Manual is up on the Squarp website, and it looks like this is going to start shipping in April. As a Hermod owner, this thing looks like the sample player I’ve been looking for. I’m glad I held off on buying a Sample Drum; this looks much more versatile.
I’d be interested to see how this compares (outside of reading the manual) to Assimil8or and Squid Salmple as clearly “multivoice samplers” are now a thing, which is fine and good. the built-in stack of effects seems at once handy (DJ style filter/freeze) and superfluous (how menu-divey is this going to be in practice).
I’m a little leery of Artist Sample Packs - the included banks with Squid are fun and quickly show off the module but also I have almost no use for them and the module is much more broad/deep when taking my/your own approach.
How will you compare this Rample Wave System to the Erica Sample Drum?
At first sight:
-they are both 14HP.
-Sampledrum has a better screen, so better waveform view, info and navigation through files.
-Sampledrum is 2 voices vs Rample that is 4 voices.
-Sampledrum has 6 CV inputs vs Rample that has 4 CV inputs
Why do you prefer the Rample?
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For me, I’ll be interested to see how the screen plays out in demos, but I like the aesthetic over the OLED. The 4-voice is what sold me mostly though, as well as the ability to go full MIDI in for control, so I can trigger all 4 without getting another sequencer. The FX are bonus, as well as the CV to control them, so that didn’t factor as much in my quick view of the manual.
I’m not really in the market for another sample player but this got me thinking…
Multi-layer sampling
One of the key feature is the ability to “multi-sample” your kits, multiplying Rample’s potential. Each voice supports up to 12 samples, can be played randomly or in a controlled fashion. It’s a great way to add complexity and variations, to create organic/acoustic sounding drums, or simply to increase the number of samples per kit (up to 48).
As an example, we are providing a multi-layered drum kit, with 12 different recordings of a kick, 12 different recordings of a snare, etc. Sequencing them randomly leads to a more natural drum playing.
We are also providing an other kind of multi-layered acoustic drum kit, where each drum is recorded with 12 levels of velocity. Controlling the layer to be played leads to intricate, convoluted drums programming.
Of course, it’s very easy to create your own multi-layered kit, and you can use this method to perform multiple synth chords, sound glitches, voices, breakbeats, …
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I’m especially leery of sample packs that seem to feature (almost?) exclusively male artists… 
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That caught my eye as well. On a quick glance that seems to be unique among the major Euro sample players.
ALM Squid has a similar feature “cue sets” and it’s ace. By adding markers to the sample file, you can choose by CV, increment slice on trigger, or pick a random slice on trigger. Up to 64 per sample.
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Just bought a Sample Drum, then saw this. Was mad for a second, but think I prefer the Sample Drum. I’d rather have two voices with slice and more CV control than 4 voices, more designed towards one shots. Still a very nice module though!
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I have a sample drum and love it, but im super curious about the Rample. Its cheaper, for starters. But also the FX can be combined - which SD cannot do. The fx also seem to be geared to be a bit more playable than SDs. Seems like the Rample will be better for live mangling via processing the sound, while the SD excels at slicing.
I also feel like the SDs fx are just kind of “tacked on”. theyre not super great or easy to work with IMO.
I do think they’re two different use cases. The Rample is definitely aimed at people who have already processed and sliced the samples to their liking, and are looking for live playback (which is what the effects are geared toward) rather than sample manipulation.
cue sets also totally slay for grabbing a loop and slicing it up with a couple button pushes - Squid is a great module for live sampling/resampling, which is something ALM kinda glossed over for a while and doesn’t look like Ranpler has that functionality at all (so bye) but let’s take it to the Squid thread for Squid talk
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Anyone try a Rample yet? Wasn’t quite clicking with the Sample Drum, looking at this as a replacement. Seems a bit more streamlined which I like.
i’ve been talking to a guy who has a rample… not sure he’s on lines, but he told me that for now rample has a problem of freezing up after a few minutes. seems to be some kind of bug that he’s waiting for squarp to fix at the moment.
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Oof, that’s quite the bug. I was curious about the decision to stream samples from the SD card rather than loading them to RAM. Not sure if that’s related, but if so it makes me a little more hesitant to grab one.
Really good to know, thank you!
I’ve got one (as does @headphonic). I have run it for hours with no issues, but I have also seen some glitchiness here and there. No definite repro steps yet, but it seems to maybe happen when I give it a lot of really fast (BPM, not length) gates and the sound bank is set to something with longer samples. Going to spend some more time with it this week to see if I can fine a consistent set of steps to cause the glitchiness.
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i havent spent quite as much time with it as id like, but have not noticed any issues as of yet.
FWIW im really digging it thus far. I feel its far easier to assign CV to FX than the sample drum and is therefore a bit more immediate in regards to departing from the original sound. Rample also feel a bit easier to load kits and get going. there is no set up time at all.
the SD will always win out in regards to slicing though.
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@instantjuggler! good to see you on here. yeah, there’s an unfortunate bug with my rample that i can’t seem to get around at the moment. according to this thead, it sounds like it is just my module - which is a relief. if i send the module constant gate triggers, it freezes right around the 3 minute mark, every time. This happens with the preset samples and my own imported samples. waiting to hear back from squarp… but its a great module besides that ha.
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haha! yes, wondered if you were on lines! strangely, the behavior you describe is exactly the same as i got out of a new 2hp play module last week! i returned it for another one, just need a very simple sample playing but no luck yet. hoping it was just my unit and hoping your rample was also a one-unit problem.
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