#63

I haven’t gotten to test this yet; do either of you know if when you record into an existing sample with cues whether it clears existing cue points or leaves them in place? It’s not clear from the manual (from my last look).

#64

tested this tonight and it wiped the cues

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#65

Awww, too bad. Might have to email about that. Seems like there’s some neat things you could do by preseving them for both traditional and experimental reasons.

Thanks for checking! :purple_heart:

#66

fwiw i’m on unofficial firmware due to our recent crash hunt so i’ll have to ask too

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#67

i use it primarily for live sampling as well. this patch is an example. I have a sequence in Hermod playing the Atlantis which is run through the Squid. Then Teletype and Pams is scrolling through channels sampling and playing back in a controlled random way in time with clock. some channels were set to reverse or pitched an octave up/down. Then my friend added some percussion.

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#68

Not quite the same thing but Channel settings are preserved with new recordings, so you could

  • map Cue selection to trigger or CV
  • record something new
  • Split Cue a few times.

If the cue markers were evenly spaced on the original sample it should be close to what you’re describing.

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#69

Deep dives have arrived.

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#70

I have watched a few videos and followed the thread and that’s it. I’m considering this module as it seems relatively immediate for sampling and could play the part of a drum machine in an only-eurorack presentation and I will get into the manual soon.
My question is? How accesible have you found the sampling capabilities? Is it possible to clock the sampler with a trigger source (I’m using Tempi) so that when using the record button it syncs the action with the clock? Perhaps this doesn’t make any sense. I see that with a PNW it would work by simply sending a gate. But I don’t hace any available gate generation resource other than Kria and that seems cumbersome.
Are any of you using it as a drum machine at all? How are you sequencing? I’m trying not to need a PNW. And most if not all demos I’ve seen it is being used with a PNW.
I’m looking to get a first sampler and have many questions. Any input or orientation is much appreciated.

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#72

quickly as i’m out but

•I’ve found salmpling very accessible and in general the whole module feels that way. doing more complex things and addressing individual channel settings takes a moment but you literally cannot get lost in menus.

•I am not using Squid as a drum machine and do not intend to, so i haven’t used the bpm-related functions ^however^ I’d just send a gate of the clock division desired into the rec CV in and pop/pop/pop. (there are uh features to come to make this even easier to build up cue sets)

ALSO i’m not using PNW either. i’m using marbles/branches/batumi/tides v1 and a jel OR for triggers and CV.

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#73

Pam’s is a great module, but it is definitely not neccessary for Squid to be useful. I bought it primarily for drum duties, and I haven’t been disappointed. I’ve sequenced it with Grids and Launch Codes (with other utilities in both situations). Anything you can create sequences with will do the job, it is eurorack after all!

Which is to say, the problem of sequencing drums in euro is really a separate question about how you want to sequence drums in eurorack. Squid is up to the task of recieving your sequences and generally being a dope sample wrangler.

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#74

sampling is very immediate - so nice being able to quickly record into a slot without having think about saving/naming files :slight_smile:

one thing to keep in mind is that it once you start pitching the sample it can sound lofi/aliased pretty quickly. i like that about it - but just a heads up.

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#75

Great, I always digged the lo-fi character of ALM and the Squid seems to be able to fulfill a few roles in my system bringing some of that sound. I was planning on getting Marbles as I currently don’t have any source of randomness other than Kinks (that might leave). Between Marbles, Ansible+Grid and Tempi I guess I have enough diversity of sources to sequence some traditional drums and some more. And even though I was originally looking at very different samplers like Morphagene or Arbhar, I guess the Squid will be more immediately rewarding and fun for what I have in mind.
Thank you all for the feedback, it was reassuring. I’ll dive into the manual, I’m feeling less lazy about it now.

#76

Just wanted to share some thoughts as I chew on this. I really love this module, but it had some quirks. I also what to qualify that my uses are for a live case, so my qualms are specific to that use case. For studio use, these things would not bother me.

I don’t like how loading works, and I don’t like how channel selection works.

Mashing the channel button to get to a channel is tedious. A button per channel or at least a left and right button would be nice. This is merely an annoyance.

Edit: I forgot about the encoder as an option. Will have to play more to clarify my comment.

I’m trying to decide if the loading is a deal breaker for me. The lack of loading confirmation makes it extremely precarious to use live. I’ve been practicing loading single channels. If you double click you can accidentally overwrite every channel with the proper “Load” command.

