punch to drums. It featured 10 seconds of sample time spread across four 2.5-second sections. There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...
Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ...
E-mu Emax, sold between 1985 & 1995, and aimed at the lower end of the market. The E-mu Emax was an 8/12 bit sampler released in 1986. ...
Akai Akai entered the electronic musical instrument world in 1984 with the first in a series of affordable samplers the S612, a 12 bit digital sampler module. The S612 was superseded in 1986 by the S900.
The Akai S900 (1986) was the first truly affordable digital sampler. It was 8-note polyphonic and featured 12-bit sampling with a frequency range up to 40 kHz and up to 750 kB of memory that allowed for just under 12 seconds at the best sampling rate. It could store a maximum of 32 samples in memory. The operating system was software based and allowed for upgrades that had to be booted each time the sampler was switched on. Akai () was a Japanese consumer electronics producer founded in 1929. ...
Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ...
In computing, booting (booting up) is a bootstrapping process that starts operating systems when the user turns on a computer system. ...
The Akai MPC60 Digital Sampler/Drum Machine and MIDI Sequencer (1987) was the first non rack mounted model released. It is also the first time a sampler with touch sensitive trigger pads was produced by AKAI.
The Akai S950 (1988) was an improved version of the S900, with a maximum sample frequency of 48 kHz and some of the editing features of the contemporary S1000. Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ...
The Akai S1000 (1988) was possibly the most popular 16-bit 44.1 kHz stereo sampler of its time. It featured 16-voices, up to 32 MB of memory, and 24-bit internal processing, including a digital filter (18dB/octave), an LFO, and two ADSR envelope generators (for amplitude and filtering). The S1000 also offered up to 8 different loop points. Additional functions included Autolooping, Crossfade Looping, Loop in Release (which cycles through the loop as the sound decays), Loop Until Release (which cycles through the loop until the note begins its decay), Reverse and Time Stretch (version 1.3 and higher). Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ...
Front of an envelope mailed in the U.S. in 1906 contains postage stamp and address. ...
Other samplers released by AKAI include the S01, S700, S2000, S3000, S3000XL, S5000, S6000, MPC500, MPC1000, MPC2000, MPC2000XL, MPC2500, MPC3000, MPC3000XL, MPC3000LE, MPC4000, MPC60, Z4 and Z8. MPCs - originally MIDI Production Center but now Music Production Center - are a series of hardware sampler made by Akai. ...
Roland Roland Corporation manufactured the S series. These were true samplers that provide all of the features described above, including sampling, sample editing, pitch transposition, and keyzone mapping: Roland Corporation TYO: 7944 is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. ...
- Roland S-10
- Roland S-50
- Roland S-330
- Roland S-550
- Roland S-760
- Roland S-770
More recently, Roland introduced the Groove Sampler concept. These devices are renowned for their ease of use, but lack the pitch transposition and keyzone mapping capabilities that most samplers have. This limits them to rendering loops or sound effects samples that are played back at the same pitch they were recorded. Although these machines are equipped with a wide range of built-in effects, their lack of pitch transposition and keyzone mapping diminishes their utility significantly. The Roland Groove Sampler line includes the following: - Roland SP-808
- Roland SP-606
- Roland SP-505
- Roland SP-404
- Roland SP-303
- Roland SP-202
The Roland SP-808 GrooveSampler was originally released in 1998 as an all-in-one phrase-sampling music workstation. ...
The SP-404 is a sampling workstation made by Roland Corporation. ...
See image The Roland Boss Dr.Sample SP-303 is a digital sampler based upon the SP-202. ...
Other manufacturers Casio Computer Co. ...
Ensoniq Corp. ...
The Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) was the first digital sampling synthesizer. ...
Korg Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments. ...
Kurzweil Music Systems is a company that produces electronic musical instruments for professionals and home users. ...
It has been suggested that Traktor DJ Studio be merged into this article or section. ...
Sequential Circuits Inc. ...
Steinberg is a German musical equipment and software company. ...
TASCAM is credited as the company that invented the affordable home recording studio. ...
Yamaha redirects here. ...
Software-based samplers In the last 10 years the incredible increases in computer power and memory capacity have made it possible to develop software applications that can produce the same level of performance and capability as hardware-based units. Many vendors of software based samplers have taken serious shortcuts that limit the potential of these products, however. For example, most "soft samplers" lack sample editing, sample recording capability, top-flight DSP effects, and resampling. While these products are significantly easier to use than typical hardware samplers, their ease of use stems at least partially from the fact that their capabilities are nowhere close to those provided by rack-mounted units. The "soft-sampler" term itself is really a misnomer, because in only a few cases do these products actually sample. Soundbank players would be a more accurate and less misleading term for most of these products. For people that require the creative possibilities and workflow only a true sampler can provide, there are fortunately some real software samplers available. These products record samples, and provide sample editing and comprehensive DSP effects, as well as the other functions expected from a sampler: - Image-Line DirectWave
- E-mu Emulator X
- FL Studio, also called Fruity Loops studio, created by Image-Line Software.
- TASCAM Gigastudio - Originally Gigasampler
- 112db Morgana - a software emulation of a classic 8-bit sampler (free beta available now!)
A list of popular soundbank players follows: Image-Line Software is a Belgian software company. ...
E-mu Systems is a synthesizer maker and pioneer in the manufacture of low-cost digital sampling music workstations. ...
Screen shot of Emulator X E-mu Emulator X is a software-based audio sampler produced by E-mu Systems. ...
FL Studio (formerly Fruity Loops) is a digital audio workstation, developed by Didier Dambrin (also known as Gol), lead programmer of Image-Line Software. ...
A screenshot of FL Studio 5 FL Studio (formerly Fruityloops) is a music production software package created by Image-Line Software. ...
Image-Line Software is a Belgian software company. ...
TASCAM is credited as the company that invented the affordable home recording studio. ...
- Digidesign Samplecell - Hybrid system that relied on a dedicated card (originally NuBus, then PCI), along with software.
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
It has been suggested that Traktor DJ Studio be merged into this article or section. ...
It has been suggested that Traktor DJ Studio be merged into this article or section. ...
The user interface of NI Kontakt Kontakt is a software sampler made by a German-based company, Native Instruments. ...
It has been suggested that Traktor DJ Studio be merged into this article or section. ...
Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) is a music-related computer software and hardware supplier. ...
Steinberg is a German musical equipment and software company. ...
See also The Chamberlin is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument related to the Mellotron. ...
The Mellotron is an electromechanical polyphonic keyboard musical instrument originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. ...
A remix is an alternative version of a song, different from the original version. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...
A synthesizer (or synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument designed to produce electronically generated sound, using techniques such as additive, subtractive, FM, physical modelling synthesis, phase distortion, or Scanned synthesis. ...
Wavetable synthesis is used in digital musical instruments (synthesizers) to produce natural tone-like sounds. ...
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