Confessions on sampling workflow

[Unfolding]

I've never used any software sampler or DAW to make music...

I get so impatient and easily agitated when I work with a friend who does everything on the computer. I'll lay down a fat ass drum track via a sampler but we waste time looking for a solid bass patch in Reason or Fruity Loops to complement that drum track. How many different sounds are available in those things and I can't find one to work with?

One thing I will admit is that it takes me a while longer to release my music because I haven't fully embraced the world of DAWs and the like. That's one area where I think it would help.

Dude, wow. Never used a DAW? Gotta say I kinda envy that.

But what you're describing about your friend is more him not understanding how to program a synth than anything else. As another (occasional) Reason user, DAWs & VSTs can lull the user into laziness by coming with a bunch of presets. But the synths in DAWs & VSTs are designed to be used like real synths where you have to dial in your own tones. There's really no reason to not have a good bass sound ready to go with 30 seconds of tweaking.

Depending on DAW & VST preset patches is like only using the stock sounds that came with your SP.

@Jetson- its good to read you're learning from the SP! As you said, physical instruments (including samplers) are where the art in music lies. Computers are a long way off that level.

RIP Dilla Month

[Chess]

Yeah making a beat on only the 404 is definitely a very fun but very hard challenge.
I have the most trouble getting my drum tracks to sound tight and, when I make a beat on only the 404, I really can't rely on the regular methods of building a drum track that I use in my larger setup. For the 404, I typically will sample only drum breaks and leave the tail on each note once I chop it as well as whatever comes directly after it, and sometimes before it, in the break. This means that if I'm sampling the kick, I'll leave the hi-hat that follows it in there while also adding some other hi-hat stuff in the regular sequence. I'll do the same for different snares and other percussion elements I want to take. After resampling throughout the bank at slightly different volumes (no velocity sensitive pads on the 404), I'll usually then mess around and try to "get lucky" by finding which hits in what order create a live feel to the drum track while still sounding rhythmic and "spittable".
For sample work and basses, it's really a much more enjoyable and controlled experience. haha. I like marking different start points, using reverse, freaking fx, and all that good stuff because the great accidents are definitely party of the fun of owning an SP in the first place, which I didn't know when I first got it as my first beat machine.

[Rabot]

I can feel most cats in this thread.

I've user reason for 12 minute in my whole life.
I also use computer all day for videoediting so my patience with computer once i'm done is pretty low.

I've owned a bunch of SP(303, 808, 303 again, 404sx, 505), an electribe, a SU700 and my favorite by far is the SX. This shit is pure fun, it's dead simple. I'd get another 303 cause I feel like they're really based on the same concept.

Nothing works better for me than the 303/404 way of chopping (mark button), the resample game, the live effect.

I've been jamming with some electro-type guy that always created shit on the computer, and gawd that seems boring. I remeber that beat those guy were working on and I wasn't to into it until I sampled it with the built-in mic and remixed it to my taste. I made it all in my headphone while they were doing thier shit and I showed them the result they were like: DUDE.. What the hell is that?

They were loving the wierd sound of the actual sample (built in miccc....) that I had to pump the hell out of so we could hear shit, and I also had random blabing of them talking that I used for vocal.

It was still pretty basic overall but the feel was goood I guess.


404sx love.

[LesPasta]

I always sample into one of my 404, the mark button is irreplaceable when it comes to picking loops IMHO.. my 202 is for resampling drums and making bass lines with the filter... Propellerheads Reason for sequencing, time stretch and processing..

I'm considering an MPC though

[thoughtprovoka]

I wasted a lot of beats when I used Beats by Dre Solo HD's. I didn't have monitors at the time so I had to use the Beats. Whenever I knocked the songs in my car the bass was almost non-existent because the Beats overcompensated the bass.

i been using budget headphones, they sound good, but they really make the beat sound bad on speakers, when i make a beat thru the speakers and then switch to headphones, it sounds really high. and i would never be able to mix like that with these effin head phones. I feel like i wasted tons of beats by trusting them, but its all a learning experience. there is a point when to much power just hurts you instead of sounds good, like for example, your neighbours shouldnt be able to hear your drums thumping for 9 hours while you make a 2 bar loop. even with a small and little speakers, when i switch from headphones, the speakers explode with bass. its the isolator mixing with my hifi and it doubles the bass, i think this is infra sound, where your speakers are rumblling out of control and you cant hear it. it makes people paranoid and people mistake it for ghosts and aliens or something so i read on mywacko conspiracy threory sites.

[Leptic P]

i am back to 404sx only production

not as easy as seein the waveform in the editor but i'm back to the basics and i take more pleasure to slice directly in the sampler ! need practice but sampling is more fun that way .

[Rabot]

i am back to 404sx only production

not as easy as seein the waveform in the editor but i'm back to the basics and i take more pleasure to slice directly in the sampler ! need practice but sampling is more fun that way .

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