The grouped outputs aren’t ideal, but if you keep it simple, you can manage two voices and percussion across the outputs in a reasonable way.

And it’s cool to be able to sample a sweet spot of a finicky module or chain of modules and a get a decent reporduction. Not as percise as a Disting multisample, but if you’re into the shifted sound, it’s pretty nice. You can even loop a tone and send an envelope to one of the assignable CV in’s. Works great!

So I end up thinking: I need another Squid so I can load changes and then use switches to toggle the live sample to add a layer of protection from “you donked up loading, bruh”. Or I just roll back to using dedicated modules. Or having a bunch of switched alt modules to fall back on while loading? Which was another consideration.

Also, after moving the module to the left edge, it is just much easier to use. I had a Pam’s to the left, but making the USB button more accessible, made using the module much more ergonomic.

#77

Coming out of lurking in the shadows for the Squid… I’m really considering it (when it comes back in stock). I do wonder about the usability of the pitched outs for melodies given the aliasing. Lo-fi is fine but a couple octaves without it getting crazy would be good. I imagine the loading confirmation qualm could be handled with a firmware update? The grouped outputs is not ideal but certainly more flexible for modular than integrating some other mono samplers - Digitakt, etc.

#78

For sure. It seems like ALM is not especially likely to implement a feature request unless there is overwhelming demand.

But again those are just my gripes that I am sharing for anyone who might be considering such a use case.

It’s a good design overall and definitely fills some niches. You could totally play a whole show with just a Squid for sound sources.

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#79

I’ve definitely been working on building a bank and want to load in say, a kick and accidentally write over all my work and yeah, that’s a bummer. I feel like “undo” ain’t happening tho. I’ll mention to ALM that a “confirm” for load all would be helpful (also easy and doesn’t add a new thing to navigate). I’ve generally counseled a “less is more approach” to features (as I’ve asked for a few) as the menu structure is teetering on bloat, esp in cues.

I nav channels by a press of Chan, then dial the knob.

I’ve done a solid run of jams where I’m mostly just loading from bank to bank and haven’t had a problem.

and yeah, Squid is the bottom left corner for sure.

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#80

ah I’ve totally embraced the Salmple character. extremes create some wild artefacts and feedback is quite unique. you have GOT to be okay with the fidelity/character of the Salmpler if you are going to be using v/oct or changing the playback speed of ch 1-5.

I sometimes bump up against the group outputs but its a pretty good design choice for the size.

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#81

One other thing that’s worth noting again, as I buried it in my barage of notes; but sampling constant tones and run envelopes into the CV inputs is something I think more people would find palatable as a wavetable style sound which can remain quite nice. While it doesn’t negate the aliasing of pitch shifting a sample, it does give you a much wider range of predicatable usage as your envelopes remain constant. By comparison, when you hear something like a pluck sound or rave stab where full sound shape is manipulated by the pitch shifting, that has an effect some of us dig and others are less into.

I forget you can do that. Thanks for the reminder.

#82

Sorry I don’t follow - you realise you can use the encoder to select channels with no button mashing ?

It a pretty explicit operation already to load or something and if your worried for a live situation you’d likely be safer to just customise a key with just the banks you wanted to use for that set ?

I think an extra step for confirmation could get more annoying for most.

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#83

Firstly, I appreciate the response.

I clarified in my last post that was an oversight. I’ve modified my original post.

I agree; it isn’t an ideal use case for many users, but to be more specific, your suggestion is my intention: saving banks of performance sets, but the way I play, I will want to blend between banks. This means I will selectively load samples into their respective slots, so for example, I would always keep kicks in Slot 1 or a bass voice in Slot 6. The issue is that I make mistakes, and it is a mistake I have made many times while practicing. I load the whole bank by accident: confirming the bank I want and then accidentally performing a second click which then immediately loads the entire bank – very musically jarring when undesired, though I appreciate that it only replaces after the actual load is complete, which is very elegant.

Following from your menu parlance, the least obtrusive suggestion that comes to me:

USB > Select the Bank > 
Hold Func Button + Click Encoder on Load to 
enable/disable confirmation (adding/removing an icon)

If enabled: Select Load > "Proceed?" (or some such confirmation text) > 
USB button to go back, Click to Comfirm

Altervatively, require long press for Load, or some other differing 
intentional interaction

In this way, the current immplementation remains completely intact, but there is a safety buffer for those who want it for either building banks in device or live use.